Satan’s sinful sect has always been an opposing force to the Father’s fruitful family. From the beginning when Cain killed Abel to the final judgment in the lake of fire, the devil and his followers have consistently sinned, rejected, rebelled, and attacked.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:4)

Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. (Matthew 12:31-32)

You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)

In which in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. (Ephesians 2:2)

And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. (Revelation 14:18-20)

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are grown rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues. (Revelation 18:2-4)

Perfect vs. perfect

In the Revelation 14 quote above, the two harvests were both ripe. They were both perfect. One was perfectly good and the other was perfectly bad. In Revelation 18, all of God’s people are called out of spiritual Babylon. It is left in perfect darkness while there is perfect light with the saints. The two groups are perfectly and completely separated. God does this for three eternal reasons.

1) Every human excuse for rejecting the gospel is removed.

The remnant of 144,000 servants of God contain no hypocrites, no lukewarm players, no halfhearted pew warmers. They are 100% dedicated Christians serving God and saving souls. Like Moses who had to put a vail over his face because of the glory, the world sees the 144,000 and are convicted they are God’s true people. They are the epistle of Christ “known and read of all men.” (2 Corinthians 3:2) The final remnant preach, teach, and live the gospel of Christ in the language of human demonstration.

2) God’s glory revealed through the weakest people.

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7) The 144,000 come from every tribe of Israel, which have been scattered and mingled over the face of the earth. They come from every background with every issue and are loaded with every type of baggage. Yet, they overcome through the blood of the Lamb and thus show hope for and to every person in the world. God is able to transform and save anyone!

3) Grace, not the human condition, is the only antidote for sin.

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) Angelic perfection failed in Lucifer’s perfect heaven. Human perfection failed in Adam’s perfect Eden. Perfection of soul does not depend on perfection of body or perfection of environment. It depends on one thing only—the grace that streams from the cross of Christ. God’s perfect family, attacked by Satan’s totally imperfect family in an environment devastated by the seven last plagues, proves once and for all that there is no excuse for sin and grace is sufficient to keep sin from ever rising again.

Perfection the only way

God ripens the fruit of the tree of life to perfection and lets the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil also ripen. Only in this way can all questions be answered and all doubts be removed for eternity. God does not engage in cover-up or evasion. Jesus Himself said, “By their fruits you shall know them."

“He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame unto him.” (Proverbs 18:13)

God does not judge prematurely. He does not jump to conclusions. Neither does He want us to do it. The only way to settle the battle between positive and negative faith, hope, and love is to bring everything—absolutely everything—out into the open. Only after a full and thorough comparison and contrast can intelligent, eternal decisions be made. God does not close the court until both sides have made their best and complete arguments.

“But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” (Isaiah 45:17) The NIV puts it this way, “But Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; you will never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting."

As much as God wants to end the pain now, He sees the long game. He looks down the eternal ages to trillions upon trillions of years from now. God knows what questions we will be able to ask then and He is preparing the answers now. The saints do not need to worry about ever finding a loophole or a failure or a gap or a contradiction. Both good and evil are fully revealed on the cross, then ripened into human outcomes in the great time of trouble such as never was. Both the Seed and its fruit, in contrast to the devil and his minions, answer every question from cause to effect. And the answers are so complete, transparent, satisfying, and inspiring that the conflict never needs to be repeated.

“I know that, whatever God does it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God does it, that men should fear before him.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14)

In Gethsemane, Jesus begged for a lesser work-around, if possible. In the great tribulation, the 144,000 will also beg for a lesser work-around, if possible. Yet, the Seed and its fruit are strengthened by God to endure the conflict and demonstrate the answers to questions as yet unknown. Life’s great questions must be answered, not with dead letters on paper, but in souls shining with Christ Himself.