How are you all doing today?
Blessed. Awesome, awesome.
We always like to start our service by saying welcome to
anybody who is visiting us here for the first time today,
or if you're joining us online for the first time, welcome.
We're so glad you're to worship with us here at Hosanna.
I am Pastor Nathan,
and today we're going to be continuing
our study through the book of Revelation,
picking up in Revelation chapter 14.
The last few studies in Revelation,
we've been looking at really the ugly side of a story,
and today we're going to look at the beautiful side of the story.
Revelation 12 and 13 really have been painting
the ugly side of the story of what's taking place during the tribulation period,
specifically focusing on the last half of the tribulation period.
But through Revelation 12 and 13,
what we've seen is Satan's apparent victory,
his apparent victory in conquering the world.
But here in Revelation 14,
we're going to see the beautiful side,
which is God's true victory at the end of all things.
Collectively though, Revelation 12, 13,
and 14 have been like a grand historical panorama of spiritual warfare,
from the very beginning of time all the way through the end,
from a spiritual point of view.
If you remember Revelation 12,
it started with a look back into history past where we got
a picture of the animosity that Satan has against God and God's people.
We saw there as Satan was pictured as the great fiery red dragon,
and Israel pictured as the woman that was being persecuted there,
as Satan was persecuting God's chosen people from the very,
very beginning he's been after them,
namely to prevent the Messiah that was prophesied,
that would come and crush his head.
So as he persecuted the woman, he was trying to prevent what we saw again in
Revelation 12 which was the birth of the Savior,
the Messiah, Jesus Christ into the world.
We saw there Satan's final attempt to overthrow heaven,
and his defeat by Michael the Archangel and his angels.
We saw Satan's temper tantrum after that and his great persecution of Israel at that point,
really from the midpoint of tribulation through the end of tribulation.
Then in Revelation 13, we saw this really interesting vision John had,
where we learned the dragon's methods of counterfeiting the Holy Trinity,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
as the dragon who had brought onto the scene this apparently peaceful man,
who solved all the world's problems that we know is the Antichrist,
and brought this one world government onto the scene that he led.
We saw in Revelation 13 how this apparently peaceful man was revealed as a grotesque,
destructive, wicked, evil, ugly beast,
as well as the government he was leading,
just an ugly institution,
along with this lamb-like false prophet who enforced through economic control and threat of death,
enforced allegiance and worship of the Antichrist from
the midpoint through the end of the tribulation period.
All of that in Revelation 13 was just a picture of Satan,
again, trying to paint his own ugly mockery of the Trinity,
where you have him placing himself in the role of Father,
the very throne he's always wanted to take,
presenting the Antichrist as the false Messiah,
and then the false prophet coming along the scene as a false spirit, if you will.
All of that foul ugliness,
all of that just gross picture of evil.
It was tough to get through,
but Revelation 14, when we come to this chapter,
it's like a breath of fresh air.
It's like a drink of cold, pure water on a hot day.
It's an encouraging look towards the end of the tribulation period.
As John sees this vision at the end of this seven-year period of history,
we call the tribulation.
We see pictured here the Lamb of God,
the Lamb who is a shepherd at the same time,
standing victoriously from his place of ruling, where he will rule for 1,000 years,
during the millennial kingdom.
We see him pictured there shepherding his people,
specifically this Jewish remnant,
the 144,000 that he had sealed and protected through the entire tribulation period,
now standing with him on Mount Zion.
That picture shows us that even through these last seven years of world history,
a period of time that Jesus said would be the worst period of world history,
that the ultimate winner is not the dragon.
The ultimate winner is Jesus Christ,
God Almighty, and we celebrate that.
Yeah. The winner will be the Lamb of God who is slain Jesus Christ, God Almighty,
the winner standing in the place of God's authority.
So specifically, Revelation 14 is going to open here.
We're going to look at the first five verses this morning with
this picture of the redemption and the protection and the salvation of the 144,000.
If you remember, we first saw these people back in Chapter 7 of Revelation,
where they were sealed with God's seal.
This picture is going to show us how in God's sealing of them,
he protected them through the entire tribulation period,
front to beginning, despite the vicious,
angry, hateful oppression in the persecution of the Antichrist and the false prophet.
Through all of their hate,
and through all of their evil,
and through all of their oppression,
not a single one of those that God sealed is lost.
The shepherd keeping every single one of his flock,
who are very specifically, we're told here,
the first fruits of an uncountable harvest of people that will indeed
find salvation during the tribulation period.
For us today, the church,
it reminds us to never forget that in the midst of any trial,
any tribulation, any difficulty and hardship,
that as we live in a world that is ever more tainted by sin and wickedness,
and just the garbage and the filth of just Antichrist behavior,
that when we are sealed by the Holy Spirit of
promise as God's people, we are redeemed.
We are adopted, we are called His own.
He promises to cleanse us,
to keep us, and to redeem us out of this world.
We're reminded that those promises are true and faithful now and forever.
That's what we're going to be studying and looking at today,
but first, we're going to spend some time worshipping God because He is worthy.
He is God Almighty.
He is the Savior of our souls.
He is the one who shed His blood for our redemption,
purchased us at a price,
and then blesses us and uses us and just, man, it's so great.
Why wouldn't we worship Him? Amen. Let's pray.
Father, we're so grateful to who you are and what you've done.
God, we're so grateful for our salvation.
We're so grateful, Lord,
that you went to the cross 2,000 years ago, Lord,
that you went through that whole experience and the scourging and the mocking,
and Lord, you went to the cross and you shed your blood there as our atonement.
God, you paid the price for our sin.
Every sin we've ever committed,
every sin we ever will commit, Lord.
God, that you dying on the cross was
the sacrifice that made our redemption possible, Lord,
and it is through that shed blood you've purchased our salvation.
