God’s Terrible, Swift Sword – Part 2

Hi, I'm Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to serve as your Bible teacher every day on this great radio station.

On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. It is that second coming of Jesus, when he comes as the judge, to reward the righteous, to punish the unrighteous, that is the focus of Revelation chapter 14. Turn there in your Bibles, if you would, as we look at God's terrible, swift sword. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. The Bible talks about two times Jesus comes to earth for two very different purposes.

The first time Jesus came, he came in meekness as a servant. The next time he comes, he will come in power as a judge. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress takes us to Revelation chapter 14, which describes what that day of judgment will look like. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. There's an old Greek saying that goes something like this, You will break the bow if you keep it always bent.

That's pretty clear, isn't it? God didn't intend for us to work endlessly without some rest and relaxation. And I'm going to recommend a tremendous week of rest and relaxation for you. And I promise you'll come home refreshed and renewed. It's the Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska this coming June 15th through 22nd, 2024. In addition to witnessing the great frontier of Alaska, we'll have plenty of fun on board the luxury liner with laughter and musical entertainment, and we'll study God's word together as well.

Go to PTV dot org today. Download the brochure, but most importantly, secure your spot on the 2024 Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska. Before we resume the message I started on yesterday's program. Let me remind you that my latest book on prophecy has just come off the printing presses and you can be among the first to own a copy. My book is called Mysteries of the End Times. Plus, when you respond today, I'll also send you my new booklet titled The Major Characters of the End Times. Both resources are yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

David and I will give you more details just after my message. But right now, let's give our attention to this stunning depiction of God's judgment in Revelation 14. I titled today's message God's Terrible Swift Sword. If you have your Bibles, turn to Revelation chapter 14. Verse 1 says, Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was sitting on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. There's a second vision that John saw, a warning to God's enemies and a blessing for God's people. Again, it begins with the phrase, and I saw.

I want you to notice the four announcements that John hears. First of all, he sees and hears an announcement of the gospel. Look at verses 6 and 7. And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. John says he saw an angel flying through midheaven, throughout the earth, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ so that everyone could hear it. It is an eternal gospel that is for every nation, every race, every tribe.

Aren't you glad that's the kind of faith you follow, something that's open to everyone? That's what the angel announced in the last times. Secondly, there was an announcement of destruction. Look at verse 8. And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great.

She has made all of the nations drink of the wine of passion of her immorality. He's looking to that final climactic scene when Babylon is destroyed. Now, what is Babylon?

In the Bible, especially in the book of Revelation, Babylon isn't so much a location as it is a representative of the world system that is opposed to God. And then notice, thirdly, an announcement of doom, verses 9 through 11. Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand... Let me stop there and remind you what we saw last time. In Revelation chapter 13, there will be a world dictator that we call the Antichrist.

And in a point during these seven years, he will demand that everyone worship him. And the way you will demonstrate your loyalty to the Antichrist will be by taking a mark on your forehead or in your hands, perhaps some kind of chip that is encoded. And if you do not have that mark of the beast, you risk being killed or watching your family be murdered. Many will be killed because of their unwillingness to take that mark. But even if you don't suffer immediate death, Revelation 13 says, You will be unable to buy or sell without having the mark of the beast. In many ways, that could be more painful, to go through the terrible death of starvation or to watch your children or grandchildren die because they couldn't eat, all because you were trying to be loyal to Jesus Christ and not take the mark of the beast. Those who refuse to take the mark of the beast will suffer the wrath, the punishment of the beast.

But that wrath is temporary. Those who do take the mark of the beast and choose to worship Antichrist instead of the Christ will suffer the wrath of God forever and ever. Look at verse 10. If anyone receives the mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his anger, and that person will be tormented with fire and brimstone. Have you ever heard people say, Well, I just don't like those fire and brimstone preachers.

Well, there it is in the Bible. He will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Let me ask you, would you rather suffer the short-term wrath of the Antichrist or the eternal wrath of God the Father?

The Bible says whoever takes this mark will experience the wrath of God. That word wrath, orges in Greek, means a settled indignation toward. It's not irrational. It's not a temper tantrum. It's God's settled indignation against those who disobey him.

To me, that is more terrifying than an outburst of anger. Outbursts of anger subside after a while, but God's settled indignation toward unbelievers goes on forever and ever. And then he talks about also the full strength of God's anger.

That word thymu is a word that does mean vehement fury, anger. Anyone who refuses to worship God and instead takes the mark of the beast will suffer the full wrath and anger of God. And notice this, verse 11. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.

They have no rest day and night. Those who worship the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name. Listen to me, if you live until the time Christ comes back again and have not received God's forgiveness. Or if you die tonight without ever receiving God's forgiveness through Christ.

You don't just cease to exist. Or you're not just judged by God and then destroyed forever and ever. The Bible says you and I are eternal beings.

