A Old Story and a New Song

in the book of Revelation and we are now in chapter 14. So Revelation chapter 14. And

Revelation 14 · chapter mention

we're getting into one of these sections. It's a new section and it's what I like to

call the relief sections. These are really good in the book of Revelation. It reminds

me of like I don't know if you've ever gone white water rafting or kayaking. There's normally

some pretty heavy paddling and some rapids. But then every now and then once you get through

a big rapid there's like an eddy and you get this nice little place of rest and relief

where you can relax and recover before you get into the heavy stuff again. And that's

what this section is. It's our eddy in the midst of the book of Revelation where we get

this nice little recovery because we've been talking about some pretty heavy stuff, some

pretty fearful things you know. Jesus has been saying all that's going to happen and

you see all this stuff about this beast who comes out of the sea and then guess what?

There's another beast who comes from the earth and there's this dragon and all of these creatures,

beings are here and they're distorting creation and you know corrupting human hearts and they're

trying to gain allegiance for the beast and Jesus is saying hey here's all this horrible

stuff that's going to happen and pretty much everybody in the world whose name isn't written

in the Lamb's book of life, they're all going to give their allegiance to this beast and

they are going to have his mark on him and ultimately these people are going to be burned

in the lake of fire and so here's all this horrible stuff that's going to happen and

then Jesus takes a step back and goes but here's the good news and this is where you

get Revelation 14. Here's the good news, here's what you have to hope in. So yes it is better

than that but here is the hope and it follows a nice pattern right? So I want you to pay

attention to this and if you, if the type of person who takes notes feel free to take

notes but it's always important when you're reading scripture to notice patterns and as

we go through the book of Revelation we're talking about these three series of sevens

right? So you have the seven seals then you have the seven trumpets and then you have

the seven bowls of God's wrath and something interesting happens with each one of those

sections. You get the seven things of judgment and then you get a vision of heaven. You get

a little glimpse of glory, you get one of those little eddies where you can rest and

relax and have your, you know, your hope assured and you have this great hope to look forward

to. So it happens after the first six seals, what happens is Jesus says but here's this

vision of the 144,000 who are with the Lamb and you remember John heard that number and

then he turns and he sees this multitude that no one can count and so God's saying yes

all the seals just going to be judgment on earth, it's going to be pretty bad, stars

are falling, suns burning things up but here are God's people in heaven so that's your

future have hope in that and then you get the seven trumpets and right after the seven

trumpets you hear about the war and the two beasts and then you get Revelation 14 and

God says but remember this is where we're going right so like yeah all this stuff is

pretty bad, going to be a rocky road getting there but this is your destination and then

it's going to happen again with the seven bowls of God's wrath which is ultimately going

to culminate in the marriage supper of the Lamb. So all this bad stuff, whole bunch of

judgment but then here God and his people and so that's what we're getting into is what

I like to call a little glimpse of glory and it's just a refresher, an assurance to remind

us to keep persevering in the faith because Jesus will have the victory and we will get

to take part in that victory so I want you to look at with me Revelation 14 beginning

in verse one it says then I looked and behold on Mount Zion stood the Lamb and with him

144,000 who had his name and his father's name written on their forehead so a couple

teaching points here right so Mount Zion all throughout the Bible this is the city

of God this is where God dwells this is where God will be with his people it's the city

of God and he's surrounded by people and who are these people? It's the 144,000 right

yes so if you'll remember when we talked about this originally in Revelation chapter

seven we said that this is a group of people that are going to be with the Lamb and there

are a couple descriptions here so first notice about the 144,000 that they have the name of

the Lamb and the name of the father written on their foreheads and then at the end of

verse three it says that they are those who have been redeemed from the earth so we're

getting a clear picture they've got the name of God on them they've been redeemed from

the earth and then verses four and five give this description of this group of people it

is these who have not defiled themselves with women for they are virgins it is these who

follow the Lamb wherever he goes they have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits

for God and the Lamb in their mouth no lie was found for they are blameless so let's

break it down let's identify the 144,000 as we said back in Revelation chapter seven

there is one view that says that the 144,000 are Jewish people who come to faith during

a seven year tribulation period and as I said that is entirely possible that is one understanding

of Revelation and as I've said pretty much every sermon I've ever preached in every lesson

