In our study, we are in the middle of the great tribulation. Satan is unleashing the fury of his wrath on earth. He sends forth his own spirit to enter into one man and he uses this man to offer the perfect utopia to the world amidst all the chaos. This man is the antichrist and Satan is going to empower him to build up all the hope that man has ever had for this utopian world. Man places all his hope in this one world ruler.
But then the antichrist turns against millions on earth, against all those who have strong religious faith: the Jews, Christians, Moslems, Hindus, and all others. He will slaughter any who don’t give their first loyalty and allegiance to the state and its leader, the antichrist himself.
This is what we have seen thus far. Last week we see the chief executive officer of the antichrist introduced, the false prophet.
Now, in this vision, we have seen a lot of bad. John was experiencing this in his vision. He, and we, need relief from these horrors. The human mind can take only so many pictures of tragedy before it needs an infusion of hope. That is what chapter 14 is, a picture of victory. In this chapter, John is given seven visions that show the triumph that lies ahead for those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ and endure to the end.
Keep in mind that John is seeing into the future. He is seeing the future triumph. The first vision of triumph concerns the redeemed. The redeemed are seen as victorious. They are seen with the Lord. PRAYER. READ v. 1.
The redeemed will be seen with Jesus. The Lamb is Jesus Christ. He stands on Mount Zion. Mount Zion was another name for Jerusalem. It has always been used to refer to heaven itself, to the heavenly Jerusalem. Here Mount Zion means the heavenly city of God. So the believers are seen with Jesus in heaven.
There are 144,000 Jews who had taken a vow to stand up for Christ, the Christian Jews who had not denied Him during the holocaust of the antichrist. Their commitment will be rewarded: they will be with Jesus Christ in heaven.
They are sealed with God’s name. They will be identified with Christ and God. They have refused to take the seal of the antichrist. They will make a vow to serve God and to take His seal. There are a lot of antichrists in the world now, many false teachers, who deny that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We need to remain strong in the Lord. We need to be identified with Him.
Read v. 2. The redeemed will hear the voice of God. Imagine having the privilege to hear the voice of God. The voice of God is like the sound of rushing water: forceful and mighty. Yet waters can also be quieting, comforting and peaceful. So God’s voice will be both powerful and peaceful.
The voice of God is like the sound of thunder: deep, rumbling, stirring. When He speaks we will be aroused and stirred from what we are doing. His voice will demand attention. What a lesson for us today. How we should be listening to the voice of God in His Word. His Word is just as powerful as His voice will be when we get to heaven. The problem is that we are not listening to His Word, nor nearly as much as we should be.
The voice of God is like the sound of many harps: restful, calming, soothing. Music can calm our hearts in the most troublesome of times. And oh how the voice of God will need to be heard in the tribulation.
READ v. 3. The redeemed will be uniquely privileged. They will have a song of victory to sing before the heavenly host. The words of the song are not here or anywhere else. We won’t know the words until the day of redemption comes.
That creates a beautiful image in our minds. Those who receive Jesus Christ during the great tribulation will be given a special song of victory. When they arrive in heaven victorious and triumphant, they will have something to sing about, the glorious victory given them in Jesus Christ our Lord.
READ v. 4 & 5. The redeemed will be clearly identified. They will be virgins: they will never marry. The days of the end time will be filled with horror after horror. Apparently, these 144,000 form a body of believers who vow and commit their lives to never deny Christ. They apparently take a special bow to be the ministers to the people who will be so severely attacked and persecuted by the antichrist.
They will be followers of the Lamb—wholly committed to Jesus Christ and separated from the sin and evil of this world. They are separated from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and from the pride of life. They will sell out completely to the Lord Jesus Christ.
They will be redeemed from among men, the first fruits to God and the Lamb. That simply means that they will be the first Jews to be saved in the tribulation.
They will be truthful, never lying. It seems like that will be part of the vow that this group of believers will take. It will be easy in the days of the antichrist to simply lie and say that one will give his first loyalty to the antichrist and his state and then to continue on worshipping God in the secret of their home. But that’s a lie, and the 144,000 will take a vow to never lie.
That’s not an easy thing to do. This is a day of untruthfulness, lying and deception. Practically everyone lies and deceives—husbands, wives, children, employers, employees, students, teachers, neighbors, friends, leaders, ministers, laymen, politicians and citizens. We are called to a commitment of truth.
