Insight from Revelation 14:<\/p>\n
Revelation 14 is a fitting conclusion to Revelation 11, 12, and 13. It is also an introduction to events described in later chapters of Revelation.<\/p>\n
In 14:1-5, John sees the Lamb and 144,000 \u201cvirgins\u201d standing on \u201cMount Zion\u201d. After the very difficult messages about the dragon and the beasts persecuting the saints in Revelation 11, 12, and 13, these verses should bring great encouragement to the saints. In spite of tremendous persecution by the dragon and his beasts, the saints have conquered! None of them were destroyed by the dragon and his beasts! None of them took the name of the beast on their foreheads (see 13:16)! Instead, all of them have the name of the Lamb and the name of the Father \u201cwritten on their foreheads\u201d (14:1). All of the saints are standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion.<\/p>\n
These first five verses are very similar to both sections of Revelation 7 (7:1-8 and 7:9-17). Carefully read Revelation 7 and the notes connected to Revelation 7.<\/p>\n
Revelation 14 isn\u2019t just about the salvation of the saints. It is also about the destruction of the wicked. This chapter does not describe the destruction of the dragon and the beasts. Rather, it is about the destruction of those who follow the dragon and his beasts. Later chapters will focus on the destruction of the dragon and his beasts. The wicked people who follow the dragon and his beasts are identified with a city. This city is named in 14:8. It is called \u201cBabylon the great\u201d. In the same way that Mount Zion (the new Jerusalem) is the city of the righteous (see 14:1), Babylon is the city of the wicked. The destruction of this city will be a major theme in Revelation 17 and 18.<\/p>\n
Revelation 14 ends with a description of two \u201charvests\u201d of the earth (14:14-20). The harvests are symbolic of people being saved or destroyed. These verses are grace to believers. They remind believers to persevere until Jesus returns. These verses about the harvest are also grace to those who currently follow the dragon. They are a warning that these people must repent before it is too late.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_crdt_document":""},"class_list":["post-4751","reading-plan","type-reading-plan","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan\/4751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reading-plan"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}