The Final Triumph

Verse 1: And I looked and behold the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. What we see here is in striking contrast to what we just read in chapter 13. There we saw that the Antichrist offered people the option of acknowledging Him publicly (on the forehead) or secretly (in the right palm). But here we see that the Lord Jesus Christ offers no such option to His disciples. Every disciple of His has to acknowledge Him publicly. The mark MUST be on their forehead alone. We are not called to be secret followers of Christ. Jesus said, Everyone who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven ....For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels (Matthew 10:32, 33; Mark 8:38). If you are working in an office, the mark of the Lord should be on your forehead. In other words, everyone in your office should know that you are a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no such thing as having a hidden mark on your hand, that no-one in your place of work knows about. A true follower of Jesus Christ will have the mark on his forehead. His colleagues know him as Christ's disciple! It is a shame that many "believers" are ashamed to be known as followers of Jesus Christ. I have seen non-Christians openly wearing religious marks on their foreheads - unashamedly proclaiming their religion! But Christians are so often ashamed to let it be known whom they follow - perhaps because they are afraid that their chances of promotion in the office will thereby be affected. Such Christians are compromisers and lovers of earthly honour, and not bold witnesses of Jesus Christ. They will certainly not be among those who stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion, for those 144,000 are disciples who are not ashamed to boldly confess that they follow Jesus Christ. They do not compromise in the midst of their relatives, or in their office, or in their neighbourhood. Every time you see a non-Christian wearing his religious marks on his forehead, let that be a challenge you. If he is not ashamed to proclaim thereby that he worships his god, why should you be ashamed to proclaim that you worship Jesus Christ. The 144,000 here are not the ones we saw earlier in chapter 7. Those were from the tribes of Israel alone - and the tribes of Israel certainly do not follow the Lamb or believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. This is another group altogether. These are the ones who are called "overcomers" in Revelation 2 and 3. A name represented character in the Old Testament. So "the Name of the Lamb and of the Father" being on the foreheads of these 144,000 indicates that their lives reflected the nature of the Lamb and of the Father. A good question therefore to ask ourselves is this: In our attitude towards others who are evil toward us, do we reflect the nature of the Lamb Who kept His mouth shut when He was being sheared, Who was silent when He was slaughtered, and Who committed His cause to His Father when He was treated unjustly and stripped of His rights and His reputation? Do we reflect the nature of our Father Who is longsuffering with sinners and Who welcomes repentant backsliders (Luke 15:11-24). Some may ask, "Do you mean to say that only such a small number are overcomers?" But how many believers have you seen in your life who never lose their temper and who have learnt to keep quiet under provocation? That is certainly a small number. The nature that these 144,000 had acquired inwardly on earth now begins to shine through their personality on their faces - "the nature of the Father." God's desire for every one of us is that we grow up to maturity and be like Him towards other people. He trains us with that end in view. When we begin the Christian life we are all babies. If we grow up, we will gradually be like young men. And if we continue to grow, we will become like fathers (1 John 2:12-14) - fathers who deny themselves to serve others, fathers who long to lead others to maturity. This should be our passion - that the nature of the Lamb and of the Father should become so totally ours that it is reflected through our personality. Verses 2, 3: And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, 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 one hundred and forty four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. Mount Zion is another name for the heavenly Jerusalem. Revelation 3:12 tells us who the ones are who get the name of the heavenly Jerusalem written on them. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God," says the Lord, "and I will write upon him the name of My God (the name of 'Father'), and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from My God and My new name (the name of 'the Lamb'). Notice that - the name of the Father and the name of the Lamb, and the name of the new Jerusalem. That is exactly what we read in Revelation 14 - the 144,000 stand on Mount Zion (the heavenly Jerusalem) having His name and the Name of the Father on their foreheads. When we compare Scripture with Scripture, everything becomes clear. These are the overcomers and this is the bride of Christ. They belong to heaven even while they are living on earth. These overcomers sang a new song before the throne, that no one could learn except those who had been purchased from the earth. Why is it that no one else could learn that song? Is it because the others were not musically minded? No. This has nothing to do with being musically minded. It has everything to do with being heavenly-minded!! There are lots of people in the devil's camp who are musically-minded. The music in heaven is full of praise, worship and joy - ecstatic joy in the presence of the Father. But these 144,000 who stand on Mount Zion learnt that song of praise even while they were on earth. Unlike other human beings, they had finished with all murmuring, grumbling, criticism, backbiting, judging others and slander. Instead they learnt to give thanks in everything and for everyone, and