Every one of us in this room or watching this program, we are going to live forever. Some will live forever in heaven, enjoying the blessings of God. The majority, Jesus said, will live in hell, separated from God, tormented day and night, forever and ever. Revelation chapter 19, or Revelation 20 says, If any person's name was not found written in the Lamb's book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire and tormented there day and night forever and ever. Here is the awful truth about hell, ladies and gentlemen. If you die as an unbeliever without receiving God's forgiveness, once you have spent 10 billion trillion years suffering the torment of hell, you will not have reduced by one second the time you have left to spend there.

That's not the words of Robert Jeffress, that's the word of Almighty God here in the Bible. That's the fate of those who die without Christ. But finally, there is an announcement of blessing for those who are obedient to the Lamb.

Those who refuse to take the mark and follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Look at verses 12 and 13. Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on, yes, says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them. Unlike unbelievers who will be persecuted forever and ever, those who die in the Lord, that is, they are in Christ, they have been forgiven by Christ, they are blessed. That word blessed in Greek literally means happy. Happy are those who die in the Lord. Friday we had the memorial service for one of the godliest and most influential leaders our church has ever produced, David Wicker. And I read this verse and I said to the family, I said, when you read these words, blessed, happy, that's probably the last emotion that would describe how you feel right now.

But notice what John says. He doesn't say happy are those who are left behind. He says happy, blessed, are those who die in the Lord.

They're the ones who are happy. That seems hard for us to fathom. The being dead would be a happy thing if you're in the Lord. The only reason we have trouble believing that is because there is a dark and penetrable curtain that is drawn between this life and the next life. As much as we would like to see what's on the other side of death, we can't see it. It's a mystery to us.

We can't see what's on the other side, but God sees it. He sees what's on the other side and he says, with all confidence, trust me when I say happy, blessed are those who die in the Lord. He goes on to say, yes, so that they may rest from their labors. That word rest doesn't mean go to sleep. Heaven is not a place of one eternal nap. That word rest simply means to be rejuvenated. We're rejuvenated from our labors.

That word labor doesn't mean work. It doesn't mean we don't work anymore when we get to heaven. God has given us gifts, not just for this life, but for all eternity. The only thing that we won't have in heaven is all the restrictions and the tired bodies and the junk we put up with at work every day.

All that stuff will be removed and we'll be able to fulfill and use our gifts as God originally intended. Yes, so that they may rest from their labors and then he adds this word, for their deeds follow with them. If you're a Christian, what you do on earth reverberates in the halls of heaven forever.

Did you know that? The good things you do make an eternal difference. The old preacher J. Vernon McGee said it this way. It's true we're not saved by our works, but Christians are rewarded for their works.

Our works, whether good or bad, are kind of like tin cans you tie on the tail of a dog. They follow you wherever you go, all the way to the judgment seat of Christ. For these believers who have died in the Lord for their faith, that's good news. God does not forget their deeds, they follow after them. The final vision John saw was a vision of calamity on God's enemies. And he saw it in the form of two judgments.

I think in many ways these may be the same judgments that describe different aspects of the judgment. First of all, in verses 14 to 16, there is the wheat harvest, a prelude to the seven bowl judgments that shows the brevity of God's sudden judgment upon unbelievers. Look at verses 14 to 16. Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man. That phrase almost always refers to Jesus Christ.

It comes from Daniel chapter seven. I saw Jesus having a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Do you know what a sickle is?

It's that curved knife, long knife that's curved and has a wooden handle on it. It was used for harvesting crops. He says, and another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to him who was on the cloud, put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe. Then he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

And we read that and say, oh, isn't that a nice picture here? God harvesting the wheat, kind of like Jesus talked about the wheat and the tares, true believers and false believers. The harvest of wheat, judgment of Christians, right?

No. Wheat isn't used in the same way here. The key word in this phrase is ripe, because the harvest of the earth is ripe. That Greek word means dried and withered. The wheat had stayed on earth too long. It had withered away.

It was worthless, and it's time to get rid of it. And that's what happens at this judgment. This is a judgment of unbelievers, and it happens very quickly. Do you ever listen to the news, read the newspaper, and ask yourself the question, why does God allow evil to continue unchecked in this world?

Why does God allow evil people to do horrific things in this world? Why doesn't God judge the unrighteous? Ladies and gentlemen, justice delayed is not justice denied. Just because God has delayed his judgment upon unbelievers doesn't mean it's not coming. 2 Peter 3 says, the Lord is not slow about his promises, some count slowness, but he is willing that none should perish and all should come to eternal life. The only reason God hasn't judged the world, the only reason he hasn't judged you yet, is he's given you one last time to repent. But there is a day when God's patience will run out. There is a day, a sudden day, when the reaping of unbelievers will come. That's what we have in verses 14 to 16, the brevity of the judgment. But then, in verses 17 to 20, perhaps the same judgment that shows us the ferocity of that judgment, the ferocity of the judgment against unbelievers.

