Alright, we are picking up where we left off last week. We were able to cover the first beast. We've already introduced the dragon and now the sea beast. Today we'll come to the land beast. So let me read the first five verses of uh not the first five verses the the um verses 11 through 18 of chapter 13 picking up where we left off last time. Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth and it had two horns like a lamb and spoke as a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. Now that in his presence is the literal translation, but it always indicates by the authority of the person in whose presence, like Christ sitting at the right hand of God has the authority of God because he's in his presence. But so when you hear in its presence, um, also understand by his authority and it makes the earth and all those who dwell in it to worship the first beast. whose fatal wound was healed. It performs great signs so that it even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. And it deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given to perform. And here again, in the presence of the beast, being the sea beast by his authority. telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who has the wound of the sword and has come to life and it was given to it to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed and it causes all the small and the great and the rich and the poor and the free and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead and causes that no one will be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark the name of the beast or the number of its name here is wisdom The one who has understanding must calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of man, and its number is 666. We have here a beast, the land beast, I call him, it, actually it's an it, with an incongruous description. This beast is described, first of all, as having horns, which we typically think of as power, but it's horns of a lamb. um which we wouldn't think of as being powerful horns notice just like the sea beast is a parody of christ in that he has his fatal wound that is healed this land beast is also a parody of christ in that he is lamb up until this point in time lamb has always indicated the lamb now we have this lamb with two horns that again is a parody of christ he's a lamb and has two horns as a lamb, yet he speaks as a dragon, showing us that he is a minion of the dragon that was introduced to us in the last chapter. And this is a typical way that apocalyptic literature works. This beast is subordinate to the first beast. It has the presence of the sea beast or has the sea beast authority but only in his presence. Now I want you to notice something. Hopefully as I was reading through this and you're reading your your bibles you may have noticed that I was saying it a lot of times where you might have had him. Was that true? The interesting thing is that the pronoun in the Greek is a neuter pronoun for the beast. It's it. Now, for the dragon, it was a masculine pronoun. The dragon was a him. But both beasts are its. Now what does that say? Well, again, it points to the fact that the dragon being Satan is a personal thing. The it's that are the beast are not persons. They're not people. They're not personal. They are it's. And we identified the sea beast with institutional authority, whether it be governments or in John's day, the trade guilds. here when we see this beast this land beast it has the sea beast's authority in its presence but it only has that authority because the sea beast gives it to us um gives it to this beast it makes the earth to worship the first beast and it has to make an image to the first beast so it causes uh it being if you read it carefully that it it causes the image to be the one that brings death to those that don't worship the first beast but of course since the image is the image of the first beast it's the first beast that's causing this this is apocalyptic So don't try to unpack all of these things in the way that it's really being described, but just see that what is pictured here is the authorities, the worldly authorities, working now in coordination with this spokesman for the dragon, which would indicate sort of a religious authority, a philosophical authority, those things that would teach worldviews in contrast to Christianity and confronting Christianity, who are being empowered by our government, that is working here hand in hand with the governmental institutions. We have the mark of the beast introduced to us here. The land beast causes everyone. And notice it's six classes of mankind. Did you notice that? It is the small and great, the rich and poor, the free and slaves. There's six of these. And in Revelation, that's not a coincidence. The six then is followed by this 666. So this idea of six is one that we must note here. The mark is given to be on the right hand or on their forehand and it will be required in order to buy or sell. So how are we to understand this? Well, William Hendrickson says that this is perhaps the most difficult paragraph of the entire book of Revelation, as if we haven't had some difficult paragraphs before. But how are we to understand it? Well, the main idea is clear. And that is where we should concentrate. The details may be obscure, but the land beast here will be identified as a false prophet in chapter 16, and then again in 19. So as a false prophet, as one who speaks with the voice of the dragon, this represents false religion, false philosophy, any false belief system that is held by man. He resembles the innocent lamb, He's the parody of Innocent Lamb, but he inwardly is the spokesperson of the dragon. So this is the lie of Satan dressed as truth. Remember how Paul described Satan as an angel of light? Marching around as an angel of light? All false prophets during the entire gospel dispensation is represented by this second or land beast. Jesus himself talked about how the false prophets would be disguised as sheep but in fact would be ravenous