(7) Saying . . .—These words declare what ought to be the effect of the gospel. Those to whom it is preached are sitting inactive on the earth. They must be roused to fear God and give Him glory. They must not fear the powers of evil, the wild beasts, &c., or be afraid of their terror (1Peter 3:14-15). They must realise that there is an hour of judgment at hand, which will discriminate between the worshippers of the world and of God. Let them learn to worship the Creator of all, and to turn from the worship of lesser and lower.

If we ask when this gospel angel appeared, our answer must be that the whole cycle of the gospel preaching is included in the vision, though doubtless there have been ages when the light of the glad tidings of God has gone forth with revived lustre, and when the warnings against easy acquiescence in evil have been given with unmistakable distinctness.

14:6-13 The progress of the Reformation appears to be here set forth. The four proclamations are plain in their meaning; that all Christians may be encouraged, in the time of trial, to be faithful to their Lord. The gospel is the great means whereby men are brought to fear God, and to give glory to him. The preaching of the everlasting gospel shakes the foundations of antichrist in the world, and hastens its downfal. If any persist in being subject to the beast, and in promoting his cause, they must expect to be for ever miserable in soul and body. The believer is to venture or suffer any thing in obeying the commandments of God, and professing the faith of Jesus. May God bestow this patience upon us. Observe the description of those that are and shall be blessed: such as die in the Lord; die in the cause of Christ, in a state of union with Christ; such as are found in Christ when death comes. They rest from all sin, temptation, sorrow, and persecution; for there the wicked cease from troubling, there the weary are at rest. Their works follow them: do not go before as their title, or purchase, but follow them as proofs of their having lived and died in the Lord: the remembrance of them will be pleasant, and the reward far above all their services and sufferings. This is made sure by the testimony of the Spirit, witnessing with their spirits, and the written word.Saying with a loud voice - As if all the nations were summoned to hear.

Fear God - That is, reverence, honor, obey God. Render homage not to the beast, to his image, or to any idol, but to the only true God. This is the substance of the gospel - its end and design - to turn people from all forms of idol worship and superstition, to the worship of the only true God.

And give glory to him - To give glory to him is to acknowledge him as the only true God; to set up his pure worship in the heart; and to praise him as the great Ruler of heaven and earth.

For the hour of his judgment is come - His judgment on the beast and on those who worship him. The imagery here is substantially the same as in Daniel 7:9-10, Daniel 7:14, Daniel 7:26-27; and there can be no doubt that there is reference to the same subject. See the notes on those verses. The main idea is, that when God shall be about to cause his gospel to spread through the world, there will be, as it were, a solemn judgment on that anti-Christian power which had so long resisted his truth and persecuted his saints, and that on the fall of that power his own kingdom will be set up on the earth; that is, in the language of Daniel, "the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High."

And worship him that made heaven, and earth, ... - The true God, the Creator of all things. As already remarked, this is the ultimate design of the gospel, and, when this is accomplished, the great end for which it was revealed will be reached.

The design of this portion of the chapter Revelation 14:6-7, also, was to comfort those to whom the book was addressed, and in the same way to comfort the church in all the persecution and opposition which the truth would encounter. The ground of consolation then was, that a time was predicted when the "everlasting gospel" would be made to fly speedily through the earth, and when it would be announced that a final judgment had come upon the anti-Christian power which had prevented its being before diffused over the face of the world. The same ground of encouragement and consolation exists now, and the more so as we see the day approaching; and in all times of despondency we should allow our hearts to be cheered as we see that great anti-Christian power waning, and as we see evidence that the way is thus preparing for the rapid and universal diffusion of the pure gospel of Christ.

7. Fear God—the forerunner to embracing the love of God manifested in the Gospel. Repentance accompanies faith.

give glory to him—and not to the beast (compare Re 13:4; Jer 13:16).

the hour of his judgment—"The hour" implies the definite time. "Judgment," not the general judgment, but that up on Babylon, the beast, and his worshippers (Re 14:8-12).

worship him that made heaven—not Antichrist (compare Ac 14:15).

sea … fountains—distinguished also in Re 8:8, 10.

These angels, or ministers of God, whether civil or ecclesiastical witnesses, cried aloud against the papal idolatry, in worshipping saints and images, admonishing all men to give Divine adoration only to the true and living God, who was the Creator of all things. The worshipping of images began soon after antichrist began to reign: we find it decreed in a synod held at London about the year 710, but it was abolished by a synod at Constantinople, 712. In 723, it was again established by a synod at Mentz. By a synod in Syria it was defended, Anno 725, and the emperor Leo Isaurus was excommunicated for opposing it; but in 730, a synod at Constantinople decreed for Leo against it. Another synod, held there Anno 755, under the emperor Constantinus Copronymus, decreed against it; but two other synods held in Bavaria, 765, 766, again decreed for it. In the year 786 the second synod of Nice established it; since which time it hath constantly obtained amongst the papists. But as from the first broaching of this idolatry it was opposed by five emperors of Constantinople, so it hath all along been declaimed against by the faithful ministers of Christ, preaching the everlasting gospel, and calling upon men to perform Divine adoration only to

him who made heaven and earth.

Saying with a loud voice,.... These ministers shall lift up their voice like a trumpet, and cry aloud, and deliver out the Gospel fully and faithfully, with great authority and power, and with much vehemence, zeal, and fervency:

fear God; or "the Lord", as some copies, the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions, read: not the antichristian beast and his followers, as men formerly had done; but God the Lord, and him not with a servile fear, or a fear of punishment, of wrath, hell, and damnation; nor with a distrust of his grace, love, power, and providence, much less with an hypocritical fear; but with a godly fear, which has the goodness of God for its object, and springs from a sense of the love of God, and is a reverential affection for him, and is attended with faith and spiritual joy, and includes all worship of him, both internal and external; hence the Syriac version renders it, "serve God": and this shows that the duties of religion are to be inculcated by Gospel ministers; and that they will be urged by them when the everlasting Gospel is preached in its greatest purity:

and give glory to him; and not to graven images, which he will not allow; and glory is to be given to him, on account of the perfections of his nature, and, the works of his hands; and is given when men ascribe greatness to him, praise his works of creation, and acquiesce in those of Providence, acknowledging the power, goodness, and wisdom of God in all; and when they give thanks for all his mercies, temporal and spiritual, and especially for Jesus Christ; and when they exercise faith on him as their God in Christ, and ascribe their salvation to him and to the Lamb, and not to the works of their hands; and when they attend his worship, and the duties of religion, and so glorify him with their bodies and spirits, which are his:

for the hour of his judgement is come; not of the great and last judgment, but of the government of the Lord Christ, committed to him by God the Father; in which sense the word is used in John 5:22 for now will the time be come, when the kingdoms of this world will be his; and he will take to himself his great power, and reign, in a spiritual manner, in the world; and now also will be his time of judging the dead, or of avenging his people, whose blood has been shed for him, and of his judging the great whore, or of inflicting his judgments upon antichrist and his followers; all which will be under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, to which this vision is contemporary; see Revelation 11:15

and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters; God, the Creator of all things; and not the beasts, nor idols, the works of men's hands.

{6} Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

(6) That is, Babylon is destroyed by the sentence and judgment of God: the execution of which John describes in chapter 18. This voice of the ministers of Christ has continued since the time that Babylon (which is Rome) has by deliberate counsel and malice questioned the light of the gospel offered from God.