The Triumphant Saints: Standing with the Lamb

Well, tonight, if y'all turn to Revelation 14, we're just going to look at verses 1 through 5 tonight.

And Revelation 14, 1 through 5. And I love this because this section I would

probably label the triumphant saints.

If I just had to give it a title, the triumphant saints. And we're going to

start, like I said, verses 1 through 5 of Revelation chapter 14.

Revelation 14 · chapter mention

It says, Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion,

and with Him 144,000, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.

And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound

of loud thunder. We heard some of that today a little bit.

And the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.

And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures

and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been

purchased from the earth.

These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste.

They are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

They have been purchased from among men as the firstfruits to God and to the

Lamb, and no lie was found in their mouth.

They are blameless.

That's Revelation chapter 14 verses one through five.

Revelation 14 · chapter mention

One thing I've noticed, our society, y'all let me know what y'all think here,

but our society loves winners.

Whether it's in politics, business, entertainment, sports, or war,

we idolize those who succeed.

And on the other hand, we don't tolerate losers, do we? I mean,

coaches who lose are fired, right?

Players who lose are traded, right?

Executives who fail are replaced. Politicians who fail are voted out of office eventually.

Our heroes are those who overcome all obstacles and triumph to the end,

right? We like that winning spirit, right?

And while not all endorsing the world's superficial definition of success.

The Bible here, nevertheless, speaks of the Christian life in triumphant terms here.

Romans 8.37, y'all probably remember this. Romans 8.37 says this,

it declares that we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us.

In fact, some of your translations may say we are more than conquerors, right?

Through him who loved us. In fact, in his first epistle, John wrote,

for whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that

has overcome the world, our faith.

So who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is

the Son of God? That's 1 John 5, 4 and 5.

And in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 57, Paul actually exclaimed,

1 Corinthians 15:57

thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, I want y'all to remember that verse, okay, from Paul, okay?

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because it's going to be important in a minute. I'm going to come back to it

as we're talking about being triumphant.

But in 2 Corinthians 2, 14, he added another triumphant note Paul did.

He said, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ.

In prison, think about it, abandoned, facing imminent execution.

Paul could still actually pin the following victorious epitaph.

He said, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I've kept the faith.

In the future, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,

which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day.

And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

And that's in second Timothy chapter four, but believers triumphs and victories

in this life are incomplete, aren't they?

And marred by some setbacks and defeats, too.

The world, the flesh, and the devil.

The world, the flesh, and the devil, they take their toll on our best efforts sometimes.

The same apostle Paul, who ended his life in victorious triumph earlier,

actually described his Christian life, his experience in that life, in the following terms.

And I call them mournful terms, because listen to this as we're reminded of Paul's struggle here.

He says, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh.

Sold into bondage to sin.

For what I am doing, I do not understand.

For what I am not practicing, what I would like to do, for I'm not practicing

what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the law,

confessing that the law is good.

So now no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh.

For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.

But if I'm doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing

it, but sin which dwells in me.

I find in a principle that evil is present in me,

the one who wants to do good, for I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,

but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the

law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

Wretched man that I am, this is Paul's words, who will set me free from the body of this death.

Now, I want you to know, you probably already concluded this.

He didn't leave it there, did he?

It just wasn't a hopeless thing because a couple of verses later,

he actually said, thanks be to God who gives me the victory through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

But you think about all through your Christian life so far, has it been a breeze always?

Have you always just been triumphant in the Christian life?

Have you had the battle with the world, the flesh and the devil?

I mean, it'd be nice if we could just say, hey, you know, everything,

man, we have just nailed it, right?

You know, and even if we could say, well, you know, we nailed it.

I mean, yes, Christ works in us, but we nailed it.

But no, we're still wrapped in this flesh and we still have those ups and downs, right?

We still, obviously, we live in an attitude of repentance.

We want to be right with God. And when there's certain days or certain events

or things that happen, and we have to say, Lord, forgive me,

or it grows us. God grows our faith.

We grow closer to God. And maybe the things we thought at one point in our life,

now he's grown us in maturity spiritually.

And we view it totally different, right? But Abraham, remember,

he was called the friend of God.

He twice lied about Sarah, claiming that she was his sister and not his wife.

You remember that? That was in Genesis.

And David, the man after God's own heart, it tells us that in Scripture in 1

Samuel and Acts 13 as well, was guilty of adultery and murder.

