Revelation fourteen elaborates on the remnant’s side of the war with the dragon that was announced in Revelation 12:17. The people of God are described as the “remnant” in 12:17. That term is not used, however, in Revelation 14. Instead “remnant” re-appears as the 144,000, familiar from chapter seven. That the two are related becomes clear when one realizes that the language of Revelation 14:1-3 is drawn from Joel 2:32. There the people of God is not called the 144,000, but “the remnant.” John uses this tactic to show that for him, remnant and 144,000 are two different terms for the same group, the end-time people of God. In chapter 14, the end-time people of God are those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes (Rev. 14:1-5).
What are the people of God doing during the end-time crisis? This is elaborated in the following passage, the most famous of all Bible passages to Seventh-day Adventists, the Three Angel’s Messages (Rev. 14:6-13). They are giving the everlasting gospel to the entire world (Rev. 14:6) and are called by an additional name, the saints (Rev. 14:12). This is further evidence that in Revelation, God’s end-time people are called by many names. The chapter concludes with a symbolic representation of the Second Coming of Jesus and the respective harvests of the saints and the wicked that accompany it (Rev. 14:14-20).
A quick survey of the chapter introduces the following themes:
1. The Remnant and the 144,000. As noted briefly above, these turn out to be two different names for the same group.
2. The “Fear” of God. It’s not what it sounds like.
3. The Central Issue of Rev. 13 and 14: Worship. The word worship appears eight times at crucial points of the narrative.
4. How Is Judgment Related to the Gospel (Rev 14:6-7)? The language of judgment is used in three different ways in the NT.
5. Rev. 13-14 and the First Table of the Ten Commandments. There are multiple references to the first four of the Ten Commandments in Rev. 13-14.
6. The First Angel and the Fourth Commandment.
I appreciate so much the presentations you air on You Tube in learning more about the book of Revelation and understanding how to interpret its symbolism. One observation though is that the series you do with the gentleman from Australia I find harder to listen to and benefit from. He is a fine person but the flow of the presentations is choppy and interrupts gaining the message being given. Your thoughtful way of presenting things in a more deliberate approach flows better and I come away from your presentations having gained a better understanding. I wish you would produce a DVD series on the book of Revelation all on your own.
Thank you, Martha, I hope someday to do that. I needed Graeme for that series because I am not a trained evangelist and the motivation for the series was use in evangelism. But a series that focuses primarily on the exegesis would be a good retirement project if someone will provide the context (recording studio, etc.).