When basketball teams shoot 50% or more, they almost always win.
Revelation chapter 14 consists of a series of seven loosely connected visions. Five of the seven are easily understood. The sixth will be discussed in detail when we get to chapters 15-17. Only one of the seven is a bit confusing.
Scoring on six of seven shots is performing at an incredibly high percentage (over 85%). And the one section that’s hard to understand really has no bearing on the main thrust of the book.
- Verses 6-7: Even this late in God’s timetable, the opportunity remains for people to respond to the Gospel.
- Verse 8: The fall of Babylon the Great will be discussed at length starting with Revelation 17.
- Verses 9-11: The angel makes it almost impossible to miss what he has to say. “Receive the mark of the beast, and you’re also going to experience the wrath of the Almighty.”
- Verses 12-13: Will life be hard if you don’t get the beast’s mark? Yes. But martyrdom is not as bad as being“tormented with burning sulfur.” Right?
- Verses 14-16: The concluding verses in the overall vision of chapters 12-14 are about a double harvest. The first is a positive collection of grain as Jesus gathers His own.
- Verses 17-20: This is a frightening picture of an angel swinging his sickle and gathering grapes (representing judgment, not salvation). These are thrown into the great wine press of God’s wrath. Then they are trampled and from the press flows not wine but blood, at a depth of four feet and for a distance of 188 miles.
- Verses 1-5 are more difficult: The Lamb is pictured as standing on Mt. Zion with the 144,000 (see Revelation 7). A great sound comes from heaven of a new song, which only the 144,000 can learn. Why that’s the case is explained, but the answer is a bit confusing.
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