Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #46 of Revelation, chapter 14 and we are going to read Revelation14:17-19:

And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

I will stop reading there.  We are told this is “another angel,” or another messenger.  The first that came out of the temple, in verse 15, called with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, “Thrust in the sickle, and reap.”  That messenger was the Lord Jesus Christ and the one sitting on the cloud, the Son of man, is also Christ.  It is God issuing a command within the Godhead and it is the same situation here in Revelation 14:17-18:

And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth;

All these references to “angels” are speaking of God Himself.  We can know that one angel that commands the other angel to thrust in the sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth is God because He is giving a command; it is only God that is in control and has full authority over the judgment of this world.  Angelic beings do not have that kind of authority.  They do not possess that kind of power.  Only God has that kind of authority and power.

Then in verse 18, it says that “another angel came out of the altar which had power over fire,” and since this messenger is coming out of the altar, it is speaking of Jesus because the altar is a representation of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Greek word translated as “altar” in the New Testament is Strong’s #2380 and it comes from the Greek word that is translated as “sacrifice,” which is Strong’s #2379; it is derived from that word; the altar and the sacrifices placed upon that altar are completely identified with one another.  The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God and the sacrifice of God.  We fully understand that Christ is the sacrifice, but He is also typified by the altar upon which the sacrifice is laid.  It says in Hebrews 13:10:

We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

We, the people of God, have an “altar.”  Christ is our “altar,” and it is that altar which is referred to in Revelation 6:9:

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

Why are they under the altar?  It is because they are covered by the blood of Christ.  The lamb is laid upon the altar and the priest slays the sacrificial animal and the blood drips down upon the altar.  God’s people are “under the altar,” in that they are under the blood of Christ.  Christ’s blood has washed away our sin and cleansed us from all iniquity, so we are spoken of as being under Him or under the altar.

It says in Revelation 8:3-5:

And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

This is the beginning language that describes the judgment of God upon the “third part” in the following verses.  The wrath of God is pictured by the coals of fire when the censer was filled with the fire from the altar.  The altar was identified with fire.  The sacrifice would be laid upon the altar; it would be slain and burned, as it pictured the wrath of God.  God Himself is spoken of as being “a consuming fire” and the sacrificial animal would have been consumed by the fire upon the altar.

This is why we find this language, in Revelation 14:18, concerning this angel:

And another angel came out from the altar…

All the angels thus far have been Christ, so we are confident that this angel, too, is Christ, but the fact that He comes out from the altar confirms this because the altar completely identifies with Christ.  Then it goes on to say, in Revelation 14:18:

… which had power over fire…

The Greek word translated as “power” is “exousia,” Strong’s #1849, and it can be properly translated as “power” or “authority.”  So the messenger possesses authority over fire and this really confirms that it must be the Lord Jesus who is the Messenger coming out from the altar because Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world – He died for the sins of His people before this world even began and it was as though He was laid upon the altar and slain.  God slew Him and it was as though the fire of God’s wrath consumed Him.  Yet, He rose from the dead.  He was victorious over death.  He was the sacrifice that returned to life and, therefore, God gave Him all power and all authority over things in heaven and in earth.   And He has authority over fire.  He won the victory over the wrath of God in returning to life through the resurrection of the dead and God tells us about this authority entrusted to the Son, in John 5:26-27:

For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

God gave authority and this is the same Greek word “exousia,” translated as “power.”  God gave Him power to execute judgment and “fire” in the Bible identifies with the wrath or judgment of God, just as we read in Revelation 14:10:

The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

Again, the wrath of God has everything to do with “fire.”  The Bible speaks of Christ coming “in flaming fire taking vengeance” upon the unsaved people of the earth, so this “angel” is the Lord Jesus and He has authority over “fire.”

I would like to just mention one other thing concerning “fire,” before we move on, in regard to Revelation, chapter 10.  This chapter is a chapter that is in the midst of the “three woes,” as the Lord said, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth,” at the end of Revelation 8, because the first four trumpets identified with the judgment on the churches and the congregations and the final three trumpets identified with the judgment on the entire world.  Each “woe” related to the last three trumpets – the fifth, sixth and seventh trumpets.  Revelation, chapter 9 spoke of the “woe” of Judgment day and then there was an “interlude,” in a sense, from Revelation 9 as God gave Revelation 10, but it is in the midst of His description of these woes.  Then in Revelation 11, He will speak of the “second woe” being past and the “third woe” coming quickly.  So we wonder, why Revelation 10?  We went through this chapter and we saw that it was God’s plan to lay out His program of declaring His judgment, where He says in the last verse, in Revelation 10:11:

And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

We went over this carefully and we realized that this was God’s commandment to His people in the Day of Judgment to declare the information coming forth from the Word of God.  It would be “bitter” information, in that it would not be wells of living water wherein people might hear and become saved.  Rather, it had to do with publishing the news of Babylon’s fall and publishing the information that the world was under judgment once again. 

I wanted to mention that because in looking at the word “fire” in Revelation, chapter 14, I saw a reference to something interesting that I had not noticed before in Revelation 10:1:

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

We cannot come to any other conclusion than that this speaks of the Lord Jesus, especially as we see so many “angels” making appearances in Revelation 14.  Here, in Revelation 10:1 a “mighty angel” is seen by the Apostle John.  And when we read there was a “rainbow upon his head, and his face as it were the sun,” we know that God identifies Himself with the “sun.”  Christ is identified with the “sun in the sky,” spiritually, and not anyone else and this proves that God does speak of Himself as an “angel,” or in this case, a “mighty angel.” 

It also says at the end of this verse that his feet were “as pillars of fire.”  We saw how Christ went through the fires of judgment when we discussed this verse earlier and that is why I said it described His feet as pillars of fire.  But now that we see much more clearly that it was God’s plan to send forth His people to reap the harvest in the Day of Judgment,  which agrees with what is commanded in Revelation 10:11, “Thou must prophesy again,” and agrees with Jeremiah 50 and the command to “publish, and conceal not,” the fall of Babylon.  In the very beginning of this chapter we read of the Lord Jesus Christ’s feet as “pillars of fire,” and what I should have thought of when studying this was that God speaks of His feet in a way that identifies with His elect people.  Remember what it says in Romans 10:15:

And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

We understand that.  How beautiful are the feet of God’s people that carry the Gospel and sow the seed in the world, but this verse draws from a verse in Isaiah 52:7:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

Now this is very similar in the wording of the verses, except it is not “How beautiful are the feet of them,” but “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him,” because it refers to Christ.  When the verse is drawn upon in the Book of Romans, it is “changed” from “the feet of Him” to “the feet of them.”  It is changed, but it is really the same because the people that carry the Gospel into the world are the body of Christ; we are spiritually a part of His body.  He is the head and we are likened to the feet.  When God sends the Gospel into the world, it is His people that carry the Word, as messengers of the Gospel.  Yet, at the same time, God can view it as though Christ is the one going forth and publishing these things.

Since this is the understanding the Bible encourages us to have regarding publishing the message of peace, we can have the identical understanding concerning publishing the message of Judgment Day.  So it is very fitting, in Revelation 10, that God is going to commission us in another way (not the Great Commission of bringing the Gospel unto salvation, where some might hear and become saved), which is to bring the Gospel message that declares the judgment of God.  It is a “bitter” message, but we are commanded to prophesy again and, in establishing the chapter in Revelation 10, God shows us the mighty angel, the Lord Jesus, who has the “little book open.”  It is open already and His feet are “pillars of fire” and they are the true believers that will carry the message of God’s wrath and judgment into the world.  And, since there is no more salvation, it is only a fiery message.  It is a message of judgment alone.