Revelation 14:1-20The Judgment of the Nations
Revelation 14:1-20
American Journal of Biblical Theology
They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.
One might envision a marketplace where slaves have been brought in for auction. Each is a doomed foreigner who has been torn from his home by evil, vicious and greedy men to face a life of bondage. The agony of their suffering is apparent on their face as each has suffered his or her own unique form of brutality and can only stand with blank stares as their mind and heart is overwhelmed by the noises, smells, and images of the slave yard. This is the condition of the lost as they are enslaved to the Beast and the Dragon which has given the Beast his authority. The lost of this world are enslaved to it, and are without hope. However, “they were purchased.” It is as if a buyer entered the slave yard to purchase them and set them free. When Jesus died on the cross, He died to pay the purchase price of all slaves who would trust in Him and come to Him of their own free will. When they came to Him, he accepted them, not as emancipated slaves, but as His own sons and daughters, giving them the full rights of an inheritance in His kingdom.