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In the fourteenth chapter of the Apocalypse, John saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven (Revelation 14:6), and this angel had “the everlasting Gospel to preach to them upon the earth…” Thus, the text seems to reveal that this angel had the responsibility of preaching the Gospel to mankind. But, is this really so? Do angels preach the Gospel?
In as much as I am able to tell by reading Scripture, only men preach the Gospel. Nowhere in the word of God is an angelic being ever given the responsibility of preaching the Gospel. On the contrary, this responsibility was given to men (Matthew 10:27; Mark 16:15; Colossians 1:23).This angel that flew in the midst of heaven reminds me of Revelation 12:7. There Michael the Archangel and his angels fought the dragon and his angles, and when all was said and done, the dragon was cast out of heaven with his angels, showing the war had taken place in heaven. Yet, when we studied this account in its place, we discovered that the stars in heaven represent things that were to occur on earth. That is, the Gospel was written in the heavenly constellations by God, when he gave them their names. This angel, then (Revelation 14:6), could be none other than Christ, just as Michael and his angels in Revelation 12:7 is none other than Jesus and his disciples in Luke 10:18.[1]
Thus what we have here in chapter fourteen is a continuation of that war, as lived out by the disciples of Jesus who had been given the Gospel to preach by the very one flying ‘in the midst of heaven’ or in the midst of the Temple—which is heaven. Keep in mind that, although John was told to measure the Temple of God (Revelation 11:1-2), what he actually measured, according to Revelation 12, 13 and 14, was the heavens, themselves, which included the astronomical constellations and signs: Virgo, Draco etc. (cf. Revelation 12:1-4). As John measured heaven (the Temple), he showed who was able to take his seat in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6; cf. Matthew 19:28 and Romans 8:17), and who was cast out (Revelation 12:7-9). Heaven, therefore, is represented as being inside the House.
The Temple at Jerusalem was a model of the Garden of Eden, the place where heaven and earth met. The Most Holy Place was where God met with Adam—Eden. And, it was out of Eden that both Adam and Eve were driven (cf. Genesis 3:22-23). In other words, they were driven out of the Most Holy Place, and the Lord set a guard at the gate of Eden, so man wouldn’t be able to return in his then present condition (Genesis 3:24). This, of course, is represented by the veil that stood in the Temple between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.
In the context of Revelation 11:1-2, the outer courts of the Temple were given over to the gentiles. In other words, the scribes, Pharisees and chief priests were allotted the service outside the House itself, because the New Covenant had not yet been established. The Lord deals with mankind only through one covenant at a time, and the Old Covenant had not yet been removed. Therefore, the ministry of the outer courts was given to the Jews. They were cast out of the House (Revelation 11:1-2; cf. Genesis 4:16). In the context of the war in heaven, they were cast out of heaven (Revelation 12:9), and all of their labor was considered the fruitless work of the gentiles (cf. Amos 9:7-8).
In the context of Revelation 13:7, this means that the mouth of the beast, which is the false prophet of Revelation 13:11-18, made war with those who preached the Gospel, given them by the Angel that flew in the midst of heaven (viz. Jesus—Matthew 28:19-20). Just as the dragon had made war with the Lord (Revelation 12:7), so the beast, to whom the dragon had given his authority (Revelation 13:1-4), made war with his disciples who preached the same Gospel (Revelation 11:7; cf. 13:7).
Often scholars, today, believe the Gospel must be preached to every man, woman and child living on the face of the earth (or at least every ethnic group), because it goes out “to every nation, kindred, tongue and people” (Revelation 14:6). However, this is not the context in which the Bible was written. All this means is, the Gospel went out to all those living within the realm of the Roman Empire, and we know this, because Daniel, the prophet, wrote something similar when he recorded what Nebuchadnezzar and Darius wrote (Daniel 4:1; 6:25-26). They wrote, not to every man, woman and child living on the face of the earth. but to those living within their realm of authority, namely, the Babylonian and Persian empires.
The content of the Gospel that went out “to every nation, kindred, tongue and people” was that men should “Fear God, and give glory to him; and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Revelation 14:7). The time frame for these words was “the hour of his judgment,” meaning the time he would judge Jerusalem and the Temple (cf. Matthew 26:64; cf. 23:37-39; 24:1-2). In the context of Revelation 14:7, giving glory to God would mean to admit to the sin one had committed and repent (cf. Joshua 7:19; 1Samuel 6:1-14), but they would not (Revelation 16:9), thus, cutting themselves off from the Fountain of Living Waters (cf. Jeremiah 2:13), who could have healed their troubled waters.
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[1] See my earlier study: There Was War in Heaven.
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