to praise and worship God at all times. The new song is: "Thou art worthy to receive praise and honour, glory, dominion and power" (Revelation 5:12). It is a song which does not have a smell of complaining, of grumbling or murmuring in it. How many of us have learnt it? God gives all of us one lifetime on earth to learn that song of heaven, that song of praise and thanksgiving. How many are there who have learnt to be 100% free from grumbling and complaining? Most believers complain when the food is not good, or when somebody promises to do something for them and does not do it, or when somebody takes away their rights, or when somebody does some evil to them or to their children or perhaps when somebody speaks evil about them or their family-members. What a lot of opportunity we have in all such circumstances to follow Jesus, to take up the cross and learn the new song! It is impossible to learn that song unless we are willing to take up the cross and die to our rights, honour and reputation. These 144,000 were the only ones who obeyed the Word of God which says, "Do all things without grumbling or complaining," (Philippians 2:13, 14) and "In everything give thanks," (1 Thessalonians 5:18). The word 'learn' in Revelation 14:3 indicates an education. We have to learn how to sing this new song. To begin with, none of us know it. Why is it that no-one else learnt that song except these 144,000. Because the others heard about taking up the cross, but never actually took it up in the moments of temptation. What a sad thing it is when someone has been a believer for 20 years, and still hasn't got victory over murmuring, anger, grumbling, complaining, slander and backbiting. Most believers imagine that because they have accepted Christ everything is all right with them, and thus live in a world of delusion. It also says here that they were "purchased from the earth". They were the opposite of the "earth-dwellers". They had been freed from the earth. They were not occupied with the things of the earth. Their minds were set on the things that are above where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father. They were not thinking, "How can I make as much money as possible on earth and still go to heaven when I die? How can I live as comfortable a life as possible and still go to heaven when I die?" Earth-dwellers think that way. But these people were thinking, "How can I do all the will of God in my one earthly life? How can I show my gratitude to the Lord for dying for me on Calvary?" They were not the compromising, half-hearted, wishy-washy, worldly type of people who call themselves "believers" these days. They were in a different category altogether. They were redeemed (freed) from the earth. Their minds were not set on earthly comfort or wealth or honour. Their song was not, "How worthy we are!", but rather, "Thou art worthy, O Lord." Those who are always wondering, "Do other people think that we are worthy?" don't belong in this category. These people sing the new song saying, "We are not worthy. He alone is worthy." How many believers are there who have learnt that? Very, very few. The number of things that believers do in order to get honour and approval from man, shows very clearly that they just don't belong in this category at all. Verse 4: 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. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. This is not referring to physical virginity or physical harlotry. The women referred to here are the ones mentioned later on in Revelation 17:5, Babylon the mother of harlots and her harlot-daughters. This verse is stating that these 144,000 did not commit spiritual harlotry. They kept themselves chaste as pure virgins for Christ, undefiled by spiritual adultery with the flesh and the world. Spiritual adultery is explained in James 4:4: "You adulteresses. Know you not that friendship with the world is enmity towards God?" These are the ones who were faithful in moments of temptation, who kept themselves from worldliness. They followed the Lamb wherever He went. In other words, they took up their cross daily - for that is how the Lamb walked on earth. Notice another phrase here, "they are purchased from among men". We saw that they were freed from the earth. Now we see that they are freed from men too - from men's opinions. The result is that they become firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. Firstfruits are those fruits that get ripe first of all on a tree. These are the ones who responded promptly to the Holy Spirit and became ripe during their earthly lifetime. They did not waste their lives. They did not waste the opportunities God gave them to take up their cross. They did not waste their opportunities to follow the Lamb. They took every opportunity that came their way to die to themselves and to follow Jesus, and to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. The result was that they became ripe quickly. They are the first fruits. James 1:18 says that God "brought us forth by the word of truth so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures". Not everybody responds in the right way. But there will be a few who will respond aright and be the firstfruits. The number 144,000 is not literal. It is symbolic of a small number of people. Jesus said that the way to life was narrow, and that only few would find it. There is going to be a great multitude, "that no man can number" in the presence of God, who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. We saw that in Revelation 7. Many of them will be babies of people from all religions, who died before they came to the age of understanding. Millions of them will be the aborted foetuses that there have been in the 20th century. The righteousness of Christ is put to their account and so they are in heaven. But they never had an opportunity to become overcomers. But those who consciously chose the narrow way that leads to life are a group that CAN be numbered. They are very, very few. These