Follow the Lamb
Notes
Transcript
Then I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of mighty ocean waves or the rolling of loud thunder. It was like the sound of many harpists playing together.
This great choir sang a wonderful new song in front of the throne of God and before the four living beings and the twenty-four elders. No one could learn this song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
They have kept themselves as pure as virgins, following the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among the people on the earth as a special offering to God and to the Lamb.
They have told no lies; they are without blame.
This scene shows us what we have already seen
This scene shows us what we have already seen
In Ch. 7 and ch. 9 and ch. 11
There are those who are faithful unto the Lamb; they are marked out/sealed. They stand ready to be useful and faithful witnesses for the Lamb.
After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.
Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?” And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.
Contrary to the scene of the Dragon, the Beasts, and their minions and those who decide to follow the beasts, we see here a scene of those who are sealed for the Lamb, standing, ready to be a useful army. Ready to follow!
Warriors, ready to fight battle
The image is that they never lied, or never had relationships with women/men. It is an image of going to battle, borrowed from the Old Testament.
Deuteronomy 23:9 ““When you go to war against your enemies, be sure to stay away from anything that is impure.”
1 Samuel 21:5 ““Don’t worry,” David replied. “I never allow my men to be with women when we are on a campaign. And since they stay clean even on ordinary trips, how much more on this one!””
As those marked out/sealed for Christ they make war differently than we would expect. The Lamb is their example of what it means to conquer!!
They follow the Lamb wherever he goes!
To follow the Lamb, simply put is to belong to Jesus. In the Gospels, those who belong to Jesus follow Him.
WHAT ARE SOME THINGS THE LAMB DID?
WHERE ARE PLACES THE LAMB WENT?
WHAT DO YOU THINK IT MEANS FOR US TO FOLLOW THE LAMB IN OUR WORLD?
The call to discipleship was 1st to follow!
The call to discipleship was 1st to follow!
One of the first thing Jesus did in his ministry was to call disciples, those who would follow him wherever he went and learn from him. He simply called them to “Follow me.”
Mark 1:16–20 “One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him. A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets. He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men.”
Matthew 9:9 “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.”
But, being a disciple is not only about learning from a Master, it is about becoming JUST LIKE THE MASTER!
When Jesus called his disciples, they knew what that meant. They would follow him and learn from him, IN ORDER THAT THEY MIGHT REPRESENT HIM TO THEIR WORLD.
Discipleship was not and is not about ascribing to a series of statements and beliefs about the one you follow. It is about the one you follow becoming an example to you of how to live and respond.
Your life, as a disciple, is a testimony/witness of the life of your Master. You don’t repeat simply words, you do your best to become JUST LIKE the one you follow!
In Revelation 5 we have seen how the Lamb leads and what the Lamb does.
The Lamb lies down and is slaughtered for the sake of the world. The Lamb is praised for His victory, but His victory is one where he lays his own life down, appearing to be conquered.
Yet, in a dramatic reversal, the Lamb is said to have overcome because in His death he destroyed the greatest enemies of Sin and Death.
Revelation 5:9–10 “And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.””
If this is how the Lamb has overcome; those who follow must fight the war, and overcome, in the same way.
So, as we have seen John tells the church in Revelation 12:11 (NLT) 11 And they have defeated him (the Dragon) by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.
As the Disciples began to follow Jesus he told them what the model would be; the Cross.
If they were, truly, going to follow Him they would have to model His sacrificial life and style of life to the world.
If they, truly, were to be faithful witnesses, they must be willing to set aside their own self and self identity; and quite frankly, like the Lamb, suffer.
Matthew 16:21 “From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.”
Matthew 16:24–26 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
Those who follow the Lamb, those referenced in this short passage of Revelation, are those who are willing to give up their VERY SELVES, even their lives, to be faithful witnesses.
As an army they are willing to fight in the same way Christ fought, through their giving up of their lives. As followers, they are willing to go with the Lamb wherever the Lamb goes.
And, the road the Lamb took was to a cross.
But, those who follow the Lamb have CONTINUAL fellowship with one another...
But, those who follow the Lamb have CONTINUAL fellowship with one another...
Following the Lamb requires the help of other followers of the lamb!
We don’t do this thing called Discipleship alone! We don’t follow alone!
“On the Jericho Road” is simply wrong. We might have to go single-file, but we don’t go alone!
It is NEVER just Jesus and Me!
Here in this passage we are reminded of the Great Uncountable Multitude (or at least 144,000) of faithful Lamb Followers that we journey with!
Hebrews 12:1–3 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.”
EXPLAIN THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
NOT UP THERE IN A CLOUD, BUT A FOG THAT SURROUNDS US
A THINK VEIL BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH
THEY ARE RIGHT HERE AMONG US! (OR, more correctly, when we worship we are JOINING THEM)
Some of those we celebrate with have gone on to be the in the crowded cloud. Other are here this morning...
But, maybe our relationship with them is not what it should be...
There’s no better place to reconcile than at the Table that reminds us of the Lamb who reconciled all things in himself.
Colossians 1:19-20 (NLT) 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
Ephesians 2:14 (NIV2011) 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
As we come to the Table of Communion (fellowship) this morning we come with this thought in mind.
As we come to the Table of Communion (fellowship) this morning we come with this thought in mind.
For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread
and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”
For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.
So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.
For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.
Body?
What are some things Jesus did in his body? How was His body broken for us?
We remember all that as we look at the bread this morning...
Blood?
What does it mean that his blood confirmed the covenant/agreement between God and God’s people?
What are ways we can remember that in our lives?
Ponder that while you look at the cup...
Are we willing to, truly, follow the Lamb?
Are we willing to give up our very identity to go where the Lamb leads?
Are we willing to give up our self desires of grandeur and fame and success in order to be disciples who follow the Lamb to a cross?
Are we willing to go to “Those People” that the Lamb leads us to?
Are we willing to go to “That Neighborhood” or “City” where the Lamb calls us to follow him?
Are we willing to follow the Lamb to Polson, Ronan, St. Ignatius, Africa, the Middle East?
Are we willing to follow the Lamb as we lay down our desires for ourselves and our family?
Are we willing to follow the Lamb by helping a neighbor in need? What if that neighbor is an undocumented person? What if that neighbor is a refugee?
ARE WE WILLING TO FOLLOW IN COMMUNITY? AND ENJOY THE COMMUNION OF ALL THE SAINTS?
We have been told that on the Passover Jesus, Luke 22:19-20 (NLT) 19 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” 20 After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.
As we come to the table this morning, we recognize that Jesus’ body was broken and His blood was spilled to initiate a New Way and New Life for our world.
We come to the Table remembering that!
We do much more. We do not only gather here to remember the sacrifice of the Lamb; we follow and do what the Lamb did. Often, our bodies are broken and our blood is spilled. This we ALSO DO to remember the Lamb we follow!
As we come to the Table, we come willing to be followers, disciples, of the Lamb who take his example into our world!
Galatians 2:20 (NLT) 20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Communion Instructions
Communion Instructions
Come grab a piece of bread and a small cup of juice
Hold onto it and return to your seat as we ponder TOGETHER a few things
Questions...
Who are some in our crowded Cloud?
Who here has been influential to us?
We are reminded of the Body and Blood of Jesus...
What are some things he did in his body that we should remember?
Take and eat
What should we remember about His Blood?
Take and eat