** The Lamb, the Three Angels, and the Harvest **

Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb,
standing on Mount Zion,
and with Him 144,000
who had His name and His Father's name
written on their foreheads.
And I heard a sound from heaven
like the roar of rushing waters
and like a loud peal of thunder.
The sound I heard was like that
of harpists playing their harps.
And they sang a new song before the throne
and before the four living creatures and the elders.
No one could learn the song
except the 144,000
who had been redeemed from the earth.
These are those
who did not defile themselves with women,
for they kept themselves pure.
They follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
They were purchased from among men
and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.
No lie was found in their mouths;
they are blameless.

Then I saw another angel flying in midair,
and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim
to those who live on the earth  --
to every nation, tribe, language and people.
He said in a loud voice,
"Fear god and give Him glory,
because the hour of His judgment has come.
Worship Him who made the heavens,
the earth, the sea and the springs of water."

A second angel followed and said,
"Fallen!  Fallen is Babylon the great,
which made all the nations
drink the maddening wine of her adulteries."
A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice:
"If anyone worships the beast and his image
and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand,
he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury,
which has been poured full strength
into the cup of His wrath.
He will be tormented with burning sulfur
in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.
And the smoke of the torment rises for ever and ever.
There is no rest day or night
for those who worship the beast and his image,
or for anyone who receives the mark of his name."
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints
who obey God's commandments
and remain faithful to Jesus.

Then I heard a voice from heaven say,
"Write:  Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord from now on."

"Yes," says the Spirit,
"They will rest from their labor,
for their deeds will follow them."

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud,
and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man"
with a crown of gold on his head
and a sharp sickle in his hand.
Then another angel came out of the temple
and called in a loud voice
to him who was sitting on the cloud,
"Take your sickle and reap,
because the time to reap has come,
for the harvest of the earth is ripe."
So he who was seated on the cloud
swung his sickle over the earth,
and the earth was harvested.

Another angel came out of the temple in heaven,
and he too had a sharp sickle.
Still another angel,
who had charge of the fire,
came from the altar and called in a loud voice
to him who had the sharp sickle,
"Take your sharp sickle
and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine,
because its grapes are ripe."
The angel swung his sickle on the earth,
gathered its grapes
and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath.
They were trampled in the winepress outside the city,
and blood flowed out of the press,
rising as high as the horses' bridles
for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

(Revelation 14)