Revelation 14:9-10; Wine of God’s Wrath

Revelation 14:9-10 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,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: 

The worship of the beast and his image is a direct violation of God’s command not to bow down to and worship other gods and images (Exod. 20:3–6). Those people who disobey face the undiluted wrath of God.

Exodus 20:3-6 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 

 Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Vol. 20, p. 411). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

Psalm 11:6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall bethe portion of their cup. 

Jeremiah 25:15-17 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: 

John again uses the image of drinking wine, which is a follow-up of drinking the wrathful wine of Babylon’s fornication. The act of drinking wine, in the future tense, indicates that God hands the cup to the individual himself much the same as God gave Jesus the cup of suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:42; John 18:11).

Matthew 26:42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

John 18:11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

The individual will be made to drink the cup of wrath; the future tense signifies the inevitability of the act.

The words fire and brimstone first appear in the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24).

Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 

Figuratively speaking, others meet a similar lot: the wicked (Ps. 11:6), Assyria (Isa. 30:33), Edom (Isa. 34:9), and Gog (Ezek. 38:22).

Psalm 11:6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. 

Isaiah 30:33 For Tophet isordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made itdeep andlarge: the pile thereof isfire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. 

Isaiah 34:9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. 

Ezekiel 38:22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that arewith him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. 

In addition to this text, John describes the lake of fire and brimstone as the place where the devil, the beast, the false prophet, and all the wicked will be (Revelation 19:20; 20:10; 21:8).

Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. 

Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 

Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. 

While the saints are in glory, the holy angels and the Lamb acquiesce in the frightful judgment God pronounces on his enemies (Revelation 6:16–17).

Revelation 6:16-17 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? 

They observe the administration of God’s perfect justice. Henry Barclay Swete writes, “If Christians at the stake or in the amphitheater suffered in the sight of a multitude of their fellowmen, those who deny their faith must suffer before a more august assembly, composed of the holy angels and the Lamb.” The expression holy angels occurs only here in Revelation.

 Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Vol. 20, pp. 411–412). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.