We're so grateful, God.
It's through our faith in you, Lord,
that we have a new life, that we have a new heart,
that we have just the hope of heaven.
So God, as we've been studying Revelation and really looking at what you've shown
the Apostle John, Lord, about the end times,
Lord, that we are continually encouraged about who you are,
and the power and the authority that you have, Lord.
We are so encouraged that you keep those that are yours.
So God, we worship you now.
We praise you for all that you are and all that you've done.
We love you so much. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right. So today we are in Revelation chapter 14.
We're going to be looking at verses one through five.
In these five verses that we're looking at this morning,
there's an outline to this.
John sees something, we hear it as he says,
then I looked, then he hears something because he says,
I then heard, and then he understands something about this vision that he's seen here.
So we're going to open up in Revelation 14, verse one.
He says, then I looked,
and there was a lamb standing on Mount Zion.
So again, as we opened up with after the dragon of Revelation 12 and the two beasts of Revelation 13,
here now the vision that John is seeing shifts,
and there's a different character center stage.
It's the lamb.
Now I want you to notice there if you have your Bibles,
your apps, whatever, it says the lamb, not a lamb.
It is the lamb, the definitive article here,
and that lamb is none other than Jesus Christ.
We know that from a few different areas,
Jesus is referred to as the lamb of God over and over throughout scripture,
but specifically back in Revelation chapter 7,
which is the parallel passage to Revelation 14.
Again, that was the area where we saw the 144,000 Jewish evangelists were sealed,
and then we also saw the multitude that came to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior through their ministry.
In that chapter, Revelation 7, we also see again the lamb there with the 144,000.
There in Revelation chapter 7, we see the lamb and God on the throne specifically mentioned.
It says in Revelation 7, 17,
for the lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them.
He will guide them to springs of the waters of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Beautiful picture.
But here in Revelation 14, we see the lamb again, Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
the lamb of God who was slain.
We see him now standing on Mount Zion.
Now, this in my thought had to been a very refreshing image for John
after he had been watching the beast and the dragon and all of the deception and all of that.
After he had been witnessing through the vision God was giving to him,
the rise to power and the deception of the horrific beast from the sea,
which is the Antichrist,
and then all of the false signs and wonders and apparent miracles performed by the false prophet,
who is the beast from the land.
We saw in Revelation 13.
After he watched then these beasts come on the scene,
and then this false prophet forced people to worship the beast who was slain.
All of this just ugliness,
this whole world system,
this ugly spiritual, religious, economic control and dominance that is in place was just ugly.
Again, Revelations 12-14,
the whole section here involves a chronological look,
really from the beginning of history all the way to the end.
We go all the way back to the beginning of time where we saw Satan fall from heaven
because he wanted to be God.
He wanted to ascend to God's throne and God just said,
nope, kicked him out.
Then he lost his dwelling place in heaven,
not his access,
but he lost his dwelling place there in heaven.
Then his oppression on Israel and all of this stuff.
Chapter 12 again,
the spiritual battle that began way back in creation when God created
Satan and there we were reminded that Satan hates everything God loves.
He hates everything God loves, including you and me.
He hates everything that God loves.
Then Chapter 13, during the tribulation period where we saw the rise of these wicked rulers,
this political and religious control that brought
the whole world of the end times under the dominion,
under the domination of Satan.
Well, 14 then takes us from this dark ugly picture to this really beautiful light side of the story.
In contrast, if you're interested in contrast,
it's interesting because Chapter 13,
collectively you have Satan,
you have the Antichrist,
you have the false prophet who brings false worship.
We had the mark of the beast there.
Then now here in Chapter 14,
we have God, Jesus Christ,
genuine worship from heaven and those who have the mark of God on their forehead.
So a beautiful contrast to the ugliness that is to come.
But why is Jesus pictured as a lamb?
There's a couple of ideas.
One is it could just be a contrast to what we were just seeing in Revelation 12 and 13,
that it's a contrast to the dictatorial,
hateful, authoritative rule of the beast and the government that he's leading at that time.
He was pictured as this horrible, ugly monster.
There's this beast with seven heads and 10 horns,
and then he's working with this lamb-like creature.
But if you remember, he said it was a beast of the same kind,
so he's just as deceptive and wicked and ugly.
But here we have the lamb who can in contrast represent
the docile servant leadership of Jesus.
That servant leadership that's not oppressive or threatening or domineering in that way,
very different than that of the leadership of the Antichrist during the tribulation period.
But I think it's even more than just the contrast between the two,
because the lamb is a symbol of Jesus as I mentioned throughout scripture.
Specifically, the lamb meant something to the Jewish mind,
the Jewish reader, and we have to remember that John the Apostle is Jewish.
In the Jewish mind,
a lamb would cause the reader to think of the temple and the sacrifices of the temple.
They would think of an innocent being killed for sin.
That's what they thought of when they thought of a lamb or the lamb.
It would bring up this image of something that's just a cute little cuddly lamb,
innocent but being slaughtered for their sin.
So in Exodus, we see this picture of the lamb being slaughtered for their sin.
When Passover was happening there and they had to take a lamb at Passover,
as the angel of death was going to pass over Egypt and kill the firstborn,
but they were told that you will be safe if you take a lamb and you shed its blood,
and you put that blood on the lentils in the doorpost and the sign of the cross incidentally,
that those inside that dwelling place will be passed over by the angel of death.
Then of course, every day in the temple and the Jewish life,
lambs were brought and hands were placed on the lambs and then blood was shed.
It was that blood that atoned for the sins of Israel.
So the lamb specifically speaks of atonement,
specifically speaks of that salvation.
Interestingly enough, this is exactly how John the Baptist introduced Jesus at the Jordan River.
