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The Lamb Who Shepherds His People - Revelation 14:1-5

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After all that john has seen in his apocalyptic vision, seeing the docility of a lamb standing with his overcoming sheep is a welcomed sight. Although the dragon pursues god's people relentlessly, although the beasts are bent on ruling the earth, the ultimate winner will be the lamb and his followers.

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12/29/1996
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The Lamb Who Shepherds His People
Revelation 14:1-5
Skip Heitzig
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After all that john has seen in his apocalyptic vision, seeing the docility of a lamb standing with his overcoming sheep is a welcomed sight. Although the dragon pursues god's people relentlessly, although the beasts are bent on ruling the earth, the ultimate winner will be the lamb and his followers.
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66 Revelation - History's Last Chapter - 1996

66 Revelation - History's Last Chapter - 1996

The book of Revelation exalts Jesus Christ as the soon-coming Lord over the earth. Skip Heitzig explains the amazing and mysterious prophecies that form God's final word to mankind.

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Outline

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  1. The sights seen
    1. A significant person: the lamb
    2. A significant place: mount zion
    3. A significant people: 144,000
  2. The sounds heard
    1. A voice sounding
    2. Harpists playing
    3. Singers singing
  3. The standard described
    1. They are redeemed
    2. They are virgins
    3. They are first-fruits
    4. They are faultless

Transcript

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It's awfully difficult to brush up against evil for any period of time. It blotches the way you think. It changes the way you think. It's difficult to see, to experience, to hear wickedness going on around you. You could ask C.S. Lewis about that. C.S. Lewis wrote this book called The Screwtape Letters which is a very interesting book. It's a book where he places himself sort of in the position of the devil--can you imagine how difficult it would be to think that way for a long period of time? The chief character is Screwtape. Screwtape is sort of the senior demon, the tempter who teaches his nephew how to ruin people's lives. And before the book, his little preface after it's all done, C.S. Lewis wrote about his book and he said, "I never wrote with less enjoyment. Though it was easy to twist one's mind into a diabolical attitude, it was not fun or not for long. The strain produced a sort of spiritual cramp. The work unto which I had to project myself while I spoke through Screwtape was all dust, grit, thirst, and itch. Every trace of beauty, freshness, and geniality had to be excluded. It almost smothered me before I was done." Well with that in mind, think how John felt. Think what John has seen in these visions. Think what John has heard up to this point. Think of just the last couple of chapters, seeing the chief character of the hell of the tribulation period, the dragon himself, Satan appearing as this dragon, wanting to destroy everything God loves, hating the Jewish people, hating the believers throughout history, and in the tribulation period, seeing a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads, ten horns, another beast rising up out of the land who looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. All of the horrible things that John has seen, all of the wickedness, it must've worn on him over a period of time. It could wear on anyone, even if you are an apostle like John, I'm sure John wanted to change the channels but he couldn't channel surf in this vision. He was fixed on what God had shown him.

That's why chapter 14 is like a breath of fresh air. It's an encouraging infomercial, as God takes John through it all to the very end of the tribulation period right before the millennium and we have a picture of the Lamb who is the Shepherd at the same time, shepherding His people, the Jewish remnant, 144,000 standing on Mount Zion. Now what this shows us is that even though it will be very bad during the Day of the Lord, the tribulation period, that last seven-year period on earth, Jesus said it was the worst of any period of human history. Even though that's true, the ultimate winner will not be the dragon, the first beast, or the second beast. It will be the Lamb. God's Lamb. God's Son. And He will stand on Mount Zion. He'll take the 144,000 Jews that we read about a few chapters ago and not one of them will be lost--all of them will be standing with Him in the end. Last week somebody at this service told me after the service a story about a telemarketing firm that called a house, you probably know what that's like. They're fond these days of calling you and trying to sell you stuff. This one telemarketing firm called and, on the other end, at the house, a little girl answered in a whisper, hello? And the person at the telemarketing firm said, yes, young lady, is your mother home? She whispered, yes she's home but she's busy. Ok well great, listen, is your father home? She whispered, yes daddy's home but daddy's busy, too. Well that's fine young lady, is anyone else there? She whispered, yes the police are here, too. They're busy with mommy and daddy. Anyone besides the police and your mommy and daddy? She whispered, yes, the fire department's here. And the firemen are busy with mommy and daddy, too. And now the curiosity was peeked and the telemarketing representative said, well what are your mom and dad and the police and the fire department all doing there that keeps them so busy? She whispered, they're looking for me. She had the phone in the closet and that they thought she was lost. Well the glorious truth is that at the end of the tribulation everyone that God has sealed will be with Him. Not one will be lost. You won't have the Lamb looking for His own. You won't have the Great Shepherd of the sheep looking for any lost members of His flock. They will all be there.

