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“The Lamb And His Mighty Men!” • 10.18.20 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- I have often reminded you that the chapter and verse divisions, while necessary, are not inspired, nor are they often helpful to the serious Bible student.
- Additionally, given our time constraints, we are often forced to close at inconvenient places. Last week, was one of those sermons.
- The subject matter that we covered in Revelation 13 is as comprehensive as it is "dark." The Antichrist, the False Prophet and the Image of the Beast demand our attention.
- The world will seemingly belong to the Devil, as he is worshipped vicariously through the Antichrist and those that will not take the mark or worship the beast, will surrender their lives!
- Bleak. Dark. And very likely a little depressing! I'm grateful that I can now bring us around the corner, to see what lies ahead.
- Remember: This book is not the Revelation of the Antichrist. It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ! What we are privy to on this morning, is the great preview of His final victory over all! Verse 1.
Text
• Revelation 14:1-3 : "Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth." : John begins with his usual attention grabbing headline: "Behold!" "Can you believe this!?"
- There are times in scripture when you just can't imagine something happening. Amidst all of the immorality, idolatry and inhumanity centered around the Beast, there stands a Lamb!
- It disappoints me to see that the KJV and NKJV are the only translations that miss this. It is not "a" Lamb, but THE LAMB that is standing upon Mt. Zion!
- The question had been asked just a few verses back: "Who is like the Beast? Who can make war with him?" That snarling, savage beast can't stand before the Lamb!
- This is not even a "fiery Lamb of iron." He's not the "Lamb with a lion's voice!" He is not even pictured with horns! He is simply the pure, docile, gentle Lamb with those that He loves!
- Unlike the Beast of the Sea or the Beast of the Earth, Jesus is just the Lamb! The Greek word used here is distinct in making this "the little lamb!"
- The omnipotent Lamb of God will have no problem dispatching His enemies!
- Death and darkness had been looming over the heads of the righteous and now John says, "Behold!" a Lamb stands upon Mt. Zion, right in the Antichrist's supposed "backyard!"
- At this point, you might be wondering about the Lord standing on Mt. Zion because you know that Zechariah 14:4 tells us that He will return and stand upon the Mount of Olives!
- Remember that John is receiving this vision from the Lord and that it's not related as much to linear, sequential time, as it is related to theme.
- Most people believe that John is seeing the end of the Great Tribulation after the Lord has already destroyed His enemies! Mt. Zion is the mount of Kings!
- Jesus has come back to rule in the city of David, just as the scripture predicted! Have a look later today at Psalm 48 and Isaiah 4:2-6. He will arrive on the Mount of Olives, but will rule from Zion!
- How will this take place? John will let us in on this soon enough, but the Spirit through John wants you and I to see that there aren't enough beasts in the Universe to stop the Lord's plans!
- John is not only amazed at the sight of the Lamb, but also at the sight of who was with Him! There are 144,000 men that stand there with the Lamb.
- If this is indeed a portrait of life at the end of the Great Tribulation, it's interesting to note their number. When we were introduced to this group of Jewish evangelists, there were 144,000.
- How many made it to the end of the Tribulation? 144,000! God did not lose a single one!
- Satan may have the majority of the people of Earth fooled, but God will always reserve a remnant for Himself!
- I am reminded of the Prophet Elijah's plight when he went to seek out God at Mt. Horeb. Israel's apostasy was firm and in his mind, he was the only faithful person left!
- God explained to him that he was not only not the only one left, but that He had reserved 7,000 that had not bowed the knew to Baal! (I Kings 19:18)
- John sees Jesus standing with approval over these men, this remnant of Jewish believers. These men bring delight to His heart! They are truly His and He is truly theirs!
- Notice that they bear heaven's seal upon their foreheads. They belong to the Father!
- There are a fair number of manuscripts which read that they have His Name AND His Father's Name inscribed upon their foreheads. Which set of manuscripts is accurate is not relevant.
- Jesus and the Father are both God, even though they are obviously distinct! The point isn't to debate these finer points, but to point out that the Antichrist has his and God has His!
- Unlike the Antichrist, Jesus Christ is able to keep His men safe and secure!
- The vision continues with a voice thundering from heaven. When you cross reference this passage with Revelation 1:15 and 4:5, you'll see that these are characteristics of God's voice!
- The Lord Jesus is standing with them and the Father notes His approval by raising His voice!
- John doesn't record what the voice commands, but heaven's orchestra rises to attention. The harpists sang a "new" song before the Throne of God.
- The word refers to a fresh experience either in form or substance. In other words, it can be a kind of song that has no discernible relation to our conception of melodic or chordal structures.
- It may be that it won't even sound like what we know of music today! Can you imagine the creative genius that God has yet to reveal!?
- On the other hand, it can be the revelation of words or themes that have never been sung about. The experiences that Great Tribulation saints will endure will be unique to them.
- This would make sense of the next line, as the four living creatures and the elders simply watch without partipating. That isn't their usual response.