I've ever told on Revelation we don't have to agree right everybody good we don't have

to agree that's the great thing there are all sorts of views about Revelation people

a lot smarter than I are taking different views that's okay so we don't all have to

agree on this we all believe in Jesus and that's what ultimately matters however I will say

and this is the view that I put forward is that the 144,000 is representative and symbolic

of all of God's people throughout all times spanning both covenants so this just refers

to all of his people and I believe it's because the number 144,000 is symbolic because you

have 12 times 12 times a thousand that equals 144,000 so there were how many tribes of Israel

how many apostles of Jesus 12 and then the number 1000 in the Bible is used for a complete

thing or the fullness of something so like a day is as how many years for the Lord a

thousand and a thousand years is like one day so it's just a complete set of something

and so it seems too ironic or too similar for it to be by accident in other words when

you get 12 times 12 times a thousand to equal 144,000 I think it's a symbolic way of referring

to all of God's people throughout history spanning both covenants and I have a few more

reasons for this and we'll put them up there.

Maison if you could go back to verse number one for me I want you to notice this what

it says about them in verse one is it says that they have the name of the lamb on their

forehead and also the name of the father now we mentioned this last week when it came to

the branding on the forehead what does it represent you remember who owned them right

so slave masters would brand their slaves on their forehead to show ownership and so

when it says that we have the name of God on us it's a way of saying that we belong

to God he owns us we are his people and notice this it's the seal of God but here's what

really drives it home for me it says that everyone who is there has this name on them

now something the book of Revelation has made clear to us is that everybody's going to have

a name on them right the Bible says you're literally going to have a name on you and

you cannot do anything about that you're either going to have the name of the beast on you

or you're going to have the name of God on you so all people everywhere without exception

are going to have a name on them and so I think it doesn't give any credence to the

view that this is a hundred and forty four thousand literal Jewish people who come to

faith to say that it's them when what is said about them that they have this name on them

is true of every single person who believes in Jesus if you are a follower of Jesus if

you've come to faith in Christ you have the seal of God on you you have his name on you

and not the beast so it is true of every believer in Jesus because there are only two options

here's another question that I think is interesting is did you notice this other description about

the hundred and forty four thousand and I noticed not enough of you became uncomfortable which

is curious to me because most of you have children and grandchildren did you notice

that about the hundred and forty four thousand it says that they are virgins who have not

defiled themselves with women so what do we do about that does this mean that these people

are literally virgins yeah that's what it says that's true that's what it says so it is technically

possible though I would say highly unlikely for a few reasons it seems to give the reason

that they're there is at least in part because they are virgins who have defiled themselves

with women but that would almost mean that there's another way of salvation like almost

indicating that hey if you can just remain a virgin then you can be part of this group

of people because that's one of the things that is necessary in order to get to heaven

so if you'll just be a virgin that's one way to get to heaven but the Bible says in Acts

four twelve that there is salvation and no one else other than Jesus for there is no

other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved also notice too that

it specifically says that they have not defiled themselves with women so it would mean that

the hundred and forty four thousand if it is literal would most likely just refer to

men and not women so if this is literal Jews who are going to come to faith and it means

that none of those Jewish people who are going to come to faith are women because at this

time they wouldn't have certainly said that it was possible for a woman to defile themselves

with another woman it is technically possible but they wouldn't have really been thinking

about that at this time so it would just mean men are going to heaven and specifically this

so I don't think it's referring to literal virgins here technically it possibly could

mean that but I think it is a reference to the faithfulness to God when it says that

they are virgins who have not defiled themselves with women it is referring to Christians who

have remained faithful to the relationship with God and not played the adulterous as

so many have I mean one of the main ways that God reveals his relationship to his people

throughout the Bible is in terms of a what a marriage right yeah a husband and a wife

