In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the first five verses of Revelation chapter 7. He mentions a previous chapter, chapter 7, which describes the four angels holding back the winds of the earth. Another angel with the seal of the living God tells the four angels not to harm the earth, sea, or trees until the servants of God are sealed. The preacher then introduces the vision of the triumphant remnant, the 144,000, who have endured the three-and-a-half years of tribulation and are now on Mount Zion with the Lord. He emphasizes their spiritual records, highlighting their lack of deceit and fault before the throne of God. The preacher concludes by mentioning a hymn that speaks of God's ability to deliver and promises to delve deeper into the topic in the next sermon.

97 feet. It's an old-fashioned hymn, and it's sung at all the football matches, or at least some of the big ones. Abide with me. But I don't think that a whole lot of people who sing it know just exactly where it was written, and why it was written, and by whom it was written. It was written by a minister of the Church of England called Henry Light, and when he was dying over a hundred years ago with TB, dying of TB, and in those days there was no cure. If you had TB then, it was like cancer now, and it was seen that he was going to die. And in his last hours in a weakened state, with the flesh away from his bones, and a human skeleton sitting up in bed, he scribbled out on a piece of paper, Abide with me. Thoughts solve the eventide. The darkness deepens. Lord with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless. Abide with me. He wrote this, verse 5, I feared no foe with thee at hand to bless. Elves have no wit and fears no bitterness. Where is death thing? Where grieve thy victory? I triumph still, if thou abide with me. We'll take time to sing the next two and the last two verses, 297 please. Book of the Revelation, chapter 14. And this complete chapter is taken up with what I call visions and voices. You will find that there are some visions that John receives here, and there are many voices that John hears. Now we're only doing the first five verses this evening, and these five verses embrace three visions that John receives. The vision of the Eternal Redeemer. John says in verse 1, And I looked and lo, a lamb stood on the mount Zion. And this is the vision of the Eternal Redeemer. But I'll tell you more about it just in a moment. And in these first five verses, not only do we have the vision of the Eternal Redeemer, but we have the vision of the triumphal remnant. The 144,000. They have come through every day of the three and a half years of tribulations, and here they are on Mount Zion with the Lord. And not only do we have the vision this evening of the triumphal Redeemer, and the vision of the Eternal Redeemer, and the triumphal remnant, but we have the vision of their spiritual record. Lot of things are said about them that we will need to take time with this evening. And we're looking at these three visions this evening. Next week we shall deal with the voices. See verse 7, A came an angel saying with a low voice, Fear God and give glory to him. Verse 8, And there followed another angel saying, Babylon is fallen. Verse 9, And the third angel followed them, saying with a low voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and so on and so on. And the way down there at verse 13, I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Verse 15, And another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice. And verse 18, And another angel came out from the altar which had fallen over fire and cried with a loud voice. So that in the chapter you have three visions, and you have these six different voices saying different things. But we're only looking at the first five verses and we'll need the voices until next week. Something I want you to try to remember this evening, let's go way back to chapter 7 just for a moment. I think you remember this chapter 7, just before the full fury of the blast of the great tribulation struck this earth at all. Here's what it says here. Verse 1, After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from these having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the serpents of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed. And there were sealed and hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Let's get that into our minds. Hundred and forty four thousand Jews sealed off to be the servants of God in the fury of this great tribulation. And then when we came to chapter 8, I think you remember it well, these angels began to sound these trumpets. And you remember the first angels sounded at verse 7, and their swords, hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth. And the third part of trees was burnt up, and all the green grass. The third part of everything on the earth was burnt. And then the second angel sounded at verse 8, and the third part of everything around the earth, the third part of the ships in verse 9. And then the third part of everything under the earth, and then at the end of the chapter, the third part of everything above the earth, the stars and the sun and the moon and so on. Now I wonder what the hundred and forty four thousand servants of God was doing while the fury of the fire fell. How did they get through now? Then you remember we came to chapter 9, and this was the chapter where the demons were let loose. It was one of those horrible chapters where demon possession came to so many. And yet these demons, in verse 4, and it was commanded then, and demons are intelligent enough to be commanded, and it was commanded then that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in the forest. You see, God was looking after the hundred and forty four thousand, and he wasn't letting the demons touch them at all. He was looking after them very carefully. And then you remember we went on into chapter 10, and this was another great chapter where the Lord put his foot on the land and on the sea, and claimed it to be his. And then of course you know all about chapter 11. The temple is built at Jerusalem, and the two witnesses are there, and yet the beast is allowed to put them to death. Where