wolves. So that's the picture that we have here. The focus in other words is on systems or philosophies or beliefs or religions or worldviews in contrast to or opposing the church. So the two beasts, anti-Christian authority, anti-Christian religion or worldview work hand in hand in doing this. The refusal to obey the second beast and worship the first beast means that they will be put to death by the first beast, by his image, meaning by him. This first beast gives his authority to the second and it's only effective in the presence of the first beast. So anti-Christian institutional authority energizes anti-Christian worldview belief systems. Can anybody say woke? We are experiencing this in our culture today. Are we to understand then that when we read these signs that is talked about here about fire coming down from heaven and such, are we to understand that in John's day that the pagan priest of the emperor worship were to call fire out of the images of the emperors or to speak as ventriloquist through the images of the emperor, idols or are we rather to follow the usual path that we see in Revelation that these pictures are to be taken as a whole indicating the deceitful power of these false religions. Bottom line is that throughout the present age false worldviews will deceive the masses and strengthen governments and work under the power of the institutions of authority and come down upon the church. This is going to become more prevalent and more pervasive the closer to the end we come. Jesus himself preached this in his apocalyptic sermon that we have in Matthew 24, Luke 21. He said that false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. But don't miss that even in this, even as this seeming conquest by the forces of Satan of the world, our God is still in control. The false prophet, i.e. the land beast, can only do what he does because it was given to him. Look at verse 15. It was given to it to give breath to the image of the beast in the apocalypse pretty much every passive is a divine passive it is only because god gave it to the image the ability to do this that it that this can be done and we have seen that already up to this point the mark of the beast well the mark of which beast well the beast in this passage is pretty much always the sea beast But we can see that in the way that it plays out here. But the second beast is the one that resembles the lamb. And the followers of the lamb had been marked on their foreheads in chapter seven. We will see at the beginning of chapter 14, again, that we have the mark of the father and the son on us. And perhaps it's the followers of the false lamb that must be marked on their foreheads or right hand. Now that again is parsing this to detail away. That's not the point here. The point is not which beast. The point is it matters not which beast because each of those beasts are what? They're minions of the dragon. And so it's that mark that we are talking about. Now, There's a lot of amusing types of ways of understanding this mark of the beast. I've shown you just a few of them here. The number 666 is gonna be on their foreheads. Well, the problem with that is that we got something on our foreheads too and it's not gonna be like that. Freemasonry was one that was popular for a long time. Recently, the barcode, even more recently, the credit card chip is what that mark's gonna be. Why? Because the buying and selling idea that's there. But when we look at things like this, what we fail to understand is that to interpret the mark as a single outward visible sign on the foreheads or the hands of anybody is limiting that mark of the beast to one time and one time only. And so it doesn't have anything to do with us if it had something to do with John and his time. It doesn't have anything to do with the reformers if it has anything to do with us. And so we can't understand this Mark of the Beast as being something that happens at one time and only one time if it applies to the entire dispensation to which we've been talking. In our understanding of what the beasts represent, we must understand that the mark will appear, and I put that in quotation marks, whenever and wherever the beast appears, and that is throughout the entire dispensation. The coming of the beast, the mark of the beast cannot be separated. So to mark a person, think of branding a slave for example, indicates that they belong to a master, that they serve a master. To receive the mark of the beast means to belong to the beast, to serve it, to worship it. Just as it was said here that the land beast causes the people to worship the sea beast. So, just as the mark which the believer receives indicates that we belong to Christ, we worship Christ, we serve Christ, those who receive the mark of the beast are those who are marked because they belong to the beast, i.e. the dragon, i.e. Satan. They worship Satan. They serve Satan. That's what the mark of the beast represents. It is the, as Hendrickson says, the God opposing, Christ rejecting, church persecuting spirit of antichrist wherever and whenever it shows itself all right what about the placement then why is it said to be placed on the forehead of the hand well the forehead brings to thought mind the thought life the will the philosophy the worldview of a person so as is the worldview so is the mark he bears The right hand, his actions, his deeds, the occupation, for example, of a person. As he does, shows the mark of the person. Here we have introduced the idea of economic hardship. We've already seen this before. We saw it in the very beginning with the seven letters to the churches. And we've seen that this was true in John's day with the pagan trade guilds. But throughout this age, the age in which we are now living, whenever Christians have been hampered in an economic way, the beast is at work. Today, we may see this with the climbing the ladder mentality that is so prevalent, where we have to compromise Christian ethics and principles in order to play the game or to be a team player. So again, this is something that has gone throughout the dispensation. Well, what about this 666 thing? Well, The reassurance is that the number of the beast is the number of man. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, in the Greek language, there is no indefinite article. There is no word for a. So when we read in our English text that the number is that of a man, that is not a translation. That is an interpretation. There's no word for a in the Greek. So do we understand that this is the number of a man in which people have gone to great lengths to prove it was Nero or Domitian or whatever? Or do we understand that this is the mark of man? Well, we've already introduced the fact that this mark was gonna be given to six different classes of men, meaning all of mankind. This idea of six represents man because man was created on the sixth day. You remember from our introduction that six is not seven. It never will be seven. It fails to reach seven. It fails to reach perfection. So six means failure. 666 means failure upon failure upon failure and it represents man not some supernatural power not some specific man but it represents man this is apocalyptic it is a symbol not a riddle so in the symbol symbolism that we have seen this six falling short of seven means imperfection that will never be perfection it is man after the fall and before or without Christ. So don't read that this is the number of a man and try to figure out who that man is. Not even that man of lawlessness at the end of time will be the one that fulfills this, nor any man at the time of John or between John and the end of time. Alright, now that I've clarified that for you, any questions or comments? My son Gregory. In the Old Covenant, Old Testament, a lot of the Hebrews would actually take parts of the Torah and wear them on their forehead with a band. Do you think there's any significance to the fact that these marks are on the forehead because God's law was placed there, that now we have these marks there? I think the symbolism is the same. I don't think it has anything to do with why the picture is here. The symbolism on the forehead, again, the thought, my life, and that sort of thing is pictured by that. They also wore them on tassels on the ends of their garments and that sort of thing. But I think the symbolism is similar, but that's not why this picture is given to us here. It's because of that sort of a thing. All right, anything else? All right, well, let's move into the 14th chapter now and get to the good news, and that is the triumph of God's church. We see this in the 14th chapter in three parts, and these three parts are indicated to us by the repetition of phrase, and I saw, or, and I beheld. Let us look at the first of these in verses one through five, the blessedness of the redeemed. Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb standing on the Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads." You either got one name or the other. All right, and I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing their harps. Now if you don't all of a sudden say this is apocalyptic, you've missed out a lot for the past several weeks. This is the sound of loud thunder but the sound of harpists." Now, how do those go together? Because it's apocalyptic. And they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one can learn the song except the 144,000 who have been purchased from the earth. These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are chaste." Literally, they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the lamb, and no lie was found in their mouth. They are blameless. So in this new vision, John sees a lamb standing on Mount Zion. Mount Zion, of course, is heaven. We saw this in our study of Hebrews. Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. John hears a voice from heaven. Now, who is this voice? This voice from heaven that comes from him is not identified at this time, but it is most likely to be a voice of the father on the throne that we are hearing here. We see again introduced to us the 144,000. This 144,000 we saw back in chapter seven. And we'll mention that again in a minute. But here, what we need to see is that this multitude with the seal of the lamb and the father are described immediately after those who received the seal or the mark of the beast. Having the name of the lamb or of his father on their foreheads is the only option to having the mark of the beast. You're gonna have one or the other and so what is it? Does your thought life, your mind, your will, does that indicate the mark of the beast or the name of the father and the son? Does the actions of your hands indicate the mark of the beast or the name of your father and the son. It's gonna be one or the other. This 144,000 in chapter seven were saints on the earth being persecuted by the world, but here they're enjoying the blessedness of heaven after the final judgment, and it's every single saint that's involved here. 12 by 12 indicates old dispensation, new dispensation. 10 times 10 indicates the complete, 10 times 10 times 10, absolute complete number of those of the old and new dispensations or covenants. These are singing a new song. Notice how this song is initially thunderous and majestic. The many waters, the loud thunders, then sweet and beautiful. The harp is playing on hearts. They're playing before the throne, before the four creatures that we saw back in chapters four following, before the 24 elders that we saw back then. And the song they sing is a song of experience of having been redeemed or purchased out of the world as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And you know, I want to break out in the song, are you washed in the blood, in the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? These 144,000 are described as being not defiled by women. i.e. no fornication or adultery. And you might wonder why this is introduced here. Well, you'll see in verse 8 why it's introduced here. They're also described as following after the Lamb