are the ones who took Matthew 5, 6 & 7 seriously and are first fruits to God and to the Lamb. Verse 5: And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless. All human beings are born liars. But these people had so cleansed themselves from this normal human habit that by the end of their lives it is said about them that no lie is ever found in their mouth. Don't you believe that the number has to be very small, when you evaluate believers even by just this one qualification? Lying begins from babyhood. It develops into various forms of deception, giving people wrong impressions, exaggerations, adding and subtracting things to the truth to give people a biased opinion, hypocrisy, quoting statistics that have not been verified, pretence etc. Do you think all believers have cleansed themselves from all this? How many believers are there who have taken this matter seriously to cleanse out all lying from their lives, to speak the truth alone always, and whose 'Yes' is always 'Yes' and whose 'No' is always 'No'. Quite frankly, having seen the condition of many believers, I am surprised that there are even 144,000 people found in the entire human race who have cleansed themselves totally from lying. Our calling is to follow the Lamb wherever He went - even here. Do you see any footstep of the Lamb where He told a lie? No! We are to follow in His steps. When we came to Christ we were full of lies. But now the Holy Spirit has come to transform us into the image of Jesus who never spoke a lie, and who could say, "I am the truth." If we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, we can find our place in that number. Notice again the emphasis on the mouth. We saw that earlier, in relation to the speech of the Antichrist. Here we have the mouth of the overcomers. What great importance the New Testament gives to our speech! Jesus once said that it would be by evaluating our speech in the final day that we would be either justified or condemned (Matthew 12:37)!! By our speech we manifest whether it is the spirit of Christ or the spirit of the antichrist that rules in our hearts. Because they had cleansed out all lying from their lives, these overcomers are called "blameless". We too can be in that number if we take our calling seriously. Verse 6: And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. The angel here preaches the eternal gospel to the earth-dwellers. They are called here "those who sit on the earth" (margin). They are people who have decided to sit down and enjoy the comforts, the honour, the pleasures and the wealth of this earth. Verse 7: And he said with a loud voice, 'Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the springs of waters.' This is a final invitation to earth-dwellers to "fear God, give Him glory and worship the Creator", before judgment falls. It is because man does not fear God or give Him glory and worship as the Creator, that he sinks into evil. Romans 1:20-32 tells us that even though men saw the glory of God in creation, they were not thankful and did not fear God, or give glory to Him. So they sank deeper and deeper into sin and God gave them up. Notice the contrast between "the hour (1 hour) of judgment" mentioned here and "the day (24 hours) of salvation" mentioned in 2 Corinthians 6:2. That again teaches us that God would much rather act in grace than in judgment. Our own Adamic nature however prefers to act in judgment than in grace towards others. We would rather have a day of judgment and an hour of grace!! We see this in Adam's behaviour in the garden of Eden. As soon as Adam was questioned by God, he pointed an accusing finger at his wife. The habit of judging others began in him as soon as he had sinned. Now the Lord seeks to change our evil nature of judging and finding fault with others, to His own gracious and forgiving nature. Only when stretched to the utmost limit, does God act in judgment. He wants us also to have a similar heart of mercy towards all people. Verse 8: And another angel, a second one, followed saying, 'Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.' Babylon is harlot-Christianity, the counterfeit church, that pretends to follow Jesus, but lives for itself and for the world and for all its lusts and passions. She has made all nations drink of the wine of the passion of her spiritual immorality. We will see more about her in chapters 17 and 18. Verses 9-11: And another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.' And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. Those who drink the wine of Babylon will also have to drink of the wine of the wrath of God! You cannot drink one and escape the other. The wrath of God is mentioned here as "mixed in full strength" - that means without any mercy in it. The Bible says that those who show no mercy to others will also be judged without mercy by God (James 2:13). That means that all those who do not forgive the people who harmed, cheated, robbed or did evil to them will receive a merciless judgment from God, in the final day. Such unforgiving people are placed in the same category here as those who worship the beast and his image. All such people will be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels and the Lamb forever. Their torment is eternal. In Revelation 4:8 we saw the living creatures who have no rest day or night because they are always worshipping God. Here we see that the wicked also have no rest day or night because they are always tormented, because instead of worshipping God, they worshipped the beast and his image. Verse 12: Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. The saints are described as those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. Notice the two things mentioned: obedience and faith. The Amplified Bible translates this verse as: "those who habitually obeyed the commandments of God". I hope we are among those who habitually obey the commandments of God and have a strong faith in Jesus. These are the two most important requirements to endure until the end. Jesus Himself is THE FIRST overcomer Who invites all of us us to overcome even as He overcame (Revelation 3:21). He stands at the head of all these overcomers on Mount Zion - a small number of people who wholeheartedly followed the Lord in their earthly lives, and overcame the spirit of the antichrist in their own generation. Verse 13: And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, 'Write. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!' 'Yes', says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labours, for their deeds follow with them.' Those who die in the Lord are always BLESSED. Then why does it say those who die in the Lord from now on are blessed. Probably because they will be in their graves only for a very short time - since the end is near. Notice this phrase too: "Their deeds follow with them". We read in 1 Timothy 5:24 that "the sins of some men are quite evident going before them to judgment, for others their sins follow after". The sinful lives of some people are obvious to everyone. But the sinful lives of others are not so obvious, because their sins are hidden. But everyone's sins will be revealed in the final day. And many will then be surprised. In the same way, the good deeds of some people are quite evident. But there are others who have done a lot of good that no-one knows about (1 Timothy 5:25). Their good deeds will be revealed only on the final day. In Revelation 14:13 we read of such people who lived in goodness in hidden areas of their lives. And when the books are opened in the day of judgment, those deeds become manifest. Blessed are all those who die like that. There is a godly remnant like that in the world today - whose left hands do not know what their right hands are doing. It is sad indeed if all the good we have ever done has been seen by others, and there is no hidden goodness in our private lives. Verses 14-16: And I looked and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a Son of man, having a golden crown on His head, and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, 'Put in your sickle and reap, because the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe (withered)'. And He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth; and the earth was reaped. Here we see Jesus reaping the harvest of the unsaved. The angel reports that the harvest of the earth is "withered" (verse 15 - marginal rendering). The Greek word used here is "xeraino" - which means "withered" - the same word that Jesus used in Mark 4:6, in the parable of the sower, where some seed fell on ground that did not have much depth of earth, and where the plant withered when the sun arose. So this is the harvest of those people who responded only superficially to the gospel, and whose inner life was withered. The harvest for the kingdom of God was ready even when Jesus was on earth (See John 4:35). And that reaping into God's kingdom has been taking place for 2000 years now. The reaping mentioned in Revelation 14:14 is of those who did not respond to the Lord's call, and who cry saying, "The harvest is past, summer is ended and we are not saved" (Jeremiah 8:20). Those who do not come into God's kingdom now, are going to remain out in the fields and be withered. The hour of reaping referred to here is the same as the hour of judgment mentioned earlier in verse 7. The DAY of Salvation is over and the HOUR of judgment has begun. The Lord swings His sickle of judgment over the earth and reaps it. In Joel 3:12-16 also we read of this time: Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshapat. From there I will sit to judge all surrounding nations. Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe. Come tread the winepress for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision for the day of the Lord is near, in the valley of decision. Verses 17-20: And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle, and another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle saying, 'Put in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.' And the angel, swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the winepress, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles. The clusters are being gathered from the vine of the EARTH. The true vine of heaven is Jesus Christ - (John 15:1). But this is another vine - the vine of the earth-dwellers! And the grapes of that vine are ripe for judgment. God judges people only when matters have become ripe. For example, we read in Genesis 15:13, that the Lord told Abraham, that he would bring his descendants back into Canaan after 400 years in Egypt, because only then would the Canaanites be ripe for judgment. We read in Leviticus 18 that most of the sins that the Canaanites indulged in were sins of sexual perversion. God ordered the destruction of the Canaanites through Joshua, for the same reason that He destroyed the world in the time of Noah - because there was so much sexual perversion that the whole world would have been corrupted if the wicked had not been removed. It was like cutting off a gangrenous leg so that the whole body did not die. In Abraham's time, the sin of the Canaanites had not yet "come to maturity" (Genesis 15:16). It was not yet ripe for judgment. God is patient and longsuffering and He waits a long time. When we look at the sexual perversion and violence and evil in the world today, we would imagine that it is time for God to judge. But God is waiting for it to become ripe. Meanwhile, He wants everyone to repent. He sends forth His servants to preach the word, to tell people to turn from their sins. But they don't turn. And each time they reject the word of God, they become a little more ripe for judgment. A day will finally come, when the angel will report and say, "The harvest is ripe". The winepress is the place where the grapes are put in and trodden for the grape-juice to flow out. This is a picture of the blood that will flow at the final battle of Armageddon - for 200 miles around Jerusalem.