Soldiers, Singers, Virgins, and Firstfruits

Open your Bibles, please, to the last book of the Bible, Revelation.

And if you don't have a Bible, raise your hand.

We'd love to bring you a copy that you can use, you could have, and take home with you.

We're in Revelation chapter 14, verses 1 to 5.

Revelation 14:1–5

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Heavenly Father, we gather in your name once again this week.

And we humble ourselves and incline our ears to you again, to your Word.

Because you are our Lord, our King.

And we want to be where you are.

We want to go where you go.

We want to imitate your character.

We want to be representatives and witnesses of Jesus.

So, Lord, to that end, now speak to us and by your powerful Word, transform us.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

If you are willing and able, please stand for the reading of God's Word from Revelation chapter 14, verses 1 through 5.

Revelation 14:1–5

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 foreheads.

And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.

The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists 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 that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins.

It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

These have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb.

And in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.

This is God's holy and authoritative Word.

Please be seated.

When I was a student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary,

I think some of you guys were just there this weekend to see some of our church members run a race in that area.

There was an older gentleman there named Mark Horvath who worked in campus security.

And he's now retired, but he was one of the people that I respected the most at seminary

because despite being pretty much unknown and unheralded for decades of his service and work there,

he did so so faithfully and joyfully.

And even though his work wasn't directly related to Christian ministry,

he considered it an honor to serve a seminary campus.

And whenever he got the chance to speak one-on-one with a seminary student,

he would take the opportunity to exhort them, and this is what he would say.

He told me this several times throughout my time in seminary.

Sean, when you become a pastor, please take two Sundays to preach one sermon on heaven and one sermon on hell.

It was a simple but profound counsel.

I think he was sensing a drift in people's understanding of these topics

and noticing the consequent loss of an eternal perspective that should govern our lives.

In his book, The Eclipse of Heaven, theologian A.J. Conyers concurs with Mark.

He says,

These are not prominent considerations in our modern discourse

about the important matters of life,

but they once were.

Keeping heaven and hell in view keeps our perspectives and our priorities aligned.

It motivates us to press on in faith and obedience

and to share urgently the saving news of Jesus Christ with others.

It holds out both the reward of heaven and the punishment of hell,

calling believers to perseverance and unbelievers to repentance.

That's precisely what Revelation 14 does for us as well,

and we're going to talk primarily about heaven today and about hell next week.

Whenever the Bible speaks of heaven,

it focuses on two most important aspects about heaven,

which is namely the presence of God and the people of God who dwell there with him.

Heaven is in essence the place where God dwells with his redeemed people

in the fullness of his glory.

We'll get the definitive biblical treatment of heaven in the later chapters of Revelation,

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

chapters 21 and 22,

but here we still get a glimpse of what the redeemed people of God in heaven are like.

And they are those who maintain their undivided devotion to Christ

despite the persecution of the beast.

That's the main point of that passage.

We see four specific details about the redeemed,

and they are that they are soldiers,

second, that they are singers,

third, they are virgins,

and fourth, they are first fruits.

And we're going to talk about each of those in turn.

But before we see the army of the redeemed,

we see first the Lamb of God in verse 1.

It says,

Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb.

The Lamb of chapter 14 is set in stark contrast with the dragon and the beasts

that we saw in chapter 13.

Sorry, did I say chapter 14 earlier?

Chapter 14 is where we see the Lamb.

Chapter 13 is where we see the dragon and the beasts.

The second beast in Revelation 13, 11 had two horns like a lamb,

but spoke like a dragon.

All the false messiahs and the pretenders out there,

they all try to look like Jesus.

They try to look like the Lamb.

But we know what they are by what they say,

by their words, and we've talked about that.

The dragon in chapter 12, verse 17, stood on the sand of the sea,

but here the Lamb stood on Mount Zion.

The sand of the sea is a symbol of impermanence and instability.

You can write messages on the sand.

I'm sure you guys have done this all you want.

Draw little hearts on the sand and build sand castles on the sand.

And momentarily, they're all gone, washed away by the incoming tide.

In contrast, a mountain is a symbol of permanence and stability.

Whenever I visit Seattle to see my parents,

I notice that much of the landscape and the cityscape has changed.

There are new buildings.

There are new roads where there weren't roads before.

There are new trees planted or trees raised.