These 144,000 will be blameless, without blemish before God. They will commit and set their lives completely apart unto God. This is the first vision John sees.
In the next six visions, John hears six of the most glorious announcements. The announcements proclaim six events that stagger the human mind. These events will take place. The second vision or assurance is seen in verses 6 & 7. The gospel will be preached to the whole world.
READ v. 6. The messenger who will have the gospel will be an angel. Jesus predicted the evangelization of the whole world. (Matt. 24:14) There are several thoughts on this subject.
- There are those who think that evil will be so rampant in the end time that no human will be able to preach and spread the Word. They think God will change His method of getting the gospel out to the world. They believe he will go back to using angels like He did in the OT period of history.
- Then there are those who think this is a vision symbolizing the preaching of the gospel to the world.
But whatever the case, God’s people are going to be scattered all over the earth. They will be hiding and scratching for food wherever they can. They will have to be fleeing in order to get away from the holocaust of the antichrist. But God’s people, His true servants, always share the gospel wherever they are to whomever they feel they can trust.
Then you will have the witnessing going on to the converted Gentiles. God’s people are never silent. They will always talk and share Christ among one another and to those who befriend them and help them.
So the point is this: there will be witnessing in the last days. The gospel will be proclaimed by God’s people. And if for some unknown reason they hush, God will proclaim the gospel of His Son through angels. Remember what Jesus said, “If the people keep silent, then the very stones themselves will cry out.” (Lk. 19:40)
READ v. 7. Here we see the twofold point of the message. Note that they are the very subjects that will be flooding the minds and conversations of people in the midst of the holocaust. Worship God the Creator. Repent, turn from the worship of sin and of the antichrist and worship God. This is not different from the gospel that we share today.
The twofold message is to fear God, and to worship God. Few people fear God. This is what God calls the day of grace, the day when He reaches out for people in love. But the Day of Judgment is coming. This is the message of Revelation. So we must fear God even in this day of grace and love. God tolerates our rebellion and denial of Him only for now, only to give us a chance to be saved and to escape the coming judgment. But this chance will soon pass. So, we must repent and fear God and do what the next point says, “Worship Him.”
READ v. 8. The third vision of assurance given is that Babylon will fall. In the OT, Babylon was the great enemy of Israel. The very name of Babylon stood for a corrupt political system, a corrupt economic system, and a corrupt religion.
Here in Revelation, Babylon stands for the city of the antichrist, the capitol of the world. We are also given in v. 8 the reason Babylon will be destroyed. She will make all nations drink of the wine of her fornication.
There is a twofold picture given:
1. Babylon, the end time government, will be like a prostitute who entices men into bed with her by giving them wine and getting them so intoxicated that they can no longer resist her seduction. The end time government will be just like the prostitute. Babylon will entice the world to join her in her corruption. What will the corruption be?
a. There will be the corruption of idolatry. The sate and the one world government will be the idol to which first loyalty and allegiance must be given.
b. There will be the corruption of murder. A spirit of senseless murder and lawlessness will be sweeping the earth. Don’t forget the slaughtering of millions who refuse to place the state before God.
c. There will be the corruption by magical arts or sorcery. This is the interest and the governing of life by the horoscope, astrology, witchcraft, and demons.
d. There will be the corruption of sexual immorality.
e. The corruption of thefts. Stealing will be rampant.
The last days will be corrupt and evil and murderous days, and it will be because of the godless and secular society and government of the antichrist.
2. Note the second picture given in v. 8—the picture of wrath. Babylon will seduce the world to drink to drink the maddening wine of her adulteries. She thinks her wine leads to pleasure, to the utopian state, to the glorious one-world government. But the government will lead to the wrath of God.
The justice and fury of God is going to fall on the whoredoms of Babylon. All the ungodly and evil people and nations of the world who follow him will suffer the wrath and fury of God. Has the Bible previously warned us of this? Of course. In fact, I close this session tonight simply with Scriptural passages of previous warning.
Matt. 25: 31-32 - “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
Jn. 3:36 - “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Rom. 1:18 - For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Rom. 2:8 - but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.
Eph. 5:6 - Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Jude 1: 14-15 - It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,
15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
We stop for now. We will pick up on the next for visions of assurance next time.
