The Lamb, Babylon and the Sickles (3): The Warning of the Third Angel (Revelation 14:9-11) by Rev. Angus Stewart
I. The Terrible Drink
II. The Tormenting Fire
III. The Solemn Application
James Allen on Revelation 14:9-10: “The word ‘tormented’, a more terrible word even than that used of the rich man in hades (Luke 16:24), opens a vista of anguish. It speaks of unrelieved pain. The agent of the pain is defined as ‘in fire and brimstones’ where ‘in’ is the instrumental ‘by’. The expression recurs in 19:20; 20:10; 21:8. The addition of ‘brimstone’ (sulphur) to the more usual ‘fire’, has not only historical echoes of the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 9:24) but echoes also the prophetic voices of Isaiah (Isa. 30:33) and Ezekiel (Ezek. 38:22). The ancient world used the combination of ‘fire and brimstone’ to convey the idea of a self-sustained furnace independent of external fuel. It is the equivalent of the phrase ‘unquenchable fire’ in the ministry of Christ (Matt. 3:12; Luke 3:17).”