The message of John continues as he reveals a series of proclamations by seven angels who deliver them at the end of time. In our prior study we learned that they begin with a message of world-wide importance, the gospel or redemption of Christ is here. Its relevance is even more important because the hour is late, and the final disposition of evil in the world is soon to be at its end. Those who embrace through submission the gift of Christ, are to be made free from the evil that lives within them. Those who refuse this gift, are left to struggle and fail against their own evil natures, a battle against the slavery of self-service that without Christ, simply cannot be won. The second angel delivers the sad lament, that the great city of Babylon has fallen, has fallen. What was once hoped to be the pinnacle of social order, prosperity, and enlightenment, has become corrupted by greed and avarice and is now fallen. These two proclamations find extraordinary relevance to us, in our day, in our nation. They proclaim to us the importance of freedom from evil that only Christ can bring. And they open our eyes, that our nation, and perhaps even our corporate church structures, have fallen from what they once were. We are not to be blinded by living looking backwards at former glory, but instead we are to look forward to the fullness of Christ in us.
Now, the next proclamation is to be revealed. This one will carry even more weight to us, than it perhaps did to the readers in John’s day. John continues in chapter 14 of his book of Revelations of Jesus Christ in verse 9 … “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, [verse 10] The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:” First we must note that the emergence of the mark of the beast, does not occur until after the third beast has been identified. Worship of a false beast, or of anything outside of Christ, has long been a problem for mankind. So in that sense, it is possible to have seen a fulfillment of this warning in any age. However, there is special significance to the placement of mark of the third beast in the forehead or in the hand, and with respect to the timing of this proclamation. It all occurs AFTER the emergence of the third beast.
The reception of the mark of the third beast can occur in our foreheads. How we think, what we want, what we declare, what motivates us, are aspects of who we are. They form the basis of our identity as individuals. To sacrifice our service to Christ, in order to maintain our prosperity, is to reveal our identity as unaligned with heaven. It is this challenge to our identity that the mark of the beast is intended to reveal. Should we choose worldly expediency over the freedom within us Christ offers, we declare we are followers of the beast and the dragon behind him. The intent is to “force us” into this declaration. Should we steadfastly adhere to Christ, and refuse to deny him, the beast intends to deny us commerce of any kind. We will not be allowed to buy or sell until we give up our voluntary, but sworn allegiance to Christ. We are to be starved to death, excluded from prosperity, cast out of jobs, homes, and relationships, until we submit ourselves to the beast. Or so are his intentions.
But the reception of the mark of the third beast can also occur in our hands. What we do, how we act, the results of who we are, are revealed by our lives. We do in essence what we want. This is why our desires and thoughts and motives are so important. It is why the freedom of Christ, is not found in our actions first, but rather in our hearts first. When we sin, it is because we continue to desire to sin in our hearts. We still “want” things we should not want. We therefore “do” things we should not do. The actions reveal the heart, even if they do not define it. If our identity as followers of Christ is revealed to be false, it will be seen in what our hands find to do. The journey towards perfection is not an instant one. Along the road, we fall because we have not learned to fully trust, and fully submit. Our human nature recoils at the idea of “giving up” some indulgence we have long fostered. But over time we begin to see that what Christ wants for us, is actually better than anything we wanted for ourselves. What He does, He does within us, changing who we are from the inside out.
After that kind of transformation, our hands remain a clear indicator of our hearts. The difference is that after the transformation by Christ of who we are, of what we want – what we do is something different. Many believers in the end of time will be content to never declare against Christ with their mouths, but will be equally content to never submit and be changed either. While their lips will never deny Him, their hearts will. Thus their hands will reveal their true disposition, and their true identity. They follow Christ with their mouths, but are not interested in having their lives altered to follow Him with their hearts. Despite a lack of declaration, they follow the beast without even knowing it. They live self-deceived that they are Christians, blinded to the hate for others in their words and deeds. They are not in harmony with the law of God, because at its core serving self precludes us from harmony with a law based on serving others. In this condition our hands become the revelation that we have assumed the mark of the beast. It is the worst of all worlds. Still forbidden to conduct commerce, and persecuted for a lack of public declaration, but neither are they made free from sin within them, for a lack of submission to Christ. To exist in this state of misery, it will not be long before the lips begin to echo what the hands already state.
