God Always Warns

Revelation 14. The events in chapter 14 are not in chronological order but are panoramic with the details to follow later. Remember, all this has been revealed to John from an eternal perspective. John is caught up (4:1) into heaven and is seeing all of this from an eternal viewpoint. Think of it like this. You are watching a parade, but you're watching it from a helicopter high in the sky. You can see the beginning of the parade, and you can see the end of the parade. But the bystander on the street only sees one float at a time pass by. We're on the street. John is in heaven. So don't try to put all of this in chronological order. Let's just study it the way God gave it to us and make note of where the time frames are. For instance, the pronouncement of doom upon Babylon in verse 8 is not presented in detail until chapter 17-18.

One thing we'll highlight today is the three angelic warnings:
1. The Preaching of the Everlasting Gospel: 14:6-7
2. The Warning That the Babylonian Religion Will Eventually Be Destroyed: 14:8
3. The Worshipers of the Anti-Christ Will Be Judged: 14:9-11

Tim LaHaye sums it up for us:
"We can only conclude that those who are thus harvested and pressed into the winepress of God's wrath are the incorrigibles, who stumble over all kinds of divine warnings against following Anti-Christ. This tragic picture of the culmination of all things is another indication of the depravity of the human heart. With such supernatural warnings one would think that the ungodly would fall down and worship Jesus Christ, but nothing could be further from the truth. This is another reminder to us that when people reject the Lord, their problem is one of the will, [not the intellect]."
Psalm 14:1 bears this out: "The fool has said in his heart, 'there is no God...'" Notice, the fool-the atheist- says in his heart, not his mind. In his mind, he knows there is a God, but from his heart, that is from his volition, he refuses to believe. Again, it's a problem of the will, not the intellect. It's good to understand this when you are witnessing to someone who refuses to believe, because it's not a matter of presenting enough convincing evidence. It's is a matter of his or her will. They flat out refuse to believe. But they, just like these in the Tribulation, will have warning after warning before God judges. God always warns before He judges!