Revelation 14:7

Rev 14:7. Κρίσεως, of judgment) D. Lange, Epicr. p. 402, refers this preaching to the last times: but this however ought not to be fixed too late. The passage from Mat 24:14, which he compares, has been considered above, on ch. Rev 6:2.—πηγὰς, fountains) The article is not added: for fountains are now in some measure contained under the sea; although these, in themselves, also are something great in the universe. See Beemann’s Hist. Geogr. eap. iii. part 4.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rev 14:7 . ποιήσαντι κ . τ . λ . Since he who has created has the right to judge his creatures, as well as to receive their worship ( cf. Rev 4:11 f., etc.). ὥρα = the fixed (cf. Rev 14:15 ), καιρός the fit, moment for action. Contrast with this summons Lucan’s fulsome appeal to Nero (1:57 f.): “librati pondera cœli Orbe tene medio,” etc. The second angel of the trio announces the faults and fall of (Rev 14:8 ) Rome as a second Babylon. The prophet quotes from the postexilic oracle appended to Jeremiah (Jer 51:7-8 ). θυμός has probably the double sense carried by the English term “passion”. As history proves, the Cæssar cult fairly intoxicated people, especially in the East. In Asia Minor it became a perfect passion with many communities. They will find it a different kind of passion, the prophet grimly writes, drawing on a powerful O.T. figure; the passion of God’s hot indignation will be forced down their throats, like a bitter draught (Rev 14:10 ). θυμός , however, besides translating a Hebrew equivalent for “fury” (Isa 51:17 f.), is occasionally a LXX rendering for the analogous idea of “venom” or “poison” ( חֵמָה or ראשׁ , cf. Job 20:16 ), and this would yield a good sense here.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, Babylon is destroyed by the sentence and judgment of God: the execution whereof S. John described, chap. 18. And this voice of the ministers of Christ hath continued since the time that Babylon (which is Rome) hath by deliberate counsel and manifest malice oppugned the light of the Gospel offered from God.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Fear God--the forerunner to embracing the love of God manifested in the Gospel. Repentance accompanies faith.

give glory to him--and not to the beast (compare Rev 13:4; Jer 13:16).

the hour of his judgment--"The hour" implies the definite time. "Judgment," not the general judgment, but that up on Babylon, the beast, and his worshippers (Rev 14:8-12).

worship him that made heaven--not Antichrist (compare Act 14:15).

sea . . . fountains--distinguished also in Rev 8:8, Rev 8:10.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. Fear God, and give glory to him] This is the general language of the sacred writings. Worship the true God, the creator and governor of all things; and give him glory, for to him alone, not to idols or men, all glory and honour belong.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(7) Saying . . .—These words declare what ought to be the effect of the gospel. Those to whom it is preached are sitting inactive on the earth. They must be roused to fear God and give Him glory. They must not fear the powers of evil, the wild beasts, &c., or be afraid of their terror (1Pe_3:14-15). They must realise that there is an hour of judgment at hand, which will discriminate between the worshippers of the world and of God. Let them learn to worship the Creator of all, and to turn from the worship of lesser and lower.

If we ask when this gospel angel appeared, our answer must be that the whole cycle of the gospel preaching is included in the vision, though doubtless there have been ages when the light of the glad tidings of God has gone forth with revived lustre, and when the warnings against easy acquiescence in evil have been given with unmistakable distinctness.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. give glory to him] See on Rev_11:13.

