Sermons

Lessons from the 144,000 pt 1 – Revelation 14:1-3    

Revelation 14:1-3 – “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.”

The book of Revelation returns to the 144,000 witnesses introduced previously in Revelation 7:1-8.  That earlier chapter explained the significance of the number itself – 12,000 from each of the 12 Tribes of Israel.  Twelve in the Bible often symbolizes foundations for a phase of God’s project.  God build His Old Testament project (the nation of Israel) starting with 12 Tribes, and His New Testament project (the church) with 12 Apostles.  Here, the 12 groups of 12,000 (totaling 144,000) comprise the foundation for God’s project during the final period of history, the Great Tribulation.  The Tribulation is a period when God briefly returns to His Old Testament project to finish it, and this begins at the Rapture when the faithful church has finished its mission and leaves the world.  That is the reason for the number here: 12 Tribes multiplied by 1,000 (the number for the end of an age) multiplied again by twelve (God bringing completion to the original project, bringing something new out of the old).

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Lessons from the 144,000 pt 2 – Revelation 14:3-5

Revelation 14:3-5 – “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.”

A previous lesson explained the direct prophetic fulfillment of this passage – still in the future, as it pertains to the end of the Great Tribulation.  At the same time, we can glean much from the description of these believers.

New song – Also mentioned in Psalm 40:3; Psalm 96:1; Psalm 98:1; Psalm 144:9; Isaiah 42:10; and Revelation 5:9.  God does not keep us in dead tradition and ritual; he gives believers new songs.  “before the throne, before the elders…” – this reminds us that our worship comes directly before God in heaven.

Did not defile themselves with women – During the Great Tribulation, God’s people will be under the directive against marriage that we see in Jeremiah 16:1-4; all the reasons there will apply in the Tribulation.  Today (prior to the rapture), God encourages Christians to get married and have children (see 1 Corinthians 7:2; Malachi 2:15).

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Why Did John Eat the Little Scroll?  Revelation 10:10-11

Revelation 10:10-11 – “I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.  Then I was told, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.’”

Little Scroll - God’s words; today we have these in the Bible and when the Holy Spirit speaks, either directly to our hearts or through revelations in the gathering of brethren.  This symbol also appears in Isaiah 29:11-18 and Ezekiel 2:9-3:4.

Open, unrolled in the angel’s hand – God intends His Word to be an open book for us.  Some neglect the Bible because they find it confusing.  Use a Bible version that is easy to understand – in one’s own language, or in simple, modern English.  Those who cannot read should try to obtain an audio recording or have someone read the Bible to them regularly.   In addition, the Holy Spirit wants to help us understand the Word (see Psalm 119:18; 1 John 2:27; 2 Corinthians 3:6).

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“O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!” - Habakkuk 3:2 

 How to Have Revival

Revival is a biblical concept in which the Lord renews the operation of his Holy Spirit in the lives of believers and in the midst of the Body of Christ.  Anything the Lord has done in the past, he can also do today.  The Lord desires his servants to be revived and refreshed every day- “his mercies are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23).  Faithful servants pray for this, as did Habakkuk; but the biblical prayer also has a prophetic aspect pointing to the last days before the rapture of the church.

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“I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.“

In the original Greek text of the New Testament, the word translated here as “a place” is “kleros.” The King James Version translated it “inheritance,” which is one of its meanings. Kleros is a very important word in both the New Testament and in the Greek version of the Old Testament that the Apostles used in the early church (called the “Septuagint”).  This is the first in a series of lessons exploring the meaning of this term.

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Revelation 13:8-10 “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.  He who has an ear, let him hear.  If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go.  If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed.  This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.”

This sentence gives us an interesting definition-by-negation: by telling us what unbelievers are not like, it provides a nice definition of what believers in fact are. The true believers escape the spiritual deception that comes on the world in the last days to attract most people to the Antichrist, whoever that is.  Of course, many who call themselves “Christian” but are unsaved will fall under the deception, because their names are not yet in the book of life.

“Written in the book of life” – Those who receive salvation in Christ have their names written in a heavenly book – known in eternity, designated as belonging to the Son of God.  This is most important thing we can attain in life.  Christianity is not supposed to be impersonal or just a group affiliation or tribal identity.  It is personal – God saves individuals, one by one, marking them for eternity and seeking a personal relationship with each true believer.