Let's read it together, verses one through five: "Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God."

We notice in verse one He looked and saw. We notice in verse two He heard. And then in verse four there's a description. And that's how these verses are outlined. He sees, He hears, and He understands. So verse one, sights are seen. Verse two and verse three, sounds are heard and then in verses four and five, a standard of living, a standard of truth, of these 144,000 is described. Let's look in verse one. Let's notice what he sees. "I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion". On center stage, the first one that captures his attention, is not a beast this time with seven heads and ten horns, not a lamb-like beast that speaks like a dragon, not a dragon. But now a lamb. Who is the Lamb? It's Jesus Christ. How do we know? Because a personal pronoun is given to Him. It talks about Him, His Father, and the parallel passage of chapter 7 which talks about those who are sealed with the seal of God. Here it talks about those are sealed with the seal of the Lamb's Father on their foreheads. This is the Lamb of God. This is the Messiah. This is the Messiah that's been predicted through all of history standing at the end times. It's Jesus Christ standing upon Mount Zion.

Now at this point, it's refreshing after all that we have read so far to see a lamb, to see Jesus standing. We have seen the false worship of the beast. We have seen the false prophet. We have seen those who have worshiped the beast and the false prophet and have been taken in by this false system during the tribulation period. How refreshing to see the Lamb standing with His own after it's all over. This projection through all the evil to the very end when the Lamb has now come back to the earth and He stands on Mount Zion. Chapter 12 told us about the spiritual battle that began in the creation when God created Satan. Satan was cast to the earth. We saw what Satan hated--he hates everything God loves. Chapter 13 brought us into the tribulation period when wicked rulers, the Antichrist, who is the political ruler, the false prophet, who is the religious ruler, will bring the world and subject the world to a false system. Chapter 14 takes us from the dark underside to the light topside. It's the same story; the same truth. This is, though, at the very end of it and it's the good side of it. Compare chapter 13 with chapter 14. In chapter 13, there is Satan, the Antichrist, the false prophet and there's the mark of the beast. In chapter 14 there's God, there's Christ, truth, genuine worship, and the mark of God. It's in direct contrast. This is from Satan's angle, this is when it's all over--the Lamb has finally prevailed.

Now why is Jesus pictured as a lamb? Well it could be that it's a contrast to the dictatorial, hateful, authoritative rule of the beast. Here's a beast with seven heads and ten horns and on the other hand there's this docile lamb, not a lamb like a creature, like the second beast, it's the Lamb, in humility, that docile servant leadership. But more than that the Lamb is the symbol of Jesus Christ because of sacrifice. If you were Jewish and you thought of a lamb, you'd think of the temple. You wouldn't think of humility or some docile creature as much as you would think of a docile creature being killed for sin. All the way back in Exodus, God said take a lamb at Passover, kill the lamb, take the blood of the lamb and put the blood on the lintels and the doorpost and by the blood of the lamb you will be redeemed from death. Every day in the temple lambs were brought, hands were laid upon lambs, blood was shed from the lambs, and the blood atoned for the sins of Israel. So the Lamb speaks of atonement and that's how John the Baptist introduced Jesus Christ when, at the Jordan River, Jesus comes walking to him. He said to the crowd, look! It's the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! And so Jesus appears as the sacrificial Lamb at the end of the age.

Notice where--the significant place is Mount Zion. I cannot underscore the importance of this enough. For us who are Gentile believers, Mount Zion, it's another symbol, it's another mountain. But if you were Jewish, especially if you were a Messianic Jew, your heart would leap at this because every Jew in history has looked forward to the time when the Messiah would return and rule from the literal Mount Zion in literal Jerusalem with His people. And here He does it. It's the prediction that everything the prophets have spoken will come to pass. The Messiah will come--God's Lamb, Jesus Christ. And He will one day stand upon Mount Zion, as Isaiah, as Jeremiah, as the Minor Prophets predicted. If you were to go to Jerusalem today, we could point to Mount Zion. Geographically, it's a little hill. It's not a mountain. We think of mountains in America, it's not like the Rocky Mountains. It's a little hill between two valleys in Jerusalem. There's the Kidron Valley, there's the Tyropian Valley, and sandwiched in between is Mount Zion. It's the place where the temple once stood. It's the place where the temple will stand during the tribulation period again. It's the place where Jerusalem sprung up. It was called the stronghold of Zion when the Jebusites owned it before David took it over. Then David built the city of Jerusalem on it, Solomon built a temple on Mount Zion, and eventually the word Zion became a term that described the entire city of Jerusalem, not just a hill. In Psalm 48 Zion is described, but the whole city is considered. It says, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God in the mountain of His holiness beautiful in elevation the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion in the sides of the north it's the city of the great King. That's how it's described. The city of Zion.

