Revelation 17:14, commentary and pictures

Revelation 17:14 foretells a last-days warfare in which all corrupt powers that have apostatized from allegiance to God's law unite with one mind to make war with the Lamb and His people. That union is a worldwide confederacy in which the ten kings receive power for one hour with the beast and give their power and strength to enforce oppressive laws against religious liberty and freedom of conscience. The great point at issue is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, God's memorial of creation, which the united powers seek to make void by exalting the spurious Sunday sabbath and enforcing it by deception and threats of imprisonment and death. The Lamb shall overcome them with His people because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, supreme over all, and His authority and sacred law will be made known even through merciful judgments meant to awaken the disloyal. Those who are with Him are called and chosen and faithful, tried and purified in character, living in close association with Him as pupils and soldiers, faithfully laboring to lead souls to truth and arousing slumbering souls with the last warning message until they share in His victory and triumph.

Final War and Victory

The verse foretells a warfare to be waged in the last days in which all the corrupt powers that have apostatized from allegiance to the law of God unite in opposition to His people and make war with the Lamb. It is a warning of the perils before God's people when a deceived company works counter to God in opposition to Him and His faithful people. Having one mind is a universal bond of union, one great harmony, a confederacy of Satan's forces involving every nation. The ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet receive power as kings one hour with the beast and give their power and strength to the beast.

That giving of power manifests the same arbitrary, oppressive power against religious liberty and freedom to worship God according to conscience as the Papacy manifested when it persecuted those who refused to conform to the rites and ceremonies of Romanism. It takes the form of a last-days confederacy in the so-called Christian world where decisive actions control conscience and men in authority enact laws controlling conscience after the example of the papacy. The setting involves Babylon as a woman, the symbol of an apostate church, where a faithful woman represents a pure church and an unfaithful one a church turned from Christ toward worldly things. Babylon from Babel signifies confusion and false religion, and it involves apocalyptic beasts arising from the union of church and state, a union that becomes destructive and crushes those who oppose it.

The Sabbath of the fourth commandment will be the great point at issue in this warfare, for in that commandment God identifies Himself as the Creator of the heavens and the earth. The earthly unity is to make void the law of God by tearing down God's memorial of creation, the sanctified and blessed seventh day given as a sign between God and His people forever. The conflict forces a choice in a coming time when everyone takes sides between the Sabbath the Lord sanctified and blessed and the spurious idol Sunday sabbath, a day God has not blessed, which is entirely the institution of the Catholic church and of the man of sin. That idol sabbath is set up as Nebuchadnezzar's golden image was set up in the plains of Dura, exalted and worshiped with perverted God-given ability in Satan's last and most powerful conflict against the principles of God's law amid abounding defiant infidelity.

It is enforced by compulsion to worship the beast through insistence on observance of the sabbath he has instituted, and by the image of the beast with deception, miracles, and proclamation of imprisonment and death upon all who will not reverence the Sunday institution, thus trampling the Lord's Sabbath underfoot, while the Lord of heaven permits the world to choose whom they will have as ruler. Against this, the faithful stand united with Christ under the bloodstained banner of Prince Emmanuel holding aloft the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus including the holy Sabbath memorial of the fourth commandment. The verse belongs to the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 that are being fulfilled now as the last message of warning all are to hear. Its fulfillment comes just before the very last call to the churches in chapter 18, and before the taking of the beast and false prophet and casting them into the lake of fire, the binding of the dragon who instigated rebellion against heaven in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, the resurrection of the wicked, the final destruction of Satan and all the wicked, and the final triumph and reign of Christ on this earth.

The Lamb with His called and chosen and faithful people shall overcome the united powers because He is Lord of lords and King of kings and supreme over all. The verse establishes God's supreme rulership as King of kings whose authority and sacred law must be made known to those who persistently refuse obedience. The judgments that come upon the disloyal are merciful warnings intended if possible to awaken them to their sin.

Called, Chosen, and Faithful

Those who are with him are called and chosen and faithful, and they are with him at the Lamb's marriage supper. They are with him at his appearing, rejoicing to meet him and sharing in the Lamb's victory. They are with him at his victory as the redeemed who meet the Bridegroom at his coming and share the Lamb's marriage and triumph. In the vision of Israel's restoration in the earth made new these words describe Christ's triumph and the redeemed who are with him, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings.

Being with him means living in close association with him, seeking him, following him, learning from his words, and serving him. It means following and serving him, learning from him, and fighting the good fight of faith. It means learning from his words, following him, and serving him as pupils follow a teacher and soldiers follow their commander. Those who follow him as pupils and servants, learning from him and serving him, belong to this company. Such communion shapes people to become like Christ, their faultless example.

Those who are with the Lamb are called but must first be tried and chosen and found faithful and true. Without perfection of character and purification of character no one can enter the pearly gates of the city of God, for with imperfections permitted there heaven would soon have a second rebellion, and upon that purification rests the only hope of eternal life. So far as perfection of character is lacking, attainment of what God has provided through Jesus Christ is failed, and without laying hold upon the provisions of His grace the experience is cheap and governed by impetuous changeable disposition that cannot glorify God by human effort. Becoming partakers of the divine nature and abiding in him as branches abide in the vine gives victory through Christ and overcoming as he overcame by dependence upon his divinity, with his joy remaining and filling the overcomer.

Those who faithfully labor to lead souls to Jesus, relying on Christ's grace and strength, are numbered among the called, chosen, and faithful. God's true messengers whom he directs bring light that helps honest people understand and receive the truth, in contrast with self-sent teachers who lack the qualifications for the work. Those who are with the Lamb, the called and chosen, are given unquestioning faith in the Lord God of heaven. They are young men taken from the plow and from the fields and men not educated in Battle Creek, sent forth to preach the truth as it is in Jesus. They proclaim with clearness and power in many places where it has never been heard, including many localities outside Chicago, not fanciful theories or misleading science but the warning message, the solid truth of the Bible, and a great work is done in a short time. They stand and labor while others labor with all their power to bring in false theories regarding God and Christ and miracles are wrought to deceive, if possible, the very elect, and all this is a parable of what should be and what will be.

This description fits self-denying, self-sacrificing missionary workers who carry on work after God's order. The Lord of heaven has a work for such men and women in missionary fields, his Spirit is with them, and he does not restrict their labors. They are to receive God's means from those impressed by the Spirit to help, so their work can be completed and others can learn from them to do a like work. God's people as called and chosen are to remain faithful and represent the truth in its purity. Their lives should show that they have been with Christ and make truth appear more desirable than error.

With the end of all things at hand those who are with Christ as the called and chosen of God must keep their eyes fixed upon Christ. The Lord will manifest himself to all who seek him with humble hearts. Their lives are to be such that the world takes knowledge of them that they have been with Christ, so that truth will seem to the world more desirable than error. Those who are with God as the chosen and faithful have a high calling and profession that demands a worthy life. When they discern anything unworthy of that calling in others, they must not find fault and reflect upon others, but let what they see move them to make their own lives worthy, resolving in the strength of Jesus Christ to lead life on a higher level.

On the very verge of great and awful events, those who are with him as the eternal heavenly King and Prince of heaven attest his power by arousing slumbering souls in giving the last loud warning message of truth to the world in the companionship of holy angels. The result makes known to all who has taken a stand with him and stayed loyal.