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Revelation 12:10-11 - “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.  They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death…”

Revelation 12 is about “the Woman” and the Dragon.  Bible Scholars today debate about the identity of “the Woman,” a symbolic figure here.  Some scholars believe she is a symbol of the nation of Israel – out of which came the Messiah (Jesus) and the first Christians.  Others think she symbolizes the church, which brings Jesus to the world today through our testimony, and which suffers so much persecution.  We will not attempt to resolve this debate here, for our purpose is to emphasize the clearer, and more important, points in the chapter.  Similarly, scholars disagree about the timing of Satan (the Dragon) being cast to the earth.  Some believe this refers to an event in the Last Days, which intensifies the demonic activity in the world, while others think this refers symbolically to an event in the distant past.  Taken by itself, this chapter seems to suggest that it is in the last days.  On the other hand, Jesus seems to refer to this as a past event in Luke 10:18.  It is not important for us to settle such disputes in this lesson, as both viewpoints are acceptable to some sincere Bible scholars. continue

1 Thessalonians 5:18 – “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Thankfulness and thanksgiving are frequent commands in the Bible.  Many Christians yearn to know God’s will for their lives; we should ask our Lord what he wants when we face decisions.  At the same time, the Bible already tells us several things that are “God’s will for you” – usually certain character traits that God wants us to cultivate.  These, in turn, will have a significant impact on how we pursue our careers, family relationships, ministry, and so forth.

The New Testament repeatedly instructs us to be thankful in every situation and circumstance (see Ephesians 5:20; Philippians 4:6; Colossians 3:17).  We should intentionally develop the practice of finding things to thank God for in every circumstance, good or bad.  This does not mean that we should thank God for a disease, death, or other afflictions – we know that the Enemy sends those things, too.  Some believers make the mistake of thinking they will seem super-spiritual if they thank God for bad things that happen to them.  This is not Biblical – we should not attribute every bad thing that happens to God, especially when the Bible is so clear that there are evil forces in the world.  We should thank God within our trials, despite our trials, but we do not have to thank Him for the trial, as if God is the author of disease and poverty.  When we are sick or grieving the loss of loved ones, we can thank God for other blessings we have, like eternal life and the comfort of His Spirit.  We thank God that the situation is no worse than it is, and that we know He will bring us through it.  We do not have to pretend tragedies are not tragedies.

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“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” – 1 Corinthians 15:3

Why Did Jesus Have to Die For Our Sins?  Most believers understand at least some of the reasons that Jesus had to die.  “Christ died for our sins.” This is truth.  In addition, Jesus’ on the cross, and the shedding of his blood, brought other important blessings as well, beyond forgiveness.  On the subject of forgiveness through the cross, however, the next natural question is how Jesus’ death enables us to have forgiveness.  It is natural for someone to ask why God needed to have His own Son die in order to forgive us.  Why was a blood sacrifice required?

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Revelation 13:8-10 – “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.  He who has an ear, let him hear.  If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go.  If anyone is to be killedwith the sword, with the sword he will be killed.  This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.”

Revelation 13 is about a horrible “beast” (a symbolic portrayal of the Antichrist) and a lesser beast that supports him – a symbol of the individual commonly known as “the False Prophet.”  Both receive their power and position from the dragon, who represents the Enemy (Satan – see Revelation 12:9).  Both fail completely in the end, and find themselves cast into the Lake of Fire (see Revelation 14:9-10; 15:2; 19:20).

In the Old Testament, the prophet Daniel had visions or dreams of beasts that represented political empires (Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman – see Daniel 7) and specific world leaders (the ram and the goat in Daniel 8-9).  In Revelation, the beasts refer to people who carry out a specific mission of the Enemy.  The first beast has the same symbolic features as the Dragon in Revelation 12 – 7 heads and 10 horns, with parts of the beasts in Daniel 7.  Seven heads probably refers to the Antichrist’s headquarters – both Rome and Jerusalem, as well as some other ancient cities, sit atop seven hills.  Ten horns apparently refer to ten national leaders who will yield their sovereignty to the Antichrist.  The parts of Daniel’s beasts merged into one beast suggests that the Antichrist will have some kind of global dominion, ruling over territories that were parts of all the ancient empires. continue