Sometimes the prophets used the term Zion to describe the entire nation of Israel. But most often, especially in the psalms, most often Zion is the name given to Jerusalem and to the nation of Israel during the Messianic era, the time that the Messiah comes and sets up His kingdom upon the earth--the millennial kingdom. For instance, Isaiah 33 predicts the Lord is exalted, He dwells on high, He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. That hasn't happened yet. It will one day. Psalm 2 yet says God I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. Forty times in the psalms, David used it to speak of the Messianic era when the Messiah rules geographically from Jerusalem. Now look who's with Him. There's a significant group of people. We've already been introduced to them. "With Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their foreheads." Who are the 144,000? They're not Jehovah Witnesses like the Jehovah Witnesses say. They're not Armstrongites like the Worldwide Church of Christ said or Seventh-Day Adventists. Everybody likes to say, I'm the 144,000. I don't want to be them. I want to be like them now, but I don't want to be them. They are the Jews. Chapter 7 says they are Jews; they're from the tribes of Israel. And just so no one will get confused and put some spiritual meaning, God tells the names of the twelve tribes. So if somebody says I'm a member of the 144,000, I always ask them what tribe are you from. Because they are delineated in chapter 7. These are representative Jews. They are Messianic Jews who are preserved from the beginning to the very end of the Day of the Lord--the great tribulation period. They are sealed. That is, they're protected. God puts a mark on them and protects them. It's always been a little humorous to me how that so many Christians get so carried away with the mark of the beast. This is the important mark! The mark of God. Everybody goes, 666, what could it mean? And they just spend endless hours and write volumes on what the mark of the beast is when the mark of the beast is a copy of this. At the beginning of the tribulation we saw, in chapter 7, God puts a mark on His own. And the Antichrist comes along, Satan comes along, typical of Satan, nothing original, says I'll copy that--I'll mock that--I'll mimic that. And he puts the mark of the beast, as we saw in chapter 13.

So this is 144,000 Jews. We've already mentioned them in chapter 7 and now we see them at the end of the tribulation, right at the beginning of the millennial kingdom, the 1,000-year reign on the earth, Jesus has come back, the Lamb is standing on Mount Zion and they're with them. 144,000 of the tribes of the Israel. Now some have said well God will preserve the church through the tribulation. No He won't. He will preserve the church from the tribulation. He will preserve 144,000 Jews through the tribulation. They are miraculously sealed. They will come out the other end unscathed and untouched and God has done that in history, in the past. God has preserved His people. God kept the firstborn in Egypt through all of the plagues. God kept the three Hebrew children in the midst of the fire as they stood there because they didn't worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar. God kept them through it. God will do it again. Now go back to chapter 6 for just a moment. In chapter 6 you remember it's a story of the seals, this judgment scroll being opened, the title deed of the earth, and judgments are read and pronounced upon the earth and they're so bad, earth becomes such a living hell that a question is posed at the very end. Look verse 17: "For the great day," the word mega, it's a mega day, mega wrath, "The great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" That's a good question. Who can survive this? Who on earth will be able to be sustained through it all? To live? After all, a third are killed, another fourth are killed, over half the world will be wiped out during this time, plague after plague, judgment after judgment. Who's gonna survive? And as soon as that question is asked, it's answered in the very next chapter. "After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed," and then they are enumerated.

So we saw them at the beginning of the tribulation period saved, sealed. Now we see them in chapter 14, Jesus has come back, He's on Mount Zion, it's the very end, telescopic view of the very end, and they're standing with Jesus Christ on Mount Zion with God's mark on them. God's seal of ownership. God is saying, I've marked them. They're mine. You might be able to destroy the earth, these angels who are pouring out the judgments of God, the Antichrist who seeks to kill every godly person, but these you cannot touch. You cannot harm. They're immune. They're protected. So what an encouragement to the reader when we read 144,000. It doesn't say then I looked and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion and with Him 139,500. Or 143,002. A few have been lost. Every single one who began has ended. Every single one is a conqueror, a victor, with the Lamb at the end of the tribulation period. It's an amazing group of people. It's amazing because all of them, all 144,000, fall into the category of the description of verses 4 and 5: an incredible force, loyal, godly, they would sacrifice their whole life to preach the gospel, to be a witness, they're undefiled, it says, they speak the truth all the time, they're God's witnesses. What an incredible force to have on earth during the worst time of history. When people might say how could people get saved during the tribulation period? Well think of 144,000 like this. To put it in perspective, it's currently estimated that there are about 50,000 missionaries on earth right now. Triple that and multiply into that this level of commitment and you have the idea. 144,000 of the tribes of Israel.

