SCRIPTURE: Revelation 14
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. [Revelation 14:11-12]
In this vision, we see two sides of God’s kingdom plan – the 144,000 (symbolic of fullness of all believers who remain true, pure, to God) and the citizens of Babylon (symbolic of all who reject God and His will).
On earth, these two co-exist, which is why God’s judgment against the wicked calls for patient endurance from God’s people – they too will go through the judgment.
But they will survive the harvest, and be blessed!
Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” [Revelation 14:13]

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” [Matthew 13:28-30]
Jesus tells a parable about a farmer’s field that was ruined by weeds, and how the farmer chooses to let the wheat and the weeds coexist for a season.
Why? for the sake of the wheat, that it does not perish in the judgment.
Although this story seems to contradict what John sees in his vision (the wheat seems to suffer in the judgment too), at a deeper level they agree with each other.
The point is that the godly do co-exist with the ungodly, and the godly do suffer.
But God’s concern is to protect and preserve His people, while punishing those who refuse to repent, and continue to do evil.
There will be a time of judgment, but the wheat will be separated from the weeds!

In this vision, it is not wheat but grapes; different image, but ultimately same message.
The Lord is in the process of punishing sin so that He can restore His kingdom.
It will not be pretty – it will call for patient endurance – but it will be necessary.
This is a reminder that sin is really bad, that it will be punished, if it is not repented of.
Sin (abuse, injustice, deception, greed, sexual perversion, cruelty, selfishness, etc.) is a cancer in God’s creation, and it must be eradicated.
As with radiation or chemotherapy, the treatment is difficult, but necessary.
We may not like the treatment (the imagery of grapes trampled, blood flowing is gruesome), but the sickness is worse.
People who do not take sin seriously will not see this, and will see God as being extremely harsh; but those who know what sin is, how bad it is, will see it differently.
While the Lord’s treatment for the cancer of sin endures, His followers must stand firm in doing what is right and moral and good – even if they suffer for it.
They may not survive the treatment, but they will overcome the cancer.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” [Revelation 14:13]

PRAYER:
Lord, I do not like to think about the final days of judgment, and yet I know the treatment is necessary. Help me to hate sin, and seek You and Your will!