John recorded these scenes of his vision to assure his readers of the triumph of believers and the judgment of unbelievers at the end of the Tribulation.
"The two previous chapters have prepared Christians for the reality that as the end draws near they will be harassed and sacrificed like sheep. This section shows that their sacrifice is not meaningless.
"Chapter 14 briefly answers two pressing questions: What becomes of those who refuse to receive the mark of the beast and are killed (vv. 1-5)? What happens to the beast and his servants (vv. 6-20)?"455
This chapter contains several incidents John saw in heaven and on earth that continue the parenthetic revelation begun in 12:1. While he saw some things in heaven, most of what he saw transpired on the earth. What he saw in heaven only provides background information for what he saw on earth in his vision. From revelation of the defeat of evil forces (ch. 13), John turned to the triumph of the forces of good.
"It is the opposite side of the picture, a victorious stance of the Lamb and His followers after their temporary setbacks portrayed in chapter 13.
"The whole of chapter 14 is proleptic. As a summary of the Millennium (20:4-6), the first five verses feature the Lamb in place of the beast, the Lamb's followers with His and the Father's seal in place of the beast's followers with the mark of the beast, and the divinely controlled Mount Zion in place of the pagan-controlled earth . . . The remainder of the chapter furnishes a proleptic outline of the catastrophes and the bliss that receives a chronological and more detailed treatment in 16:17-22:5. In this fashion, the chapter is a sort of intermezzoto provide encouragement by telling the ultimate triumph for those who refuse the beast's mark and to predict the doom of those who do receive it."456
John recorded what he saw in this chapter to heighten further his readers' expectation for the climactic judgments of the Great Tribulation that we read in chapter 16 (cf. 8:1-5). This chapter continues supplementary revelation begun in 12:1 and the emphasis on preparation for the final judgments of the Great Tribulation begun in 14:1.
"Following the sign of the seven angels with the seven last plagues, the fifteenth chapter has two visions, the first one picturing the victors fresh from their triumph and the second describing the white-and-gold clad angels who hold the seven bowls."497
". . . it is not the image of a domestic bowl which John wished to conjure up in our minds, but the cup of God's wrath, of which the prophets frequently spoke and to which John himself has already referred (in 14:8 and 10) [cf. Isa. 51:17, 22]."498