wherever He goes. Wherever He leads, I'll go. Wherever He leads, I'll go. I'll follow my Christ who loves me so. Wherever He leads, I'll go. If I could sing, I'd sing both those to you if I came. These people are people of truth. They are described as the first fruits to be purchased from the world, from among men, as the first fruits to God and to the Son. Now remember, the first fruits don't mean the first fruits and then there'll be more fruits that come after them, as these are those who have been, some people think that those who have been martyred and the rest of us will be further fruits. No, first fruits were the only portion given to God, if you remember, of the harvest. So this is those who belong to God. We are firstfruits because we are those who belong to God, who have been purchased by God. And again, if we look back earlier in chapter four, we were purchased by the blood of the lamb. Yes. I don't ask this resentfully because I'm already purchased, but these 144 are only men. No, they're not only men. Man just means human. Okay, Anthropos is the word which means human. There's a different word for male. This is mankind. It'd be a better way to say that. But again, in our language, man at one time was understood to mean mankind or humankind. Well, it is critical then the comment about not having to wire themselves with women. Yes, and again remember that what we're saying is you need to be understand is it's not that every single Christian has Has never or is a virgin which is a literal word here the idea is that Because we've been purchased by the blood of the lamb when we stand before the father. We've never sinned You say and that's true for all of us whether it be man or woman or child or old. It's because we have been redeemed and we are standing on Mount Zion with Him that the picture that we have now is the picture that He has given to us. And that is because we've been redeemed or purchased by the blood of the Lamb. We have not defiled ourselves. We have been purchased by that. All right? All right, so look at verses six to 13. And I saw another angel flying in men heaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. And he said with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the springs of waters. And another angel, a second one followed saying, by the way, when you see a first one and a second one, you ought to be counting. Okay. And another angel, a second one following saying, followed saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality. Now there's a contrast. The 144,000 were virgins, chaste. The ones who are followers of Babylon, and I'll identify that for you in just a minute, are those who he has made to drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality. All right, then another angel, a third one, followed them saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed, unmixed. That's the literal reading there. I'll explain that in just a minute. It is mixed, unmixed in a cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and its image, that is, whoever received the mark of its name. Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, so that they may rest from their labors for their deeds will follow them. Now, before I said, we have this voice coming and it may have been from the father on the throne in the middle of heaven, here the voice is actually identified for us. Did you pick that up? I heard a voice from heaven saying, right? Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Yes, says the spirit so that they may rest from their labors and their deeds follow with them. And it's perhaps the spirit that we heard initially first because that voice was also heard from heaven. Is it the father? Is it the son? Is it spirit? Come on. That's not the kind of way we parse these things. It's from God, the three in one God. All right. Now after the blessedness of the redeemed has been pictured, now we return to conditions on earth just before the second coming. I hope you heard from this language how we are now have come to that period of time of the final judgment. um and just like in chapter 11 when we have the believers or the church represented there by the two witnesses taken up to heaven into a cloud and then right after that we see the scene returning to earth just before the judgment day here we begin with the 144 000 have been taken up to Mount Zion, followed by the scene back down on earth just before judgment day. Three angels have been introduced to us here in verses six, eight, and nine, and they all have the same purpose, to preach the gospel. But the gospel here is not the gospel good news. The gospel here is the gospel of judgment that is there, which is always the part of the gospel. So they have this purpose to warn mankind about the impending judgment in order to call them to repentance. The first angel is what I call an evangelist to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. Notice that the four classes indicate the whole inhabited world. And it's a gospel message, but a message of judgment. There was a time when it would have been popular to call this message a message of hellfire and damnation. And that's exactly what it is. It's the message of the judgment that is coming if they don't repent. Fear God, they say, give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made heaven and earth, sea and springs of water. And I hope you counted four again, because again, it indicates the whole earth. The second angel comes, he's more of a prophet. He proclaims, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. Now Babylon is the anti-Christian seduction of the world. It may be sexual in nature as is pictured here symbolically, or it may be financial enticement, or any other type of worldly seduction that draws us in. future fall is spoken here as it's occurred as it has already occurred fallen fallen not will fall will fall but fallen it is so sure that it's spoken of as having occurred already the third angel is another prophet proclaiming doom pronounced on all who worship