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Chapter XII
The present: both camps confront each other -
of the Beast and of the Lamb
(13:1-14:5)
In the long run this tenacious resistance of the persecuted people will defeat the empire (17:4) which will get rotten and fall under the plagues of history. Meanwhile the people are preparing a new future by means of their resistance. Already indeed they are part of the first-fruits for God and for the Lamb (14:4). The communities founded by those men and women who followed the Lamb are an example for the future which God has in reserve for us all. This is the reason why they already sing a victory hymn (14:2-3), and their singing fills the whole world with a sound like the sound of the ocean or the roar of thunder (14:2).
Here ends the second stage of the plan, and the description of the situation of humankind at the time when John is writing the Book of Revelation. We get the same impression as we had got at the end of the first stage: the fight is unequal, as was unequal the fight between the Woman and the Dragon. The entire world is in league against the faithful people, but God is already proclaiming His judgement of condemnation against the Dragon and against the Beast. The sentence will now be executed.
The future: the judgement and condemnation of the Beast and the Dragon (14:6-20:15)
John continues to reveal to the people the direction of their path. Having described the past (12:1-17) and the present (13:1-14:5) he now unveils the future. He describes the end of the struggle begun in the earthly paradise. This is the most difficult part of Revelation. We shall only try to discover its sequence and its core.
Three angels appear and announce what is going to happen. The first announces that the day of judgement is coming (14:6-7), the second, that Babylon - that is Rome, the capital of the empire - has fallen (14:8), and the third proclaims the final defeat of all the worshippers of the Beast (14:9-11). The condemnation of the empire is already decreed. This certitude gives the people strength to continue their resistance (14:12-13).
These three proclamations indicate the three moments of this third stage of the second plan:
- The coming of the day of judgement described in 14:14-20.
- The fall of Babylon described at length in 15:1-19:10.
- The final defeat symbolically described in 19:11-20:15.
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The coming of the day of judgement (14:14-20)
The Son of man, Judge of history, appears seated on a throne of clouds (14:14). He is Jesus the Messiah, showing himself as he had been announced by the prophet Daniel (Dan. 7:13). He holds a sharp scythe in his hand. The angel shouts, "Ply your scythe and reap; harvest time has come" (14:15). The one who was sitting on the clouds begins to reap the harvest (14:16). Another angel shouts, "Use the shears and bring in the bunches from the vine of the earth for all its grapes are ripe" (14:18). And immediately they begin to gather the grapes and tread them (14:19-20).
To collect the ripe grapes and tread them is an image of the final judgement. The judgement is begun. Those who were persecuting the people of God are condemned. The judgement and the condemnation are described by the slow destruction of Babylon.
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