If you remember back in John chapter 1 verse 29,
John the Baptist said, look,
the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
So what we're seeing here is even at the end of the age,
even at the end of the age,
Jesus glorified, still seen as the atonement,
the lamb, the one who was slain for the sins of the whole world.
You'll notice he's standing there on Mount Zion.
That's an interesting detail.
Now, the idea of Mount Zion doesn't hold a tremendous amount of meaning to non-Jews.
We're just like, another mountain.
But for the Jewish mind, the image of Mount Zion would cause their heart to jump
because Mount Zion had a very significant place in their hopes in the prophecies.
Isaiah, Jeremiah, all the minor prophets,
they all predicted that one day the Messiah that they were waiting for would return to earth,
and he would rule from a literal Mount Zion in a literal Jerusalem with his people.
So this image of the lamb standing on Mount Zion was a very critical idea
that the one they had been waiting for,
the one they had been hoping for,
their idea of the Messiah,
the Savior of the world who is Jesus Christ,
who is the lamb of God,
John is seeing this vision that he is finally fulfilling those prophecies.
Now, Mount Zion specifically is used in scripture in a number of places
to largely refer to the same area,
but it's also used in a number of different ways.
The image you see on the screen there,
it's not really a mountain as we understand it.
When we think the mountains here in Southern California on a clear day,
we could see the mountains and we think,
oh, 11,000 feet, 15,000 feet.
We think mountain. Well, Mount Zion really isn't a mountain in that regard.
It's more of a hill that was located right between
the Kidron and the Tyropean valleys.
You'll see those red lines on the right side of that image.
You'll see on the bottom side of the image,
that is what's called the City of David,
and then above that is the Temple Mount.
So that top red line is the Kidron Valley.
The one right below it is the Tyropean Valley.
You can't really see the Tyropean Valley today because if you go to Israel,
it's all built up and buildings and streets everywhere.
But the Mount Zion referred to this hill that was between those two valleys.
Originally, it was referred to as the stronghold of Zion,
where the Jebusites lived before King David took that area over that mount,
that hill there. You can read about that in 2 Samuel 5.7.
After David defeated the Jebusites,
he actually built Jerusalem there,
which came to be called the City of David or also called Zion.
You can read about that in 1 Kings chapter 8.
Later on, the temple was built north of that hill where Jerusalem was,
there on the Temple Mount.
That's actually officially called Mount Moriah,
and that is where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac.
You can read about that in Genesis chapter 22.
But this whole hill,
this whole area encompassing the City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount,
came to be known as Mount Zion.
So this phrase Mount Zion also came to be synonymous with the idea of God's presence.
You can read about that in Psalm 9.
So you had the city was where Mount Zion was,
you had the Temple Mount inclusive of that,
the whole area was called Mount Zion.
Mount Zion came to refer to the place of God's presence.
Zion was also used to refer to the nation or the people of Israel because they are God's people.
They are God's people and intended to be the place of God's presence.
But in numerous places throughout scripture, Zion specifically,
this idea of Zion came to be a name given to both Jerusalem and the nation of Israel,
specifically during the Messianic era.
Specifically during this era where the Messiah would return to earth and set up
his kingdom and rule the whole earth and we know that as the millennial kingdom,
the thousand year reign of Christ,
which will take place after the tribulation period.
Isaiah 33.5 tells us,
the Lord is exalted for he dwells on high, he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
Well, that is still a future prophecy that hasn't been fulfilled yet.
But in Psalms 2.6,
we see that God speaking says,
I have installed my King on Zion,
my holy mountain.
So this idea of the Messiah coming to the place where
God's people dwell and setting up his kingdom there is something we see in scripture.
Specifically over 40 times through the Book of Psalms,
David uses the phrase Zion to refer
specifically to the Messianic era when the Messiah will rule geographically from Jerusalem.
So that's what this Mount Zion is.
That's the significance of this and seeing the lamb standing there on Mount Zion for
John is a fulfillment of so much prophecy that the Messiah is finally here.
He's finally ruling from God's city.
So John goes on to see something else.
He sees the lamb, he sees him standing on Zion,
and then he says with him were 144,000
who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads.
So just like in Revelation Chapter 7,
these are not Jehovah witnesses.
That's not who the 144,000 is.
They're not specific groups of any other groups and cults.
Seventh-day Adventists actually believe that this 144,000 are them.
It's not them either.
It's no other group.
They're specifically identified in Revelation Chapter 7 as Jews,
specifically from the 12 tribes of Israel,
which are specifically named there.
So there's no confusion.
These 144,000 are Jewish individuals from the 12 tribes.
Then in Chapter 7, verse 3,
it says they were sealed with the seal of the living God on their foreheads.
So they're Messianic Jews preserved,
sealed from the very beginning of tribulation.
That's what we saw in Chapter 7.
All the way now, we're taking a look at the very end of the tribulation period.
They are sealed, they are protected,
they are delivered through the tribulation period.
Now, the seal of God in Chapter 7 is specifically identified here.
It's the name of the lamb and the name of the father that is written on their foreheads.
It's a sign of ownership,
and we're going to get to that in a little bit when we talk about
the word redemption, it's a sign of ownership.
These belong to me.
When we were kids,
our moms used to write our names in our chonies and stuff,
and you're like, why you got to write my name in my chonies?
But these belong to my kid.
There's an ownership here.
This is the idea of the name,
it's marking them as belonging to God.
But it's very important, I want to point out.
Again, that these 144,000,
both in Chapter 7 and here in Chapter 14, are not the church.
They are not the church,
the body of believers that makes up both Jews and Gentiles that
exists here in this age prior to the tribulation period.
These are not the church.
Here at Hosanna, we believe in a pre-tribulation rapture.