In fact, I'll just go ahead and say it. He broke all the Ten Commandments, obviously.

And Peter, the leader and spokesman of the Twelve, he cravingly,

he denied three times that he even knew Jesus.

And believers' greatest triumphs are flawed, aren't they?

Because there's no man who does not sin. There's not a righteous man on earth

who continually does good and who never sins. It tells us that in Scripture.

1 Kings, Ecclesiastes tells us that. So nobody can say, as it talks about in

Proverbs 20, verse 9, I have cleansed my heart. I am pure from my sin.

Proverbs 20:9

In fact, that's a red flag, right? If somebody goes around and tells you that

they don't sin anymore, red flags, okay, red flags.

They don't understand what's going on, right? The opening verses,

though, here in Revelation 14, I want y'all to get this tonight.

They introduce the most triumphant group of men the world will ever know.

Scripture describes other faithful, godly, uncompromising, committed men.

You can probably think of some from Scripture. Who comes to your mind maybe

when you think of those type of men in Scripture?

Anybody have somebody that pops in your mind?

Yeah? What about Joseph?

Daniel? Paul? Even though we know all these were not perfect,

but yes, we think of those.

But never will there be such a large group at one time.

In fact, they will emerge from the worst holocaust in history.

Think about it. The tribulation, right?

They're battle-weary, but they're triumphant.

There'll be like 144,000 Daniels, if you will.

You know, a few weeks back, we introduced this remarkable group of men.

Actually, it was introduced to us in the passage we were studying.

If you remember, after the horrific events of the sixth seal that we talked

about in chapter six of Revelation, the terror-stricken people of the earth

will cry out, if you remember, to the mountains and to the rocks.

What are they going to say?

Fall on us, hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from

the wrath of the lamb for the day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand.

We read that back in chapter six some weeks back.

But by that point in the tribulation, think about it, the world will have experienced

the unimaginable horrors of the first six seals.

And there will have been widespread wars.

There are severe famines that have taken place, deadly plagues, if you remember,

terrible earthquakes that have happened and other

natural disasters that we studied all of

which is going to result in millions of deaths millions

sin is going to be running rapid and

unchecked over the earth and is fueled by satan and his demon host as we've

studied and we've seen so far in revelation and both those cast from heaven

with him those formerly bound demons will be released antichrist will unleash

the most terrible persecution the world has ever known.

We've looked at that, and countless thousands of Christians and Jews will be slaughtered.

But if you put this in light of that horrifying,

unimaginable situation and the devastating trumpet and bowl judgments that's

to follow, it'll seem impossible, y'all, for anybody to survive,

especially Christians, right?

Especially see Christians because that's, I mean, the devil's trying to stomp them out, right?

But it's against that backdrop, I want you to think about it tonight,

that the 144,000 are introduced.

They will survive both Satan's wrath and persecution of God's judgments on the

sinful world during this tribulation.

Nothing, I want you all to get this, be reminded of this tonight,

nothing will be able to harm them. Do you know why?

Do you remember why? It's back in chapter 7, because God will seal them.

He's going to put a bark on them. He's going to put a mark on their foreheads

and they'll be like the remnant of Malachi's day.

Listen to this verse. He said, then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another

and the Lord gave attention and heard it.

And a book of remembrance was

written before him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem his name.

They will be mine, says the Lord of hosts on the day that I prepare my own possession

and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.

That's back in Malachi chapter 3, verses 16 and 17.

Malachi 3:16

So throughout history, God has protected those who belong to him.

Remember, he preserved Noah in the flood, right?

And he kept Rahab safe when Jericho was destroyed. He preserved actually Lot

even from destruction of Sodom.

And he kept the children of Israel safe from the plagues that devastated Egypt.

Psalm 37 verses 39 and 40 actually declares to us the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord.

Psalms 37:39

He is their strength in times of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them.

He delivers them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in him.

So the 144,000 will not be the only ones redeemed during the tribulation because

there is a great host of others,

as we've studied so far, even seeing that both Jews and Gentiles will be saved.

And many, perhaps most of them, will die as martyrs in this tribulation period

during that savage persecution that's going on, that's unleashed by who? Antichrist, right?

But the rest, however, will live through the horrors of the tribulation.

They will enter the millennial kingdom. How do we know that?

Because scripture tells us this.

Isaiah tells us this. Matthew tells us this.

But get this, the 144,000 Jewish evangelists are unique because all of them,

guess what? Will survive.