It's a triumphant group. It is a group that I don't think has ever existed quite like it. Now there have been people like Joseph, Daniel, Paul, Deborah--godly people. But they're usually the exception. They're so much the exception, the Bible writes a chapter about them or a book about them. But to have 144,000 Daniels, Josephs, Deborahs, and Pauls, at the same time, with this level of commitment, miraculously preserved, is going to be an awesome force. So that's what he sees. Let's now notice what he hears, the sounds that are heard. Verse 2: "And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder." This could be the voice of Jesus. What do I say that? I say that because in chapter 1 it's the same description. John sees Jesus Christ, it's a vision of Him, and the voice is like the voice of many waters, like Niagara Falls. God doesn't always speak in a whisper. Sometimes it's unmistakable. At Sinai it says God thundered from heaven. We sung one of the worship songs today that is written from Psalm 29 that says the voice of the Lord is over the waters, the glory of God thunders, His voice breaks the cedars and shakes the wilderness. So it could be the voice of Jesus or it could be just he hears this voice of all of the worshipers in heaven and it is so loud it's like a waterfall or like thunder because everybody's involved in it. Secondly, he hears harpists playing their harps and I bet that this is where people get the idea that when we get to heaven we're going to be sitting on our own little cloud with our own little plaque playing our own little harp instead of seeing the symbolism. It could be harps--that would be great. The word harp here is literally lyre. A lyre was a square or trapezoidal instrument made out of fine wood and metal. It had strings on it. You plucked them or you strummed them like a guitar. It was used in worship. Of all of the times it is used in the Old Testament, it is associated with joy. The lyre, the harp, was used to proclaim joy in worship. Remember when Israel was in Babylon they had no joy and they hung their harps on the willow trees because joy was absent. So Jesus Christ has come, set up His kingdom, He's reigning now on Mount Zion, 144,000 of the Jews that are with Him establishing His Messianic millennial kingdom, and there is great joy in heaven.

Then there are singers that are singing. It says "they sang as it were a new song," verse 3, "before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders," the 24 elders mentioned in chapters 4 and 5, "and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed," notice they were redeemed from, "from the earth." Now we know that heaven rejoices over redemption. Heaven gets pretty excited when a person gets saved. We might sort of lose the thrill of it. We might say, yeah, three got saved today, twenty came forward. Heaven gets stoked. They get excited and they get loud in their worship. And Jesus, in Luke 15, tells a few stories about things that are lost and found. One is a coin, the other is a sheep, and when the sheep is lost and found and the guy rejoices and tells everybody to rejoice with him because the sheep has been found. Jesus said I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. Which means that if today you were to turn your life over to Jesus Christ, heaven would throw a party. They would rejoice because that which is lost is found and we ought to rejoice as well.

Now they sing a new song, it says here, verse 3. A new song before the throne, nobody could learn it except these 144,000. We saw the new song, that phrase, in chapter 5. The 24 elders sang a new song. Here, a new song is sung. It sounds like all of heaven is worshiping but it says that only the 144,000 could learn it. Now you could get picky as to who's singing and who's not. I don't think it's important. I think all of heaven is singing but nobody on earth can learn it. It doesn't say sing but learn it, except for the 144,000. They're the only ones who have the right to do it. They've been preserved, redeemed. Keep in mind, we've all been redeemed but in a profound sense these guys have been redeemed. After the rapture, through the persecution, through the reign of the Antichrist, and they're still standing. They've been preserved: it's a unique group of people. I heard a story this week of a number of children who had been captured by some native tribes, they'd been sort of raised in their younger years out in the open, in the wild. They had been recaptured and brought to the open markets so that parents could reclaim them and so they were all lined up one day when a mother who had lost two of her children was looking among the line of kids to see if her two children were there. She didn't recognize them. They looked so different. They'd grown up and she walked away weeping, thinking she hadn't found them. But just as she was turning she started singing a hymn that was the lullaby for the children when they were just toddlers. The first line hadn't even finished when two children said, mama! They recognized the song though they didn't recognize her. 144,000 will be able to learn this song because they will recognize that we've been preserved through this whole hellish period. And they'll sing it unto the Lamb.

