Revelation 14:9 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Revelation 14:9

Comments

The third of three angels completes this solemn warning (Isaiah 51:17; Jeremiah 25:12-17; Genesis 19:24; Ezekiel 38:22). He speak loudly; it is a message which men must hear. None must reach hell by surprise. Either their consciences or the word of God will inform them. Scripture warns us in such graphic language because the nature of the lost state is so awful. God demands exclusive worship and adoration. Worship is the highest form of honour that we can pay to another. It is that honour which is only appropriate to give to our Creator, our Redeemer. It is crediting him with attributes which cannot belong to any other. To worship another god is an act of deliberate provocation, yet men worship the beast and his image. They worship the exact opposite of God. The Spirit doesn’t say that men will worship the devil directly, but that they will worship his agent, the beast. Satan is content with this and can more easily achieve it. Men worship the world when they treat it as the ultimate good. They will drink of the wine of the wrath of God. Wine is used as a figure several times in the prophets. The cup in question is filled with wrath from God and so has to be treated metaphorically. Like wine which brings intoxication, the experience of drinking the wrath of God will be all-consuming. Jeremiah describes the nations as staggering and going mad. God’s anger, for so long held back, will, when it comes, be overwhelming. Then there will be no doubt about how God feels about their sin; nothing they have done has been forgotten. They have not got away with their sin as they mistakenly thought. Wrath will be poured full-strength into the cup of his indignation. There will be no holding back, no mercy mixed with it. The time of pleading is past, when they might have appealed to mercy of God. Now they must experience endless remorse. How can any dare to worship another God in the presence of the true God? And yet we have all done so. This cup is a description of hell and of a punishment that will never end.‘He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.’ The reality of hell is affirmed here. This is not Hades, the temporary place to which the wicked are sent before the day of judgment. These events take place after that great Day of Judgment and result in an eternal state that can never change. It is the place into which the devil, the beast and the false prophet will be thrown (Revelation 20:10), and the place into which all the unbelieving will also be thrown (Revelation 21:8). All who follow the devil in this world will join him there.There they will be tormented in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. The angels too recognise that vengeance belongs to God. But when that vengeance comes how terrible it is. They will see the awesome justice of God poured out on the devil. They will not question that justice, but agree that crimes of such magnitude deserve precisely this punishment. The devil will be utterly vanquished. He will be humiliated before God and before the righteous angels. While he still triumphed, they did not bring a railing accusation against him but waited patiently for God to act. Now God has given them complete authority over their enemy, so that he is trodden down under their feet. There is nothing unseemly about this situation. The desire for revenge against awful acts of wickedness is not wrong. It is no more than a desire for justice. God’s vengeance recognises all the wrongs done to his servants and elevates them over their enemies so that to the extent that they have suffered, they will enjoy their final triumph over evil. Evil made no concessions to good in the day of its power, and God will make no concessions to evil when he judges it. It would be utterly inappropriate to show mercy to those who are incorrigibly wicked. They have shown that they are incapable of appreciating or responding to such mercy, having been offered it and rejected it a thousand times during their lives. Evil men seek only to take advantage of mercy to do even more evil, perceiving it as a weakness on God’s part and they despise him for it. Such intractable wickedness can only be met with intractable severity.There will be a physical aspect to this judgment, for though the language used here is partly metaphorical, yet man in eternity will be composed of soul and body, both in heaven and in hell. The unrighteous also will be raised from the dead. Man as a totality will be punished by God as a totality. We may be shocked at the severity of God seen here, but it teaches us how great an evil sin is, that it needs to be punished in this way.

Application

It is men who preach the gospel not angels, but those preachers should preach with the authority of angels, even of God himself. Let no one who hears the gospel from a mere human preacher despise it. God speaks to us through our fellow human beings so that we are not overwhelmed, nevertheless men should treat this message as the oracle of God.

The things about to be spoken of are of the utmost importance to God. Are they important to us? Our perception of our danger is so often altogether inadequate. We will be held accountable by God and face the severest possible consequences. This is not something which just a few people do. This is the universal practice of every human being who does not know God. The whole world has practised the false worship that is condemned here.

The people of Babylon were made to bow down to a man-made representation of the beast in the form of the image that was set up by Nebuchadnezzar. They were threatened with death otherwise. They were commanded to bow down, and for the most part the threat had the desired effect. Thus the beast gets the world to conform. Many times during history, the image of the beast has had tangible form, and perhaps it will be so at the end of the world, and the beast will be literally worshipped. Believers must be very clear that when it comes to this point, providence has led them to a place where they are required to pay the ultimate price for their adherence to the truth and to the Lord. God will keep us through such deep waters. Many will have to lay down their lives for the Lord.

‘The same shall drink’ – the language emphasises that God’s response will be to individuals. He scrutinises each life and prepares a just reward for each one. None can escape his notice. God is in heaven but he notices and cares about the individual conduct of each one on earth.

Questions

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Revelation 14:9 Commentary and Bible Study