In that view, the church has been delivered from the tribulation period, not through.
At the beginning of the tribulation period,
the church is raptured out of this earth.
Then the tribulation starts.
Then there's 144,000 Jews that are specifically sealed by God,
who then go on a ministry of preaching because in Chapter 7,
we see this multitude of people get saved during the tribulation period.
But it's not the church.
The church is gone at this point.
These particular evangelists,
these ministers are sealed by God and God says,
you can't touch them, Antichrist.
You can't touch them, devil.
You can't touch them, false prophet.
Remember, we just looked at in the last chapter where
the false prophet would command people to make an image of the beast and worship it,
and the image somehow has the ability to kill people who refuse to worship the beast.
There will be believers,
people who get saved during tribulation who say,
I'm not going to worship the beast and they're going to suffer terribly.
But these 144,000 are preserved, are protected.
It's interesting enough that the mark that God puts on his people is
what's counterfeited by Satan with the mark of the beast.
You remember the mark of the beast,
it says that it was the number of his name.
Just like God's people here,
these 144,000 who have the name of the lamb and the name of the father on their head,
Satan goes, well, I'm going to counterfeit that and put a mark on my people.
That is the mark, the number of his name.
But when we look at that,
or at least when I look at that, I see a great encouragement.
Because there was 144,000 marked at the beginning of tribulation,
and how many are standing with the lamb at the end of tribulation?
144,000.
It's not most of them.
It's not 139,995.
It's exactly every single one.
If you put your trust in Jesus Christ,
if you put your faith in Jesus Christ,
if you trust in him for your salvation and your future,
he will get you to him.
You can trust in that.
He will get you to heaven.
You can count on that.
There's never going to be a situation where at the end of time,
God is like, you're all here.
Oh, dang it, I forgot Nathan.
Oops. Well, we'll just chalk that up to collateral damage.
That's never going to happen.
If you are gods,
and in this day and age, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
If you are gods, you are claimed by him,
he's going to get you to him.
You can trust in that.
You can hope in that.
It is great hope because it's God is the one
who the obligation lies on.
It's not on us.
If it was on me to make sure I get to heaven, good luck.
But it's God who's going to get you there.
You can trust in him in that.
You can trust in him for that.
This group, these 144,000,
every single one of them,
they're a victorious triumphant group.
They've succeeded in their mission and their calling to preach the gospel
worldwide during the most anti-God period of history.
Not only that, they remained righteous in their obedience to God in
the most debauched, sinful, wicked period of human history.
They did it. They were victorious.
That's what John saw, verse 2.
We now see what he hears.
John says, I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of
cascading waters and like the rumbling of loud thunder.
The sound I heard was like harpists playing on their harps.
John is looking at this vision on earth.
He sees the lamb and the 144,000 right there in Mount Zion,
and then he hears this tumultuous,
rolling, crescendoing sound,
yet very beautiful like harpists playing.
Now, there's a couple of different ideas on what this sound is.
Some render this and say,
this is the voice of God from heaven.
Part of that reason is in the CSB,
the word sound here is rendered sound in other translations,
specifically some of the more traditional translations,
it's rendered voice.
Some people in the older translations specifically go,
I heard a voice from heaven.
In modern translations,
it's a little ambiguous whether it's voice or just a sound.
We see it sound here.
But that idea that it could be the voice of
God is supported by Revelation, chapter 1, verse 15.
If you remember there, John was seeing a vision of
the glorified Jesus who is God,
and he says there specifically his voice was like the sound of cascading waters.
So the same idea here.
If you go back to the Old Testament,
you go to Mount Sinai when God spoke to the people,
it says his voice thundered from the heavens.
Then in Psalm 29,
we have a wonderful picture.
It says there the voice of the Lord is over the waters,
and it's so powerful it breaks the cedars.
It says the God of glory thunders.
This idea, we do see this picture in scripture that God's voice when he speaks can be
this very tumultuous just raging sound.
So it could be the voice of God.
But verse 3 suggests another possible interpretation.
Look at verse 3.
It says, they sang a new song before the throne,
and before the four living creatures and the elders.
But no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
So you have this sound of waters,
and the sound of thunders,
and the sound of harps.
Then right after John says,
I hear this sound, he says,
and they sing a song.
So this sound that he hears in verse 2 could be worship coming from heaven.
The idea of the harp sound leans into this is that it was worship,
it was praise coming from heaven.
It was worship that was so loud and so encompassing that it was like
a raging waterfall or loud thunders booming through the sky.
This is a picture we've seen a lot throughout Revelation,
how the worship is just going to be awesome,
it's going to be dynamic, it's going to be amazing.
There's not going to be anybody in heaven going up to the soundboard and going,
can you turn it down, it's a little too loud.
That's not going to happen in heaven. Why?
Because no matter how loud it is,
it's going to be exactly the perfect volume for you.
It's going to be amazing.
It's just awesome.
Now, in verse 3 there,
it says they sing a new song,
and some people go, well, who is they?
There's disagreement amongst commentators on who they is.
Some look at they and they go, well, it's the 144,000.
They're the ones that are singing the song because
the song is only a song they could learn and so on and so forth.
That's one possible interpretation of it.
But others look at this and go, well,
it can't be the 144,000 because they're standing on Mount Zion on earth with Jesus,
and the sound is coming from heaven as John is seeing this vision unfold.
Additionally, it tells us in these verses that the 144,000,
it reinforces that they're redeemed from the earth.
Then when you read the passage,
it says they sang but no one could learn the song they sang except the 144,000.
That seems to imply that they and
the 144,000 are two different groups of people
because they are in heaven before the throne,
before the living creatures, before the elders.
With that interpretation, you go, well,
who is it that's worshiping from heaven here?
