Revelation 14 - Victory Accomplished
It seems like God is losing. The key word there is 'seems.'
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Revelation 14 (ESV)
1 Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion
stood the Lamb,
and with him 144,000
who had
his name
and his Father’s name
written on their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven
like the roar of many waters
and like the sound of loud thunder.
The voice I heard
was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps,
3 and they were singing a new song
before the throne
and before the four living creatures
and before the elders.
No one could learn that song
except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
4 It is these who
have not defiled themselves with women,
for they are virgins.
It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
These have been redeemed
from mankind
as firstfruits for God and the Lamb,
5 and in their mouth
no lie was found,
for they are blameless.
6 Then I saw
another angel flying directly overhead,
with an eternal gospel to proclaim
to those who dwell on earth,
to every
nation
and tribe
and language
and people.
7 And he said with a loud voice,
“Fear God and give him glory,
because the hour of his judgment has come,
and worship him who made
heaven and earth,
the sea and the springs of water.”
8 Another angel, a second, followed, saying,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great,
she who made
all nations drink
the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”
9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice,
“If anyone
worships the beast and its image
and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
10 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath,
poured full strength into the cup of his anger,
and he will be tormented
with fire and sulfur
in the presence of the holy angels
and in the presence of the Lamb.
11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever,
and they have no rest, day or night,
these worshipers of the beast and its image,
and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints,
those who keep
the commandments of God
and their faith in Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying,
“Write this: Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord
from now on.”
“Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit,
“that they may rest from their labors,
for their deeds follow them!”
14 Then I looked, and behold,
a white cloud,
and seated on the cloud
one like a son of man,
with
a golden crown on his head,
and a sharp sickle in his hand.
15 And another angel
came out of the temple,
calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud,
“Put in your sickle, and reap,
for the hour to reap has come,
for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”
16 So he who sat on the cloud
swung his sickle across the earth,
and the earth was reaped.