I want to apply this, however. Notice these three words: voices, harpists, singing. Shouldn't that characterize us? Shouldn't that be the characteristic response of all of God's redeemed people of all ages? Voices, harpists or music, and singing. That we worship God in response to who God is and what God has done. How should we respond to God? What should our response be for what God has done in our life? Complaining? Should we gripe and moan? I didn't get enough! This guy got more for Christmas! Or why do I have this lot in life? Think of it this way: the very worst that God would ever dish out to you in this life is far better than the very best anyone apart from Christ will ever have. And it's very natural to not gripe at God, but it's more natural as a redeemed person to worship God, to sing to God, to burst forth in praise. That's what worship is--it's a response. It's not something you gotta work people into, or pump them up, c'mon church, let's worship, raise your hands. If you're a redeemed person, you're a worshiping person. It's natural. You say I don't feel like it. If you wait till you feel like worshiping or serving God, you may rarely do it. Question isn't do you feel like it. Is God worth it is the question. Is that your proper response? It's to worship God.

Folks, we sing here before every service, we close with a song, we do it not because we think, ok, let's see, we have an hour, how will we fill it? Well, I guess we could preach for a little while, we could stuff it with some songs and that'll kind of fill up an hour. It'd be a good show. We begin with worship because it's our turn. God has worked all week long and this is the Lord's Day and the first thing we do is we worship Him. He's worth it. We praise Him. So we don't sing as a time-filler for those coming late. We worship in response to what holy, gracious, loving God has done and who He is to us. And the truth is God is not too excited about silent admirers. God's people should be filled with song. It is throughout the Bible from one end to the other. John Wesley put it this way, "Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half-dead or half-asleep but lift up your voice with strength." A.W. Tozer said worship is the missing jewel of the church. Is it missing in your life or is it unmistakable in your life? God's redeemed people are ready to burst forth as we see throughout this book.

Well let's finish off with the third section of this. Verses 4 and 5, the standard is described. John sees, John hears, and then a description is given, a standard of life is given. God not only kept them miraculously, but they have a standard of godliness, character, purity. Notice what it is, end of verse 3, they were "redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God." Notice the standard. First of all, they're redeemed it says. That is the basis for godly, holy, pure lifestyle and character. A real conqueror, a real winner, is one who belongs to God. You might feel to be so successful in this life. You say, I've made it without God! You're a loser. You are a loser. The real winner is the person who belongs to God, who's been redeemed from this age and belongs to God. And if you're a Christian, you belong to God. The Bible says you've been bought with a price. Now think about that next time you start planning your life. I'm gonna make my plans about my future and my life! Huh. Your life is in Christ. You're talking about His property. The issue isn't what you want to do, it's what does He want to do with you? He bought you. Here's the certificate: blood of Jesus Christ. And when you said yes to Jesus Christ, it's not like, ok God, I'll let You work some nice things for me and I'll allow You into my life. He's allowing you into His; He buys you. You belong to Him--redemption. Secondly it says they are virgins and it says they're not defiled with women. Now what does that mean? That sounds kind of odd to us. They're virgins, they haven't been defiled with women. Let me give you a couple of possibilities. A couple of interpretations. Number one, some say that the worship of the Antichrist, like the ancient cults, the worship of Baal, Ashtoreth, the ancient religions were filled so much with sensuality, sexuality, prostitutes in their worship, that the worship of the beast will include some of this sensual worship and these 144,000, staying away from the worship system of the beast, are virgins, they don't get involved in the sexual promiscuity of this cult. And the interpretation goes that they're 144,000 men. They are God's end time preachers at the very end. That's one possibility. There's another possibility and I tend to lean to this and that is it doesn't necessarily refer to physical virginity, physical purity, but spiritual virginity and spiritual purity. You say well what right do you have to interpret that? Simply because often in the Bible Israel was called the virgin daughter of Zion and, in the New Testament, this is what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11: I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I have promised you to one Husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him. Paul was not referring to physical virginity. If he was, every married believer is out on that verse. He's speaking of the spiritual devotion to Christ. He's speaking of the fact that as a true believer, don't two-time God, don't go out on Him, don't have an affair with the world but be purely devoted to Him. This is what James says in chapter 4 verse 4: Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James uses the metaphor adulterers and adulteresses in a spiritual sense of those who would flirt with the world. So the 144,000 will not be involved in this satanically energized worship system of the beast. They are undefiled, they are pure in their relationship to Jesus Christ.