Well, one of the interpretations is it could be the church because they're already in heaven.
They've been there through the whole tribulation period.
Here at the end, right before we get to the second coming of Christ,
there is a celebration as we look towards the end.
It could be just the angels in heaven that are singing with him.
It could be both. We're not exactly sure,
but I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on that because the answer to
the question is who is they? It's they.
But what is being praised?
What is being celebrated here?
What is being sung about here?
It's the redemption, the salvation of these 144,000.
That's a beautiful thing.
We know that praise and celebration is always the heavenly response when someone gets saved.
The Bible teaches us that.
Sure, it might not be this song,
because this is a song very specifically for the 144,000.
But when a soul is saved, there is celebration in heaven nonetheless.
It's always that way.
Luke 15, Jesus told a few stories about things that were lost and then found.
One is a story of a sheep that was lost and found.
One is a story of a coin.
Then of course, we have the story of the prodigal son who was lost and then found.
If you're interested in digging into that deep,
Ron Love, our worship leader and one of our elders here did a fantastic study on that.
You can find it on our YouTube channel.
But in those stories of something that was lost and found,
we are told twice that there is great joy in heaven and in the presence of
God's angels over one sinner who repents.
When one person gets saved,
it's rejoicing, joy in all the heavens.
Can you imagine when two get saved?
Four, eight, what about a harvest crusade?
Man, what celebration is taking place in heaven.
It's amazing. So it tells us here very specifically,
they sing a new song.
Nobody could learn the song except the 144,000.
Now, with the interpretation that the worship is coming from heaven and
144,000 are different group of people,
obviously, those in heaven who are singing the song know the song because they're singing it.
They're proclaiming this praise from heaven,
but then nobody on earth could learn it but the 144,000.
So these 144,000 which are specifically pointed out as redeemed from the earth,
they are able to learn this very specific,
special song that is about their salvation.
Why? Why would there be a new song just for them?
Why would it be something very particular to them?
I think it's perhaps because their redemption is so profoundly special.
What I mean by that is after the rapture and the church is taken out of the earth,
after the restrainer,
the Holy Spirit is removed and he's no longer holding back evil,
and after the rise of the Antichrist and the rise of the false prophet,
specifically when we hit the midpoint when things get really bad after the abomination of
desolation and this wickedness and this debauchery and this false worship and
this one-world religion and all of it just starts to come upon the earth.
Specifically, those who would dare confess Jesus Christ from that point forward,
oh boy, you better watch out.
You can't buy or sell without the mark of the beast, which you refused.
You can't pay your bills,
you can't work.
It is a horrible time through all of that.
They're still standing and that is very special.
You see, if you remember back in Revelation chapter 6,
right after the sixth seal was loosed,
and this was incidentally right before we read about the 144,000 being sealed in chapter 7,
it said this, and they,
speaking of the unsaved on the earth,
said to the mountains and to the rocks,
fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of
the Lamb because the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand.
That was the last part, who is able to stand?
Who is able to stand?
These 144,000.
These 144,000 Jewish individuals that are sealed by God,
a very special group of people,
a very unique group of people,
and only they will be able to sing this song that is about their very special and unique salvation.
So they're going to learn this song and praise it out to the Lamb
because their experience was very unique and special to them.
But it's the same with us today, isn't it?
We all have our own unique experience in salvation.
We all have our own unique experience coming to know the Lord.
Our response to him for our redemption and our salvation should be the same as theirs, worship.
Worship for who he is and what he's done.
We praise him.
We thank him.
Sadly, there are many believers,
none here, of course,
but there are many believers who instead of worship,
respond to God with complaining and griping.
I don't know if you've ever heard it. I've heard it.
I used to be this individual.
Well, I wish my experience was like that person's experience of salvation.
Why can't I have their testimony?
Theirs is so vibrant. Mine is just dumb and boring.
They gripe about their experience of redemption.
Why did that person get this or that?
Why did God do this or that in their lives and not in my life?
Why does God work that way in that person's life and not mine?
Are you kidding me? You're saved.
God saved you and you're complaining about it because it's not like someone else's.
I've said this before and I will say this till the day God takes me home.
If God did nothing else in your life after saving your soul,
you received not one more blessing of any kind.
You still owe him everything.
If God saved you and then was like,
peace out, you're never going to hear from me again and you had the worst life possible.
You still owe him everything.
Because regardless of what happens here on earth,
if you're his, paradise awaits,
it's heaven for you.
It's forever in perfection with the one who is perfect and loves you with a perfect love.
Yet, he saves us and works and blesses us.
Yes, we go through difficulties and trials.
But the point is, your experience,
your redemption experience, it's for you.
Someone else's experiences for them.
The response to each one of us, however,
should be the same although the expression
might be unique through the lens of our own experience.
But all of us have come to the Lord in different unique ways,
but the response should be worship.
It should be God's people crying out to him,
praise the Father, praise the Son,
praise the Spirit three in one.
We can't help but to be people to do that.
Worship is a response to God.
Worship isn't about hyping us up.
It's not the rah-rah cheerleading we do to get us ready to sit and hear an hour long Bible study.
It's not to put us in the right mood.
Worship is a response to all that God has done.
Redeemed people are worshipers.
If you're redeemed, you're a worshiper.
It's a natural response.
Yeah, we've said this many times,
that we should never base our worship on our preferences,
our feelings.
Worship isn't about, do I feel like it today?
Worship is, God, you're worthy.
So I'm going to worship you, regardless of whether I feel like it or not,
because you deserve it.
You are worthy, God.
Now, so we get to verse four, and John saw some things,
he heard some things, and now he's going to understand something.
He says, these are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women since they remained virgins,
speaking of the 144,000.
