Three Angels

In these verses we have a glimpse of the time just before the return of Christ and the final judgment; much as in chapter 11 it begins with a look at the redeemed, following from vv. 1-5.

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

Revelation 14:6-7

The picture in these 2 verses is of God’s last warning to the people of the earth to repent and come to salvation by grace through faith; time is almost up. Then there is a second angel:

A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” (14:8)

Babylon represents the seduction and idolatry of this world, and we’ll discuss it fully in chapter 17. What we need to recognize here is that this angel speaks of the fall of Babylon as though it had already taken place, so sure is its destruction. Babylon, along with the two beasts we met earlier, is an ally of the dragon with the purpose of luring humanity away from God through the allurements of the flesh.

Then, a third angel, whose message in verses 9-11 is really quite simple, since we are already familiar with the images: Anyone who worships the beast, will share the beast’s fate, and that fate is nearly at hand: Utter, total and complete destruction. Then, verse 12:

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

This almost seems like an aside; sort of offhand, yet it is very much on point for all of us. Worshipping the beast is the basic goal of having a beast representing governments who employ force and violence to silence the Gospel and terrorize believers. This is the power of the beast to crush the Church of the Lamb, and to resist it, we must patiently endure until the end of the age and our deliverance from this present evil age; our “New Exodus”.

The final section is the final judgment; see you then!