Update
Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

Three angels (messengers) Revelation 14

6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

8 A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’[a] which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”

9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

Harvesting the Earth and Trampling the Winepress
14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
Revelation is best understood as a symbolic description of the political situation of the time, written in code to avoid government persecution, and not a "prophecy" of future events. No less an authority than Martin Luther thought that it shouldn't be part of the Bible at all. It's taken far too seriously than what it warrants.

From the flyleaf of D.L. Moody's Bible:

[quote]The Old Testament points to the cross.
The Gospels tell the story of the cross.
The Epistles point to the throne.
Revelation tells the story of the throne.[/quote]

Placing what amounts to a pamphlet as having equal significance to the entirety of the Old Testament is ludicrous, and amounts to what Nietzsche called "pulling the Old Testament out from under the feet of the Jews" by making it nothing more than an extended preface to the New Testament.
Carazaa · F
@LeopoldBloom The Book of Revelation says the same as Matthew 24. It is the same meaning of the end, Jesus words. The gospel will go out to the whole world and then the end. There are no contradictions.
@Carazaa I didn't say there was a contradiction. I'm sure whichever person wrote the later book was aware of the first one.