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 first fruits 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.”
I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
144,000
In Revelation 14, we have, basically, three pictures. The first picture is a repeat of what we saw in Revelation 7. As in that chapter, once again we see the 144,000. Who are they? John gives us several identifying markers…
First, these 144,000 are with the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion. As we saw in chapter 7, these 144,000 belong to the Lamb, who is Jesus. They have both his name and his Father’s name written on them. They are standing on Mount Zion which was the location of the Temple in Jerusalem. As with everything else in Revelation, so too here, we have symbolism. It is doubtful that John thinks of these 144,000 as literally standing on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. There wouldn’t be enough room for them. And of course, by John’s time, Jerusalem had been leveled and the Temple had been destroyed. Perhaps the mention of Mount Zion is symbolic of the fact that the people who belong to the Lamb who is Jesus, are now his Temple, he inhabits them by the power of his Spirit.
Next, John hears a sound from heaven. It is like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound is also like harpists playing their harps.
What is this sound all about? It is the sound of music, specifically the music of a new song that is being sung before the throne of God in heaven and before the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders.
Once again, we see that the worship of earth and heaven are joined. For John tells us that no one can learn the song except the 144,000 who have been redeemed from the earth.
One of the distinctive things about Christianity is that it is a singing faith. And it has been so from the beginning. The examples of Christian worship without music are few and far between. The dominant expression of Christian worship takes place through music, especially through singing. So, our faith is a musical faith, and it is a verbal faith.
Have I told you the story of Mark Twain? As you may be aware, Twain was well known for his use of profanity. After many years of marriage his wife decided that she was going to help him quit. Thus, one morning, while she was helping her husband tie his tie, she started using every profane word that she had ever heard her husband utter. She did this in hopes that her husband would recognize how foul such language really was. When she finished, Twain, without missing a beat, said to his wife, “Dear, you got the words, but you ain’t got the music!”
Now, I share that story to make this point. It is possible for anyone to sing the words of any Christian hymn. It is even possible for just about anyone to get the notes of such a hymn right. But a real Christian, who knows Jesus, the Lamb, in a personal way, sings in a whole new way. That person sings with a personal knowledge of Jesus that no other singing can match. I think George Robinson got it right in the words of his hymn that we sang this morning…
Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green;
Something lives in every hue
Christless eyes have never seen:
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow,
Flow’rs with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His, and He is mine.
John also tells us that these 144,000 “did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins.” Once again, we must remember that John is using symbolism. This does not mean that these 144,000 are literally only men, and only virgins. But this symbol speaks to their purity and total devotion to the Lamb.
In fact, the 144,000 “follow the Lamb wherever he goes.” What a perfect description of a Christian! A Christian is one who follows Jesus wherever he goes. Every morning we should wake up and say to the Lord, “Where are you going? I want to be there with you today.” Are we sensitive to the leading of Jesus by his Holy Spirit? Do we go where he wants us to go?
John also tells us that these 144,000 have been “purchased from among mankind and offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb.”
The story is told of a little boy who fashioned a boat out of wood. After he completed work on it, he took the boat down to the stream behind his house and put it in the water to set sail. But the current was fast that day and the boat was swiftly carried away and lost. The boy was very sad because he had invested a lot of time, money, energy, and imagination in making that boat. But what could he do? His beloved boat was lost.
Several days later, the boy went out to play and he saw another little boy down by the stream playing. And the second little boy was playing with his boat! He ran up to him and said, “That’s my boat!”
And the second little boy replied, “Finders keepers!”
So, the first little boy pulled out all the money he had from his pocket and gave it to the second boy, who sold the boat back to him. And as the first little boy walked away, holding his treasure, he was heard to say, “Little boat, you are twice mine, because I made you and I bought you!”
I wonder, are you twice His? God is our creator. In that sense we belong to him as his creation. We don’t have a choice about that. But we have a choice about whether we will surrender to being bought by him. We have a choice about belonging to him twice.
We have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross. But we have a choice about whether we will give ourselves to him, just like that second boy had a choice whether he would sell the boat or not. To belong twice to God and to his Son Jesus Christ is the most precious experience in the world.
Finally, John tells us about the 144,000 that “No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.” This is a typical Jewish expression. David says in Psalm 15…
This Psalm expresses David’s concept of righteousness. Now, we might have a different viewpoint as Christians. As Christians we don’t usually talk about “despising a vile person”. No, through Christ we have been taught that we are forgiven and so we become forgiving people.
And here is another thing about Psalm 15. I know that I have not fulfilled the conditions that David sets out for dwelling in God’s tabernacle, for living on his holy mountain, Mount Zion. My walk is not blameless. I do not always do what is righteous. In fact, there is only one person who has ever fulfilled all these conditions, and more, for dwelling in God’s tabernacle, for living on God’s holy mountain… and that is Jesus!
And so, what must happen? I need to give my sins to Jesus, and he dies for them on the cross. And in return Jesus gives me his righteousness. What a great exchange! Have you made that trade with Jesus? If not, you can do so today and become one of those that John counts among the 144,000.
Three Angels
So, the first picture in Revelation 14 is of the 144,000. Let’s quickly look at the other two pictures. The second picture is of three angels.
The first angel brings the gospel. This is the only time the gospel is mentioned in Revelation or in any of the Johannine literature.