These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
They were redeemed from humanity as the firstfruits for God and the Lamb.
No lie was found in their mouths.
They are blameless.
So when you read these verses, we see what it is that makes these 144,000 very special here.
And what is pointed out, what makes them very unique and special,
is their standard of godliness, the standard of living,
specifically during this time that they are living in.
God not only protected them and sealed them,
but they maintained an obedient life of godliness and character and purity
in a time of rampant wickedness and callousness and sin and hate and blasphemy worldwide.
They still maintain this life of godliness and character, and that's very important.
And so quickly, he describes them in a number of ways.
The first one we've already looked at is they are redeemed.
They are redeemed.
That is the basis for their godly living.
That is the basis for their holy and pure lifestyle.
They are redeemed, right?
Sometimes it's easy for us to look around the world,
and we see the openly wicked and evil prospering.
And they're rich, and they've got everything, and it's hard to look at that and go,
they look like they're winning.
But the reality is, is in the big picture of eternity,
the real winners are the ones who belong to God.
Like their time on earth, anybody's time on earth is but a vapor, the Bible tells us.
Eternity is what matters.
And only those who belong to God are going to go into eternity, into glory.
The rest are going to go into eternal judgment.
And so if you're a Christian, you belong to God.
And those who belong to God are the real winners in the big picture.
But that word belonged is very important because that's exactly what you are.
It says they're redeemed, right?
They were redeemed from humanity as the first fruits.
That word redeemed means bought with a price.
You were bought with a price.
Think about that the next time you're deciding something in your life,
making plans, planning your day, planning your month, planning your whatever it is.
Think about that next time you're going through what you're going to do with your life.
You, if you're a Christian, you were bought with a price.
You belong to Christ.
I belong to Christ.
The decisions of our life aren't about what I want to do primarily.
They're always about what does God want to do with me.
That's the decision making.
God, what do you want to do with me in planning where I'm going to go to college,
where I'm going to go to work, what vocation I'm going to invest in my time in training?
God, what do you want to do with me?
Now, yeah, there are times where God says, and this has happened in my life,
God will go, well, what do you want to do?
Oh, right?
That's a fun moment.
But it always starts with God, what do you want to do with me?
Right? Early in my life, and I was just sharing this yesterday,
I've always wanted to be a millionaire, right?
Not to have a million dollars, I always wanted to give away millions of dollars.
I just always had this goal.
And so when I was in my 20s, I dropped out of college like six times because I was like,
I'm going to go start a business and make a million dollars.
And then sadly, my ADD would get me bored and I'm like, I'm going back to school.
And then I'd drop out and I'd go back and start another business.
And I would do this loop over and over because I was like, I need to find a way
to become just insanely wealthy because I just want to give money to the church
and I want to help people.
And I would see those shows where it's like a family, destitute family,
and someone builds them a house.
And I'm like, that would be so cool to do, right?
And I was at a pastor's conference years ago, and I was doing business and I was
in ministry and I was kind of like half devoted to both.
And I remember after hearing a particular teacher speak,
I remember God spoke to me and he said, hey, are you finally ready to fulfill,
finally fully devote to your calling?
I was like, of course, Lord, of course.
And he goes, well, what about being a millionaire?
And I was like, yeah, Lord, what about being a millionaire?
And I'll never forget feeling like the Spirit just spoke to me
and God said, I have no problem with millionaires.
But that's not my calling on your life.
Are you ready to step into your calling?
And I was like, yeah.
And so I stepped away from business, you know, stepped fully into ministry
and said, this is what I'm going to do with my life.
And then in the years after that, I remember having people
from my old business days call me up and say, hey, Nathan, will you come work for us?
We'll pay you $150,000 a year.
I'm like, I'm sorry.
I know where I'm called.
You know, and it's just when you step into that calling, you're just confident.
You know, that's what God has for me.
You know, and in my experience of doing what God wants is a part of me saying, God,
I want to obey you.
I want to live a godly life.
I want to do what you're calling me to do.
My life isn't about my decisions on what I want.
It's God, what do you want for me?
And there are some in this world where God says, hey, what I want for you is I'm going
to make you a successful business person because I've called you to be a giver
and you're going to call, you know, and that's awesome.
But the idea is when we're making plans for our lives, we say, God, I belong to you.
What do you want for my life?
What do you want me to do?
Because he bought you.
He has the receipts and they're plainly written in the blood of Jesus Christ.
So when we say yes to Jesus and we acknowledge our sin and we come to him
and we say, I know there's a penalty due, but please forgive me and we accept his death
on the cross, that doesn't mean we then lead a life where it's like, okay, hey, bro,
I'll let you do some nice things in my life from time to time.
Salvation isn't about you letting Jesus into your life.
It's about him letting you into his.
That's salvation.
Now, I know we, you know, say that a lot, oh, accept Jesus in your life, right?
And yeah, I'm not saying that's a bad thing to say, but the idea, it's not you saying,
okay, God, I'm going to give you 10% of my life and we'll see how you do with it.
No.
Salvation is, God, I belong to you.
You're allowing me into your life.
You're changing me, transforming me, redeeming me.
So, God, what do you want me to do?
So, then it says that these 144,000 were not defiled or they had not defiled themselves
with women since they remained virgins.
That word defiled there means to become ceremonially unclean, ceremonially unclean.
So, this could be a reference to the idea that they were actually,
it's referring to actual physical purity, right?
That they were actually physically virgins
because they physically had not defiled themselves with women.
This interpretation incidentally kind of assumes a contrast with what was happening
in the world at that time with the worship of the beast.
Even today, there's most, if not all, cultic false worship, false religions,
always involve some type of sexual deviancy, right?
There's some type of sexual gratification in it.
You know, in Mormonism, it's like you get to go to heaven and have infinite wives
and make spirit babies for the rest of your life.
