Revelation 14: The Beast (Part 4; The Anti-Christ; The Celebration and The Warnings; Armageddon Preview)

The Warning Verse 9, And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, Verse 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: Verse 11, And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name. John’s third angel comes bearing an ominous warning from God to all of these people regarding the image of the one world leader and his mark: everyone who bows down to worship and pay homage to either the one world dictator or his image, and anyone receiving his mark upon either his right hand or upon his forehead, will be subjected to the wrath of God Almighty, in the full. His anger will not be abated. It will not be watered down in any way. There will be no deliverance, and no forgiveness, for any such person. In addition, this means then that there will be ample time in advance of the beast and his mark to make the decision to accept, or, to reject. Multitudes will doubtless therefore be saved well ahead of the seating of the beast, and the enforcement of his hellish demand, although many will probably be saved just-in-time, afterwards as well. In fact, it almost appears that this warning may well be or will have to be generated and circulated before there is any real or perceived basis for them. That is, there will not be any beast or mark, before the warnings begin. They will, however, no doubt continue, and they will intensify as the moment of truth draws nearer, and nearer. Needless to say, this declaration will leave believers ‘born’ during these dark days quite literally between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Worship God, per the invitation of the angelic preacher, letting one’s faith be known, and one is a dead man (albeit, having lost his life on account of his faith, he will in the end regain it to live throughout all eternity in the presence of the Lamb and the Father; this in accord with the promise of Jesus Christ: “…all who lose their lives for My Sake and the gospel, will gain new lives…”). Worship the beast, and his image, per the warning of the angelic preacher, and death (while not eluded entirely) may come more slowly, as one saves his life temporarily to live through the reign of the one world dictator but, death (eternal separation from God) will come surely (into and perhaps through the Millennial Reign of Christ, if he is numbered among the lucky (albeit eternally lost) ones! None should hedge any bets on his being among those “lucky ones”, as the chances for that would be a long shot at best; this, given that as many as 1.5 billion unsaved souls will lose their lives just during phase 1 of the Battle of Armageddon. There is no telling who might make up that rank of the dead, but, most assuredly, there is plenty of room for anyone, within the confines of a number so large!), yet, he is a dead man no less—destined to spend a never-ending eternity separated and isolated, with the devil they served, away from the God to whom they thumbed their noses, as they turned their backs to Him.