Revelation Chapter 14

Verses 6-7

“Then I saw an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

“Then I saw an ANGEL…

In Scripture there are four primary usages for the word “angel”:

1) It can denote a special, prominent dispensational messenger or individual used of the Lord (See Rev. 1:20; 2:1, 8, 12; etc., regarding the seven messengers to the Church).

2) “Angel” can refer to Jesus (Rev. 10:1, 2; 20:1).

3) The word “angel” can portray the forces of nature, such as an earthquake, wind, fire, etc. In such highly figurative or poetic language, the forces of nature are pictured as being God’s servants, showing they are at His disposal to be used in whatever way He might choose (Psa. 104:4).

4) And in the Book of Revelation an “angel” can be a message. Such a message can be in the inanimate form of reading material, published thoughts, or proclamations issued to enlighten, encourage, and instruct, as well as reprove, those to whom the message is addressed.

“Then I saw an angel FLYING IN THE MIDST OF HEAVEN…

In Verses 6 and 7 an “angel” is seen to fly “in the midst of heaven.” This expression indicates something outside of, different from or issuing forth between heaven and earth—hence an independent voice or message not identified with established religious orthodoxy (not emanating or being proclaimed by the professed church, the church nominal as they are totally unaware). The harvest message at this end of the age has already gone forth throughout Christendom with the proclamation “Fear God . . . and worship him.”

Note: “And I saw [omit ‘another’] an angel.” The Greek word signifying “another” is not found in the main body of the Sinaitic text; it appears as a marginal gloss by a later copyist. There is no angel before this one, thus it is clear that “another” makes no sense.

“Then I saw an angel flying in the midst of heaven, HAVING THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL TO PREACH TO THOSE WHO DWELL ON THE EARTH—TO EVERY NATION, TRIBE, TONGUE, AND PEOPLE…

“This first angel is the angel which opens the harvest. He is FLYING — flying is the active tool of searching (in this case searching for wheat.) His flight is in mid-heaven — directly in the midst of the Christian religious world, not favoring one end over the other. He has the EVERLASTING GOSPEL — an implication that VARIATIONS of the gospel had been popular at various times during the age; but THIS Gospel is the totality of the story (the one true gospel) — the one which accounts for and covers the good news of ALL AGES.

Note that this message is for the REAPING OF ALL OF THE FIELD (and for the additional work of binding the tares) because it is preached to both groups: Those who dwell on the earth (nominal Christianity) and every nation, tribe, tongue, and people (the group from which the True Church & Great Multitude comes.) in other words from one end of heaven to the other (Matt. 24:31).”

“Then I saw an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— SAYING WITH A LOUD VOICE, “FEAR GOD AND GIVE GLORY TO HIM…

“His voice is LOUD. History has demonstrated this. The harvest message was broadcast far and near with clarity and distribution unparalleled by any former reformation. His message, although it contains MUCH MORE, is based on that most basic of doctrines; WORSHIP GOD — don’t worship the CREATED, but the CREATOR. No other approach will allow us to find or comprehend THE TRUTH. Don’t worship the religious world (heaven); don’t worship the society (earth); don’t worship the liberty seeking masses (sea); don’t worship the accepted sources of truth (springs of water, churchianity, the denominations themselves). These items (or systems) may be symbols of the parts of this present world which the Lord ordained for a while until the time for His kingdom. But people have worshipped the items, not the ONE who ordained them. These items, though, may not be symbols. The statement may simply be: Worship Him Who made it all, but cease from the worship of the things made.”

“Then I saw an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, FOR THE HOUR OF HIS JUDGMENT HAS COME; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

“It is specified that the REASON for re-adjusting the focus of worship is that THE HOUR OF HIS JUDGMENT HAS COME. It is now the harvest period, and all who worship the created over the Creator will fail this judgment. It is interesting to note that it is the HOUR of judgment rather than the DAY. It is, of course, the beginning of the 1000-year DAY of judgment; but the FOCUS here is not on the whole age, but only on its beginning, the harvest; this first hour of judgment deals with the weighing and destruction of all pagan religion including false Christianity before individual judgment begins for the world.”