the beast and its image and receive the mark of the forehead on the forehead their hand all of them and only them will experience the judgment of God's wrath. This repetition of this twice indicates the certainty of it that it's all of them but also the certain that it's only them. Now why is this torment described as being in the presence of the holy angels in the presence of the lamb? Well it's apocalyptic for one thing but this would indicate the spiritual realm that we're talking about here okay. Now there's encouragement here for the Saints. Literally it says here is the perseverance of the Saints. who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. Other translations understand this as saying, this calls for the endurance of the saints, or here is a call for the endurance of the saints. This requires the steadfast endurance of the saints. This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God. All of those are translations of this phrase, which literally just says, this is, or here is the perseverance of the saints. But throughout this age and especially as we get closer and closer to the end when things really heat up, saints are called to keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. Literally it says the faith of Jesus but this is one of those genitives that indicates the faith in Jesus. Subjective genitive. Now in the first clear indication of general death of saints, that death that we typically would be facing, is given here in this beatitude. It is to those who die in the Lord from now on. Hopefully all of us here will die in the Lord, however that death comes to us. And so we have this in the benediction. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on, so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them. The harvest that comes at the end is pictured in verses 14 through 16. Then I looked and behold a white cloud and sitting on the cloud, one like a son of man. Now this one's not numbered, but how many have we had so far from heaven? Heavenly beings. Somebody say three. So this would be number four. Say, this one, one like a son of man having a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand and another angel came out from the temple, crying out with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, put in your sickle and reap for the hour to reap has come because the harvest of the earth is ripe. Then he who sat on the cloud cast his sickle over the earth and the earth was reaped." Again, final judgment has arrived and it's described here under the symbolism of a twofold harvest. The first of those twofold harvest comes with the casting of the sickle of this one like a son of man. Now this is straight out of Daniel chapter seven, verse 13, where it says, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. Well, here we have sitting on this white cloud, one like a son of man. He has a golden wreath, not crown, but wreath upon his head. He's Victor. And he has a sharp sickle in his hand. Sickles are used to do what? Harvest or reap. Then there's another angel, not another angel like the Son of Man, but another angel like the first three that have already been mentioned. Okay. There's another angel that comes and he announces the time to reap the earth. Some people, because this is another angel, want to make this one like a Son of Man, an angel, rather than who he really is. All right. But what you need to understand is that this other angel is another, in addition to the first three, and in addition to those to follow, not in addition to the one like a son of man. He announces to the one sitting on the cloud, it's time to reap. Now, why in the world would the son of man, or the son of God, need an angel to tell him it's time? Well, number one, this is apocalyptic, which is always the right answer. But number two, Jesus himself told us that he does not know the time until the father tells him it's time. Now, how's the father in Revelation gonna send word from his throne? He always does it through the angel, okay? And so he sends his angel say, okay, son, it's time. So there's no problem here with the fact that we have an angel bringing a message from the throne to the son of man sitting on a cloud. This is apocalyptic. The son of man is not away from the father. He's still at the right hand of the father, but in this picture, he's sitting on a cloud and he gets a message, okay, it's time. Well, what's it time for him to do? Well, the harvest of the first fruits is what is pictured here. Those first fruits that we saw back up in the fourth verse. This one swings his sickle over or across the earth. That's going to change in the second reaping that we see. The earth is reaped almost in a matter-of-fact type of way. The first fruits, the elect, are gathered here by the Son of Man. It is that rapture that we talk meeting him in the air however you want to picture that but listen to the second reaping and Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven now another angel is what? Okay Which is in heaven? He also had a sharp sickle then another angel Seven the one who has power over fire came out from the altar and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle saying send your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth because her grapes are ripe. So the angel cast his sickle into or to the earth, not over, not across, but into or to the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city and blood came out from the wine press up to the horse's bridles for a distance of 1600 stadia and if you got a version that says something like 200 miles that's too bad but anyway 1600 stadia now notice this reaping is quite different from the first um this one is the the reaping that results in the wine press of the wrath of god so an angel is going to reap the vine ripened grapes not across the earth, and this change in the picture fits the idea of the divine does, the wine press of God's wrath. This angel swings his sickle into or to the earth rather than across it. Now, this other angel that