the sea, and the fountains of waters] Distinguished as (so to speak) different elements, as in Rev_8:8; Rev_8:10, Rev_16:3-4.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Saying with a loud voice,.... These ministers shall lift up their voice like a trumpet, and cry aloud, and deliver out the Gospel fully and faithfully, with great authority and power, and with much vehemence, zeal, and fervency:

fear God; or "the Lord", as some copies, the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions, read: not the antichristian beast and his followers, as men formerly had done; but God the Lord, and him not with a servile fear, or a fear of punishment, of wrath, hell, and damnation; nor with a distrust of his grace, love, power, and providence, much less with an hypocritical fear; but with a godly fear, which has the goodness of God for its object, and springs from a sense of the love of God, and is a reverential affection for him, and is attended with faith and spiritual joy, and includes all worship of him, both internal and external; hence the Syriac version renders it, "serve God": and this shows that the duties of religion are to be inculcated by Gospel ministers; and that they will be urged by them when the everlasting Gospel is preached in its greatest purity:

and give glory to him; and not to graven images, which he will not allow; and glory is to be given to him, on account of the perfections of his nature, and, the works of his hands; and is given when men ascribe greatness to him, praise his works of creation, and acquiesce in those of Providence, acknowledging the power, goodness, and wisdom of God in all; and when they give thanks for all his mercies, temporal and spiritual, and especially for Jesus Christ; and when they exercise faith on him as their God in Christ, and ascribe their salvation to him and to the Lamb, and not to the works of their hands; and when they attend his worship, and the duties of religion, and so glorify him with their bodies and spirits, which are his:

for the hour of his judgement is come; not of the great and last judgment, but of the government of the Lord Christ, committed to him by God the Father; in which sense the word is used in Joh 5:22 for now will the time be come, when the kingdoms of this world will be his; and he will take to himself his great power, and reign, in a spiritual manner, in the world; and now also will be his time of judging the dead, or of avenging his people, whose blood has been shed for him, and of his judging the great whore, or of inflicting his judgments upon antichrist and his followers; all which will be under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, to which this vision is contemporary; see Rev 11:15

and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters; God, the Creator of all things; and not the beasts, nor idols, the works of men's hands.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Ver. 7. Fear God] Let one fear drive out another (as one fire doth another); the fear of God, the fear of your fellow-creatures, who draw you to idolatry. For this it is that the second commandment is the first with punishment.

Give glory to him] By confessing your sins and amending your ways. See Jos 7:19; Jer 13:16.

For the hour of his judgment is come] The judgment that he will exercise upon idolaters and their mawmets, as once in Egypt. See Joh 12:31; Act 17:30-31 Act 14:15.

And the fountains of waters] Quantum miraculi sit in admiranda illa fluminum perennitate, nemo, credo, philosophorum satis explicare haetenus potuit, saith Bucholcer.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Saying with a loud voice - As if all the nations were summoned to hear.

Fear God - That is, reverence, honor, obey God. Render homage not to the beast, to his image, or to any idol, but to the only true God. This is the substance of the gospel - its end and design - to turn people from all forms of idol worship and superstition, to the worship of the only true God.

And give glory to him - To give glory to him is to acknowledge him as the only true God; to set up his pure worship in the heart; and to praise him as the great Ruler of heaven and earth.

For the hour of his judgment is come - His judgment on the beast and on those who worship him. The imagery here is substantially the same as in Dan 7:9-10, Dan 7:14, Dan 7:26-27; and there can be no doubt that there is reference to the same subject. See the notes on those verses. The main idea is, that when God shall be about to cause his gospel to spread through the world, there will be, as it were, a solemn judgment on that anti-Christian power which had so long resisted his truth and persecuted his saints, and that on the fall of that power his own kingdom will be set up on the earth; that is, in the language of Daniel, “the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.”

And worship him that made heaven, and earth, ... - The true God, the Creator of all things. As already remarked, this is the ultimate design of the gospel, and, when this is accomplished, the great end for which it was revealed will be reached.

