The Seven Mystic Figures — Part 7: The Son Of Man

Revelation’s fourth vision—that of Seven Mystic¹ Figures (Rev. 12:1–14:20)—ends without a full resolution. We have seen six of the seven figures. John has revealed the destiny of the Man-Child; he is in heaven on his throne (Rev. 12:5). The Lamb is on Mount Zion (Rev. 14:1). However, John will not reveal the future of the Sea Beast (the Roman Empire), the Land Beast (Rome’s representative in Israel), and the Dragon (Satan) until the sixth vision.² The Woman is Israel, but she has two forms.³ John delays a full disclosure of her future as Messianic-Age Israel until the seventh vision.⁴

Revelation 14:6–20 concludes the Seven Mystic Figures vision and introduces its final “mystic figure”—the Son of Man on a cloud (Rev. 14:14). His actions determine the destiny of the Woman in her other role as Mosaic-Age Israel.

We have said the five judgment visions in Revelation all end with God judging apostate Mosaic-Age Israel.⁵ Jesus described this judgment in the Olivet Discourse⁶ and other passages that related it to the coming of the kingdom of God. It involved “great tribulation” and the Temple’s destruction in Jesus’s generation (Matt. 24:1–3, 21, 34). This happened in AD 66–70.

This post will show how the ending of the Seven Mystic Figures vision describes this judgment.

The Actors

The last scene of this vision (Rev. 14:6–20) involves seven actors: the Son of Man and six angels. This continues a pattern of “sevens” found throughout the book.⁷ Here are a few examples: John has seven visions, the central vision has Seven Mystic Figures, and now its conclusion has seven actors.

This assembly of actors matches Jesus’s teaching about the end of the Mosaic Age and the beginning of the Messianic (kingdom) Age. He said angels would play a key judgment role in this period (e.g., Matt. 13:39–43). So would the Son of man, who would come “in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30). Together they would judge apostate Israel.

John uses an impressive literary structure⁸ to show this combination of actors:

A. Three angels who announce judgment (Rev. 14:6–12)

B. The Son of Man upon a cloud (Rev. 14:13–14)

A.* Three angels who execute judgment (Rev. 14:15–20)

The Son of Man (Christ) is the central and most important actor on this stage. The six angels surround him—even in the written text—and do his bidding as he comes in judgment.

The Angels’ Announcements

The angels’ announcements also confirm that this vision is about God’s judgment of Israel in the “last days” of the Mosaic Age (Heb. 1:2). The first angel has “the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the [land],⁹ and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Rev. 14:6; emphasis added).

This reinforces a point we have made several times about the Greek word gē.¹⁰ It can mean either “earth” or “land.” We believe “land” is most often John’s meaning in Revelation. Knowing this is a key to the proper interpretation of the visions.

If John meant the first angel’s gospel was for the “earth,” there would be no need to add “and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” because the “earth” includes these groups. However, if John meant the gospel was for the “land” of Israel, his statement is not redundant. The gospel was for both the “land” of Israel and “every nation” outside that land. “Land” seems to be the right meaning here.

This first angel also says “the hour (Gk. hōra) of his judgment is come” (Rev. 14:7). This reminds us of Jesus’s time statements in the Olivet Discourse regarding Israel’s judgment. There he established it would occur in his generation (Matt. 24:34). Jesus also said, “But of that day and hour (Gk. hōra) knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matt. 24:36; emphasis added). Now, John says, the “hour” has arrived.¹¹ This links this passage to the Olivet Discourse.

The second angel says, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Rev. 14:8). Revelation has already referred to Jerusalem as “Egypt” (Rev. 11:8), so “Babylon” is not a surprising name. Jerusalem is “the great city” in both instances (Rev. 11:8; 14:8). She has become like the pagan empires and is ripe for judgment.

The third angel announces that those in Israel who did not receive Christ (cp. John 1:11) would suffer torment “in the presence (Gk. enōpion) of the Lamb” (Rev. 14:10) for ever. Inmillennialism teaches that the “presence” (Gk. parousia) of Christ with his people occurs in the Messianic Age.¹² This angel’s announcement fits in this framework. God was about to judge Israel to establish Christ’s parousia. Her judgment would continue “in the presence of the Lamb” in the new age.

The Son Of Man

Just before seeing the Son of Man, John hears a voice from heaven saying, “Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them” (Rev. 14:13). John then sees the Son of Man on a cloud (Rev. 14:14).

This creates a problem for prophetic frameworks¹³ that relate this passage to the end of history. In the vision, people die after these events¹⁴—“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on” (Rev. 14:13 NKJV; emphasis added). However, no one will die after “the end” of which Paul speaks in 1 Cor. 15:20–24.

