14:7, note d
Judgment

 "And I saw another angel fly . . . Saying with a loud voice,  Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Rev. 14:7)

From the text, what do we know about the judgment?
   We know that it begins at a specific time, "the hour of his judgment." In fact, the word "hour" implies that God had announced the specific time in advance am0307. The angel said that the hour had arrived. Compare is6102.
   We know that it begins as the angel begins to announce it, "the hour of his judgment is come" (or "has come.")
   We know that it is a divine judgment — it is "his." Some have taken this to mean that God is being judged. In a sense He is, but this is not the intent of the verse. In the angel's call, we who hear are to fear God and give Him glory. We are to worship Him as creator. It is God's judgment of us.
   It's an end-time judgment as we will explain below. It comes before the coming of Christ and the end of human probation because the angel is calling for reverence and worship. The choice to follow God is still open.

So when does the judgment occur?
   In re1406b we looked at the timing of the flights of all three angels. You might want to review what we found. Because all three angels continue to fly until the judgment of the third angel is poured out on Babylon, all three messages must be important near the end of time. We would expect Babylon to be punished then (Rev. 14:8; 18:1-8; 11:15-17). Also, we come to this conclusion in discovering that chapter 14 is a response to the end time threat of the beast power described the end of chapter 13 (14:9, 10). That beast threatened to kill all who would not accept his mark. The increasing wickedness in the world confirms that it is reasonable to assume that we are living in this time of judgment. Image from Corel.
   "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." (Eccl. 12:13, 14)
   "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." (Matt. 16:27; Compare re1806, 2ti0414)
   From Solomon's statement in Ecclesiastes, we see that the judgment will be based on works, which means behavior (because works are an index to our faith, ja0218). From Jesus' statement, we see that He will bring the reward when He comes. We may conclude that the judgment is completed at that point, and the call to prepare for it will be ended.
   Daniel agrees that the time is specific da0710. Other Bible passages lead us to calculate the specific time of the beginning of the judgment. (See on re0610 and on Chapter 10).
   We who live near the time of God's wrath are being called to be faithful. We are called to be prepared for protection during the time of the winds of strife which I believe are just before us re0701ff, ge0601-7. It is a time to work and pray for those who are living in rebellion against God. It is time to draw close to our loving Saviour, not to escape punishment but in response to the incomprehensible love which heaven has demonstrated and invited us to participate in. It is the hour of His judgment!

The end
    When the judgment ends human probation will be over. All who have desired to live the life of happiness in the pattern God has given will be sealed. The others will be lost. Christ takes over the kingdom 1115f.

Fear and give glory
    The angel commands, "Fear God and give glory to Him. These terms are understood by considering their opposites. What does it mean not to fear an authority such as a civil government? It means that we will do as we please in spite of what we are told to do. It's the same with God's government. Lack of fear is arrogance. It's disobedience. Here's a chart to explain. Also see how these elements relate to keeping commandments and faith in Jesus 1412-l&g.

14:7 e
Worship, the great final issue

   "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel . . . Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Rev. 14:6, 7)

   Does the angel's call to worship, in our verses, relate to a preceding mention of worship? Do you remember anything about worship from chapter 13?
   The summary statement in the first four verses of that chapter tells us that
a beast came up out of the sea empowered by the dragon,
he was mortally wounded, and then
the world worshipped him and the dragon.
   In the expansion of this introduction, continuing on to verse 8, we come again to worshipping the beast. "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Then verse 12, "And he [beast from the earth] . . . causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." Then the earth beast set up an image of/to the first beast, and the image itself demanded worship on pain of death. At this ultimate claim to worship, the scene shifts to those who have been redeemed from the earth (14:1-5) and the three angels of chapter 14.
   So the true worship required by the angel in our verse stands in contrast to the false worship demanded by the beast and its image. The third angel tells of the coming punishment of those who accept the call to worship the beast (14:9-11).
   In the final analysis, everyone will follow one system or another. The choices are:
wondering with "all the world," worshipping the beast,
worshipping the dragon,
worshipping the beast from the earth (the false prophet), or
worshipping the true God, prepared for redemption from the earth (14:3, 4; 16:3;  19:20 - 20:2).
   The popular ways will be the wrong ways. I don't believe the time has fully ripened but many conditions in our world point to this final conflict. As we have seen and will see again in the message of the third angel, the ultimate issue will be worship.
   In the final battle, the false religious leaders won't be preaching, "I'm the beast (or the dragon or the false prophet) of Revelation; come and worship me." They will say, "I have the true light. This is where you find God. Come follow my system." This calls for wisdom from God. I pray for that wisdom, and I believe you do, too.
   We explored the identity of the beast and his partners in studying Chapter 13 1301c.

