The Bible Says
Revelation 14:6-7 Meaning

In Revelation 14:6-7, John sees a vision of another angel in heaven preaching the eternal gospel to everyone living on the earth. John has seen “the Lamb…standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand” (Revelation 14:1). He then saw that throng before the throne singing a new song (Revelation 14:3). Now, another angel appears:

And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters”
(vv. 6-7).

We can recall that we are in the interlude between an angel blowing the seventh of seven trumpets, heralding the seven trumpet judgements, and initiation of the seven bowls of judgment starting to be poured out upon the earth (Revelation 11:15, 16:1). When the seventh bowl of judgment is poured out upon the earth, an angel will announce “It is done” (Revelation 16:17).

At the end of the seventh bowl judgment, God’s judgment upon the earth will be completed; the beast and false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire and Jesus will take up His reign upon the earth along with the saints who will reign with Him in His administration (Revelation 19:20-21, 20:4).

Now, between the period of the end of the seven trumpet judgments and the seven bowl judgments there is an interlude where an eternal gospel is shared with every nation and tribe and tongue and people. Jesus said that a sign of the end of the age would be that the “gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). This angel flying in midheaven might be a full or partial fulfillment of Jesus’s prophetic statement in Matthew 24.

This eternal gospel translates the Greek words “aionios” and “euangelion.” They respectively mean “to  the extent of the age” and “glad tidings.” “Aionios” can mean “from the beginning” or “to the end” depending on context. The context and meaning of “aionios” will be discussed a bit later.

In this case, the content of the eternal gospel appears to be the angel’s proclamation to “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”

This statement of an eternal gospel might differ from what we might say in this era, on the front side of the period Jesus called a time of “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21). What we might say in our current era if asked to describe the eternal gospel would likely be along the lines of John 3:16:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life”
(John 3:16).

The gospel message we tend to think of focuses on Jesus’ sacrifice and God’s action towards us. But notably, the gospel that the angel preaches doesn’t include a mention of Jesus:

Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters (v. 7).

This omission is likely because during this era there is no one who does not believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God. We can see this in Revelation 6:16 where the kings of the earth ask the mountains and rocks to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb who sits on the throne.

It appears that the question is no longer one of believing but of choosing. During this time of great tribulation it appears that each person will be required to choose between taking the mark of the beast and serving him or denying that mark and serving God.

As previously discussed, the phrase translated an eternal gospel is the Greek “aionios euangelion,” which could perhaps be better translated as the “gospel of the age.” The Young’s Literal Translation, which applies a literal word-for-word translation without switching word orders to accommodate English norms, renders the verse thusly:

“And I saw another messenger flying in mid-heaven, having good news age-during to proclaim to those dwelling upon the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people”
(Revelation 14:6, Young’s Literal Translation).

Young translates “euangelion” as “good news” and “aionios” as “age-during.”

We can get a sense why Young uses “age-during” to translate “aionios” from other verses that use the word “aionios”:

• “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past [‘aionios’]” (Romans 16:25).
• “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity [‘aionios’]” (2 Timothy 1:9).

God has always asked humans to believe Him and has Himself justified humans through that faith (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:3, Ephesians 2:8). It appears that during the time of great tribulation, when everyone can see the Lamb of God judging the earth and the beast reigning in the earth and defying the Lamb, the question is “Whom will you fear?”

To fear someone is to orient your judgments and decisions due to the consequences you perceive to come from that person or thing. For example, we alter our driving speed based on fear of policemen because we don’t want the consequence of getting a speeding ticket.

The angel flying in midheaven says as his first admonishment to fear God, and give Him glory. In the previous chapter, we saw that the beast was “given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe” (Revelation 13:7). Further, the beast required a mark, presumably of loyalty and worship, in order to be able to buy or sell (Revelation 13:17). These powers would create substantial fear; the consequence for defying the beast is to be cut off from commerce and to be killed.

The angel flying in midheaven proclaims that, notwithstanding the pain and loss that can be caused by the beast, each person should “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come.” The choice is “Who will you fear?” Will you fear the immediate consequence of the beast, who can deprive you of commerce and perhaps of life?  Or will you fear God, whose time of judgment has come?

Implied in this is also the question of “Who will you believe?”  God and His angel says, “worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.” The One who made all that is has said “the hour of His judgment has come.” It is implied that the beast is in defiance against God and we know that instrument of Satan is saying “Worship me or die now.”

The angel in midheaven says it is better to fear Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of water rather than this beastly usurper who is himself a created being. In earlier judgements, the sea and springs of water have turned bitter and the stars have fallen out of the heaven (Revelation 8:10-12). The creation is crumbling, but He who created all things is still on His throne.

The angel is said to be flying in midheaven. The Greek word translated as midheaven is also found in Revelation 19:17, which refers to “all the birds which fly in midheaven.” We can deduce then that this angel is flying close enough to the earth that his voice and message of the eternal gospel is audible and can be heard by all the nations of the earth, every nation and tribe and tongue and people. We can presume that each person will hear in their own language, as occurred in Acts 2:6 where each person present heard what was being said in their own tongue.

This is a good time to revisit the fact that the word “throne” appears over forty times in Revelation. A primary theme of the book is that regardless of how out-of-control earth appears to be, God is still on His throne. He is the Creator, who made all things, including the heaven and the earth. Now the question for each person still living is, “Who will you believe, and whose will judgment will you choose to bear?”

The appearance of this angel flying in midheaven appears to mark a time, just prior to the end of all things, when each person will be required to choose. God has long delayed His judgment, desiring that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9). But now the world sits just on the brink of the initiation of the seven bowl judgements and the end of the age (Revelation 15:1, 16:1). All peoples of all nations are given a last ultimatum and will choose who to believe and who to fear. This might echo Joshua 24:15, where Joshua admonished Israel to “choose for yourselves today whom you will serve.”