Isn’t it wonderful that God gives us every chance to turn from our sin and turn to him? Before destruction falls on Babylon, God sends an angel to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the whole earth, to people of every nation, tribe, language, and people. I believe God is going to give everyone a chance to hear the good news about Jesus and respond. And we are among his angels, we are his messengers appointed to carry that good news to others.
The second angel proclaims the fall of Babylon—which is a symbol of Rome. Judgment is coming. One day God is going to set everything right that is now wrong. Given the choice between condemnation for your sin, or mercy, what will you choose? I don’t know about you, but I am choosing mercy.
The third angel warns of judgment against those who worship the beast or receive his mark. We saw the mark of the beast earlier in Revelation. It is the number 666. Satan and all who follow him fall short of the mark, short of the mark, short of the mark. Are we marked by God or marked by the beast? To whom do we belong? We have a choice.
John presents a stark picture here. If we drink of the wine of the anger of the prostitution of Babylon, then we will also have to drink of the wine of the anger of God having been mixed undiluted in the cup of his wrath.
Remember what this means in context. The Christians at the end of the first century were being forced to worship Caesar or die. To avoid death, all they had to do was offer a pinch of incense in one of the temples of Caesar worship. I wonder what you would have done. I wonder what I would have done. Some of those early Christians gave in and offered that pinch of incense to spare their own lives. Others didn’t and they paid with their lives. It is these latter that John is speaking of when he says, “‘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.’” (Revelation 14:13) This is the second of seven beatitudes in Revelation.
You know, there is an alternative to experiencing the wrath of God against sin. Let me explain it to you this way…
The story is told of a family in the Midwest many years ago who saw a prairie fire approaching their farm. Thinking quickly, the father took a firebrand and burned a circle all around their farm and home. When the prairie fire reached the perimeter of their land it stopped because the ground had already been burned.
The cross of Jesus Christ stands on burnt ground. If we stand there with Jesus, we need never fear the fire of judgment or destruction, or the fire of God’s wrath against sin, because Jesus has already faced the fury of the flames for us. Out of his deep compassion, Jesus longs to gather us “under his wings” and protect us. But we have a choice about whether we will place ourselves under Jesus’ wings of compassion or not.
Harvest
The final picture John gives us is the picture of a harvest. As Tom Wright points out, this would have been a clear picture of great, uninhibited joy for any Jew.
Who is doing the harvesting? Well, first we have “one like a son of man”. This is an obvious reference to Jesus. And when John tells us of harvesting and reaping, this is an obvious reference to the story in John’s Gospel of the Samaritan woman at the well who, after meeting Jesus, goes home and tells everyone what Jesus has said to her. And she is such a convincing evangelist, such a satisfied customer, that everyone comes out of the town to meet this Jesus character for themselves. It is at this point that Jesus says to his disciples, “open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35) The harvest in John 4 is a picture of salvation and I believe it is tied to the picture of harvest in Revelation 14, also a picture of salvation.
But why then, you may ask, does John speak of the grapes being thrown into the winepress of God’s anger? This is another picture that John lifts from the Old Testament, specifically from Isaiah 63. It is a picture of a royal figure who is both messiah and suffering servant; he is the one who tramples down the grapes, all by himself, getting his clothes spattered with juice in the process. In Isaiah this is a picture of vengeance. But John uses the picture in a different way in Revelation 19:13-16. There the staining on the clothes of the Messiah is from his own blood. As Tom Wright explains, “Somehow, the way in which God works salvation, and the way he works wrath, are intimately connected—because they meet on the cross.” Notice that the winepress is being trodden “outside the city”—a reference again to Jesus who was crucified outside the wall of Jerusalem. (Hebrews 13:11-14)
What then are we to make of the horrible sight of blood flowing out of the winepress “as high as a horse’s bridle, for about two hundred miles”? Again, Wright explains, “The idea of something flowing away from a city and being measured for depth, carries a distant memory of the water of life which flows from the city at the end of Ezekiel.”
It is interesting to note that the measurement John identifies would have covered the length of Israel as it existed at that time. Or it may be that 1600 stadia, being a multiple of 4, is symbolic of covering the four corners of the world. Either way, we have another symbol—a symbol which tells us that the blood of Jesus, trampled in the winepress of God’s wrath, is sufficient to cover the sins of all.
And lest we think this is a picture of divine child abuse, a picture of God the Father punishing his Son instead of us, we need to remember what John tells us in his Gospel about Jesus. Jesus is the Word made flesh. He is the incarnation of God. So, what we have here in Revelation 14 and 19 is a picture of God becoming human in the person of Jesus and taking his own wrath, his own anger against sin, upon himself, and quenching it, smothering it, destroying it, that we might, instead, experience his healing, forgiveness, and love. Again, we have the picture of exchange, an exchange that is offered to each one of us, if we will only make the trade. Jesus drinks the cup of God’s wrath to the dregs so that we might drink the cup of salvation.
In closing, let me say this… I know what my mother would say about this sermon. When I was starting out as a preacher, I played for my mother a recording of one of my sermons. She listened very attentively and at the end she said, “I think you had three great sermons there!” I imagine my mother would say the same thing about this sermon today. And she would have said the same thing to John who wrote Revelation. He packs this one chapter so full of pictures, three great sermons in one. The important thing is that all three point us to Jesus and plead with us to come to him…
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