God is the husband and his people are the wife even in the book of Revelation the book

is going to end by describing the church as being a what adorn for her husband a bride

right it's the language of the book of Revelation and Revelation is even going to go on to talk

about playing the part of an adulterous with all these other systems that are in the world

and so what I think it's referring to here is the hundred and forty four thousand are

all those who do not commit adultery with the world or with the system of the beast

they do not walk out on God they remain faithful to God at all times they will start their

faith journey and they will end their faith journey by having faith in God and I want

to just add some relief here from some worries that might be arising because maybe you're

reading this and you're thinking well I haven't been faithful I haven't always been a faithful

person in a relationship with God I have given into sin I've given into temptation I haven't

always had a perfect walk with God and so maybe that's concerning you because you're

like well if this is true I have played the adulterous many times in my life I'm not this

perfectly faithful person that is describing here and I want to just encourage you by reminding

you that the Bible isn't saying that those in heaven are those who had a perfect relationship

with God it's saying that those who are in heaven with God are those who never abandoned

their relationship with God I mean just think about a marriage for a second right you think

about marriage marriage isn't always perfect is it there are difficulties there are highs

there are lows there are ups and downs there are some heated arguments and some slamming

of doors and going to a different room like marriage is not always picture perfect but

but here's here's my thing when you look at people and you would say they have a good

marriage and you you aspire to have the type of marriage what makes it so good is not that

it's always been perfect and easy what makes it so good is that they're still together

that's what makes a good marriage it's not that you never have fights it's not that you

never have your disagreements the the sign of a good marriage is even through all the

fights and even through all the ups and downs you're still committed to each other you've

said that this relationship is worth committing ourselves to and no matter what happens we're

staying with it and that's what the Bible is saying here about our relationship with

God God's not expecting perfection he's expecting endurance and the best news about all of this

at least for me is your ability to continue in your relationship with God is not dependent

on you and that's good news for me it's not about how strong your faith is it's not about

how tightly you cling to God the reason you remain in the faith is because of how tightly

God clings on to you that is the reason you're still in the faith Jesus said that he would

lose none of those whom the father gave to him no one can pluck us from his hand and

so ultimately it's not about you it's about God the reason you will never depart from

the faith if you're a true believer is because God will not allow his glory to be diminished

or his power to be questioned by losing any of his people you see if if God was able to

save someone and that person was able to truly leave the faith and walk away from the faith

they would be questioning the character of God not you they would be saying what is his

power to save what is his power to preserve his people God will not allow his glory to

be diminished like that the best thing I can tell you and this is the encouraging news

for me is that the father will not allow his son to shed his blood in vain if you are cleansed

and covered by the blood and the father has saved you in Christ Jesus you will never leave

the faith because the father will not allow his son to shed his blood in vain Jesus will

receive the reward for his sufferings and so we will be with him forever in glory because

he will not allow us to be lost he will hold us fast and we need to notice this other description

here of this group it says that they are the ones who follow the lamb and again this is

true of every single person who is a Jesus follower not just a select group of people

it goes on to say that they have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God in the

lamb and again this is a reference to all Christians not just a future group of Jewish

converts because James says in James 1 18 of his own will he brought us forth by the

word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures who's he referring

to there to Christians yes good job guys to Christians Jesus is the first fruits of God's

new creation and all of his followers all those whom he saves they become first fruits

of his creation as well and if the Bible says here that Jesus has redeemed us so here's

my question to you this is a word we throw out all the time in church redeem redemption

what does it mean what does it mean that Jesus redeemed us save us from our sin pay the price

okay anybody else okay cashing in yeah we got some right hitters here Brian I'm gonna

say you're a little bit the closest here yeah Jesus paid a price the word redemption or

redeeming the Bible literally means to purchase with a price in Greek the word is literally

used to mean to buy something and the Bible says in 1st Corinthians 6 19 through 20 you

were not your own for you were bought with a price so glorify God in your body so the

