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"Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the
cup of His fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them
out."
Look at verses 9-16. There is the wounding of the dragon, the fear of a man that shall
die and the fury of the oppressor. Here too is an illusion to the terms of the aionian
gospel:--
"And forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the
foundations of the earth" (Isa. 51: 13).
Then in Isa. 51: 21-23 comes the great transfer:--
"Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup
of my fury; thou shalt no more drink of it again: but I will put it into the hands of them
that afflict thee: which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over."
Again in Jer. 51: 7 we read:--
"Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand; that made all the earth drunken.
The nations have drunken of her wine, therefore the nations are mad."
Then comes the parallel with Rev. 14: 8:--
"Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed . . . . . it is the vengeances of the Lord, the
vengeance of His temple" (Jer. 51: 8-11).
The language of Rev. 14: 10, 11 is based upon a passage in Isa. 34: The whole
chapter should be read and its bearing upon the Revelation noted. We draw attention to
one verse in particular. The land of Idumea is to become:--
"burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day: the smoke thereof shall go up for
ever, from generation to generation it shall lie waste, none shall pass through it for ever
and ever" (verse 10).
We would not seek to diminish the awfulness of the punishment which falls upon
those who worship the Beast, but we do ask that this terrible penalty shall not be
unscripturally applied to unsaved sinners of all times and places. It is the peculiar
punishment of a special class. "Day and night" apply to time, not to eternity. A strict
adherence to the tense of the verb makes us translate in Rev. 14: 11:--
"They have no rest day or night who are worshipping the Beast."
as though their moment is already in operation while they live upon the earth. Further,
chapters 17: and 17: expand and expound these verses. There we read:--
"How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously, so much torment and
sorrow give her" (18: 7).
"She shall be utterly burned with fire . . . . . the Kings of the earth shall bewail her
when they see the smoke of her burning" (18: 8, 9).