Alright, let's apply that. To stay undefiled and spiritually pure is something that all of us, as Christians, are called to do. And that's how we overcome. Just surrender to Him and to Him alone. It means we don't flirt with the world, we don't have an affair on God, we don't say, Jesus, I love You, I'm surrendered to You, however I have the right to do this, this, and this in my life. Even though You don't like it, it's sinful. That's two-timing God. Phillip Keller wrote many books. He was once a shepherd, said about his own flock, I once owned a ewe lamb who was one of the most attractive sheep that ever belonged to me. Her body was beautiful, it was proportioned, her head was clean, alert, well set with bright eyes, she bore sturdy lambs that matured rapidly, but in spite of all of these attractive attributes, she had one pronounced fault. She was restless. She was discontented. She was a fence-crawler. This one ewe produced more problems for me than almost all of the rest of my flock combined. No matter what field or pasture the sheep were in, she would search all along the fences looking for the loophole that she could crawl through and start to feed on the other side. It was not that she lacked pasturage. No sheep in the district had better grazing than mine. She was a sheep who, in spite of all that I had done to give her the very best care, wanted something else. Do you know Christians like that? Discontented where God has put them. Fence-crawlers. You know, you notice them, they are around for awhile and then they leave and they feed off of the world. Then they come back and they're all sorrowful. Then they leave again, come back, and leave again. It's almost like they've got enough of the world in them to make them not totally satisfied in Christ. And just enough of Christ in them to make them not totally satisfied in the world. They're miserable wherever they're at. They haven't made a full-fledged decision or commitment. They're defiled. It's not spiritual virginity.

Now it's easy to see how this happens. The world that you live in, folks, pressures you. It's tremendous pressure. Conform to me, it says. These are your values. This is what is cool and hip and right and acceptable. And so to keep up, and to be cool and hip and right and acceptable, you've got to do this. This is the mold. Peer pressure. Teenagers were recently asked in an interview, what do you think as teenagers the greatest problem that you face. Almost all of them said peer pressure. Pressure to be like the other person, like the world. These don't bow to it and they're kept. Thirdly it says they're firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb at the end of verse 4. You probably remember in ancient Israel, the people followed an agricultural practice that God commanded. Every year at harvest time, they'd bring the first and best of their fruits, grains, vegetables, they'd offer them to God. It was an offering of firstfruits. It was not only an offering but it indicated, here's the first but there's more to follow. God has blessed me. He's blessed me abundantly and so I give the first and the best to Him. But it also indicates that I have all of this other stuff that will follow this first cutting of the harvest. Now that's what the 144,000 are. They're the first saved ones in the tribulation. They're saved, they're sealed, and they probably will lead many others to Jesus Christ. Fourthly and finally, they are faultless, it says. Notice the description, verse 5: "And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God." Can you imagine in a time in history when there will be so much lying and deception and falsehood and false prophets and people will go, I don't know what truth is, I have no idea. You will have 144,000 who speak nothing but truth. Did you know that the ancient prophets in a few different occasions predicted that in the end times a group of Jews will arise who have no deceit but they speak the truth. One of them is found in Zephaniah 3:13. The remnant of Israel will do no wrong. They will speak no lies nor will deceit be found in their mouths. I think it's a prediction of the 144,000 Jews, the remnant of Israel, who will eventually stand on Mount Zion. Notice it does not say that they are sinless people, but they are blameless. Why? Because there's no such thing as sinless people. if they're sinless, they're not people. if they're people, they're not sinless. These are blameless people. they have lived a life of holiness, integrity, character. They've been miraculously preserved by God. They've been redeemed and they have overcome the world.

