A Marked Man

Revelation 14:1–13 NIV

Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 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 rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless. Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” A second angel followed and said, “ ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

Introduction: We all have a choice to make. And it is not one that we can decide not to decide. This choice, if you do not choose, you have made your choice. That choice is to align yourselfe with Jesus or not. And why does that matter?

It is a choice about the Gospel, as we see Angels....

20 - The Gospel is Proclaimed.

21 - 7’s Chart with the Beast Story included.

So what is going on with the Church when there are Beasts on the Earth?

A picture of the 144,000 who we will describe a little later - They are blessed.

22 - 3 Angels are sent to proclaim the Gospel to everyone on Earth.

- Why Angels depicted, and not the Earth. Yes the Earth, but by using this imagry of God’s Supra-natural messengers,

1.John is telling us that the Gospel is Cosmic, it is bigger than just the Church,

2. It is not our Gospel, it is God’s Gospel, and everyone who shares it are stewards of this Gospel - We can not change it, maybe the way we present it, but not the message.

3. It is Eternal - So it is something that was shared before we were born, and after we die.

4. The Church then are partners with God and His Angels is sharing the Gospel. We are not the owners of it. We look to its owner, the Trinity, and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to share it.

I think the other encouraging thing about this, is that their is an appeal to everyone to turn away from the Beast, and turn to God. From allegiance to the worldly systems and all of its idols that it worships and towards allegiance to God. So one of the things that we need to recognize is that all of this talk about the seal on the 144,000 and the Mark of the Beast is really about a choice. Where does your allegiance lie?

This Gospel then has two purposes - Every message has a purpose - I write down what my purpose is for us when I write every sermon.

23 - To Glorify God.

24 - The Gospel is Good News.

25 - The focus can seem to be on avoiding Judgment, but the Gospel is just as much about what we are for, and not what we are against.

The Book of Revelation and the Gospel itself reminds us that we are already judged in our sin.

John 3:16–19 LEB

For in this way God loved the world, so that he gave his one and only Son, in order that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world in order that he should judge the world, but in order that the world should be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not judged, but the one who does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. And this is the judgment: that the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.

Share the Story of the Gospel in Pictures.

And so the Gospel is the message that God is reaching out to you, that Jesus is our life saver. - The picture of someone drowning and someone throwing out a life-saver.

This is both the direction of the Gospel, and the natural response to someone who is saved. Glorifying God who alone was able to save us through His Son Jesus Christ.

To Be sure the Gospel also then is a warning of Judgment.

25 - To Warn of Judgment.

Throughout Revelation, God has shown that the gods of this world will consume us. They are not good, and so God allows them for a time to run things with out his empowerment and constraint, and they make a mess of things. God’s war on the gods of this world. All the while he is sharing this Gospel, you can be saved from all of the imprisonment that comes from your own sins and the idols that consume you.

Preacher who described in horrific detail hell - Is message was you want to avoid hell don't you. Discussion with youth pastor about what is better, presenting the positive of receiving Jesus, or presenting the negative of rejecting Jesus?

God wants to save people from Judgment

26 - - Skeleton's in God's Closet - Video.

27 - God is going to Judge Babylon - rid this world of Babylon - Who? Just like the Beast was introduced in the middle of the 7 trumpets, and we are now in the Beasts story to explain who that is, so Babylon is now being introduced, and who is Babylon. - I will have to explain more later, bu the Short Answer again is the City of Rome - And the Sexual Immorality here is Idolatry, not just sexual immorality. So Jesus is saying, Fallen, Fallen is Babylon and all of its Idolatries. In his Judgment of this World he will strip this world of its Idolatries and world systems that promote those Idolatries.

Reference to Babylon

- Maybe we get why God wants to strip this world of

The Dragon - Satan

The Beast - “Roman Empire and its Emperors” who force people to worship Satan and his demons, and the Emperors himself - Or any Kingdom that acts beastly in the same way.

The 2nd Beast - the local pagan authorities and religious institutions that inact the Beasts will.

But the third Angel says there is another group who will be judged.

28 - People aligned with the Beast receive eternal judgment.

"Contrast that willingness to take this name carefully written on the forehead with the taking of the mark of the beast....We also see in Revelation 13:16 that he “forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark (a brand), on his right hand or on his forehead...” There is intimidation here. There is fear, there is force. I may be so bold as to say that the relationship between God and His people is like the wonderful intimacy of marriage, while the mark of the beast is like rape. There! You’re mine. You are part of this evil empire. The contrast between the character of the makers, the sealers, is incredible. There is no relationship here in the work of Satan. He’s just pulling in the masses to give himself power. It’s all about him, isn’t it? I need to gain this power so that I can become the ruler of the entire earth.” - John MacKinney.

Things again to say about the Mark.

- It is not a physical thing.

Reiterate that people who receive the Mark receive God’s Wrath, but the only unforgivable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

They Align themselves with the World Systems and the idols/the gods those World systems tell them to worship - They are trapped, they are imprisoned in sin, they cling to their Idols and so with the idols they must go from God’s good world, because quite frankly the enable the Beast, and therefore Satan.

The Grace of God is that there are these Angels, and the Church who are commissed to say there is another way. To Warn people to align with God, and to be healed from the imprisonment of their idols. That to Believe and Trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior will save them from receiving God’s wrath alongside the one who enticed them to worship Idols, “Babylon, the Beast, the Dragon.”

The Torture/Fire/Sulphur forever and ever - Again this is a book of Symbolism - Reminds us of Soddom &Gomorah, But it is also this imagry, like we will see later in the book as being outside of God’s good creation. Hell is being with your Idols in their fate, and being consumed by them. - In the 7 Trumpets we saw God doing battle with the gods, and showing them to be defeated, not good, and unless God restrains them total destruction.

Hell which is ultimately separation from God is like all of the plagues at full not 30% like God limited them, but at 100%. It is receiving all that our idols really have to offer.

The Angels, and Jesus really through the Holy Spirit to John inviting people....

29 - People aligned with Jesus receive eternal blessing.

144,000 goes back to chapter 7 - We have said that it represents all believers from the O.T. to the N.T. - Remember John heard that number, but saw a large number from every nation, tribe, people and language.

It was a military census - They are warriors in the spiritual warfare.

The are sealed by God’s Name, and Jesus’ name, The Holy Spirit.

They have a song that resonates only with them. - I often watch videos of people challenging Christians - Atheists, Humanists - And it is literally like they can not comprehend why Christians do what they do. They are singing a different tune. It is like their radio station is attuned to a different frequency. That frequency is a different worldview.

They are virgins - likely not literally, it means they do not follow idols - compared to Babylon, compared

They did not lie about who Jesus was, or that they were believers.

Patient Endurance and Faithfulness

They receive Eternal Blessing - we will see what this blessing is later in the Book.

Conclusion:

So this is this is the choice. Do you align yourself with Jesus, or do you align yourself with something else. Your choice is the difference between Eternal destruction vs. eternal blessing presence with God.