- At this moment, the words that are being sung, the emotions being conveyed, swing a little too personal for others to sing. The 144,000 are the only ones that have the ability to sing this song!
- These will be redeemed from the Earth. They will be bought from the stock of men that will live upon the Earth during the Great Tribulation. Think about that!
- Their redemption will not be greater than our redemption, but it's worth arguing over whether or not they will have a more difficult road than any other Christian in history!
- The beautiful notion here is that the Lord will redeem them just as He has redeemed us!
- Jesus tells this story of a vineyard owner, who enlists laborers throughout a work day. (Matthew 20:1-16) He gathers men at various hours, even up until the very last hour of work!
- When the day was over, the vineyard owner called them all to come and receive their wages. The men that worked the entire day figured they would get more than the men of the last hour.
- They are shocked when the vineyard owner pays the last hour men the exact same wage as the men from the first hour! How does he explain this? This is just what he wants to do!
- The last hour tribulation saints will be redeemed just as we are because God just wants it that way! He's that gracious! John describes what kind of men these will be beginning in verse 4.
• Revelation 14:4a : "These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes." : These men are special, especially for the time in which they will live. There are some who believe that "virginity" refers symbolically to a refusal to be corrupted by the world's financial system.
- In a few chapters, that will be called the "whore of Babylon." These will not be corrupted in that way. That is probably the case, but not likely the intended meaning.
- These men will not be stained or polluted by engaging in illicit, extra marital sexual activity. They are "virgins," a term that is fairly narrow in it's application.
- There are a few times in scripture when God calls certain men not to take a bride in marriage.
- For example, Jeremiah is commanded not to marry given the awful realities he is about to witness related to Babylon's conquering of Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 16:1-4)
- Later on, Paul instructs the Corinthians that it would be better for them not to marry given their current predicament. (I Corinthians 7) This may be the reason for their decision.
- In every age, a Christian's sexual ethic, born from Biblical literacy and fidelity to Christ, puts them in direct contrast with the world around them.
- The Bible teaches that God created sex and reserves it for the marriage relationship, the relationship that is forged between one heterosexual male and one heterosexual female for life.
- In it's proper place, once a legally tendered marriage has been secured, sex is a wonderful gift from God, reminding the couple always of their first love.
• Hebrews 13:4 : "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." : Marriage is God's institution and He is honored in any age when Christians live that out before the watching world.
- The unbelieving World doesn't have any qualms exploring beyond Biblical boundaries.
- It is nothing for them to cohabitate or to be involved sexually before marriage. Today, most young people have convinced themselves that any act just south of actual intercourse, is fine.
- God differs with them! Any arousing sexual expression outside of the bonds of heterosexual marriage is forbidden, sinful before God. A person of the world thinks that this is absolute lunacy!
- Imagine what the attitude will be like among men in the Great Tribulation? We have already observed that this will be a time of unparallelled wickedness.
- Despite all of God's judgments aimed at causing them to rethink their positions, the men of the world refused to repent of their sexual immorality! (Revelation 9:21)
- Imagine then the contrast that these virgin men of God will display during this season!
- There is an interesting story found in Jeremiah 35, in which God tells Jeremiah to visit the family known as the "Rechabites," meaning "of the uttermost parts."
- What is strange is that God tells Jeremiah to offer them wine. When he does, they explain to him that they have not touched wine simply because of their Father's command.
- God uses their example as yet another judgment upon the nation! These men faithfully followed their Father's command from the far reaches of the Kingdom.
- Israel would not follow God's command, though He spoke to them through the prophets, day and night to turn! The same will be true of the 144,000!
- The presence of obedient people on Earth will heighten the guilt of those that would be rebellious against the Lord!
- Incidentally, our obedient lives also testify to the truth of Jesus Christ and cannot be ignored!
- These men will be free from this vice and will live with one purpose: They follow the Lamb wherever He goes! That word "follow" speaks volumes.
- "Hypago" means to "lead oneself under, i.e. withdraw or retire as if sinking out of sight." They are so close to the Lord that they disappear behind Him!
- There is no distance between Him and them! If someone were looking at Jesus coming toward them, they would not see anyone but Him! Listen again to this phrase.
- They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have made a decision to follow the Lamb. They are not following His followers. Jesus never called us to follow another. We are to follow Him!
- This is a decision that is made at one point in time and confirmed when our direction is set by Him! To the right or to the left. The question is settled once the Lord sets it!
- These men are exceptional in their unwillingness to chart their own course upon this Earth.
- They are content, fulfilled in being true followers of Jesus. Can you say that of yourself? Is that your heart's cry? There isn't a better place to be than to be where Jesus is!
- There is safety in making this decision to allow the Lord to control your direction and continues as you determine not to allow any distance to develop between you and Him!
- In fact, every time that distance is measured between God's people and their Lord, the results are disastrous! Let me furnish you with a few examples. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 25.
- In Exodus 17:8ff, the people of Israel are drawn into a battle against the Amalekites, beginning a war that God would perpetually fight against that nation. What made Him so angry?