Inmillennialism teaches this passage refers to physical death in the Messianic Age. The actions of the Son of Man (Rev. 14:14; cp. Matt. 24:30) end the Mosaic Age and establish the Messianic Age. The saints who experience physical death in the new age “[live] and [reign] with Christ a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4). The judgment of this passage occurred in the “last days” of the Mosaic Age and physical death occurs afterward.

That humans continue to die after the coming of the Son of Man tends to confirm the inmillennial model.

The Angels’ Actions

We stated above that this passage shows the destiny of the Woman as Mosaic-Age Israel. It does this by using another prophetic image. Mosaic-Age Israel is also God’s vine (cp. Isa. 5:2, et al.). The hour of God’s latter-day judgment of his vine has come as John sees this vision (cp. Deut. 31:29; 32:32).

The fourth angel encourages the Son of Man to begin the judgment. He says, “Thrust in thy sickle . . . for the harvest of the [land]¹⁵ is ripe” (Rev. 14:15). The marginal reading in the original (1611) edition of the Authorized Version has “dryed” for “ripe” (Gk. exērainō). Wuest’s translation reflects this meaning: “the harvest of the earth has become dry.”¹⁶

This symbolism is important to inmillennialism. On the day Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse,¹⁷ his disciples saw the barren fig tree he had cursed. They asked, “How did the fig tree dry up (Gk. exērainō) so quickly?” (Matt. 21:20, ISV¹⁸). The Lord used this dried tree to show how the disciples would judge Israel; they would cast the Temple mount into the sea through preaching the gospel (Matt. 21:19–22).¹⁹ This linked the “drying up” of Israel to the Temple’s destruction when the Son of Man would come in the clouds in his generation (Matt. 24:1–3, 30, 34).

John’s vision matches this imagery. The Son of Man was about to²⁰ reap a “dried-up” harvest in Israel (Rev. 14:14–15). He had laid the ax to Israel’s root at the start of his ministry (Matt. 3:10). It was now dry and ready for the fire (cp. Luke 23:28–31).

The fifth angel brings a “sharp sickle” to assist the Son of Man with the harvest (Rev. 14:17) and the sixth angel encourages him to “gather the clusters of the vine of the [land]”²¹ (Rev. 14:18). This “vine” represents Israel.

And the angel thrust in his sickle into the [land], and gathered the vine of the [land], and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. (Rev 14:19–20)

The wrath of God consumes Israel after the flesh.

This shows the destiny of the Woman as Mosaic-Age Israel; she comes to utter destruction (cp. 1 Thess. 2:16).

Conclusion

This vision ends like the other four judgment-visions, with God’s judgment of Mosaic-Age Israel, whom Paul calls Israel after the flesh.²² The details here match Jesus’s teaching in the Olivet Discourse and other places to a remarkable degree. This judgment would end the Mosaic Age and start the Messianic Age. Inmillennialism provides clues for some of these details that other prophetic frameworks find problematic.

We have now applied our model to four of Revelation’s seven visions. Nothing has contradicted this prophetic framework, and it has shed significant light on several otherwise difficult passages.

In our next post, we will examine (D. V.) John’s fifth vision, The Vision of the Seven Vials (Rev. 15:1–16:21).

SaveSave

SaveSave

1. “Mystic” meaning “mysterious,” not occult.
2. See the following representative passages: for the Sea Beast and Land Beast, now called the False Prophet, Rev. 19:20; for the Dragon (or Devil), Rev. 20:2, 10.
3. For a definition of the seven figures, including Israel’s two forms, see our post The Seven Mystic Figures — Part 1: Identities. For more on the Woman, see The Seven Mystic Figures — Part 2: Exodus.
4. In passages like Rev. 21:9–13.
5. See Repetition In Revelation.
6. See Matt. 24–25, Mark 13, and Luke 21:5–36.
7. See the seven-fold outline in Mapping God’s Highway In Revelation.
8. This is a short chiasmus.
9. Gk. gē.
10. See our glossary entry Land or Earth.
11. See our post The Bookends Of Revelation.
12. See our glossary entry Parousia.
13. For a description of these frameworks, see Comparison Of Prophetic Models.
14. This is similar to the problem of “firstfruits” we saw in our last post, The Seven Mystic Figures — Part 6: The Lamb.
15. See our glossary entry Land or Earth.
16. Kenneth S. Wuest, Expanded Translation of the Greek New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1961), 610. Emphasis added.
17. That is, on Tuesday of Passion Week per A. T. Robertson, A Harmony of the Gospels for Students of the Life of Christ, (New York: Harper, 1922), 159.
18. ISV = International Standard Version.
19. We discussed this passage in Trumpets Of Tribulation — Part 1.
20. For John’s timeframe for these visions, see The Bookends Of Revelation.
21. See our glossary entry Land or Earth.
22. See 1 Cor. 10:18 and Repetition In Revelation.