Bible is saying that Jesus literally paid a price for our freedom and salvation and

what was that price that he paid his blood his own life right he gave himself and shed

his blood to buy us back into redeem us and so we are not our own and I want you to just

think for a moment because I know we we read Jesus redeemed us and we kind of give it a

little bit of thought but we move right along but I want you to just think about the implications

this has for our lives because it means that we don't just get to do whatever we want to

simply because we want to do it I mean you hear the phrase today a lot my body my choice

right well actually it's literally not your body and theologically it's also not your

body the Bible says here that your body belongs to Christ my body belongs to Christ my mind

belongs to Christ my time belongs to Christ my money belongs to Christ whatever I think

is mine is actually Christ and so we don't get to just do whatever we want with the things

that we think are ours all that we have and all that we are belongs to Jesus because Jesus

is the one who paid the price for our lives he bought us and so we are not our own we

belong to Christ and I just think like if we took a moment to just think about the implications

this would have in our lives if we actually believe this and live this out I mean if it's

true that my time belongs to Christ then it means I should be using my time in such a

way that is honoring and glorifying to God it's okay to rest all right I have to remind

myself that I'm very bad at it but I do like to remind myself it's okay to rest but there

is nothing good about wasting time there's nothing redeemable about that you are to make

the most of the time that God gives you so yes rest when you need rest but when you have

time use it to the glory of God for things that are going to be honoring to him if it's

true that my money belongs to Christ then it means that I shouldn't be indulgent but

I should use my money in such a way that it's going to honor Christ and further his purposes

in the world if it's true that my body belongs to Christ then I should use my bodies in my

body in a way that's going to bring honor and glory to Christ if my thoughts belong to

Christ then I've got to do what Paul says in 1 Corinthians and I've got to take every

thought captive and make it submissive to Christ because he owns even my thoughts in

my mind if it's true that my mouth belongs to Christ then I should be using my mouth

to bring honor and glory to God not tear other people down and defame the name of Jesus

I want you to just think about your life for a second everything that you are and everything

that you have belongs to Christ how much of it is actually dedicated to him how much of

it are you actually using for his honor in his glory I mean do you see how drastically

our lives would change if we actually believe this and lived it out that we belong to Christ

because he purchased us with his blood this is what separates God's people from the rest

of the world by the way it's not that God's people just go to church sometimes that's

not what separates us from the rest of the world what separates us from the rest of

the world is that we are slaves of righteousness rather than slaves of sin that we live our

lives to the glory of God alone and not just for ourselves and this passage goes on to say

that this hundred and forty four thousand people they are blameless you see that they

are the end of verse five everyone who is a part of the hundred and forty four thousand

how do we feel about that one pretty confident okay that's good yes there you go I know none

of us would actually say that we are blameless in and of ourselves right we're all good on

that we're on the same page unless we just got some really great people in here like

you know what actually all my best days maybe no I think we're I think we're all in agreement

like we're not in and of ourselves we're not blameless because we know ourselves too well

for that don't we we know our past we know all our shortcomings and all our failures

all our mistakes we know the sin that still cling so tightly to us but this is as Monaco

is alluding to the beauty of justification by faith alone in Christ alone because the

Bible tells us that when we repent of our sins and trust in Christ though we are ungodly

and though we are guilty before God the Bible says that God declares us to be right in his

eyes on the basis of Jesus's own righteousness right so a lot of theological jargon here's

how that plays out actually right imagine a bank account we all have an account with

God and you might be thinking well it's not the greatest account right no it's worse than

that because some people are like well I guess my accounts at zero you wish it was at zero

okay actually our accounts in the negative like infinitesimally in the negative just

to infinity it is in the negative to God we have this huge debt that we could never actually

pay back to God and so here's what happens when a person repents of their sins and they

trust in Jesus for salvation God transfers the righteousness of Christ to our account

he credits it to our account so that now our account is not just back at zero it's all

the way in the positive and we have this right standing with God not because of something

we've done or something that we've earned but because Jesus has given it to us freely

and the father has credited it to our account and so we have a right standing with God that

is how we can be declared blameless it's not because we actually are blameless it's because

we have the righteousness of Christ credited to us so that when God looks at us he no longer

sees our sin he sees our righteousness in Christ he sees the very righteousness of Christ

do you know how good this is for us because I'll tell you what I remember my sin on pretty

much a daily basis I mean I go through it all the time and here's what I know about