There's all kinds of changes,

but there's one thing that's always there that doesn't change,

and that's Mount Rainier in the backdrop of the city.

It's stable, immovable, permanent.

This contrast between the dragon that is standing on the sands of the sea

and the Lord, the Lamb of God that's standing on Mount Zion,

it evokes what Jesus says in Matthew 7, 24 to 27.

Because those who follow the dragon are like the people

who build their house on shifting sand,

which will surely come crashing down.

But those who build on the rock,

those who follow the Lamb are like those who build on the rock,

those who build on a mountain

that will withstand all the floods and the winds.

With the final battle between the Lamb and the dragon and the beasts

soon to be described in Revelation 19, 20,

it's also hard not to notice the strategic advantage of the Lamb's position.

Military manuals for thousands of years have written and taught that in war,

you should take the high ground and force your enemy to attack from the low ground.

Why? Because the high ground gives you an elevated vantage point from which you can see wider and further.

And also because gravity is on your side and it's much more wearying to charge uphill.

And because gravity is on your side, your projectiles also travel much further when you're shooting from uphill.

So this final battle is already decided.

The Lamb is going to win.

And these people who are with Him are going to be part of that victory and triumph and celebration.

Mount Zion is symbolically significant because, as Scripture repeatedly says,

the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem.

And in Psalm 2, there was a prophecy that God says,

where God says, I have set my king on Mount Zion, on my holy hill.

And that's Him speaking of the Messianic king that will come, which is Jesus.

And of Him, God says, you are my son.

Today I have begotten you.

I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

That's being fulfilled in this heavenly vision.

Jesus, the King, the Lamb of God, standing on Mount Zion to bring vengeance upon the enemies of God

and to deliver His people forever.

But it doesn't necessarily mean that Jesus will literally and physically come and stand on Mount Zion

in Jerusalem in the Middle East one day.

Because Mount Zion is also used symbolically throughout Scripture.

Hebrews 12, 22 says, Mount Zion is the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

Galatians 4, 26 likewise calls it the Jerusalem above, not here on the earth, but above.

So Mount Zion is figuratively describing the spiritual abode of God's people.

That's why, even though the 144,000 are standing on Mount Zion, it says,

their voice, in verse 2, is heard from heaven.

And they are singing before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders,

which we all know from chapter 4, are in the throne room of God in heaven.

So John's vision is depicting a heavenly reality that will soon come to bear upon the earth.

And in heaven, the Lamb is not alone.

He's surrounded by His heavenly army.

It says in verse 1,

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 foreheads.

John mentions the 144,000 here without any further explanation

because He already gave us a detailed explanation of who they are earlier in chapter 7.

There, the angels sealed the servants of God on their foreheads,

and those who were sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel numbered 144,000,

12,000 from each tribe.

I preached on that chapter, chapter 7, in December,

and I explained to you that the 144,000 do not represent the Jewish Christians only

or only some special class of elite Christians,

but that it represents all of God's redeemed people throughout the ages.

And if you want more detailed explanations of that,

I encourage you to listen to that sermon

because I'm going to go through that briefly here.

The number 144,000 is a symbolic representation of all of God's people

from all nations, Jews and Gentiles.

The number 12 often throughout Scripture represents the people of God.

Why?

Because of the 12 tribes of Israel and 12 apostles of the Lamb,

apostles of Jesus Christ who formed the foundation of the church of God.

And the number 1,000 is a figurative number in the same way we use it,

representing a multitude.

And when you multiply 12 by 1,000, you get 12,000,

which is the number of the sealed from each of the tribes of the redeemed,

of the redeemed Israel.

And when you add that up, you get 144,000.

In Revelation 21, we see the new Jerusalem,

which we are told explicitly is the bride, the wife of the Lamb,

which is an allusion to the people of God, the church of Christ.

And this new Jerusalem has 12 gates

with the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel inscribed on them.

And it has 12 foundations,

which have the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb written on them.

And so this is very consistently used symbols here.

When you multiply 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of the Lamb,

and then that's 144, and then you multiply that by 1,000,

you get 144,000, which symbolically represents the fullness of all of God's people.

I mentioned all of these things to you earlier,

but what I didn't mention to you when I preached in chapter 7

is that the 144,000 also represent the redeemed people of God as soldiers,

as the heavenly army.

There are several clues for this.