Whether through open declaration, or through actions that reveal our choice, the rejection of the gospel of Christ has the same results. It leaves us slaves to ourselves. It leaves us servants of the beast. It leaves us in a state of perpetual hunger, where good is just never quite good enough. When the heart hungers to please itself, there is no end to the hole it must fill. Drug addicts can never seem to get enough drugs to be “happy”. The rich and powerful can never seem to get enough wealth to make them “happy”. Those who seek sexual fulfillment can never seem to find enough of it, to make them “happy”. Our sins of self-service reveal the fundamental flaw in the arguments of Satan; nothing will ever truly make us happy in his systems, because they are not designed to do so. To abandon self-service and choose to love only others, is the way of God, not of His enemy. So to divert away from the perfect fulfillment God offers leads to only one other course, misery and eventually a longing for death to see the misery end.
The wine of the wrath of God, is simply when God ceases to intervene to spare us from the consequences of our own actions and choices. When it is poured out without mixture, or dilution, into the cup of His indignation, we are left completely unshielded from the course we have embraced. The love of God, for even those who steadfastly choose to remain His enemy, has long kept these erring ones from bearing the full weight and consequences of the evil they do. At the time of the end, when the mark of the third beast comes into existence, when the forced choice and compulsion of conscience becomes the norm – it is then when the removal of the protections of God even upon the wicked will be withdrawn. God’s indignation at our refusal to accept His love, and instead continue to choose pain and death, will have exhausted His patience. Those who have consistently through words or deeds blasphemed His name and trampled on His love, will now feel the full effects of the choice they have made. The final attempt by the enemy and beast to compel the conscience on a worldwide basis will be the last act permitted in his constant series of attacks. It will be this final challenge to our identities, that will end the patience of God with evil in this world.
Finally, the ultimate disposition of evil, is to be cleansed with fire before the Lamb, and the angels at the end of all things. There is to be no further redemption or reclamation at that point. What is done is done. What has been chosen is to be respected for all eternity. Those who have chosen to submit to Christ and be transformed by Him, will remain “holy still”. Those who have refused the love of God, and freedom He offers, are to have their choices respected too – and put to rest in final fires for all time. John continues in verse 11 … “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. [verse 12] Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” The final penalty is to be a permanent one, bearing permanent consequences. The smoke, or evidence of the consumption of evil, and the torment which evil inevitably brings, is to rise up forever and ever. Those who meet the final fires are to exist no more for all eternity. They are to become consumed in these fires, nothing left of the evil and torment of their lives, but the residual smoke seen rising in the aftermath. This is the final disposition discussed several times in His book of Revelations.
However, the warning is not just about avoiding the final disposition of evil. Heaven is not merely a fire escape. Those who worship the beast and his image, those who have taken the mark of the third beast into the heads or hands, are to have no rest neither day or night from the choices they have made. Long before the final fires, the way of the enemy is not one of luxury and ease. He sells them that way. But even those of means find, there is only emptiness and stress. Our anxiety flows from worry that we will not maintain what we have amassed, nor obtain the next level of wealth we seek. The stress of never being content, never being secure, never having enough, will plague those who are permitted to conduct commerce for their sworn allegiance to the beast and his image. Sleep is lost to worry. Lives are lost to hearts failing for fear and stress. Rest is lost altogether, for none can be taken without the trust in God required to enjoy it. Neither during the day, when we focus our efforts at work to obtain that next goal; or at night when we try to unwind from the day filling our minds with distractions and meaningless indulgences – do we ever find real rest or relaxation. Stress is ever present. The ways of those who accept the mark of the third beast, who deny their identities as followers of Christ, are ways of want, hunger, pain, and a longing for death.
The acquiescence to the power of the state, and its ideas of legislated morality, do not bring rest (as promised), but rather only increased stress. Despite our continued ability to conduct commerce and avoid a physical death (in theory), the stress of filling a hunger that cannot be filled is something that can never go away. Death is its only release. Torment is not something reserved for the physical pain of final all-consuming fires, it is the condition we find ourselves already in when we refuse to accept the gift of relief that Jesus Christ alone can bring. It was He who said to come to Him and find rest. Those who adopt the mark of the third beast, are in so doing, moving as far from Christ as possible. Therefore they are moving as far from rest as possible. The revelation of John was intended to bring all this to our attention NOW, before we find ourselves having taken on this dreaded mark. It was to make us see, that our lives under the system and slavery of the beast constitute nothing short of torment NOW. Forget the final fires that will eternally purge evil from the universe, we should be seeking that purge today within us. To be freed from evil here while still living is the message of good news of the gospel of love.