Every single one will survive.

And when Christ returns and he stands on Mount Zion on the earth,

They will stand with him in triumph.

So before I get there, and I'll reiterate this in a moment, but does anybody

remember who the 44,000 is comprised of?

12,000 of each, right? So if you think about a brief overview,

it sets the stage for the vision of the 144,000.

You know, if you recall back in chapters 12 through 14,

actually we're starting 14 tonight, but this is where we're mentioning as well,

this actually forms an interlude in the saga of God's final judgments on the sinful world.

The unfolding of those judgments is described in chapter six through 11 that

we just studied. as God will begin to take back the earth from the usurper, Satan.

In chapter 11 that we studied, verse 15 actually records the sounding of the

seventh trumpet, though the judgments associated with it, this is important

to remember, we've covered this before,

it will not begin to unfold until chapter 15.

So we hadn't got there yet of the unfolding of those.

But chapters 12 and 13 of Revelation really are just, they're going to actually come.

It's going to bring the events of the tribulation together, this time giving

them from Satan's perspective.

And they expose Satan's efforts actually to destroy who? Who's he after? Who's enemy number one?

Israel, right? Israel. And so we learned that in chapter 12.

And in detail, right, of the careers of the Antichrist, of the final false prophet

that we just finished with in chapter 13, but chapter 14 here returns to what God is doing.

It contains three visions that give a general preview of the judgments that

are yet to come that are actually going to culminate in Christ's return.

So chapter 14 here that we're starting on tonight, it's really a contrast.

It's a bright contrast to chapter 13, which, as you know, describes Satan,

the dragon, Antichrist, and the final false prophet, right, that we just looked at.

So we looked at deception. We looked at the unredeemed. We looked at idolatry

that was running rampant, the mark of the beast, right? We looked at that last week.

We talked about all of that. But chapter 14, what does it describe here?

It describes the Lamb, angels, redeemed saints, genuine worship, and those sealed by God.

So in chapter 13, there's a falsehood, there's wickedness, there's corruption,

there's blasphemy even.

But in chapter 14 here tonight, there is truth, there is righteousness,

there's purity, and there's praise.

And so in addition to its prophetic significance, this passage that we're looking

at, it actually yields important practical principles.

To live triumphantly as a Christian. Seven of those features will characterize

the 144,000 Jewish evangelists.

I'm going to share those with you in a nutshell right now, and we're going to

take some time over these next couple of weeks to go through all of these.

But here they are, those seven characteristics, power, praise.

Purity, partisanship, purpose, precision, and perfection.

That's a lot of peas, isn't it? It's like, right?

So let's talk about power. Y'all okay if we just cover the first one tonight?

Somebody says, yeah, go for it. All right. Power. Let's go back to verse one.

We're going to break it down now. You ready? We're on a journey.

Then I looked and behold, the lamb was standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000

having his name and the name of his father written on their foreheads.

Now that phrase there in verse one, I looked and behold, or it's equivalent. Get this.

It actually appears frequently in the book of Revelation.

It appears introducing startling or dramatic events, right? That are about to

take place or that are taking place.

What captured John's attention here in this passage was the awe-inspiring sight of who?

Who was it? The lamb, right?

The lamb standing on Mount Zion.

Revelation depicts the lamb as what? It depicts the lamb in several ways.

One as slain back in chapter five and verse chapter 13 as well.

Glorified, exalted, the redeemer and shepherd even of his people and the Lord

of lords and king of kings that we're going to see in a couple of chapters from here.

But the appearance of the Lamb, Jesus, right, on Mount Zion is a monumental

moment in redemptive history.

The psalmist actually wrote of this moment in Psalm chapter 2, verses 6 through 9.

Psalms 2:6–9

You may like to read that tonight, Psalm 2, 6 through 9.

You may have it handy right away. Psalm chapter 2, verses 6 through 9.

Psalms 2:6–9

Yet I have set my king, O my holy hell of Zion.

I will declare the decree the lord has

said to me you are my son today i have begotten you ask of me and i will give

you the nations for your inheritance and the end of the earth for your possession

you shall break them with a rod of iron you shall dash them to pieces like a

cotter's vessel that's from this is the.

Great. Psalm 48, verse 2, actually describes Mount Zion as beautiful in elevation,

Psalms 48:2

the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great king.

And Isaiah, Brother Ronnie was mentioning the prophet Isaiah earlier,

he wrote that the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,

and his glory will be before his elders.