Now that is the work of God in the life of every believer. Right now in this body of flesh, you sense all of your inadequacies, all of your failures, all of the Achilles' heel and weakness that you have, you're aware of them. but the great joy of Jesus Christ is that one day He'll present you to the Father faultless. You're already declared righteous. He'll present you and God will declare you faultless. Jude verse 24 says now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. He'll present you as a pure, chaste bride to Christ. The Associated Press ran an article sometime back about the problem that Israel is facing. So many people are immigrating to Israel, Jews from all over the world, especially Russia, there are not enough jobs or houses for them. And some of the people immigrating, in fact most of the Soviet Jews all have graduate and post-graduate degrees, they're scientists, they're great scholars, and you'll see them in Israel playing violins on the street just to earn a living, or doing odd jobs in a restaurant. And they've got Ph.D.'s. So a plant has been set up outside of Jerusalem to get all these brainy guys and gals together, you know there are really no jobs, there's nothing to do, but let's think of something, let's brainstorm. And you've heard the saying that necessity is the mother of invention. Well a group of scientists under the leading of a guy named Solomon Fax, a hydro metallurgist, discovered that he can take garbage and make gold out of it and he has found that he can take a few tons of used computer circuit boards and in a few hours extract 10 to 28 ounces of pure gold. He can take ash, he can take all of these other garbage products that are thrown out and he can get platinum and silver out of them. From Garbage to Gold was the article. Great article. Brilliant. But Solomon Fax is doing now, God has been doing since the beginning. God takes a world tainted by sin and evil and he extracts gold out of it. He redeems people. He remakes their lives. He changes them completely. He makes them overcomers. And in the tribulation period, the world will say no to God, yes to the Antichrist, but God will raise up His gold. 144,000 undefiled, virgin in their commitment to Christ. They'll be the firstfruits. There will be many others but these are the firstfruits. The others will, most of them, suffer martyrdom. 144,000 will be kept unlike any group in history, able to triumph in the midst of the most wicked culture. Now if 144,000 can do it in the most wicked culture, even though we don't have the seal of God that would keep us immune from death or problems, certainly by God's grace, we're able to be His gold, His overcomers, His separated ones during our culture. And one day God will present us faultless before His throne.