- We really don't get the sense of that until Deuteromony 25, when Moses explains God's decree to the next generation of Israelis.
• Deuteronomy 25:17,18 : "Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God." : Who was attacked? The rear ranks, the stragglers, the tired and weary!
- Many scholars believe the Amalekites to be a type of the flesh. Our flesh loves to attack when we straggle behind, when we tire ourselves out and become weary in well doing!
- Distance from the front makes us vulnerable to attack! Distance from the center is also dangerous! Turn in your Bibles to Numbers 11.
- When you are not necessarily connected to what God is doing with and in your life, the tendency will inevitably lead to complaint. That never works out well for the person complaining.
• Numbers 11:1 : "Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp." : Where were the "complainers?" Near the outskirts of the camp. Toward the far distant edge!
- "It doesn't seem like much is happening from my vantage point." Interesting corrolation don't you think? One can be close enough to know where they should be, but not close enough to see!
- Turn in your Bibles to I Chronicles 5. I am drawing your attention to the end of a story that begins in Numbers 32. The nation of Israel is about to settle in the land of Canaan.
- They turn back the aggression of Sihon and Og and two and a half tribes get the idea that they would be more comfortable staying on the East side of the Jordan river.
- They are going to stop just short of God's land! They are going to remain on the other side of a geographic border in the Jordan river, distant from the center of God's presence!
- Moses is furious with them, but eventually allows them to take that land with the single condition that they help settle the land west of the Jordan for the rest of their brothers.
- Joshua 22 records their final separation and return to their land, with the admission that they are accepting a territory that is remote from their brothers and the worship of their God.
- It was initially a territory that promised them great financial success, given how many herds they had received from the war. What happened to that group of tribes?
• I Chronicles 5:25,26 : "And they were unfaithful to the God of their fathers, and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, that is, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He carried the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh into captivity. He took them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan to this day." : When you remain remote from the presence of the Lord, preferring instead to focus on your pleasures, you are inviting bondage!
- How many have taken jobs that led them away from being centered in their spiritual life? How many have allowed pleasurable pursuits to take precedence over spiritual pursuits?
- It never ends well! It ends just like it did for Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh! These tribes were the first to go into captivity as Assyria moved in upon the northern tribes of Israel.
- At the risk of wearing you out, I'd cite one final example. Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 26 and the Lord's flight from the Garden of Gethsemane to the illegal trial before the Sanhedrin.
- You already know the beginning of this story: Peter, the Lord's "most faithful disciple," swears that even if everyone else were to deny Him, he could not possibly fail in that area! (v.33)
- The end of that story finds Peter weeping at the gate of the city, having denied His Lord with a curse, at the exact moment that the rooster crowed and Jesus looked him in the eye!
- What happened in the intervening moments? What swung the pendulum? Listen carefully!
• Matthew 26:57,58 : "And those who had laid hold of Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed Him at a distance to the high priest’s courtyard. And he went in and sat with the servants to see the end." : When you follow at a distance, you are just as likely to be influenced in your behavior and decisions by what you see around you.
- When your eyes are focused on the Lord, you are secure knowing that wherever He leads you, it will be for your best benefit!
- The 144,000 followed closely and just made sure that the Lord's movements were their greatest concerns! I pray that we will learn to do likewise! Verse 4.
• Revelation 14:4b,5 : "These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God." : To be a redeemed sinner from any age is special and worthy of songs for eternity!
- To be one redeemed out from the men of this hellish place called the "Earth in the Great Tribulation" is special! They are the firstfruits to God and Christ!
- They will be the first of an entire crop of believers that will rise from this period of time! In fact, many will come to Christ as a direct result of their evangelistic ministry upon the Earth!
- These men will lead other men and women to repent before God and put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ! What sort of men will they be?
- They are men of purity by their behavior and men of honesty in their speech! Search their mouths, listen to what they say. You won't find a single note of deceit!
- The beast will live off of trickery and guile! He will do all that he can to turn men from the God that pursues them. These men will simply tell men the truth about God!
- That is our hope today, to tell the truth about God and what He requires of men, primarily, that they recognize the depth of their sin and realize that they are doomed apart from Christ!
- We call men faithfully, truthfully, to repent from their sins and to turn to Jesus! I say that here without much fear of recrimination, prosecution or persecution!
- These men will speak these truths in the most hostile environment that has ever existed on this planet! The world will hate them, accuse them of "weaponizing the Bible."
- No matter where one looks though, according to God, they will be blameless before Him!
- This doesn't mean that they will be sinless but they are without stain before the Throne of God! The Lord's promise from Jude 24 is fulfilled. He will present them faultless!
- Ultimately, these men, who will have decided to follow Jesus, will take on much of their Savior's character. Is it any wonder that they will radically change their world?
- Further, is it any wonder that these are the exact kind of people who will be led home safely to stand comfortably before the Throne of Grace!?
- Anyone who ends up there begins with the exact same decision, namely, the decision to follow as closely to Jesus as possible! May that be our continual resolve today!
Conclusion
Let's pray!
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