In Islam, it's like you get to go and you have your virgins in heaven, right?
What do the women get in Islam?
Nothing. They get to go be virgins for someone else, right?
There's always this sexual element that is tied into the reward system for people in it.
And you could go through just every false religion and you see these ideas, you know?
And it's entirely realistic to think that during this time, during this tribulation period
when this false worship is happening and this pagan worship of the Antichrist and all of this,
that there's this sexual deviancy and promiscuity that is a part of the religion.
You go back in history and you see the ancient false religions,
the religions in Greece and everything.
Every time you study them, what was it all about?
Oh, they would have these big sex parties as a part of the worship.
It was always as part of it.
And so, the idea could be here that these 144,000 that were sealed,
they just, they didn't physically participate in any of that.
They kept themselves pure.
It could be the idea of just a celibacy in general that they didn't marry.
And so, therefore, they didn't enter into any of the intimacy elements of marriage,
that they just kept themselves pure in that way.
Another interpretation is that it's not referring to a physical purity at all,
but rather a spiritual purity.
And some people point to the word defile to support that.
It means ceremonially unclean, right?
They were ceremonially pure.
And this, incidentally, reinforces the idea that these 144,000 are Jews,
that they're specifically Jews from Israel, because throughout Scripture,
the nation of Israel is often referred to in their purity.
And when God makes them pure, they're referred to as the virgin daughter of Zion.
So, there's this idea here that there's a purity.
In 2 Corinthians 11, 12, Paul even spoke of virginity in a spiritual sense.
He said, for I am jealous with you with a godly jealousy,
because I have promised you in marriage to one husband
to present you a pure virgin to Christ.
And that's obviously not talking about a physical type of thing,
but a spiritual purity.
And so, the idea here is that as a true believer,
these were people that didn't cheat on God, right?
They didn't cheat on their commitment to the Lord.
They didn't cheat on him in any way.
They didn't have an affair with the world, but they were purely devoted to God.
This was something that James picked up on in James 4, 4, where he said,
you adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God?
So, whoever wants to be a friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.
And so, again, adultery here is used as a metaphor in a spiritual sense.
So, under that interpretation, this 144,000 are just a group
that weren't spiritually compromised.
And so, in that way, they were undefiled and they were pure in their relationship to Jesus.
And then, of course, as I often see, it could be both.
So, either way, they were pure.
But staying undefiled, this idea of being spiritually and physically pure,
it's something every Christian is called to do.
We're all called to this type of purity, both spiritually and physically.
Not that we're called to be celibate, but we're called to be, you know, pure in that sense.
So, sex is meant for marriage, right?
In the marriage context, we're not supposed to be promiscuous and sleeping around.
And if you're not married, you shouldn't be engaging in those things.
But we're also called, in a spiritual sense, to not cheat on God, right?
To not be like, okay, God, I'm with you, but I'm also with this other thing
that you say not to do, right?
We're not to be that way.
It's incidentally how we conquer the enemy in our lives.
We surrender to Jesus and Him alone.
We don't flirt with the world.
We don't cheat on God.
You know, I read a quote that said, some people have just enough of the world in them
to make them not totally satisfied with Christ.
And others have just enough of Christ in them to make them not totally satisfied
with the world.
And then so they yo-yo back and forth into fellowship, out of fellowship,
into fellowship, and they do this whole dance and they're never happy,
they're never content, but they're miserable.
And if that's you in this room today or watching this study, I'll say your misery is due
to your lack of commitment to Christ.
It's, you're defiled.
You're unpure.
If you're living sinfully and living in ways that God says no to and yet trying
to say, oh, no, I'm a Christian.
I went to church on Sunday.
And the discontent you have in your life is because you're defiled.
And you could, of course, fix that today just by making a decision
to fully commit to Jesus.
And so, but lastly, it says that these redeemed are the first fruits of God and the lamb.
And this was a concept that came from agriculture in ancient Israel.
It was a concept that God commanded where each year at the harvest time,
he said, look, the first fruits, meaning the best of the harvest, was offered to God.
It was like, God, you gave me this harvest, so I'm going to take the best off the top
and give it to you in thanks and in gratitude.
And it's the idea that God has blessed me, so I'm going to give him the first and the best.
And it's a thing that we're called to do today.
That concept applies in our lives, right?
We're to give God the best of our lives in our time.
We're to give him the best as we can in our giving, right?
The idea of our giving is we give God first, and then we go and take care of all the other needs.
And that's tough for some people.
A lot of us, you know, in our giving, we say, well, I'm going to take care of everything else first,
and then, oops, I have nothing to give God, sorry.
And that's not the idea.
It's the idea is give God first, because he gave you that whole paycheck.
He says, just be obedient in giving and watch me take care of you.
And so, there's this idea of first fruits.
But first fruits also indicates that there's more to follow, right?
Notice it's first fruits, not only fruit.
So, in this idea that God hears the first and the best that I'm giving you out of what you've given to me,
but there's also more to follow in the same ways or in other ways that I'm going to be obedient then.
So, the idea of these 144,000 being the first fruits of humanity, it says they're redeemed from humanity
as the first fruits for God and the Lamb, is that they were the first of the saved, the sealed,
out of tribulation period.
And they would lead many more to Christ during their time, but they were the first offering.
They were the first that God set aside and said, your mind as an example of what I'm going to do for those who call on my name.
And then lastly, no lie was found in their mouths.
They are blameless.
The tribulation time will be a period of deception that will be unlike any we've ever experienced in the history of Earth.
There'll be so much lying, so much falsehood, right?
We'll have the false prophet and false signs and false wonders.
The deception will be so thick that many people will be like, I just simply don't even know what's true anymore.
