An angel now comes onto the scene of John’s vision proclaiming good news. But it is perhaps not what we might expect. That may be because we are not suffering like those in the early church. When you are suffering great injustice, the good news must look like justice. The great cry of the souls of the martyrs in 6:10 echoes the cry of so many psalms: it is the cry for just judgement upon the forces of evil in the world (symbolised here as ‘Babylon’). When we read about the punishments on the followers of the beast here we might ask, “How could a good God do such a thing?” For the Christians of this time, and those who suffered under evil oppressors in Old Testament times, the question was inverted: “How could a good God not punish evildoers?” So it is that the good news (for the early church) here in Revelation 14 is the announcement of the time of judgement: Babylon is fallen; evil has been vanquished and the time for justice has arrived. It was important for the early church to see this lest they be tempted to change sides. God was calling them to endure their hardships in the knowledge that what their persecutors would have to endure would be infinitely worse. It is hard to walk with God in this life, but it is ultimately harder not to. Now is the time for patience and endurance for all of us in our own ways. Don’t expect everything here and now to be as it should be. Focus on being who you should be.
Reflect on what God is asking you to endure and be patient with.
Read Revelation 14:6-13