That's in Isaiah 24, 23.

So the fulfillment of these predictions, guess what?

It's what it's arrived chapter 14

here this has arrived this fulfillment and and

strangely though and i got to bring this out because you

may hear this at some point i think strangely some

equate this passage with hebrews chapter 12 verses 23 through 24 and they just

Hebrews 12:23–24

view it as a vision of heaven but the former passage that we just read describes

the heavenly or that former passage before describes the heavenly Mount Zion, the abode of God, right?

This passage that we look at tonight in this, in Revelation 14,

it describes the return of Christ to the earthly Mount Zion.

The whole point will be lost if you stop and look at scripture here,

if Mount Zion refers to heaven, because that would mean that 144,000 had died.

And that would go against a whole lot of scripture that we just read,

right? It just doesn't make sense. That's a strange viewpoint.

In fact, it's just one that's devoid of somebody actually reading the text, you would think.

And in that case, their sealing with the mark of God would have been rendered

meaningless if this was talking about heaven in chapter 14 here.

In fact, Isaiah and Joel and Zechariah, they also support the identification

of Mount Zion in this passage with the earthly Mount Zion.

And that a voice actually comes out of heaven, as we read in verse 2 of chapter

14, that also suggests this is a scene that's on the earth.

And so some commentators, though, they insist that the number 144,000 is not to be taken literally.

They argue that it symbolizes the church or the tribulation saints or history's

most outstanding Christians gathered together in heaven for this same.

That's a viewpoint that some people hold to.

Some cults actually insist that it refers to them.

Can you think of one that might do that? Jehovah's Witnesses, right?

The problem poses a problem, doesn't it? Because they have more than 144,000

members or adherents, right? That's going to be a problem for them.

But all such speculation, though, I want you all to see this tonight.

That personal alteration of scripture that men try to do sometimes, it just is pointless.

It's pointless because their identity here, if you read the Bible,

if you read the text, if you read the Old Testament, all of it,

there is no guesswork. There's no doubt here.

This is a group of 144,000 real live people, 12,000 Jewish believers from each

of the 12 tribes of Israel, as it talked about in chapter 7 of Revelation,

verses four through eight.

And if you need further evidence of that, you just look at the scriptures we've

talked about, not only in Revelation, but even in the Old Testament.

The 144,000 will be a group of unique people in redemptive history.

There's a scholar, John Phillips, he wrote the following about these 144,000.

And I thought I'd share it with you tonight.

He said, no other age has produced a company like this, a veritable army of

militant believers marching unscathed through every form of danger.

It has been theirs to defy the dragon, to bait the beast, and to give the lie to the false prophet.

Their calling has been to preach the gospel from the housetops when even the

name of Christ called for the most dreadful penalties.

They've been surrounded, these latter-day Jobes with impenetrable hedges.

Able to laugh, to scorn all the grand inquisitors of hell.

They have walked the streets in broad daylight, careless of teeth gnashing rage

of their would-be torturers and assassins, true witnesses of Jehovah in the

most terrible era of the history of mankind.

The devil knows about this coming band of conquerors, he said,

and he writhes already in agony of anticipation.

That's what the revelation, that's what this text, that's what scripture shows

us that it also describes the 144,000 as having whose name on them?

Who? The lamb, right? And the name of his what?

Father written on their foreheads. Unbelievers, think about this. We just covered this.

Unbelievers will receive the mark of the beast. And we saw that in chapter 13,

didn't we? The 144,000 here will have the mark of God, again, placed where?

On their foreheads. That's back in Revelation 7, 3, for their protection.

Satan and the unbelieving world is going to desperately seek to kill these powerful,

fearless preachers of the gospel.

These 144,000 Jewish evangelists that are going to be here during the tribulation.

That he's going to seek to kill every one of them.

But having marked them as his own possession, God is going to not permit them to be harmed.

In other words, they can't do anything to him, Brother Ronnie.

They're going to keep preaching.

And it doesn't matter what the devil tries to do or anyone else,

they can't defeat them. They can't stop them.

In fact, not a single one of them are going to die. None of them.

God's going to preserve all 144,000 of his evangelists. and he's not going to

permit them to go through any harm. In fact, throughout this cataclysmic outpouring

of God's wrath on the earth.

All of his final judgments and Satan's final fury too, by the way,

they're going to continue to preach what?

The gospel. The gospel.

