The Unflinching Gospel: Three Angels in Midheaven Text: Revelation 14:6-13
Introduction: No Neutral Airspace
The book of Revelation is not a crystal ball for decoding newspaper headlines about the European Union or speculating about barcodes. It is a war manual. It is a book about worship, which is to say, it is a book about warfare. The central question of all of human history is this: who will be worshiped? Will it be the Lamb who was slain, or the beast who mimics him? There is no third option. There is no conscientious objector status in this war.
And so here, in the dead center of this conflict, after we have seen the Lamb standing victorious on Mount Zion with His sealed and blood-bought people, God dispatches three angelic heralds. These are not chubby cherubs plucking harps. These are terrifying spiritual beings, flying in midheaven, where everyone on earth must look up and take notice. Their messages are not suggestions for your personal spiritual journey. They are declarations of cosmic reality. They are the non-negotiable terms of surrender being announced to a rebellious world. The airspace is contested. There is a gospel of the beast, and there is the gospel of God, and these angels are here to make it clear that you cannot listen to both.
We are going to consider the message of each angel in turn. The first preaches the eternal gospel of creation and judgment. The second pronounces the death sentence on the great whore, Babylon. And the third describes in terrifying detail the eternal consequences for anyone who takes the mark of the beast. This is not a seeker-sensitive message. It is a world-confronting message. It is the only message that can save us.
The Text
Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who inhabit the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”
And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “FALLEN, FALLEN IS BABYLON THE GREAT, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.”
Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, and he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His rage, and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
(Revelation 14:6-13 LSB)
The First Angel: The Gospel of God's Rights (vv. 6-7)
The first proclamation establishes the foundation for everything else.
"Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who inhabit the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. And he said with a loud voice, 'Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.'" (Revelation 14:6-7)
This is a public proclamation. Midheaven is the place of maximum visibility. God does not do His work in the shadows. And notice what this angel carries: an "eternal gospel." This is not a new message, not Plan B. This is the one, singular, unchanging good news, rooted in the character of God before time began. And its scope is total: "every nation and tribe and tongue and people." This is the Great Commission in high definition. The gospel is not a boutique message for one ethnic group. It is destined to conquer the entire globe.
And what is the content of this eternal gospel? It has four parts. First, "Fear God." The beginning of all wisdom is the terror of the Lord. This is not a mild reverence. It is the bone-shaking realization that He is the Creator and you are the creature. Modern evangelism often starts with "God has a wonderful plan for your life." The biblical gospel starts with "Fear God." Until you have trembled before His holiness, you will never rejoice in His grace.
Second, "give Him glory." This is the necessary consequence of fearing Him. To give God glory is to acknowledge His weight, His reality, His ownership of all things. The central sin of man is that "though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God" (Romans 1:21). The gospel call is a call to reverse this treason and render to God the glory that is His by right.
Third, this is urgent, "because the hour of His judgment has come." The gospel is not an abstract philosophy; it is an urgent summons in light of impending judgment. Judgment is not contrary to the good news; it is part of it. The good news for the people of God is that He is going to judge their enemies and set the world right. For John's original audience, this was the coming judgment on apostate Jerusalem and pagan Rome. For us, it is the continual judgment of God in history, culminating in the final judgment. The time is always now.
Fourth, the basis for all of this is "worship Him who made" everything. This is a direct appeal to the Creator/creature distinction. Why must we fear, glorify, and obey Him? Because He made us. Making rights are ruling rights. This is also a direct polemic against the idolatry of the beast. The beast is a creature, a cheap imitation. God is the uncreated reality. To worship anything or anyone else is therefore the height of insanity.
The Second Angel: The Gospel of Babylon's Ruin (v. 8)
The second angel follows immediately with a consequence of the first message. If God is to be worshiped as Creator, then the counterfeit city must fall.
"And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, 'FALLEN, FALLEN IS BABYLON THE GREAT, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.'" (Revelation 14:8 LSB)
From heaven's vantage point, the fall of Babylon is so certain that it is spoken of in the past tense. It is a done deal. Babylon the Great is the Bible's symbol for the world system organized in rebellion against God. She is the great whore, the city of man, the seductive, statist, man-centered civilization that promises salvation apart from Christ. In John's day, this was the corrupt covenant-breaking Jerusalem that had gotten into bed with the Roman beast. In our day, it is the secular order that promises prosperity, security, and meaning if we will just give it our ultimate allegiance.