First, Revelation 7, 5 to 8,

which first described the 144,000,

is intentionally stylized like an Old Testament census.

It gives the tribe, it says,

12,000 from the tribe of Judah,

12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, and so on.

And in the Old Testament,

the census is always taken

to determine the military might of the nation.

And this is confirmed later by Revelation 19, 14,

where John sees a vision of Jesus riding on a white horse in heaven,

and he notes that the, quote,

the armies of heaven,

arrayed in fine linen,

white horses,

following him on white horses.

So that's confirmation,

that this is the armies of heaven.

And here in chapter 14, verse 4,

we are told that the 144,000 likewise follow the lamb wherever he goes.

It's the same group of people.

Their identity as soldiers, I think,

is partly why they are described in verse 4

as not having defiled themselves with women,

for they are virgins.

This is not because all of the 144,000

are literally male virgins,

but because they represent God's holy army.

Because the Israelite army in the Old Testament

is engaged in holy war,

they were commanded in Deuteronomy 23, 9-11

that the sisters are to keep themselves from becoming unclean.

And specifically,

they had to remain ritually clean while at war

by abstaining from sexual intercourse

because even accidental nocturnal emission of semen

made them ritually unclean,

according to the specific commands there.

This was not because sex is evil in and of itself,

but because it was intended to teach the Israelites

the meaning of consecration,

what it means to be set apart for God,

to be different from the other nations.

To give you an example,

in Leviticus 11,

you see an extensive set of dietary laws

that the Israelites had to observe.

They're forbidden from eating various kinds of animals,

not because those animals are evil or bad in and of themselves,

but because,

as God says in Leviticus 11, 14,

for,

this is the reason,

for I am the Lord your God.

Consecrate yourselves,

therefore,

and be holy,

for I am holy.

That's the reason why they had to observe those laws.

To be holy means to be set apart,

to be uncommon,

because Israelites didn't eat those animals,

they were unlike all the other nations surrounding them.

It set them apart.

It made them different,

and it reminded them.

That was precisely the point.

It reminded them,

we are not like the other nations,

because we belong to God.

God has set us apart,

especially for himself.

Similarly,

for the Israelites,

who are the soldiers that are at war,

there could be no emission of semen

among the Israelites' soldiers.

Enemy soldiers would visit prostitutes.

They would masturbate.

They would rape their female captives,

as soldiers have done for millennia,

all throughout the world,

but not the soldiers of God.

They were not even allowed to sleep

with their own wives.

Why?

Because they were holy,

set apart for God,

not like their enemy soldiers.

In 1 Samuel 21,

we see an example of this principle at work.

When David and his soldiers are fleeing from Saul,

they take refuge with Ahimelech,

the priest,

briefly and ask him for some bread.

But Ahimelech,

the priest,

informs them,

there is no common bread on hand,

but only holy bread.

And because there's only holy bread

that's been consecrated to God,

he tells David and the young men,

if they can help themselves to the bread,

if the young men have kept themselves from women.

And David answers him,

truly women have been kept from us,

as always,

when I go on an expedition.

This is how they always fought in war.

God's soldiers were to keep themselves from women

while at war.

Let's see this law at work in 2 Samuel 11,

when David commits adultery

with Uriah's wife,

Bathsheba.

Right?

David commits adultery with her

and impregnates her

and he's trying to cover his tracks.

He's trying to hide it.

And so he commands Uriah,

who is a valiant man,

fighting in the battles of the Lord,

he recalls his home.

He tells him to come home.

And then he throws Uriah a party,

feasts him,

feeds him full,

and makes him drunk,

gives him all this choice wine,

gets him drunk,

and then he tells him,

hey, go to your house and rest.

He wants Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba

so that he can pass off his kid as Uriah's

and act like nothing happened.

Isn't it amazing how Bible really doesn't hold up

these heroes as real heroes,

but tells us exactly what kind of sordid life they had?

This is what David is trying to do.

But this is what Uriah says to him.

The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths.

Meaning they're out on campaigns.

And my lord Joab, his general,

and the servants of my lord

are camping in the open field.

Meaning they're at war.

Shall I then go to my house

to eat and drink and to lie with my wife?

As you live and as your soul lives,

I will not do this thing.

Amazing.

Because they're in the middle of war,

Uriah refuses to sleep with his own wife

while he is drunk.