The design of this portion of the chapter Rev 14:6-7, also, was to comfort those to whom the book was addressed, and in the same way to comfort the church in all the persecution and opposition which the truth would encounter. The ground of consolation then was, that a time was predicted when the “everlasting gospel” would be made to fly speedily through the earth, and when it would be announced that a final judgment had come upon the anti-Christian power which had prevented its being before diffused over the face of the world. The same ground of encouragement and consolation exists now, and the more so as we see the day approaching; and in all times of despondency we should allow our hearts to be cheered as we see that great anti-Christian power waning, and as we see evidence that the way is thus preparing for the rapid and universal diffusion of the pure gospel of Christ.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

These angels, or ministers of God, whether civil or ecclesiastical witnesses, cried aloud against the papal idolatry, in worshipping saints and images, admonishing all men to give Divine adoration only to the true and living God, who was the Creator of all things. The worshipping of images began soon after antichrist began to reign: we find it decreed in a synod held at London about the year 710, but it was abolished by a synod at Constantinople, 712. In 723, it was again established by a synod at Mentz. By a synod in Syria it was defended, Anno 725, and the emperor Leo Isaurus was excommunicated for opposing it; but in 730, a synod at Constantinople decreed for Leo against it. Another synod, held there Anno 755, under the emperor Constantinus Copronymus, decreed against it; but two other synods held in Bavaria, 765, 766, again decreed for it. In the year 786 the second synod of Nice established it; since which time it hath constantly obtained amongst the papists. But as from the first broaching of this idolatry it was opposed by five emperors of Constantinople, so it hath all along been declaimed against by the faithful ministers of Christ, preaching the everlasting gospel, and calling upon men to perform Divine adoration only to

him who made heaven and earth.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Fear God… glory to him—And not to saints, angels, Mary, the wafer, or to images. The absolute universality is again shadowed by the cosmical four—heaven… earth… sea… fountains. The clear proclamation of this gospel is destruction to Babylon. And this its aim is rendered more specific by the announcement of the next angel.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Saying with a loud voice. Legwn , "saying," in nominative, though agreeing with the accusative aggelon , "angel." The "great voice" is characteristic of all the heavenly utterances. (ver. 2 Rev_11:12, Rev_11:15, etc.) Fear God, and give glory to him. Thus the angel proclaims the gospel in opposition to the second beast, who bids those that dwell on the earth to make an image to the first beast. (cf. Rev_13:14) Compare the effect of the coming judgment, described in Rev_11:13. For the hour of his judgment is come. This is the reason given for the fear mentioned. That it has effect is seen by Rev_11:13. Is come; that is to say, is at hand. And worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. As remarked above, the angel thus directly opposes the invitation of the second beast to pay homage to the first beast. Again we have the fourfold enumeration of objects of creation, denoting the universal nature of the assertion (cf. on ver. 6).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fear God and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come - The joyful message is properly this, that the hour of God's judgment is come. And hence is that admonition drawn, Fear God and give glory to him. They who do this will not worship the beast, neither any image or idol whatsoever. And worship him that made - Whereby he is absolutely distinguished from idols of every kind. The heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and fountains of water - And they who worship him shall be delivered when the angels pour out their phials on the earth, sea, fountains of water, on the sun, and in the air.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

7. λέγων. א omits. Text. Rec[477] has λέγοντα with 1.

[477] Rec. Textus Receptus as printed by Scrivener.

Φοβήθητε. Cyp[478] Primas[479] add potius, which must refer to the worship of the Beast.

[478] St Cyprian as quoted by Haussleiter.

[479] Primasius, edited by Haussleiter.

καὶ θάλασσαν. Tisch[480] inserts τὴν with אB2: 36 and the old Latin (Primas[481]) and many forms of vulgate omit καὶ.

[480] Tischendorf: eighth edition; where the text aud notes differ the latter are cited.

[481] Primasius, edited by Haussleiter.

7. λέγων. See on Rev 4:1.

δότε αὐτῷ δόξαν. See on Rev 11:13.

ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ὥρα τῆς κρίσεως αὐτοῦ is not at variance with αἰώνιον: the Gospel is to be preached ἓως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος.

θάλασσαν might easily have had the article, which would be less natural with πηγὰς ὑδάτων: cf. Rev 8:3; Rev 8:10, Rev 16:3-4.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.