Y'all, doesn't it remind you again of how much our Savior, how much our God

loves people and how much he wants everyone to come to repentance?

Can you imagine, even in this most ferocious time period, there's still the

gospel being proclaimed faithfully, being proclaimed to a lost and dying world.

In fact, they'll confront unbelievers with their sin.

They'll call them to repentance and faith in the Savior and proclaim that the

catastrophes that are taking place all around them are God's righteous judgments.

And we've learned in past weeks that people are not gonna just fall on their

knees and repent a lot, are they?

They're still gonna be like, I want to do it my way. I want to do what I wanna

do. There are not going to be very many people in a lot of respects that are going to respond.

But yet, in many respects, there's going to still be a good many people saved during this time.

But many of these of the unbelieving world, they are not going to respond well at all.

And despite Satan's best efforts, all 144,000, like I said, like scripture tells

us, will survive to meet Christ on Mount Zion here on earth at his second coming.

In other words, they will enter the millennial kingdom as living men, living men on earth.

And mostly the 144,000, as scripture teaches, will continue their evangelistic

work even throughout that thousand year period.

While other redeemed people will enter the kingdom, the children born to them, how do I know this?

Isaiah chapter 65, verse 23, will not all believe.

Isaiah 65:23

In fact, there will be enough unregenerate people, that means lost people who

don't know Jesus, by the end of the millennium for Satan to actually lead a

worldwide rebellion against Christ's rule.

We'll see that in chapter 20. So scripture speaks of salvation during the millennium.

Isaiah chapter 60, verse 3 speaks of it.

Isaiah 60:3

Zechariah 8, verse 23 speaks of it. A salvation that, Brother Ronnie,

Zechariah 8:23

the 144,000, I believe, will no doubt proclaim during that time.

They're going to proclaim this. They're going to preach the gospel.

And so the story of these victorious survivors, these 144,000 here,

it really illustrates, I think, to us the divine side of triumphant Christian living.

God will preserve his own.

The 144,000, in other words, are going to be living proof of the promises that

are actually found in Psalm chapter 91, verses 5 through 16.

Psalms 91:5–16

Who will read that passage? I know I'm asking for some volunteers.

We have a repeat, or we can have somebody new. Psalm 91.

Somebody has that one. Psalm 91, verses 5 through 16.

Psalms 91:5–16

And if you'll read that really loud, you know, just read it out loud so we can all hear you.

Psalm 91, 5 through 16. Shall not be afraid of the terror by night,

nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,

nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday,

adding a thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand.

But it shall not come near you, only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked.

Because you have made the Lord who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place.

No evil shall befall you, nor shall any blood come near your dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways.

In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against the stone.

You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent.

You shall trample underfoot. Because he has sent his love upon me,

therefore I will deliver him.

I will set him on high, because he has known my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble.

I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Amen.

I mean, God will protect these with his own and bring them triumphantly through their trials.

That's true, both of survivors on earth, like the 144,000, and of martyrs in heaven, by the way,

like those that are depicted as we saw and studied about in chapter 6,

I'm sorry, of Revelation in chapter 7 of Revelation.

Jesus actually promised that all that the Father gives me will what?

Come to me, I will certainly, he says, all that the father gives me will come to me.

And the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out.

That's in John 6, 37. So believers are eternally secure.

Jesus declared because no one, no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My father who's given them to me is greater than all. And no one is able to

snatch them out of the father's hand. That's in John 10.

To the Philippians, if you remember, Paul wrote, For I am confident of this

very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1.6 While Jude, he offered praise to him who is able to keep you

and I from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory,

blameless with great joy in Jude 24.

So knowing that they are protected, church, by the power of God through faith

for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, 1 Peter 1, 5.

Believers, that's us, right, may live confidently and minister boldly.

I think of the majestic words of Romans chapter 8. This is very familiar,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

I know, to y'all, verses 31 through 39.

This is something that's just a marvelous truth that God protects and delivers

his own. Listen to this. We're about to wrap up.

He says, who then shall we say to the, what then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who is against us?

But he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all,

he will, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?

Who will bring a charge against God's elect?

God is the one who justifies.

Who is the one who condemns. Christ Jesus is he who died, yes,

rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who intercedes for us.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?

Just as it is written, for your sake we are being put to death all day long.

We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels,

nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,

nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able

to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen. Amen.

So that's talking about a little bit about the power that characterizes those 144,000.

Next time, we'll pick up with the praise that characterizes them.