Uriah refuses to do

while he is drunk

with his own wife

what David does

while he is totally sober

with someone else's wife.

I mean, that's crazy.

We need more men named Uriah.

Uriah.

Anyway, that's...

I mean, David's redeemed later on,

so I know there's...

David's a good name too.

God has mercy on us.

We're all sinners.

So that's one reason why

the 144,000 ark is described

specifically as not having

defiled themselves with women.

They are soldiers at war

following the commander-in-chief,

the Lamb of God.

Remember also that this chapter

follows on the heels of chapter 13

where the beast,

which represents the worldly kingdoms

and rulers

that oppose Christ and his church,

they put there the beast's name

and the number of his name,

the mark of the beast,

on the foreheads

of all of his followers.

And those who refused

to take his mark

on their foreheads

were embargoed

from buying and selling

and some of them were slain.

The 144,000 are those people

who refused to take

the mark of the beast

because they had

the seal of God

on their foreheads,

the name of the Lamb

and the name of his Father

written on their foreheads.

And ironically,

this army of the redeemed,

they conquered the dragon

not by killing,

but by dying.

As it says in Revelation 12, 11,

they have conquered him

by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word

of their testimony,

for they love not their lives

even unto death.

The 144,000

are those who follow

in the footsteps

of the Lamb of God,

who, as we saw

in Revelation 5, 5-6,

conquered by being slain.

The Lamb defeated

the dragon

and redeemed his people

by dying on the cross

and pouring out his blood.

And we also,

as his people,

likewise,

are to defeat the dragon

in this life

by dying on the cross

and pouring,

carrying our own cross,

dying to ourselves,

bearing witness to Jesus.

Jesus,

even when we are persecuted

and killed

by the dragon

and the beast.

That's what the soldiers

of the Lamb

are meant to do.

It says in 2 Timothy 2,

3-4,

share in suffering

as a good soldier

of Christ Jesus.

No soldier

gets entangled

in civilian pursuits

since his aim

is to please

the one who enlisted him.

A soldier

ought to be focused

and disciplined

for the sake

of the war at hand

and not entangled

in civilian affairs.

Do your purposes,

people of God,

do your purposes

and priorities in life

reflect the spiritual reality

that the dragon,

the beast,

and the false prophet

are at large

and after us?

Are you sharing

in the sufferings

of Christ

by bearing witness

to him

or are you

shirking your responsibility

as witness

in search of the comforts

and the distractions

of civilian pursuits?

Is your aim in life

to please the one

who enlisted you,

your general,

your king,

Jesus Christ?

or are you living

to please someone else

who wields,

who wields in your life

controlling influence

upon your thoughts

and behaviors?

Is it Jesus

or is it someone else?

Are you,

as verse four says,

soldiers

who follow the lamb

wherever he goes

or are you straying

and following

your own way?

our country

cherishes

one of our greatest

strengths as a nation

that we cherish

the values

of individual freedom.

But even here

in the military,

submission,

following orders

immediately

and completely

is considered

of utmost importance.

why?

Because

the chain of command

is not respected

in the military,

it's impossible

to maintain order,

discipline,

and unity

in the army.

Because soldiers

often work

in high stakes

environment

where following orders

can be a matter

of life and death,

not only for themselves

but for many others.

A habit

of questioning orders

and delaying

obeisance

can prove deadly

and imperil

the entire mission.

are we

ready to follow

our king,

our general Jesus

wherever he goes?

Come what may be.

Come fire or water.

Go wherever

he goes.

the redeemed

are soldiers.

They're also singers.

It says

in verses 2-3,

and I heard

a voice from heaven

like the roar

of many waters

and like the sound

of loud thunder.

The voice I heard

was like the sound

of harpists

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

that song

except the 144,000

who had been redeemed

from the earth.

The voice of the saints

here is compared

to the roar

of many waters

and the sound

of loud thunder.

Earlier in Revelation 1-15

in John's exalted vision

of Jesus,

the risen Christ,

it said that

Jesus' voice

was like the roar

of many waters.

many waters.

The redeemed of Christ

follow him

wherever he goes

and obeys

whatever he says

and now they even

sound like him

as they worship him.

Ezekiel 1-24

gives us more details

about what the sound

of the roar

of many waters

sounds like.

It says,

I heard the sound

of their wings

like the sound

of many waters,

like the sound

of the almighty,

a sound of tumult

like the sound

of an army.

