The Lamb With His Church

Revelation 14:1–5 NASB95PARA

Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.

Introduction

When the night is long,

When the dark is strong,

When you can’t go on,

You need to see Jesus.

We look around at the news and I see cities burning. I see what used to be moral ambiguity has turned into that which is unmoral being praised. I wonder sometimes how it is that things got to this point, and I realize that my eyes are not on Jesus; so I look up.

When the night is long,

When the dark is strong,

When you can’t go on,

You need to see Jesus.

That is precisely where chapter 14 brings us.

The book of Revelation is often understood to be simply a window to the future in which we see God’s judgement poured out on the earth. To a certain unrighteous extent I believe Christians sometimes view that with an unfortunate smug superiority and we miss the fact that judgement begins with the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).

This was of course the problem faced by the Prophet Amos. In his day – as in ours – it seemed people merely wanted their enemies to be judged rather than understanding that God’s holiness goes far beyond ours. Furthermore they misunderstood, as we sometimes do, that God’s intention to judge is not a joyful thing.

Amos 5:18–20 NASB95PARA

Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord, For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light; As when a man flees from a lion And a bear meets him, Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall And a snake bites him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it?

That picture is indeed reflected in what we have seen in the last chapters with the rise of the antichrist and the false prophet.

But for the Christian, all is not darkness. As king David reminds us, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me”.

The presence of God with his people is our ultimate comfort. The promise of God’s presence identifies our ultimate hope.

Revelation 14 gives hope to the church by reminding us that our Lord will come into his kingdom.

The Lamb Upon Mount Zion

There is a very good reason for the timing of this chapter.

We need to keep in our minds, the context for what is happening here. Back in Revelation 8:13 three “woes are announced upon the earth”. Then rapidly we see the fifth trumpet - and the locusts as the first woe, the death and resurrection of the two witnesses and the subsequent earthquake of Revelation 11 comprises the second woe, and the third seems to be Satan’s assault on earth against Israel, and ultimately the church in Revelation 12:12 and beyond which includes, it seems the arrival of the antichrist and the false prophet, who all three initiate idolatrous worship of the antichrist and a systematic global persecution against the church that is described as “war” against the saints (Revelation 13:7) a war which Daniel 7:21 and other locations teach will be successful in that the church will look like it is losing.

That is when John sees the next vision that reminds us of our true position.

The Lamb

John invites us to see what he sees when he says, “and behold”.

Standing upon Mount Zion stands Jesus identified as the lamb. Back in chapter 5 we saw the lamb looking as if it had been slain bringing us to remember that Jesus has died for us. Mount Zion is the name often given to Jerusalem; but here - you should not that it indicates the location of the kingdom of God. The writer of Hebrews contrasts the Israelites standing terrified at the base of Mount Sinai receiving the law - with you and I as believers in Jesus who have not come to a mountain like Sinai but to Mount Zion, and the city of the living God - the heavenly Jerusalem, and the myriads of angels, to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven...[and into the very presence of] God, the Judge of all...”

We are invited to see Jesus utterly victorious, gentle as a lamb, standing with his saints. All in a fulfillment of Psalm 2:6 in which God’s response to the raging of the nations is to laugh at their smallness and to install His king Jesus on the holy hill of Mount Zion.

Mount Zion

Mount Zion itself is the name used, typically in the Old Testament to refer to the city of the kingdom of God. In other words we see Jesus at the moment of the fulfillment of His kingdom.

144,000

Then we also see the 144,000. Back in Revelation 7 we saw the 144,000 for the first time and we identified them as representative of the entire church throughout the ages marked by God representing his ownership and protection.

That mark shows up again as “The name of the Lamb, and the name of His Father are written on their foreheads.”

Look at the contrast to the Mark of the Beast in the last verses of chapter 13. Whereas the Mark of the beast indicates either true belief (forehead) or merely actions (right hand) that mark someone as a follower of the antichrist - the 144,000 have the names of the Savior and the Father upon their foreheads indicating true belief. Their allegiance to God is no mere external obedience - these are true believers. And they stand with Jesus.

Moreover if we remember the text of Ezekiel 9:1-7 once again we will also note that being marked as the possession of God was a mark of protection. God’s judgement will never fall upon those who are his.

This is where the passage again reminds us of the place we have in Christ. Our position with Jesus is secured by Jesus. And that security and salvation is worthy of worship; which is exactly what happens next.

Worship of the Redeemed

John then hears a voice - this one is coming from Heaven. It is a unified voice of many. It is very loud. If you’ve heard the ocean crashing against the rocks, it is astounding how loud that can get. Imagine innumerable voices blended as one and you have an idea of what John is hearing.

Once upon a time many moons ago I used to love my annual trips to the Moody Bible Institute pastor’s conference. The teaching was wonderful, the fellowship beautiful, and the worship was amazing. Here at Fame we have wonderful musical history.

In fact, in churches all across this country and around the world today, Christians are lifting voices together to worship the Lord because he is worthy of the worship. Of all the things that I missed during our separation; it was worshipping together that was most difficult.

Back in the text, all of these comparisons declaring the “likeness” of the sound is stuff we have seen before. In Chapter one the voice of Jesus is compared to many waters, in chapter 6 and angel speaks with a voice like thunder, and in chapter 5 the elders are each holding harps as they worship. The voice that John hears is compared to all of these perhaps because it represents all of heaven singing.

The New Song

And what they sing is a new song.

And “they” sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. But no one could learn it except the 144,000.

Obviously anyone can learn a song. So something more than comprehending the lyrics and repeating them is in view here. The only ones who can learn the song are those “who had been purchased from the earth”.

That is a description of everyone redeemed by Jesus.

Paul uses that type of language in 1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23 when he says “You have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body… do not become slaves of men.” In other words, God bought you, and he Owns you. Those purchased by God have a song of redemption that only they can sing. Those who are marked by God will also worship him.

So who are these? See how they are described in verses 4-5.

The Army of God

Very intriguingly they are described as undefiled and chaste. The word is often translated as “virgin” and could be understood to mean that these are a class of some kind of super saint who refrained from sex. But the problem is that it goes against Biblical theology. God created marital intimacy between one man and one woman and never calls it evil unless it occurs outside of the covenant.

But the description does point to something else.

When the not yet king David was running away from King Saul – he stopped to see the priest and requested help. The priest has nothing on hand except for some bread that had been offered to God and says David can have it on the one condition that his men and himself were ritually pure. David’s response is telling:

“David answered the priest and said to him, “Surely women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will their vessels be holy?”” (1 Samuel 21:5, NASB95PARA)

In other words the sexual prohibition and in particular the statement that they were not defiled identifies them as soldiers in the service of Christ. Especially as they are described as “The ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.” And as their honesty is pointed out in verse 5.

The language is militaristic; and sets into our mind the final battle that is yet to come in chapter 19. The church will at the ultimate end of all things follow Christ into the final battle and will gain the victory.

The imagery here is vital for we the church to see.

It is vital because right now it looks like evil is winning all over the world. And in the last days it will surely seem as if the church has lost, the devil has won, and the antichrist is triumphant. But we need to know dear church that this is only the valley of the shadow of death. The light of Christ is on the other side.

When the night is long,

When the dark is strong,

When you can’t go on,

You need to see Jesus.