How does Babylon conquer? Not primarily by the sword, but by the cup. She is a bartender, a seductress. She gets the nations drunk on "the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality." This immorality is first and foremost idolatry, covenant unfaithfulness. She serves up an intoxicating cocktail of materialism, sexual license, entertainment, and political promises. It promises freedom but delivers addiction and slavery. And this wine is also one of "wrath" because to drink of her sin is to store up God's wrath for yourself. Every worldly ideology, every utopian scheme, is a cup of this poisonous wine. The angel's message is simple: the party is over. The house of the harlot is condemned.
The Third Angel: The Gospel of God's Wrath (vv. 9-11)
The third angel delivers the most sobering message of all. He spells out the personal consequences for collaborating with the enemy.
"If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, and he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His rage..." (Revelation 14:9-10 LSB)
The choice is binary. You either worship the Creator (v. 7) or you worship the beast. There is no middle ground. The mark of the beast is not a physical implant; it is a spiritual allegiance. It is the anti-Shema. The Shema says to bind God's law on your forehead and your hand (Deut. 6:8), signifying that your thoughts and your actions belong to God. The mark of the beast is to give your thoughts (forehead) and your actions (hand) over to the satanic system of the state as god.
And the consequence is a terrifying reversal. If you drink the wine of Babylon's immorality, you will be made to drink the wine of God's wrath. But there is a difference. Babylon's wine is alluring. God's wine is pure, unadulterated judgment. It is "mixed in full strength," which is a Hebrew idiom meaning unmixed, undiluted. There is not a drop of mercy in this cup. It is the full measure of justice for high treason against the King of heaven.
The description of this torment is designed to leave us without any sentimental illusions about hell.
"...and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night..." (Revelation 14:10-11 LSB)
This is not an unsupervised corner of the cosmos where God is absent. The torment takes place "in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." The very glory of the Lamb that is the light and joy of the New Jerusalem is the fire that torments the damned. Their punishment is to see forever the goodness they rejected and the glory they hated. The language is final and absolute: "forever and ever." And they have "no rest day and night." This is the ultimate end of all who seek their rest in the creature rather than the Creator.
The Perseverance and the Blessing (vv. 12-13)
In the face of this stark and terrible choice, the text pivots to the response of God's people.
"Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus." (Revelation 14:12 LSB)
What does faithfulness look like in a world dominated by the beast and Babylon? It looks like perseverance. A gritty, rugged, stubborn endurance. And this endurance has two components that cannot be separated: "who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus." This is the whole Christian life in a nutshell. It is orthodox belief ("faith in Jesus") and orthodox behavior ("keep the commandments"). It is not faith versus works, but the faith that works. It is covenant faithfulness, holding fast to God's law and God's Son when the entire world is screaming at you to compromise.
And for those who persevere, there is a glorious promise, a beatitude from heaven itself.
"And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, 'Write, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!"' 'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.'" (Revelation 14:13 LSB)
For the worshiper of the beast, death is the beginning of endless torment. For the saint, death is a blessing. To "die in the Lord" is to die in covenant union with Christ. And the Spirit Himself confirms the reason for this blessedness. First, they "rest from their labors." This is the great Sabbath rest, the direct antithesis to the "no rest" of the damned. The war is over, the work is done. Second, "their deeds follow with them." Notice the direction. Their deeds do not go before them to open the gates of heaven. Christ alone does that. Their deeds follow them into heaven as evidence of the grace that saved them, as the fruit that will be honored and rewarded by the Father. Our labor in the Lord is never in vain.
Conclusion
The messages of these three angels are still flying in midheaven. The eternal gospel is still being proclaimed. Babylon is still falling. And the choice is still before every man, woman, and child. You will fear someone. You will worship something. You will receive a mark of allegiance.
The call of this passage is to see reality for what it is. The world is not a neutral playground; it is a battlefield. The culture is not a smorgasbord of lifestyle options; it is a cup of intoxicating wine offered by a whore. And God is not a doting grandfather; He is a holy Judge whose wrath is unmixed and whose Son is a conquering King.
Therefore, fear God, not man. Give glory to Him, not to the state. Worship the Creator, not the creature. Keep His commandments and your faith in Jesus. Persevere. Because the city of man is a falling city, but the city of God is an eternal one. And for those who die in the Lord, the battle ends not in torment, but in rest. And that is very good news.