This sound,

which is a sound

of tumult

like the sound

of an army

fits well again

with the vision

of that heavenly army.

Imagine the sounds

of a mighty host

marching

and you feel

the rumbling

of the ground

like a roar

of mighty waters

like the Niagara Falls

falling

and as you draw nearer

that deafening sound,

you can make out

what they're saying

and they're singing

like the sound

of harpists.

It's passages

like this

and Revelation 15-2

where those who

have conquered

the beast

and its image

and the number

of its name

have harps

of God

in their hands.

It's passages

like this

that have been

frequently misused

to create

the impression

that heaven

is boring

and unexciting.

In his book,

Heaven,

Randy Alcorn

writes about

how a friend

of his

once honestly

confessed to him,

whenever I think

about heaven,

it makes me depressed.

I'd rather just

cease to exist

when I die.

And Alcorn

asked him,

why?

And he answered,

I can't stand

the thought

of that endless

tedium

to float around

the clouds

with nothing

to do

but strum

a harp.

it's all

so terribly

boring.

Heaven

doesn't sound

much better

than hell.

I'd rather

be annihilated

than spend

eternity

in a place

like that.

That's a

disastrous

misconception.

And he's

completely

missing the

point of the

singing

that's intended

to convey.

First,

singing is not

the only thing

that we'll be

doing in heaven.

I think that's

obvious in many

passages.

2 Timothy 2.12

says we're

promised if we

endure that we

will also reign

with Christ.

And then in

the parable of

the minus in

Luke 19,

Jesus says that

the servant who

is faithful with

the gospel that

has been trusted

to him and

bears much fruit

and it brings

back ten minus

more will be

given authority

over ten cities.

So we will have

things to do

in heaven.

We will be

involved in the

governing of

the kingdom

of heaven,

reigning with

Christ.

But the

description of

heaven in

scripture often

features singing

because there's

something about

music and about

singing that

captures the

transcendent joy

of heaven.

In his book,

The Joy of

Music,

renowned American

composer and

conductor,

Leonard Bernstein,

recounts the

conversation he

had on a road

trip with a

friend of his

who was a

British poet.

And they

were driving

through the

mountainous

region of the

Picasso Pass of

New Mexico and

his friend remarks

looking at the

hills, he says,

these hills are

pure Beethoven.

I don't know what

that means but

it must have been

beautiful.

And Bernstein

follows up with the

question, why

Beethoven?

Beethoven?

Why not Bach,

Mozart, Mendelssohn,

or Schumann?

And then they go

back and forth

discussing the

merits of

Beethoven's

compositions, why

they have such a

transcendent and

luminary quality.

And then this is

what Leonard

Bernstein concludes.

Quote, let me put

it this way.

Many, many

composers have

been able to

write heavenly

tunes and

respectable views.

Some composers

can orchestrate the

C major scale so

that it sounds like

a masterpiece or

full with notes so

that a harmonic

novelty is achieved.

But this is all

mere dust.

Nothing compared

to the magic

ingredients sought

by them all.

The inexplicable

ability to know

what the next

note has to be.

Beethoven had

this gift in the

degree that leaves

them all panting

in the rear guard.

When he really

did it, as in the

funeral march of

the Eroica, he

produced an entity

that always seems

to me to have

been previously

written in heaven

and then merely

dictated to him.

There is a special

place carved out

in the cosmos

into which this

movement just

fits, predetermined

and perfect.

Form is only an

empty word, a shell,

without the gift

of inevitability.

A composer can

write a string of

perfectly molded

sonata, allegro

movements with

every rule obeyed

and still suffer

from bad form.

Beethoven broke

all the rules and

turned out pieces of

breathtaking

rightness.

Rightness, that's

the word.

When you get the

feeling that whatever

note succeeds the

last is the only

possible note that

can rightly happen at

that instant.

In that context,

then chances are you're

listening to Beethoven.

Melodies, fugs,

rhythms, leave them

to the Tchaikovskis

and the Hindemiths

and the Ravels.

Our boy has the

real goods.

The stuff from

heaven, the power

to make you feel

at the finish.

Something is right

in the world.

There's something

that checks throughout,

that follows its own

law consistently,

something we can

trust that will

never let us down.

