The wilderness is beautiful and awe-inspiring. But if you cross it, it will kill you in a heartbeat. The wilderness doesn’t kill you because it is mean. It kills you if try to do something that is contrary to its nature, because its nature is unyielding. It is what it is. In the same way, God isn’t mean or vindictive. But he is Absolute. His nature is the foundation of everything that exists. It doesn’t change. And that means those who rebel against his Holiness & Righteousness, or even ignore it, will break themselves to pieces on God.

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Download Revelation Part 32

Revelation #32. Revelation 14:14-20.

This is the last of part four, the seven visions. Like the Seven Seals and the Seven trumpets, the Seven visions give us a certain way of looking at human history. They show us history as part of the ongoing spiritual battle between the devil and God’s people. The seventh vision shows what the conclusion of history will involve: First, the righteous will be gathered in: that is the meaning of the first harvest (verses 13-16). Second, those who side with the devil and the two beasts will, along with them receive the full experience of God’s wrath. Once again this only occurs after extensive appeals from Heaven to the people on earth, calling them to repent and receive the grace offered in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Both the Old and New Testaments teach clearly that God is not yet punishing sin. This is something that I think some Christians don’t understand. The punishment for sin is eternal torment, entirely separated from God. It won’t happen to anyone until the end of time. So, whatever hardship you are going through, it is not God punishing you for sin. Sometimes God uses the circumstances of your life to try and get your attention, or to try to teach you something. But He has not yet punished anyone for sin. He is withholding his wrath, trying to bring as many as possible into His kingdom through faith in the grace of Jesus Christ.

⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (ESV) 2 Peter 3:8-9

Even so, the Bible teaches that one day, God will wrap up this world. That is what our verses today are about. On that day, God’s wrath against sin will be let loose against those who refused to accept the salvation offered in Jesus Christ. I’ve italicized parts of the verses below, to highlight what I mean.

⁴ Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵ But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. (ESV) Romans 2:4-5

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. (ESV) Matthew 3:7-8

⁵ Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ On account of these the wrath of God is coming. (ESV) Colossians 3:5-6

There are many, many more verses that say the same sorts of thing. However, if we acknowledge God’s righteous claims, repent, trust in Jesus, surrender our lives to Him, then wrath is not our future.

⁹ For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. ¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (ESV) 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

The consistent appeal of the Bible, and of all true Christians since that time, is to receive that salvation now, before it is too late. We live in the period of grace. Remember, we have encountered this Revelation before. Until the end comes, there is still the possibility of repentance. But once God treads out the “grapes of wrath,” that time will end. Paul urges everyone to seek God while he may be found:

We also appeal to you: Don’t receive God’s grace in vain. ² For He says: “I heard you in an acceptable time, and I helped you in the day of salvation.”
Look, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation. (HCSB Free) 2 Corinthians 6:1-2

So, these verses describe two things that were very important for John’s first readers to hear. Remember, they are suffering persecution and incredible injustice. People are hurting them, confiscating their property and even killing them, with no justification, and getting away with it. Verses 14-17 tell them this: there will be an end to the injustice and suffering. In God’s perfect time, they will be brought to him. The image harvesting grain conveys the idea that there is a perfect time, and that God wants every possible person to be saved. When that time is complete, God’s people will be taken to him, safely. They will be removed, and kept safe from the coming wrath.

The second piece is the final release of God’s wrath. The day of wrath is indeed coming, as it says all throughout the scripture. Everyone who refuses God’s grace in Jesus will have to answer for the evil in their hearts. Every wrong will be made right. God will no longer hold back.

If all this sounds familiar, then you are starting to understand: Revelation repeats the same things in several different ways. Sometimes we get new information, but mostly, we are getting a strong affirmation from God that he has a plan to save his people, give everyone a fair chance to repent, and then come, and punish evil, and make all things right.

So, what does this do for us, today? One of the reasons I think the message of Revelation is important in the 21^st Century is because our culture, and even the church, has lost our understanding of God as holy and righteous. We may see Him as mean and uncaring. But that isn’t the same thing.

More frequently, the message is that God is laid back and mellow, and just wants to help you fulfill your dreams, no matter what those dreams are. We’ve lost sight of God’s awe-inspiring, unfathomable holiness.

God isn’t mean. But he is Absolute. His nature is the foundation of everything that exists. It doesn’t change. And that means those who rebel against his Holiness & Righteousness, or even ignore it, will break themselves to pieces on God.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the great outdoors, including some time in very rough and remote places. The wilderness is beautiful and awe-inspiring. And if you cross it, it will kill you in a heartbeat. The wilderness doesn’t kill you because it is mean. It kills you if try to do something that is contrary to its nature, because its nature is unyielding. It is what it is.

If you stand on the edge of a cliff, you will have beautiful views. But if you do not respect the cliff, and you are not careful, you may fall off, and break many bones, or even die. It is no use saying to the cliff “Why are you so mean? Why would you hurt me?” If you don’t live according to nature of the cliff, it hurts or kills you, simply because a cliff is what it is. The problem is with you, not the cliff. So it is with God. His nature is what it is. Those who reject it will suffer the consequences, not because He is mean, but because he is God.

God isn’t just mellow. He cannot change his Holy & Righteous nature, and so he made the awful sacrifice of the Cross so that we, who cannot be remotely holy enough, could be enfolded into his love. It’s like he threw himself down the cliff and broke all of his bones, so that no one else would have to; only it is far, far more than that. Please listen to Revelation #31 about Hell to get the full picture of the incredible sacrifice God made for us. That sacrifice is not an endorsement of our lives; it is redemption, it is salvation. If we receive it, our eternal future is joy, grace & love.

If we refuse it, His Holiness will crush us. Our culture needs to hear this once again.

But there is the other side, too. If we receive what he offers us, the incredible grace of God in Jesus, then we can be part of the first harvest. We gathered with him to be with those of every tongue, tribe and nation who are caught up into the joy, love, peace and grace of God.