Thursday, March 7
How does Revelation 14:12 depict God’s faithful people?
In contrast to God’s faithful people, Revelation 14:9-10 warns about the fate of those who face God’s wrath. In the Old Testament, the outpouring of God’s wrath is described symbolically as drinking wine from a cup (Jeremiah 25:15-16). The severity of the judgment upon the worshipers of the beast is expressed as drinking the wine of the wrath of God that is poured out “without mixture” (Revelation 14:10)into the cup of His indignation. In ancient times, people often diluted wine with water to reduce its intoxicating strength. But the wine of God’s wrath is described as “unmixed” (akratou). The unmixed, undiluted wine represents the pouring out of God’s wrath in its full strength, without mercy.
Read Revelation 14:10-11 along with Revelation 20:10-15. How do Isaiah 34:8-10 and Jude 7 shed light on the statement: “And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever” (NKJV)?
The statement of the torment with fire and brimstone refers to total destruction. Fire and brimstone is a means of judgment (Genesis 19:24, Isaiah 34:8-10). The ascending smoke of destruction is a well-known image in the Bible. Isaiah prophesied of the future destruction of Edom by fire and brimstone: it will become a burning pitch; “it shall not be quenched night or day; its smoke shall ascend forever” (Isaiah 34:10, NKJV). Jude describes the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah as suffering the punishment of “eternal fire” (Jude 7). These texts do not talk about endless burning, for none of these cities is burning today. The consequences are eternal, not the burning itself. The “eternal fire” in Revelation refers to annihilation; the burning will be long enough to make the consumption complete until nothing is left to burn.
Although we can be thankful for the great truth that the fires of hell don’t torture the lost for eternity, the punishment is still terrible enough. What should the permanence and the severity of the punishment tell us about the sacred task we have been given to warn others about what is coming?
