<p>14:6- see on Dan. 4:17.</p><p><em>And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, having eternal good news to proclaim to those that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people</em>- Rev. 14:6 describes the great latter fulfilment of the great preaching commission in terms of an Angel flying in Heaven with the Gospel of the Kingdom to be preached to all nations and languages. Surely the implication is that the latter day preachers of the Gospel are walking on earth in league with an Angelic system above them, empowering and enabling them. See on Gal. 5:25. Rev. 14:6 appears to draw a distinction between &ldquo;them that dwell on the earth&rdquo; and the more general inhabitants of the world: &ldquo;every nation, kindred, tongue and people&rdquo;.</p><p>An Angel may be given a mission to preach somewhere, and success may be arranged by Him in prospect, but it is for us to put the work&nbsp;into&nbsp;practical effect, without which the converts will not be produced, despite the Angels preparatory work, although of course ultimately this is all foreknown by God Himself. Thus we read in Rev. 14:6 of an Angel being sent &quot;having the everlasting Gospel to preach&nbsp;unto them that dwell on the earth (same word as 'land'- i.e. the land of Israel), and to every nation, kindred and tongue and people &quot;(i.e. the whole world as well). However, this actual work of preaching to the Jews and to the world will be done by the saints; thus they will work out in practice what was achieved by the Angel in God's plan. In this context it is worth considering how the great commission as recorded in Mt. 28:18,19 is set in the context of other references in Matthew to world-wide preaching. We are to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations; and yet it is the Angels who will gather the harvest from &ldquo;the world&rdquo; (Mt. 13:38), Angels who will &ldquo;repay&rdquo; us for our work at the last day (Mt. 16:27), Angels who gather the elect from &ldquo;the four winds&rdquo; (Mt. 24:31) and gather converts from &ldquo;all nations&rdquo; to judgment (Mt. 25:32). The implication surely is that in our preaching work, the Angels are with us and will gather in the converts which we have made.</p><p>The whole scene in 14:6-9 makes more sense if we imagine the nations presently living in the land promised to Abraham, confederated against Israel under Babylon, now having the Gospel preached to them. They are told <em>not</em> to confederate under Babylon. The &lsquo;earth dwellers&rsquo; in the OT (especially in Joshua) invariably refer to the nations dwelling in the land, not the whole planet. Yet Babylon will reign over &ldquo;the kings of the earth&rdquo; (17:18), another phrase so often used in the OT of the nations dwelling in the land. So it would seem that generally they will reject the warning given to them to keep separate from her. Yet Revelation ends with: &ldquo;the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it&rdquo;. The kings of the land, once confederate with Babylon, will in the very end come to Zion and accept her rather than Babylon as their capital.</p><p>This witness to the nations, tribes etc. living in the earth / land promised to Abraham is also a witness to the entire planet. For the world's attention will be riveted upon what is going on there. But this need not necessarily have to follow chronologically from the 144,000 appearing on Mount Zion. It may be explaining how it came about, that those 144,000 are there; for I have suggested that this group refers to the largely Jewish converts made during the tribulation period, those who responded to the witness made by the &quot;woman&quot; of 12:1 (see note there), whose preaching to them was represented by the Angel flying through the heavenly throne room which John is beholding.</p>