Christians sometimes we get hung up on that sin and when you look at yourself in the mirror

sometimes all you see is that sinner that failure and the encouraging thing for you to know

this evening is that when God looks at you that is not what he sees he doesn't see that

sinner or that failure he sees a child who has been washed by the blood of Jesus and

has the righteousness of Christ in his account so that he treats you as a son and a daughter

and he loves you with the love of a father that's good is it not I mean that's so encouraging

maybe just for me I don't know it could just be for me but that is really encouraging I

think it should help us move past a lot of things in our life because here's something

I know that we a lot of us struggle with and a lot of people that I counsel struggle with

is that they get so hung up on past sins and things that they've done that they say I could

never forgive myself for this and they don't they continue to let it rule over them and

dictate their feelings about themselves and they say no matter what I could never forgive

myself for what I did here's what I want to say to you this evening I know that might

seem like a righteous thing to do I know it might seem like a humble thing to do do not

act as though you are a more righteous judge than God and here's what I mean by that if

God can forgive your sin you should be willing to forgive it as well and I know that's hard

to move past because it does affect us and it has played a huge role in our life but

you are not a more righteous judge than God and if God has seen fit to forgive that sin

you have to be willing to accept that forgiveness and forgive yourself as well and know that

God is working on you that you're not the same person you were he is transforming you

more and more into the image of his son and he is sanctifying you by his spirit that is

the hope that we have here and finally I just want you to listen to this the voice of this

great multitude verses two through three it said I heard a voice from heaven like the

roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder and the voice I heard was like

the sound of harp is playing on their harps and they were singing a new song before the

throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders no one could learn the

song except the hundred and forty four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth and so

notice this about God's people the united voice of God's redeem it says powerful as

a waterfall it's as loud as thunder and yet it's as melodic as a harp with one voice

the redeemed of the Lord sing in and what exactly are they singing they're singing a

new song that no one can learn except those who are redeemed of God and what exactly

is this new song well I don't know exactly the words to it yet I will one day praise

be the Lord but I have an idea it is a fresh perspective on an old truth you know some

of our old hymns some of the old hymns have these nuggets of wisdom in there that are

so applicable you know the old hymn I love to tell the story right we all know that one

pretty well I wonder if you picked up in that hymn that it's referencing revelation here

because it says these beautiful words and when in scenes of glory I sing the new new

song revelation 14 to will be the old old story that I have loved so long you see when

we sing that new song it is a new song but it's a song about an old old story that we

have loved so long it's a song about God's redemption of his people in Christ but it's

going to be new because at that moment we're going to have the full experience of God's

redemption at that point we will be like Christ because the Bible says we're going to see

him as he is and we will become like him for we will see him face to face we will experience

glorification as our final state in the completion of our full salvation there'll be no more

hindrances between us and God we will experience God personally and because we will have a

completed salvation we'll have the full story and not just hearing it but by living it and

in that moment we will raise our voices and we will sing this new song about an old old

story that we have loved and treasured all the days of our life this is the destiny of

God's people this is our hope this is our assurance and I want you to notice that God

is not giving a picture of a possible future he's not saying hey best case scenario this

is what happens right like all this stuff about the beast and the dragon if things play

out our way this is what we're hoping for one day and the Bible says this is what's

going to happen and it is going to happen exactly as it is written this is a certainty

this is where we will end up this is who we will be with and what it will be like and

it's written to encourage us not to lose faith through all of life's difficulties and trials

through the beast persecution and opposition persevere in the midst of them resist the

beast forsake the world cling to the lamb and look forward to the glory that is to come

and know that this is going to happen one day and you will get to be there and not a

single person in heaven will be bragging no one's going to be looking around going I know

why I'm here not sure why you're here I know what I did I'd like to see your list it's

not going to be that way all of God's redeemed will be there and we will be singing of one

person the lamb of God who made our salvation not only possible but actual who not only

saved us but preserved us and we will be with him forever because he will not lose even

one of his eye that's the encouragement that we have here do you notice how that's an

eddy now we went through the turbulent waters we went through the rapids and God says here

have a breather good things are coming this is a glimpse of glory and it is very sweet

to our souls alright Doug give you the word of wisdom tonight