We might not

appreciate music

to the same level

that Leonard

Bernstein can,

at least not in

this life,

but we do know

that the best of

music captures

something of

transcendence.

They have a

heavenly quality,

whispers,

rumors of God

in them.

In heaven,

we're going to

have the fullness

of that.

And these songs

aren't just

generic songs.

They'll be

worship songs.

It says in

verse 3,

they were singing

a new song

before the throne

and before the

four living creatures

and before the

elders.

No one could

learn that song

except the

144,000 who

have been

redeemed from

the earth.

Only the

redeemed can

sing this song

because only the

redeemed know

God in a way

that inspires

eternal song.

The singing of

this new song

is a recurring

theme throughout

the Old Testament,

especially in the

Psalms.

It's always in

response to God's

triumph over the

enemies.

after his

deliverance of

his people.

Some 3,500 years

ago, after God

split the Red

Sea and delivered

Israel from Egypt

in Exodus 15,

the people sang to

him a new song.

And the people of

God have not

stopped singing

since then.

Christians today

still sing songs of

worship written

centuries ago,

ancient times.

Churches sing songs

like Of the

Father's Love

Begotten, O

Splendor of God's

Glory Bright.

They're written in

the 4th century A.D.

by Aurelius Clemens

Prudentius and

Ambrose, respectively.

We still sing as a

local church the song

Be Thou My Vision

written in the 6th

century A.D.

by Dallin Forgeil.

I don't know how to

pronounce that Irish

name.

But we also sing

new songs.

Our musical history

team carefully

calls the large,

the ever increasingly

large body of new

worship songs that

are added to

Christian copyright

licensing internationally

every single week.

And they try to

introduce to us the

most edifying,

most stirring songs.

And there will

always be new

songs to sing

because God is

infinite.

And his glory is

inexhaustible.

Don't you feel this?

I feel this when I

worship with you and I

sing on Sunday

mornings.

When you're

worshiping God in

song and as you

think of who God

is, as you think of

his everlasting love

and about what he has

done to redeem us as

his people, how he

sent Jesus, his son,

to die on the cross

for our sins, how he

saved us from our

slavery to sin and

death.

And as you're singing

those songs, does it

not feel like your

heart's going to burst?

Does it not feel like

you need to shout at

the top of your lungs

and raise your arms to

heaven?

And does it not make

you want to sing again

and again and again?

At the end of one of

the songs we're singing

this morning, I was

just like, oh, I just

want to sing that chorus

again.

I just want to sing that

chorus again.

Because some things are

too great to just talk

about.

Because God is too

great to just talk

about.

You have to sing.

Well, in heaven, we'll

get to do that.

In the fullness of the

presence of God, we'll

get to sing to him right

before his throne.

And here in life, we

could only sing so much

before we get tired, we

get emotionally exhausted

before we lose our

voices.

But in heaven, we will

never tire.

We'll get to sing.

Finally, in a way,

they'll give him the

worship that he deserves,

which is ceaseless praise,

ceaseless worship.

Because that's the kind

of worship that he

deserves.

Any worship that ends at

any time is not

sufficient for the glory

of God.

And brothers and

sisters, we're going to

make a magnificent

choir.

I look forward to that.

Not only that, the

redeemed people of God

are virgins.

Verse 4 has three

sentences that describe

what the redeemed are

like.

Each of those clauses

begin with these.

It is these who have

not defiled themselves

with women for they

are virgins.

It is these who follow

the lamb wherever he

goes.

These have been

redeemed from mankind

as first puts fruits

for God and the lamb.

I'll be brief here

because I've already

talked about some of

these things.

In addition to the

idea of soldiers keeping

themselves ceremonially

clean during war, the

fact that they are

described as virgins

captures the purity of

the people of God.

This verse is not

referring, as I've said

before, to literal male

virgins, but to all of

God's holy people, men

and women, married and

single, who have

maintained their

undivided devotion to

God and to Jesus

despite the persecution

of the beast.

The description of God's

soldiers as virgins is

especially appropriate

because later on in

Revelation 19, 7 to 9

and Revelation 21, 2,

they will be called

collectively the bride

of the lamb, clothed

with fine linen, bright

and pure, prepared as a

bride adorned for her

husband.

We'll be a bride as

bride should be.