True and false worship
    From the pattern and names of the symbols in the heart of Revelation, we may see the conflict between true and false worship.

A Ark of the covenant, holding the law of God, 11:19
B Those who keep the commandments of God, 12:17
C Call for worship of the evil creation, 13:14-17
C' Call for worship of the divine Creator, 14:6, 7
B' Those who keep the commandments of God, 14:12
A' Tabernacle of the tent of the testimony (ten commandments), 15:5.

    The "evil creation" is apparent when comparing with the true creation described in Genesis.

    A more detailed chiastic pattern with the same beginning and ending points may be seen to focus on the victory scene on Mt. Zion. From William H. Shea.

11:19 Ark of the Covenant, commandments (sanctuary scene)
12:1, 2 The first portent (sign): the pure woman
12:3, 4a The Second portent: the dragon
12:4b-5 The male; first coming of Christ
12:10-12 The voice from heaven: Blessing, heaven and curse, earth
12:17 Remnant keeps commandments and have testimony
13:1-18 Sea beast and land beast (whole chapter)
14:1-5 Lamb and 144,000 on Mount Zion
14:6-11 Messages of three angels
14:12 Keepers of commandments and faith of Jesus
14:13 Voice from heaven; double blessing on earth
14:14-20 The Son of Man; second coming of Christ
15:1 The third portent; seven plagues
15:2-4 The remnant of the woman's seed in heaven
15:5-8 The temple of the tent of the testimony (sanctuary scene)

 

14:7 f
Does how we worship matter?

   Worship is the third action commanded by the angel in our verse. What were the first two? Let's look at the passage: "And I saw another angel . . . Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him. . . ." (Rev. 14:6, 7).

Fear God
Give Him glory
Worship Him

   I once heard someone say, "How we worship doesn't matter. It's who we worship that counts." What do you think? If we are talking about when we sing and whether or not we have stained glass windows in the sanctuary, we could agree, but the issue is a lot bigger, and it involves personal worship as well as worship in groups.
   According to Jesus, how we worship does makes a difference. Do you remember when He spoke of this? I'm thinking of His visit with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Let's pick up the story after He showed her that He knew her moral history.
   "The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:19-24)
   How she worshipped, meaning which temple, was important, but not the issue. How she worshipped, meaning how she related to God, was. True worshippers worship in spirit and in truth. Let's look at verses which describe the two elements, spirit and truth.
   spirit  We are to worship in spirit because "God is a Spirit." ". . . when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." (John 15:26) We worship through the agency of the Holy Spirit. We speak to God in prayer, the Spirit leads us into all truth (John 16:13).
   God is also a spirit in the sense that he is not tangible. We can't touch and examine Him. Worshipping a God who is a spirit here may be contrasted with worshipping images. Although not all Christians today bow to images, any of us can focus on the physical sounds and feel of church without reaching out in our hearts to the living God. That focus would not be worshipping in spirit.
   truth "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." (John 17:17) Choosing to be crucified with Christ we now live "by faith in the Son of God" (Gal. 2:20). We live in word and action, following the Lamb wherever He goes. (Col. 3:17; Rev. 14:4) because we have been sanctified by the truth of God's word.
   In a comment to the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus helps us see the meaning of the two terms, spirit and truth. "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matt. 15:7-9) They were not worshipping God with their hearts — "in spirit" — but in formality of words. Neither were they worshipping "in truth" because they were teaching commandments of men as doctrine. Also ez3330.
   In the context of the conflict here in Revelation 13 and 14, how we worship indicates who we worship. This is a little frightening. In the end we will worship God or we will worship the entities symbolized as the beast and his image. May our worship ever be in spirit and in truth.