It is in this context that John declares “here are the patience of the saints”. It is our steadfast faith in Jesus Christ alone as the sole source of our salvation that sees us transformed to be in harmony with His laws, and enable us to keep them, perfectly serving others and not ourselves. Here is where rest is found. Here is where stress is thrown out the window of our lives. Here is where a trust in God replaces our anxiety about keeping and growing “our stuff” with a peace we have yet to experience. Contentment replaces hunger. Rest replaces stress. Peace replaces anxiety. These are the gifts He so longs to give us in the here and now. There is no reason to wait to see this enacted in us. The patience of the saints is revealed in our recognition this process may take time, but its results are eternal and worthy, and the reason we can worship and bow ONLY to Him who offered them to us. Our gratitude to Christ for what He does within us, cannot be made to be silent. We cannot deny Him either with words, or with what our hands find to do, because our hearts are in pure sympathy with Christ. We begin to love like He loves, without pre-condition, or limitation of any kind. And this love changes us, and the entire world we encounter. For it is His love, reflected through us.
John concludes the message of the third angel in verse 13 as he reveals … “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” Comfort and hope are to be offered to those who face the perils of the enemy in these last days. Earthly death is not to be dreaded by those who have found Jesus Christ. Instead we are to consider it a form of blessing. To rest in the graves, in the full assurance of transformations begun or finished within us before that time, is to be unaware of the blink of an eye in which time is no longer relevant to us. One thought ends, the next begins, and the nanosecond between them could encompass the years between our physical demise, and our physical reawakening at the last trump of God in His resurrection calling. We already know what death is like, we practice it every night when we sleep. Time passes briefly and we awake in the morning refreshed and ready to begin the day. Death is quite literally the same thing. We would have reason to fear Death, if there was to be no morning on the other side of it, nothing to awaken to after the passage of time. But the entirety of the gospel is presented to destroy this lie, and reveal the truth of a God who intended life to be forever. For those who sleep the sleep of death in Christ, the morning is going to be the greatest one of their lives. The awakening they are destined to experience will be like none other. It is for this reason, we are to have both hope and comfort. For literally nothing can forever separate us from the love of God, not even our physical demise in this world of pain.
Then John adds the icing on the cake. Not only do we sleep resting in the assurance of our own salvation founded in Jesus Christ. But our labors follow us. The works of love we have done in selfless service to others, the “seeming” sacrifices we made for another, the unconditional love we showed to those in need – these all bear a harvest we could not imagine. Our broken-tool-lives utilized by God in the united mission for the redemption of mankind are going to bear fruit through the power and blessing of His Holy Spirit. What follows us into His kingdom are the fruits of love we planted while still living in this world of pain. There is no higher calling. There is no greater reward. Not all the eons of time we spend in a life with so much joy we cannot describe it, will equal the value of seeing just one more person there with us to share it with us, because of the love of Christ we reflected unto them. Indeed the true treasure of humanity, is found in the redemption of humanity. The value of just one, is so infinite, and so precious, and so unique, and so irreplaceable, that nothing will ever matter to us more in the light of eternity, than to see just one there to share it with us.
This is why Christ would have come, lived, and died just for you and only you, if you alone were all who would have accepted His gift. Just to have you in heaven with Him, was enough for Him to be willing to die to see just You there. Praise be to God, that you, and perhaps many like you, will be willing to accept that gift. Praise further, that He would so honor us, as to reflect His love through us, and thus make us tools in the mission of the redemption of mankind. We will share His joy, at the redemption of just one more soul. We will learn to value each person we encounter with the precious individuality of the love of God, for just that person. This is another revelation of Jesus Christ made in the writings of John. He reveals how precious each of us is to Jesus Christ. He reveals that this work of redemption is the ONLY thing that matters. Our deaths in this world are inconsequential to the accomplishments we can make living only one day under the transforming power of Jesus Christ in our lives. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they who keep the commandments of God, through the transforming power of faith in Jesus Christ alone as the sole source of our salvation. Lives like this, are the only ones worth living.
But the work and messages of this group of seven angels were not over yet …
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