I don't even know who to listen to, right?
We're already feeling some of that today.
I know many of you are feeling that today when it comes to politics and elections, right?
Did they cheat? Did they not cheat?
Well, these news institutions say they didn't, and these ones say they did, and people are just like, I don't know what's true anymore, right?
And then you got people on both sides of political aisles and both sides of other aisles that say this is true.
And then they go, no, this is true.
And you're like, you're complete opposite.
Somebody's lying.
And yet even in today, and especially younger people, the tail end of the millennials and then Gen Z,
there's just such a discontent when it comes to what is true.
I don't know.
And then, of course, you have the Internet and our wonderful smartphones at our hands all the time.
And of course, everything on the Internet is true, right?
So it's like, you know, it's just it's difficult.
It's going to be a thousand times worse during tribulation period.
People are going to be so sick of trying to figure it out that they're just going to look for somebody.
Just tell me what to do.
Tell me how to live.
Tell me how to be.
And the Antichrist and the false prophet are going to step into that gleefully.
But these hundred and forty four thousand, they won't give in.
They will speak nothing but the truth, which, incidentally, was prophesied in Zephaniah 313,
where it said, The remnant of Israel will no longer do wrong or tell lies.
A deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths.
They will pasture and lie down with nothing to make them afraid.
And so these Jewish individuals here will eventually stand on Mount Zion with their Messiah, not sinless.
There's no such thing as a sinless human other than Jesus in the flesh, in his humanity.
But it says they'll be blameless, that their lives of holiness and integrity and character will speak volumes of their salvation.
And their lives of godliness will leave no accusation against them.
That will stick.
I'm sure they'll be accused, but nothing will stand because they are godly, walking with the Lord.
And in that, they will overcome the world.
So to close out here, you know, this work that God is doing in the lives of these hundred and forty four thousand,
it's a work that God does in the life of every believer today.
Today in our flesh, we're aware of our inadequacies, we're aware of our failures, we're aware of our weaknesses.
But the overwhelming joy of Jesus Christ and being a Christian is that one day he's going to present us to the Father blameless.
He's going to present us without spot, without wrinkle.
And that's just an amazing hope to look forward to, because every day we're aware of our fumblings.
And the devil is quick to jump in and go, how dare you call yourself a Christian?
But the hope, the joy, what we're looking forward to is, God, you have sealed me with the Holy Spirit of promise.
I belong to you and you're going to get me to you.
Because it's based on your blood, not my work.
It's based on your work, not my effort.
And hallelujah for that, that here in this world today, we are already declared righteous by the blood of Christ.
But we will one day be declared without fault or error, blameless before God.
And I want to close on this last verse, it's Jude 24 and 25.
This is now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory without blemish and with great joy.
To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, power and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.
You know, there's an entire industry that exists in the world today where they take old computers
and they extract all the gold and the precious metals from all the components in those computers.
It's like a billion dollar industry today.
Didn't always exist.
Matter of fact, it's only been around probably for about 30 years at this point.
But in this industry, what they do is they take all this gold in the platinum and they extract what is valuable out of what is considered garbage.
And God's been doing that same thing from the very beginning.
When we look at this world and the sin that's in it, right, God takes this tainted world,
this world that is just garbage of sin and wickedness, and he extracts out of it what is valuable, what is precious.
He redeems people. He remakes lives. He transforms lives.
That's what God does.
And during the tribulation period, there's going to be a whole world of people that say no to God, that say no to Jesus and yes to the Antichrist.
And during that period, the world will descend into a garbage heap of depravity that we have never seen.
And even then, God will extract his gold from it.
144,000 undefiled, pure in their commitment to Jesus, faithful Jewish evangelists.
They will be the first fruits during this time of what God is doing.
They will be kept like no other group of people in history, sealed and protected from viciousness and violence,
able to find victory in the midst of the most wicked, wicked debauched culture of their time.
Now, they're able to stand during that time, during this evil, wicked, sinful time, if they're able to stand godly and pure and righteousness and holy,
if they're able to stand committed to God and not flirting with the world during tribulation,
then certainly by God's grace, we who are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise today can stand righteous today, can stand in obedience today.
We can do it because God is with us and we are his people called to be lights to this world, to shine in the midst of the darkness, not to be a part of it.
And so the hope and the truth of all of this is, yeah, we're looking forward to the day where we will stand with him,
presented before God blameless and before the throne of God.
But until then, we are called to just make every step, every decision, every every moment of our day, God, I'm yours.
I belong to you. I am sealed with your seal. Do with me what you will.
Use me that others would come to know you because the time is short.
The end is coming and we got a lot of work to do. Amen. All right, let's pray.
Father, we thank you, God, for your word.
We thank you, Lord, for the encouragement.
God, even in looking at this group of people, it's a very specific group of people, Lord.
There's no symbolism to the hundred forty four thousand our Lord, because you gave us a very specific description.
But God, the lesson that we see, Lord, and you're keeping them through this horrible time,
this tribulation time, God reminds us and encourages us.
The Lord, we today as Christians, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Lord, not that we're going to go through the world unharmed as these hundred forty four thousand our Lord.
We know that many Christians today suffer great injustices and great harms, Lord.
But God, today, with the hope of heaven and the seal of the spirit, Lord,
we know that regardless of what happens in this world, you're going to get us to you.
Just as you get these hundred forty four thousand to you through the tribulation.
So, God, help us to stand on those promises, to trust in those promises, to to walk in those promises, Lord,
knowing God, how amazing you are, knowing God, the power that you have,
knowing God that through everything when it comes to sin and wickedness and the devil and the Antichrist,
all of it, Lord, you are victorious.
And that those who are yours will stand victorious as well.
We thank you, God, we love you. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Let's worship, guys.