Back in Revelation 6, with the breaking of the fifth seal, we were introduced to the martyred saints under the Altar of Souls. They were told to wait until the full number are killed. Then in Revelation 7, we saw the full number of saints who made it through the great tribulation—the 144,000/Great Multitude. They had been sealed and protected by God before the seven trumpets of judgment were sounded.
Now here in Revelation 14, we meet the 144,000 again (vs. 1-5). In chapter 7, we were told that the 144,000 had come through the great tribulation. How did they do it? Chapter 14 gives us a clearer picture, for it tells us a number of things about them:
- They have the name of the Lamb and of his Father on their foreheads (7:3)
- They are with the Lamb on Mount Zion
- They were redeemed from the earth
- They did not defile themselves with women; they kept themselves pure
- They were purchased from among mankind, and were offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb
- No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless
What? No Women?
So what does it mean that “they didn’t defile themselves with women”? Are the only Christians men? Are the only Christians virgin men? Well, newsflash—something else is going on. First of all, you must take into account the imagery of two women in Revelation we haven’t yet met. In this sense, what we read here in Revelation 14 is foreshadowing what is coming.
First, there is the Bride of the Lamb, the Heavenly Jerusalem (Revelation 21). Second, there is the Whore of Babylon (14:8; chs. 17-18). All through the Old Testament, unfaithful Israel was compared to an adulteress. To be unfaithful to God is to go after false gods and commit spiritual adultery. And, in 95 AD, the big temptation was to commit spiritual adultery with the Roman Empire: to engage in its debauchery and perversion and to worship any one of its gods, particularly the emperor.
The 144,000 who had not defiled themselves with women are the Christians who have not committed spiritual adultery. Also, the picture of the 144,000 on Mount Zion is that of a gathering army. It has also been pointed out that in ancient Israel, the men had to be ritually pure and not have sex with women before a holy war (Deut. 23:9-14; I Sam. 21:5; II Sam. 11:9-13). That same idea is found here: before the final holy war with Satan, the followers of the Lamb must be pure.
Firstfruits?
What are firstfruits? They are a sacrifice to God before the harvest was reaped. The first batch of grain, grapes…or whatever…of the season was offered to God in a burnt offering. Here, we are told that the 144,000 are the actual firstfruits. By virtue of them being martyred for the sake of Christ, they are the ones sacrificed before the full harvest of the world (see I Cor. 15:20-23; 16:15; Romans 8:23; 11:16; 16:5; Lev. 23:9-14). The point is simple: the followers of Christ who are martyrs are seen as the firstfruits sacrifice before the final harvest and judgment of the world.
The Three Angels
After this vision of the 144,000, three angels make declarations. The first makes a call to those who live on the earth (i.e. the unbelievers) to fear God and give Him glory. In short, it is a call to repentance (and based on the previous refusals to repentance, we can imagine how this will be received). The second angels makes the first reference to a very important figure in the rest of the book: Babylon the Great. The angel accuses her of making the nations drunk with the wine of her adulteries. And finally, the third angels declares that anyone who worships the beast and his image will drink the wine of God’s wrath.
All these three things will be fully explained later. But for now, you should see that there is going to be some kind of connection between Babylon the Great and the beast. Verses 12-13 once again gives a call for patient endurance and faithfulness of the saints of God.
The Harvest of the Earth
We have just been told that the 144,000 are the firstfruits. So what do we have now? The harvest of the earth. These are two images found within this picture of the harvest of the earth: the grain harvest and the grape harvest. Each harvest has a different outcome.
The first thing to quickly point out is that the figure of one like the Son of Man comes from Daniel 7:13-14, a passage that is critical to understanding Revelation, and one that we have looked at before. The picture in Daniel is that of God’s Messiah coming to set up his rule, to judge the nations, and to destroy the little horn on the fourth beast in Daniel 7.
The second thing to point out concerns the grain harvest (vs. 15-16): the Son of Man reaps the harvest, and the earth is harvested. This is the full harvest of salvation of which the 144,000 were the firstfruits. Reaping here does not mean judgment, but rather to salvation. (Matt. 13:39-42; Mark 4:29; John 4:35-38). And we all know Matthew 9:37-38: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Trampling, though…well that means something else…namely judgement.
The third thing to point out concerns the grape harvest (vs. 17-20): an angel gathers the grapes and throws them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They are trampled in the winepress outside the city, and the blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,6000 stadia. Let’s unpack this.
John does some very poetic things here. All through the Bible (Jer. 51:33; Micah 4:12-13; Hab. 3:12; Hosea 13:3; Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17; Psalm 1:4-5; 35:5; Isaiah 17:13; 29:5; Daniel 2:35) there are references to the gathering and trampling of the chaff—the useless stuff left over from the grain harvest. What John does here, though, given all the images of blood and Babylon’s adulterous wine, and the cup of God’s wrath, John transforms the trampling of the rejects of the grain harvest into a trampling of grapes. The image of trampling grapes works better, given the overall context of Revelation:
- Babylon is drunk on the blood of the saints, so God will make her drink the wine of His wrath;
- Just as the nations trampled the holy city for 42 months (11:2), in the same way they will be trampled in the winepress of God’s wrath;
- Babylon’s wine corrupts the nations with her adulteries (Jer. 51:7), so God’s wine brings wrath and judgment on Babylon and the nations.
The overall point is very similar to what we saw with the 5th, 6th, and 7th seals: God’s people suffer tribulation; God promises redemption; and God brings with that redemption of His people, wrath for His enemies.
