The Lamb and the 144,000
Revelation 14I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were a 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of a great thunder. The sound that I heard was like harpists playing on their harps. They sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one was able to learn the song except the 144,000, those who had been redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who had not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were redeemed by Jesus from among humans, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths. They are blameless.
Three Angels and Three Messages
I saw an angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who inhabit the earth—to every ethnic group, tribe, tongue, and people. He said with a loud voice, “Y’all fear God and give ʜɪᴍ glory, for the hour of ʜɪꜱ judgment has come. Y’all worship ʜɪᴍ who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and the springs of waters!”
Another, a second angel, followed, saying, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, she who made all the ethnic groups drink the wine of her immoral sexual passion.”
And another, a third angel, followed them, saying with a great sound, “If anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives a mark on their forehead or their hand, they also will drink of the wine of the God’s fury, which is poured out undiluted into the cup of his wrath. They will be tortured with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. The smoke of their torture ascends for ever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and its image or anyone who receives the mark of its name.
Here is the endurance of the saints, those who keep God’s commandments and the faith of Jesus.”
I heard a voice from heaven saying, “You are to write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they can rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
The Reapers
I looked, and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a Son of Humanity, having a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud sound to him who sat on the cloud, “You must send your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come; because the harvest of the earth is ripe!” The one seated on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was harvested.
Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. Another angel who has power over fire came from the altar, and he made a great sound toward the one who had the sharp sickle, saying, “You must send your sharp sickle to gather the bunches from the vine of the earth, because its grapes have ripened!” The angel swung his sickle across the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of God’s fury. The winepress was trampled upon outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress up to the bridles of the horses for a distance of 1,600 stadia.+14:20 1600 stadia = 296 kilometers or 184 miles