Additional Messages in this Series

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6/9/1996
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Good News from a Bad Place
Revelation 1:1-8
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6/16/1996
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Catapulted into the Future
Revelation 1:9-20
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6/23/1996
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When Love Grows Cold
Revelation 2:1-7
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6/30/1996
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Postcard to Those in Pain
Revelation 2:8-11
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7/7/1996
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The Curse of Compromise
Revelation 2:12-17
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7/14/1996
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Corruption without Discernment
Revelation 2:18-29
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7/21/1996
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Church of the Living Dead
Revelation 3:1-6
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7/28/1996
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Body Building - God's Way
Revelation 3:7-13
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The human body has become the obsession of our modern culture. Much like the ancient Greeks, people are madly trying to fit the contemporary ideal of what is an acceptable shape and size. The church is metaphorically called the "Body of Christ" and His desire is to see it built up spiritually. The church of Philadelphia is a good model of a healthy, faithful church. Their example provides for us a template to follow in building up the Body - God's Way!
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8/19/1996
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Taking Your Spiritual Temperature
Revelation 3:14-22
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Ever since we were kids our moms stuck thermometers in our mouths whenever she suspected that we were sick. If our body temperature of 98.6 had climbed up just a few notches, it was always a good indication that an unhealthy condition was present. There is also a spiritual temperature that reveals the condition of our souls, and when the thermometer reads Lukewarm it indicates that something is wrong; it indicates the presence of danger. Let's see how Jesus, the Great Physician, treats his patient with this malady.
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8/25/1996
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Peeking into the Portals of Heaven
Revelation 4
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9/1/1996
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History's Greatest Real Estate Deal
Revelation 5:1-7
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9/8/1996
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Worship His Majesty - Part 1
Revelation 5:8-10
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In heaven there won’t be just three services in the morning and one at night with a midweek tacked on. There will be no need to be sensitive to time so we can go to lunch. Words will not have to be printed nor projected. Worship leaders will have no need prompting people to sing. It will be an all-consuming experience that will involve our total cooperation and enthusiasm.
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9/15/1996
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Worship His Majesty - Part 2
Revelation 5:11-14
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9/29/1996
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Four Riders with Bad News
Revelation 6:1-8
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10/6/1996
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The Cries of Heaven and Earth
Revelation 6:9-17
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10/13/1996
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A Blessed Interruption in a Tough Time
Revelation 7
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10/20/1996
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Trumpets of Doom
Revelation 8
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10/27/1996
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When All Hell Breaks Loose
Revelation 9:1-12
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11/3/1996
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Angels of Mass Destruction
Revelation 9:13-21
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11/10/1996
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A Big Angel with a Little Book
Revelation 10
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11/17/1996
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Two Powerful Preachers
Revelation 11:1-14
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11/24/1996
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Light at the End of the Tunnel
Revelation 11:15-19
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12/1/1996
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The Panorama of Spiritual Warfare - Part 1
Revelation 12:1-6
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12/8/1996
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The Panorama of Spiritual Warfare - Part 2
Revelation 12:7-17
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There aren't many people who like to fight. Confrontation is something most would like to avoid. But in the spiritual realm it's unavoidable. The question isn't, "Will I engage in spiritual warfare?" Rather, the question is, "How well will I fight?" As we saw last week, the war in the heavens makes its way to the theater of the earth. Let's see what else it entails.
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12/15/1996
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The Coming Global Leader
Revelation 13:1-10
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12/22/1996
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Evil's Right-Hand-Man
Revelation 13:11-18
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1/5/1997
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Angels Set The Record Straight
Revelation 14:6-13
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1/12/1997
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It's Harvest Time!
Revelation 14:14-20
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One of the most common ways to make a living in ancient times was to "work the land." The early rains of October/November and the soft latter rains produced the wheat and barley harvest later on. Also, when vintage season began, almost the whole village could be found in the fields harvesting the crop. Such images would also provide a poignant way of depicting the final judgment of the earth, as in this section.
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1/17/1997
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Getting Ready for the Grand Finale
Revelation 15:1-8
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1/26/1997
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What's in the Bowl? - Part 1
Revelation 16:1-11
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We now come to the "seven last plagues" of God in the Great Tribulation that is coming upon planet earth. These judgments come in the form of "bowls" being poured out swiftly and completely-the judgment will be swift and thorough. Yet through all the mercy as Well as wrath of this awesome era, people will persist in having a hardened heart. Open your heart 'right now to these truths.
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2/2/1997
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What's in the Bowl? - Part 2
Revelation 16:12-21
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What will the end of the world be like? What are the final events just before Jesus returns and takes over to set up His millennial reign? That's what this section tells us. There will be increased warfare activity in the Middle East, massive deception, and unheard of destructive cataclysms on earth. In the midst of foretelling these events, Jesus has a word of encouragement.
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2/9/1997
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The Coming World Religion
Revelation 17
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It was Karl Marx who stated, no doubt cynically, that religion was the opiate of the masses. The fact is, he was right-it is! People are driven to worship something or someone. This desire will be exploited to the hilt in the Tribulation period and will be under the umbrella of the world dictator-the Antichrist. What are its roots and how does it end?
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2/16/1997
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Get out of Babylon!
Revelation 18
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Someone once said, "Money can't buy you friends but your enemies treat you a little better." Though meant to be tongue-in­cheek, that won't happen when the entire world economy collapses. God's shakedown of the earth will include everything that the Antichrist's kingdom will embody, from the sacred to the secular.
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3/2/1997
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Marriage Made in Heaven
Revelation 19:1-10
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3/9/1997
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The Return of Jesus Christ - Part 1
Revelation 19
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Even in the dome of our capitol in Washington there is an inscription which seems to point to the return of Jesus Christ. It says: "One far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." It is that event which we will be studying in the next two weeks. This is what all Christians of all ages have looked forward to - His return and reign of His creation.
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3/16/1997
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The Return of Jesus Christ - Part 2
Revelation 19
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Even in the dome of the capitol in Washington there is an inscription which seems to point to the return of Jesus Christ. It says: "one far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves." it is that event, that Christians of all ages have looked forward to-his return and reign of his creation. We will conclude our study of the return of Jesus Christ, today.
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4/6/1997
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Paradise Regained
Revelation 20:1-3
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4/13/1997
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The Devil's Last Stand
Revelation 20:1-10
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A typical question is, "Will evil ever get its reward?" What ever happened to ethics and justice? Well, we see here that God will not turn His back on this issue. He will deal with the source of all evil (the devil himself) and then judge those who revel in it. This section gives tremendous hope to anyone concerned about injustice in our world.
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4/20/1997
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Life, Death, and Resurrection
Revelation 20:5-6; 20:11-15
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5/4/1997
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All Things New - Part 1
Revelation 21:1-3
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5/11/1997
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All Things New - Part 2
Revelation 21:4-8
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"It's like nothing you've ever seen or experienced before." That's how John describes the emotional experience of heaven. So that we can relate, he tells us that all of the pain, sorrow, and moaning we've endured here won't be there. By the way, only those who want to go there will go there. Heaven is not a destination by default, reservations are made here and now!
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5/18/1997
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The City of the Future
Revelation 21:9-22:5
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There is no architect or builder like God himself. Even the patriarch Abraham "was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." (Heb. 11:10) he didn't find it in his lifetime. "You won't find you're "happily ever after" here either, but the New Jerusalem will be God's answer for man's longing to live in a perpetually peaceful stare.
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5/25/1997
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He's Coming - Now What!?
Revelation 22:6-21
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There are 43 additional messages in this series.
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