comes cries out to the first one, i.e. the sixth one, the grapes are ripe. What makes them ripe is not their condition. What makes them ripe is it's God's sovereign timing. The time has come. So the great wine press of God is so great that when these grapes are trodden, what do you do with grapes? Walk on them, whatever. Anyway, when the grapes are mashed and the grape juice comes out, there's a lake of blood that results deep enough for a horse to swim in. This is apocalyptic. Now, we can go back to a picture in Ezekiel and see something similar to this, but I don't have time to do that right now. It extends for 1600 stadia. Now, when English translations approximate this distance in miles, they miss the symbolism that's here, unfortunately. And yes, the New American Standard that I like is one of those that miss it. The King James and New King James keep the 1600, they call it furlongs, which would actually be more than 2000 stadia. So even though they keep the 1600 as they should, why do they have to call it furlongs? Well the ESV, fortunately, and the NIV keep 1600 stadia. Now if anyone wants to know how long that is, they can look it up. Just Google it, it'll tell you. It happens to be about 600 feet, but anyway. The point here is not the distance. The point here is the 1600. Because 1600 is 4 times 4 times 10 times 10. Now remember 4 means the whole earth. So we really mean the whole earth. And we mean the complete whole earth, the really complete whole earth is what we're talking about here, or world. So the picture is of a thoroughly complete judgment of the ungodly worldly persecutors of the church. That's what the 1600s stadia mean, not a distance. Finally, the winepress of God's wrath was outside the city. Now, up until now, the only city that has been identified is the holy city, Jerusalem. There has been another city mentioned. I don't know if you remember when we had the two witnesses talked about, it was a great city, but it was never identified. We don't get that identification until later in Revelation where the great city is Babylon. But right now, the only one that's been identified is the holy city. So if it's the city, it has to be an indicator of the holy city. So how appropriate that God's wrath is poured out on the ungodly and the very same place that it was poured out on his son. Now, Before we get into the sea of glass mixed with fire and toward the bowl judgments, are there any questions about chapter 14 and this completion of another cycle that brings its completion right now at the time of the final judgment as the other first three did that we talked about? Any comments or questions? Because I've got three minutes to go through about four verses. All right, 15, one through four. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished. And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire and those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and the number of its name standing on the sea of glass or standing by it. The preposition could be either one. holding harps of God, and they sang the song of Moses, the bond servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy, for all the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. Notice how just like at the end of the trumpets, you have the sixth trumpet, and then you have the introduction of the seventh trumpet angels, the seventh angel, then you have an interlude before the seventh trumpet actually sounds. We have this, we have the introduction of, I said that wrong, the seals, the end of the seals, you have the introduction of the seven trumpets, but then there's an interlude before they actually start sounding. Here you have the same thing. The seven angels of the seven bowls, now the bowls haven't been mentioned yet, just the plagues, are introduced and then we have this interlude of this sea of glass mixed with fire. So the same sort of image is given here. These plagues indicate the wrath of God is finished. It's the climax is what it says. Now it's what appears as a sea of glass mixed with fire. It's not a sea of glass mixed with fire. Earlier in the chapter 4, we saw a sea around the throne of God, if you remember. So why now is it mixed with fire? Well it would have been mixed with fire then too. If you remember there were lightning bolts coming out from the throne and there were seven lamps with fire. So that seed then would have also been reflecting fires. Not that there's anything different here but the focus is on the fire. this fire that is there is the fire of God's overwhelming transcendent holiness and in the apocalypse that always indicates the judgment that he has against his enemies so the fire is actually mentioned here because of the focus on judgment notice how this sea of glass is before the throne of God separating him and the lamb from everything else that'll come into play in chapter 21 are they are 144,000 because we know it's them because they're playing the harps. Are they standing on the sea or by the sea? Well, it can be either one. These are the ones who have conquered the beast, conquered its image, conquered the number of its name, and they glorify God and they sing. The fact again that they hold harps identifies them with 144,000. And so what they're doing is giving glory to God. First, well let's just stop there. We don't have time to go on into that. So here we have the introduction again to the bowl plagues but we're not going to see those bowls until we get down to verses five and following and we'll pick that up next week. Let's pray. Father we thank you so much for this your word. Hide it in our hearts. Encourage us by it. Help us to understand that as we experience the worldly persecution, whether it be in the form of the false teachings that are given, the worldviews that are so pervasive and such opposition to your word. Help us to understand that all of this is under your sovereign control and you are working it all out to your completion, which is gonna be so wonderful. Encourage us by that is my prayer in Christ's name, amen.