Look at verse 17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. Then another angel, the one who has the power over fire, came out from the altar, and he called out with a loud voice, put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe. This word, ripe, refers to a grape that is so fully grown, it is almost at the point of bursting with juice.

Got the picture? Didn't we think, well, that's a nice thing, grape, I like grape juice? Read verse 19. And so the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth and threw them into a great winepress of the wrath of God.

And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress up to the horses' bridles for a distance of 200 miles. Let me explain what is going on here. Most of you are Baptist, so you're not supposed to know anything about the making of wine. So let me explain it to you. A deacon explained it to me one time.

Let me explain this for you. No, in John's day, to make wine, you would take grapes when they were completely ripe. They would burst forth on their own if you didn't reap them in time. You would take these grapes that were bursting forth with juice, and you would put it in a winepress. Now, a winepress was an upper basin. There was an upper basin that was connected by a wooden duct to a smaller basin below. And people would take these clusters of grape, they would put them in the upper basin, and then the slaves would get in that large basin, and with bare feet, they would trample the grapes.

And the juice would come spurting out of these grapes, and that juice would flow into the wooden duct and flow down to the lower basin below. Now, this is the picture of the final judgment at Armageddon. God says he's gonna gather together the unbelievers of the world, the world forces, and the Bible says it will be a time where they feel the wrath of God, the winepress of the wrath of God. God will trample them. He will slaughter the unbelievers in the north of Jezreel, and their blood will be so voluminous that that blood will rise to the bridle of a horse four and a half feet, and it will travel from north to south, from the upper basin to the lower basin for a distance of 200 miles.

You know why 200 miles is significant? That's the length of Israel from the uppermost north to the bottom to the Dead Sea. This is the final judgment before the second coming of Christ when God tramples the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. And this word is added in Revelation 19, verse 21. And the rest were killed with the sword of God, which comes from the mouth of him, Jesus, who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

Listen to me. God's justice is coming. You can either face God's justice as a believer, as a friend of God. And if you make that decision to trust in Christ as your Savior, listen to what happens. The justice of God, the punishment that you and I deserve, gets redirected to Jesus Christ.

Remember the hymn? For on the cross where Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. God took all of his wrath, his settled indignation.

He took all of his anger, his furious, furious feeling toward the rebellious. Every bit of anger and wrath God had, he poured it out on his own son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God made him, Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. When God's justice comes, you can confront that justice as a friend of God, somebody who has accepted and received God's forgiveness and be welcomed into heaven. Or you can face God's justice as an unbeliever, somebody who has said, I may not be perfect, but I'm good enough to get into heaven. And if that's true for you, if you leave this world without your sins having been forgiven, all that awaits you is the fury, the wrath, the anger of God.

That's what Revelation 14 is about. There's coming the time when God is going to trample out the wrath. He's going to trample out the vintage where God's wrath is stored. There's a time coming when God will loosen the faithful lightning of his terrible, swift sword. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

He is trampling out the vintage where the graves of wrath are stored. He hath bruised the faithful lightning of his terrible, swift sword. His truth is marching on. John's book of Revelation opens our eyes to God's coming judgment, and our destiny is either a friend or an enemy of Jesus Christ. I certainly hope you're learning valuable lessons throughout this study in Revelation called Final Conquest. Now, as we conclude another week of studies in the Bible together, I'd like to remind you that Pathway to Victory would be pleased to send you a copy of my brand new book on prophecy. It's called Mysteries of the End Times, five little-known truths about God's plan for the future. Biblical prophecy is confusing to some readers, but it doesn't need to be. You're invited to request your copy of my book, Mysteries of the End Times, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

But that's not all. When you respond today, I'll make sure to include my new booklet called The Major Characters of the End Times, and it will help you understand key figures in the Bible, such as the dragon, the antichrist, the four living creatures, and the 144,000 witnesses. In fact, my booklet identifies 15 different characters you need to know and understand related to Bible prophecy. David will say more about these resources in a moment, but first, let me underscore the critical importance of your financial support. Pathway to Victory wouldn't exist were it not for people who take a few moments to give us a call.

Go online to ptv.org or write us a letter. May I count on you to respond today? Your generous gift, big or small, will truly make all the difference. David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. When you support the ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, we'll say thanks by sending you a copy of Mysteries of the End Times. That's the brand new book by Dr. Robert Jeffress. You'll get that along with a copy of the booklet titled The Major Characters of the End Times. Call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org.

And when you give an especially generous gift of $100 or more, you'll also receive the complete CD and DVD teaching sets for this month's series on the book of Revelation. Plus, we'll send you a copy of the bestselling book by Dr. Jeffress titled Final Conquest. One more time our phone number 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. You could write to us at this address P.O. Box 223-609 Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O.

Box 223-609 Dallas, Texas 75222. I'm David J. Mullins wishing you a great weekend. Then join us again next week for a message called Is the Coronavirus a Judgment from God? Discover the relationship between sin, sickness, and God's judgment. That's Monday, here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.