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4. The eternal torment of those who worship the beast (Revelation 14:9-11)
REVELATION 14:9-11
9 Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 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.
The patriarch in his exile was aware of the spirit and the methods of the anti-Christian beast and its accomplices, the false prophet and the harlot Babylon. Now he called out to his churches in Minor Asia as a last warning the dead serious doom of the third angel so as to keep them as a good shepherd from the torment of hell.
The third angel called out with a penetrating, unmistakable voice that every kind of worship of the son of the dragon and its speaking image inevitably leads to the eternal fire. Everyone who opens himself to the evil spirit of the beast from the sea and worships the enemy of Christ must be judged and punished, whether he does it intentionally and deliberately or only outwardly and two-faced so as to fulfil his duty, whether he does it voluntarily or against his will. The deliberate commitment to the son of evil as well as an only superficial contacting or pro forma contact with him make man evil in such a manner that he does not fit any longer for heaven. The only remaining choice is to burn him. For the sake of the right and the future he must be destroyed and eradicated together with the son of the evil one. Already receiving the mark of the beast on the forehead or on the arm means the declaration to belong to the enemy of the Lamb and a wilful estrangement from the Son of God, the only Savior from the wrath of God.
John wants to lead his church to a frank testimony to Christ, even if this confession should mean death. The declaration of belonging to the Lamb of God is more crucial than any earthly punishment. Whoever now thinks that he nevertheless could serve God and mammon, Christ and the beast, the Holy Spirit and the harlot Babylon, is naive and has neither known God nor Satan nor his own sinfulness. There is no salvation but in Jesus Christ! Who engages with other gods, spirits, leaders, powers, parties or church organizations and sets his hope and trust on them, will lose his footing and will fall far. Jesus alone is our Savior, our redeemer and the good shepherd. He is the Lord and our judge. In such a case there is no use playing a hypocritical double game. The anti-Christian powers force us to a true and eternally valid decision for or against the Savior Jesus Christ.
The Fury of God: Whoever delivers himself up to the enemy of God or just plays with him so as to gain profit, will have to be afflicted with the fury of God in a full measure. God loved the world so much that he sacrificed his only son for depraved sinners so as to justify them and give them his eternal live (John 3:16). Who spurns this holy love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and rejects it willfully or recklessly, will be hit by the brunt of the wrath of God. The eternal God gives him over in the punishment he deserves. While he holds the salvation prepared for him in contempt, he condemns himself and chooses his doom because of his sins and unbelief. Here it is not spoken of a shorter or longer purgatory as in Islam or the Catholic Church but of an eternal torment comprising delayed repentance and continued pangs of conscience as well as external pains, anguish and desperation. We as Christians should more often speak of the reality of hell so as to save the members of the church, otherwise once the tormented will accuse their pastors and teachers because they only spoke of the grace and love of God, but kept quiet about the truth about his judgment and his punishment.
Who once scalded his fingers or got another burn, may have a presentiment what it means to be eternally in the fire of the wrath of God. And who had once to breathe in a sulfur stench or was close to a smoke poisoning, will know how much man in such an emergency is panting for air and oxygen. Solely in Christ is our escape from the fire and fume of the hell, with Jesus there is good air and fresh water, rest and peace, love and joy.
The Double Warning of the Angel: The Torment of Hell is Awful and Endures Forever: The angel charged John to describe the eternal reality drastically so as to warn and shock his churches. They should prefer physical death through sword to the eternal death in the fire of the divine judgment. The danger of apostasy out of fear of death and the temptation to worship the beast and its image can many people only overcome through the horror and the fright of God's wrath. In this case a firm decision is to make: God or Satan, Christ or anti-Christ, Holy Spirit or hell of torment.
Jesus sacrificed himself for us! He knows even you and saved you out of love. If you reject this gift by grace, Jesus and his holy angels will look at you in your torment full of sorrow so that you may recognize: “God is righteous. His Lamb wanted to save me, but I have chosen the fellowship of the beast. I feared men rather then God and His Lamb". As judge Christ has to become witness of your punishment. Because of the holiness of Him who's love is unceasing he must look the torment of those, who abandoned themselves to idols, to evil spirits and to the anti-Christ.
The angel intensified his warning and asserted that the torment of those who love the harlot, of the fellows of the false prophet and the worshippers of the beast will endure unceasingly, infinitely, without rest and without a veto from eon to eon. For there is no greater wrongdoing than to regard the love of God in Christ with contempt and to prefer human securities instead. Playing a double game is impossible in the long run! Who worships the beast or its image and avows himself publicly to it by bearing its mark, will have separated himself from the salvation in Christ and from God and chosen the devil and his son as fellow for the eternity. In hell one day is as a thousand years!
Humanism is a lie. No man is good and is able to save himself. Even an expensive education does not bring any improvement of our ego. Solely the blood of Christ and his Holy Spirit will save and sanctify us. Who rejects this salvation by grace, bears the blame himself and chose therewith his condemnation. The triune God warns us in his holy love. There is no universalism, but only salvation or judgment.
PRAYER: Merciful Father, Your name is Holy, and Your love is Holy. It guides us to commit ourselves to Christ, not to another god, or to antichrist, or to another spirit or power. You are our only faithful Father. Help us to respond to Your love to us with the love given to us that we may continue in Your Son Jesus. Grant us not to obey the antichrist at any cost, and help our friends and relatives so that they may never submit to the son of the Evil One. Amen.
QUESTIONS:
- Why will God's destructive wrath fall upon the worshipers of antichrist?
- Why will the followers of antichrist not find peace for themselves, but suffer everlasting torment?