Sermon Tone Analysis
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We saw last week that in contrast to the dragon, the beasts, and those who worship them, John sees the church with Christ in her midst:
We saw that Mount Zion symbolizes the dwelling place of God, which between Christ’s comings is the church.
We reviewed the 144,000 and saw that this represents the saints of all time.
We saw how in the midst of the saints is the Lamb - like the dragon and the beasts and the lost are all together in each other’s presence, we are in God’s presence.
We saw that as opposed to the mark of the beast - his name or his number that represents those in their fallen condition - we have the name of God written on our foreheads.
This is the mark or the seal of God that makes us His.
And we saw, we are in a war against the dragon - who is Satan - the beasts - which are secular powers and false religion, which Satan uses to fight against us.
And I finished by saying that we would see more about who we are as those sealed by the Holy Spirit.
And that’s where we’ll begin by looking at what John hears next.
Remember, what He is seeing is the church with Christ in her midst.
But he also describes what he is hearing.
This is similar to what we saw in Revelation 7 when John hears of the 144,000, but sees a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language.
So what does he hear?
Revelation 14:1–3 (ESV)
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.
The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.
Now notice that John hears a voice from heaven.
As we saw, John is seeing this vision on earth - the dragon and the beasts and the church.
So He hears from heaven a voice.
And then John describes the voice in great detail.
He says:
Revelation 14:2 (ESV)
And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters
John heard this voice at the very start of the overall vision.
It is the voice that dictated the addresses to the churches.
It is the voice of Christ:
So John is letting us know that the voice he heard at the start of the book of Revelation is the voice He is hearing from heaven.
It is Christ.
But there is more to the voice:
Revelation 14:2 (ESV)
And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.
The voice also sounded like thunder.
This also describes the voice of Christ earlier in the book of Revelation.
If you’ll remember, the second vision cycle takes place in heaven, where John sees God on His throne and the Lamb in the midst of the 24 elders - this is Christ in the midst of His church.
But John also saw what he describes as “four living creatures”, which together also represent Christ.
One was a man, one was a lion, one was an eagle, and one was an ox - this is Christ as human, as king, as God, and as servant.
And the Lamb is given the scroll with the seven seals, and when He begins to open them, each of the four living creatures call John to come to see what is revealed.
And we read this when this the seal breaking begins:
Which creature is not identified, but it doesn’t matter because each of them represent Christ.
And here, the voice of Christ is like thunder to John.
Then, in the third vision cycle, during the sixth trumpet, John is given three visions.
One is judgment on the reprobate.
One is the the two witnesses that represent the Word of God in the world.
And between those John sees a mighty angel come down from heaven, Who we saw was Christ.
And we read:
Here we see that the voice of the angel Who is Christ is compared to a lion roaring, but we also see that when He called out, the “seven thunders” sounded.
And those seven thunders reveal something to John that he is told not to write down.
It is revelation from the mouth of Christ that is not revealed to us.
So here:
Revelation 14:2 (ESV)
And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.
John is describing this voice from heaven as the voice of Christ.
So note that when we take this together:
Revelation 14:1–2 (ESV)
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.
John is describing Christ as both on earth with His church, and at the same time in heaven.
And this is exactly what Christ said would be the case.
In the upper room the night before His death, Jesus told the disciples He was going away but coming again:
So Jesus says He is leaving, talking about His ascension, but that He would come again to take them to Himself, which is the Second Coming.
But in between those two events, Christ said He would also come to them:
This is the sending of the Holy Spirit - the seal that makes us part of Christ’s church - but through the Spirit, Christ is with us.
He said “I will come to you.”
And this is not the Second Coming, because Christ said the world will not see Him.
At the Second Coming, as we have seen, the world sees and is terrified.
And Christ says that we are in Him and He is in us.
This is our union with Christ.
We are identified with Him and actually continue His work on earth as He works His power in and through us.
This is what John is seeing and hearing - Christ in the midst of His people, even though He is heaven where He ascended:
Revelation 14:1–2 (ESV)
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.
But John describes the voice even further.
It is not just like the roar of many waters and the like the sound of thunder:
Revelation 14:2–3 (ESV)
The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.
Note, this is still what John is hearing.
The voice of Christ sounds like harpists playing on their harps, that were singing a new song.
This is what the voice sounded like.
He doesn;t say there were people playing harps and singing, this is what the voice of Christ sounded like.
And it was a song being sung before the throne, before the four living creatures, and before the elders.
Now, we have already seen harpists in the book of Revelation.
The four living creatures - representing Christ - the the twenty four elders - representing the saints of all time - were playing harps before the Lamb:
And we saw, this is the heavenly worship of the Lamb.
He is exalted because He is the One Who can open the seals - He is the One Who can initiate the salvation of the elect in space and time.
But here, the elders and the creatures aren’t playing the harp.
Revelation 14:2–3 (ESV)
The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.
These harps are being played by others, but “before” the throne and the living creatures and the elders.
Now, before we go any further, we need to see that John is continuing that contrast that He began in verse 1.
The dragon, the beasts, and the people who take the mark are contrasted with Christ and His church, who are those marked by God.
Here, John is using this repetition of “before,” to make a point.
And in the English we lose what he is doing because of how this word for “before” is translated elsewhere.
Now, note that here in the Greek, the word is only used twice.
It literally says that the harpists played “before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders.”
Often, translators will add the repetition of a word that is not there to try and bring out the meaning.
But here, I think that John is separating out the throne from the living creatures and the elders on purpose.
He is separating out Christ on His throne - where He is in heaven - from Christ among His church, the creatures and the elders, where He is on earth.
But with that in mind, let’s see the contrast John is drawing.
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