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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise forever 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 14:9-12
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
There are two eternal destinies and every single person will end up in one or the other.
On one hand, there is the everlasting glory, beauty, and majesty of Heaven where the light will not be from the sun but rather from God and His Son Jesus, the only One who can bring someone to His Father (John 14:8). Gaining this wonderful outcome is simple. All one needs to do is place their belief in Jesus as Savior.
Conversely, anyone who chooses to reject Jesus and place their belief and hope in anything else will end up in Hell, a place of darkness, torment, and torture where they will live forever. It’s been said that a part of the anguish and agony of Hell will be constantly remembering that the person passed up their opportunity for Heaven by passing on Jesus.
This discussion is one that is critically important any time Christians are sharing the Gospel and that should be every day as we fulfill our responsibilities given by Jesus through His Great Commission. Every disciple has been tasked with carrying on His work of helping other find their salvation in Him and in Him alone.
As we pivot to our scripture passage today, we see where the message of the third of three angels, sent from Heaven to proclaim God’s words to the people of earth, aligns and proclaims this matter of choice: Heaven or Hell. Look again at those words here as we continue our study of Revelation, chapter 14:
A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise forever 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. Vv. 9-12
Here, we find the third angel sending a warning that carried with it eternal implications. The warning is in real time, addressing the matters that will be happening in that moment during the three and a half year period of the Great Tribulation. We know this period is marked by Satan unleashing an evil plan on earth that would have the earth’s population worship a great beast unleashed from the sea, a beast that would spew blasphemies against God and Heaven while captivating people with his wonder and deceit. Sadly, in Revelation 13, verse 8, we read of the tragic result of the beast’s influence as he carries out the work of Satan along with his accomplice, the beast from the earth:
All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
Further, these people who hadn’t placed their belief in Jesus would be persuaded by the second beast to allow themselves to be marked, an act we read about in chapter 13, verses 16 and 17:
It (the second beast) also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
These were the people that the third angel addressed, promising God’s sure judgment was coming upon them, the eternal judgment of Hell. They would “drink the wine of God’s fury”, a righteous wine unlike the wine of sinful decadence we saw the second angel talking of in yesterday’s message. Indeed, those not in Christ would experience the “full strength” of God’s cup of wrath and “be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb” with “the smoke of their torment” rising up “forever and ever”. Further, in Hell we read where there would be “no rest day or night” for all those who chose to “worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name”.
As for those who had placed their hope in Jesus, those whose names were written in the Lamb’s book of life, the angel had a message for them as well. For we see where they were called to wait with “patient endurance” while keeping God’s commands and remaining “faithful to Jesus”. For while Satan and his two beasts would have their day on earth for a time, times, and half a time, their eternal destiny was already secured. Hell would be their home and the message from the third angel, passed on from God, was that anyone who chose to partner with His enemy would share Hell with them for all eternity.
Today, although we haven’t reached the coming events of Revelation, the people of the world still have two choices based on who they choose to partner with and that choice carries with it the same eternal implications.
Choose a relationship with Jesus, and you will be saved with a final eternal destination of Heaven.
Opt for Satan and you can abide with him in the agony of Hell forever.
Which will you pick?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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