“The hour of his *judgment (or judging—Rotherham’s Version) is come” is a reference to the judgment of the house of God, both the true and the nominal. The emphasis is on the judgment of the spiritual class. The judgment of the true Church will be favorable, while that of Babylon will be unfavorable (1 Pet. 4:17–19). While the True Bible Chronology indicates that six thousand years transpired from the fall of Father Adam in Eden to A.D. 1874, Bible prophecy and time parallels indicate that the hour of judgment or the inspection period referred to in Verse 7 began with A.D. 1878. This same date, 1878, also marked the time that God caused His true “everlasting” (age-lasting) gospel to spread throughout the world.”

Verse 8

“And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

“And ANOTHER ANGEL FOLLOWED…

“This angel is said to FOLLOW the first one. But the Greek [“for followed”], means “accompanied” — to be in the same way with, or to be as a disciple. It is NOT that this angel comes later; it is that his message accompanies the message of the first angel. If the first angel might be named THE HARVESTING ANGEL, this second angel might be named THE JUDGING ANGEL.

“And another angel followed, saying, “BABYLON IS FALLEN, IS FALLEN, THAT GREAT CITY…

There are many subtleties in this verse. It introduces BABYLON — a term hitherto unfound in Revelation. But the verse includes enough information to identify this symbol clearly. Babylon, of course, was born a city and a kingdom; therefore, this Babylon should also be a capital and an independent power. It is said to be “the great.” While original Babylon was a great empire, this Babylon would apparently have greater influence. It is termed “SHE.” This is very revealing. A woman is either a church or a covenant. No covenant fits this description! From the verse it is clear she is no virgin; therefore, she is not the true Church, but the apostate. How wonderfully the Lord can introduce a symbol out of the blue and yet, with it, give all the information necessary for its interpretation!

“And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because SHE HAS MADE ALL NATIONS DRINK OF THE WINE OF THE WRATH OF HER FORNICATION.”

This Babylon has influence well beyond its own borders: she made all the nations drink. Her primary sin is said to be fornication — the amalgamation of church and state. While Babylon’s sins can be expanded far beyond this, it is clear that the Lord is especially displeased with her unfaithfulness to Jesus as her head. Instead of waiting for His return and the establishing of His kingdom with her as His bride, she insisted on establishing her own temporal power. This doctrine (wine of wrath), with which the nations were made “drunk” (incapable of sound judgment; unstable), has been responsible for much of the chaos in Europe over the last 2,000 years.”

Brother Frank Shallieu’s thoughts on the matter,

“Based on the Sinaitic text and contextual evidence, only one fall of Babylon is mentioned. The text should read: “And there followed another [angel], a second, saying, is fallen Babylon the Great…” Like the first angel or message (Verse 6), the second (Verse 8) is also a pronouncement. The message does not signify an immediate destruction of churchianity. Rather, it refers to the spewing out of the nominal Church from the Lord’s mouth…to mystic Babylon’s rejection from divine favor (Rev. 3:16).

During the week of his crucifixion at the First Advent, Jesus pronounced a rejection of nominal fleshly Israel: “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate” (Matt. 23:38). These words were uttered nearly four decades prior to the actual destruction in A.D. 70. Here in Verse 8 a similar surety prediction of ultimate destruction is made: of the nominal spiritual house.

Few realize the already fallen-from-grace condition of Babylon now; none will fail to recognize it’s sudden and utter collapse in the near future.

Why this rejection by the Lord? The answer given is: “Because she made all nations drink of the [mixed] wine [false doctrines intermingled with some truth]…of her fornication [her illicit relationship with the world, imparting her own spirit as well as partaking of the world’s spirit].” Through the Prophet Jeremiah (51:7—Newberry Bible), the Lord states the matter in a similar vein: “[Babylon] made all the earth drunken…of her wine [from the cradle to the grave]; Therefore the nations are mad [stupefied, sharing in her abominations and impurities—Rev. 17:4].”

The great mass of professing Christians having been raised (or taught) from the cradle (from the very beginnings of their beliefs as young Christians in Sunday schools and etc.) the teachings and doctrines of Babylon, the church nominal have become so accustom to these teachings, this mixture of false doctrines with a bit of truth, the truth simply being added in order to make the false doctrines more palatable that they have become (drunk) on these doctrines so much so that they (that is the majority of them) in all honestly believe them to be true.

We will continue with this study with our next post.

Excerpts for this study were taken from Brother Frank Shallieu’s “The Keys of Revelation”, and the “New Albany Notes on Revelation”.

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*judgment

The word translated “judgment” is the Greek krisis, which does not mean final judgment but signifies a trial, a crucial time period.