This is why in 2 Corinthians

11, 2, Paul describes

his ministry to the

Corinthian church this

way, I feel a divine

jealousy for you since I

betrothed you to one

husband to present you as

a pure virgin to Christ.

The church is a virgin

bride because they have

not defiled themselves with

the passion of Babylon's

sexual immorality as it

says in verse 8.

They have not succumbed

ultimately to the

temptation of the great

harlot that we see in

Revelation chapter 17.

Revelation 17 · chapter mention

This is not speaking of

physical virginity but

spiritual virginity.

Are you a spiritual virgin

for Christ?

Revelation 21, 8 is

crystal clear as for the

cowardly, the faithless,

the detestable, as for

murderers, the sexually

immoral, sorcerers,

idolaters, and all liars.

Their portion will be in

the lake that burns with

fire and sulfur which is

the second death.

If there is any

unrepentant sin in your

life, turn from it today.

Confess it to another

believer, another brother

or sister in Christ in the

church this week.

find accountability and

take decisive steps to

cut it out of your life

because it's a matter of

life and death.

Because if you don't, you

will not be counted among

the 144,000 virgins of

Christ.

But if you repent and you

trust in Jesus, no matter

what you have done, maybe

you are not only not a

virgin but you've been so

promiscuous.

But no matter what you have

done, if you repent and you

take hold of Jesus in faith,

he will prove to you to be a

strong redeemer.

And that's what we see in

verses 4 and 5.

These have been redeemed

from mankind as first

fruits for God and the

lamb.

And in their mouth no lie

was found for they are

blameless.

The idea of first fruits

comes from one of the

three major pilgrimage

feasts that the Jews,

the Israelites celebrated

in the Old Testament

called the feast of harvest

of the first fruits of your

labor, of what you sow in

the field.

It says in Exodus 23, 16.

This feast came at the

beginning of the harvest

season.

And according to more

detailed instructions found

in Leviticus 23, Numbers 20

to 29, Deuteronomy 16, this

feast began when the sickle

is first put to the standing

grain.

And after the first fruits of

the harvest are harvested,

then the sheaf of the first

fruits were to be waved before

the Lord as an offering.

Because of the observance

of this feast, the first

fruits, first fruit offering

comes to represent the

portion of the harvest that

belongs specially to God.

God.

This is why I, this is possible.

Some people think that the

144,000 are called first

fruits because it's only the

initial harvest.

And there will be later

harvest of more believers.

Some people argue that.

I don't think that's the case

because these are those who

have been redeemed from

mankind as first fruits for God

and the Lamb.

I believe that represents all

of God's elect, all of God's

people because they are

specially set aside for him.

And I think the rest of the

harvest that is to come is not

the more of God's people but

of the judgment harvest, the

winepress of God's wrath that we

see in the rest of chapter 14.

This is confirmed by the fact that

in the Old Testament, for

example, in Jeremiah 2, verses

Jeremiah 2:2–3

2 to 3, all of God's people at

the time are called the first of

his harvest, first fruits, in

contradistinction to the pagan

nations.

A related concept is the idea of

the firstborn, which is also

used to describe all of God's

people in the Old Testament, not

just a part of them, in

contradistinction to all the

other pagan nations.

The idea of first fruits and

firstborns are explicitly

connected in Nehemiah 10, 35 to 37,

Psalm 78, 51, Psalm 105, 36,

they're referring to the same

idea.

As James 1, 18 says, of all of

God's people, once again, of his

only will, God brought us forth by

the word of truth that we should

be a kind of first fruits of his

creatures.

That's what all of us are and all

of God's people are if we belong

to Christ, his special set-aside

chosen portion.

And we are the special first fruits

that belong to God, not because of

our own merit, but because God has

purchased or redeemed us, as it says

twice in this passage, in verse 3 and

verse 4.

The same word, redeem, though

translated slightly differently, is

used in Revelation 5, 9 to say that

the Lamb ransomed people for God by

his blood from every tribe and

language and people and nation.

Once again, this proves that the

144,000, the first fruits, refer to

all of the redeemed.

We are soldiers, singers, virgins, and

first fruits that belong especially

to the bridge.

A copying power is only for everyone

but also for all of theSaans.

Now, this is the bigger thing.

This is the largest gift that you

treasured home free from God!

Because of your life, it has

Has a victory right now.

Golden glass and golden glass!

Sometimes, again, it is under

point of Sermon.

Once again!

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