were the hundred and forty four thousand then? Chapter 12, it was Israel in the wilderness. I've called it the troubled sister. And you remember it says in verse 14, unto the woman Israel were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place where she has nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, which happens to be three and a half years. Of course, God saved Israel and kept them in the wilderness for forty years, and he shall nourish this remnant in the wilderness for three and a half. Where was the hundred and forty four thousand? Last week we were at the great 13th chapter, when the beast was abroad, and the false prophet who serves him was abroad. And you could neither buy nor sell, except you had the mark of the beast. Now taking all the fool's fury of the blast of the great tribulation period, especially the last part of the period of three and a half years, how did the hundred and forty four thousand sealed off Jews fare? I'll tell you, you're going to see them tonight, through the tribulation, and that's one of the missions. You know, can I say this before we go too far? If our Lord Jesus Christ is able to keep a hundred and forty four thousand Jews in the midst of such terrible tribulation as we've just spoken about, he's quite capable of keeping you and I in Ulster today. It says he kept Daniel in Babylon faultless. It says he kept these hundred and forty four thousand faultless. Is he keeping you? Because he's able to keep you from falling, you know. Yes, we're going to have a look at this this evening. Now I want to do this for the young folks. Very often there's the part in the bible reading each evening that's just for young believers, and sometimes the old ones enjoy it as much as the young ones. Here's something that you young folks could do very easily. You could take the word lamb and you could fix your eyes upon the Lord Jesus. And even if you didn't know the old and new testaments, if you had a good bible concordance, you could take the word lamb and you could trace this wonderful central bible subject because the bible doctrine of the lamb is the central doctrine of the bible. You could do it like this. Do you remember Peter saying this? I won't turn you to it, you just listen. Peter said, for we know that we are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold from our vain conversation received by tradition from our fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained for you. He was set apart to that job, yea, he was chosen to be the lamb before the foundation of the world. And that's what I've been working out for you. You can see this. You can start with the lamb chosen and then go on to see him typified. Because it's perfectly true that before the foundation of the world, the lamb was chosen. The whole eternal council had met. Is this God the father said, if I make a world and I make a man, he'll make a mess of it? Who shall go for us? It was the Lord Jesus who said, here am I, send me. His delights, you know, were with the sons of men before even man ever had a beginning. And the God who chose him to be the lamb for sinners slain, as soon as he began to write this book, he began to typify the work of the lamb. For the lamb is not only chosen, but the lamb is typified in the book. You can see Abel's lamb, and Abraham's lamb, and the Passover lamb, and the Day of Atonement lamb. Somebody preached it like this once. You can see the lamb for a man. You can see the lamb for a house. You can see the lamb for a nation. But when you come into the New Testament, you see the lamb for the world. The lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. So that's a good study for you to start. You can see the lamb chosen and typified. And then if you leave the types and shadows and you come to the prophets, you'll see the lamb foretold. Because you remember Isaiah 53 talks about our Lord Jesus being led as a lamb to the flock. And the lamb is foretold. So that you have the lamb chosen and then typified. And you have the lamb foretold. But when you come to John the Baptist, you have the lamb identified. Because he knew this was the answer to all the types and shadows and parallels and pictures and prophecies. Sometimes we sing that old fashioned hymn, we look back through the ages where the kings and prophets trod. We can see their altars reeking with the sacrifice and blood. But those types were only pointing to the pastoral lamb of God. And the day that John the Baptist saw Jesus walking, he cried from the very depth of his heart, Behold the Lamb of God. Well, but this is the great study. You can see the lamb chosen and then typified. You can see the lamb foretold in the prophets and then identified by John the Baptist. Then you can see the lamb led to the slaughter. And then you can see the lamb crucified. And when we began this book of the Revelation in chapter 5, we saw the lamb standing. I saw a lamb standing as it had been claimed before God. A glorified lamb. Now we're taking a different step tonight. We see the lamb here tonight on Mount Zion. And I'm telling you he's back on earth again just in this chapter. This is what John sees. Oh, I know there are some here who are going to argue with me about Mount Zion. Of course I sing sometimes. We're marching to Zion. Beautiful, beautiful Zion. Marching upward to Zion, of course I do. Because I'm old-fashioned enough to know that there's an old Jerusalem and there's a new Jerusalem. There's an old Zion and there's a spiritual Zion. Ah, well, I'm pretty sure it's the old one that's here. Yes. You see, we are going to see the lamb standing on Mount Zion and I'll come back to that in a moment. This is just a little outline for you young ones. You can see the lamb chosen and typified. You can see the lamb foretold and identified. You can see the lamb led and crucified. You can see the lamb standing and glorified. And in this chapter you have the lamb back here on Mount Zion and magnified. Now I'll tell you a wee thing more. There's a whole lot of chapters to go, you know, and a whole lot more things about the lamb that I dare not fill into my trip. There's the marriage supper of the lamb and I mustn't tell you the rest. You must find it now and fill it in. It's a great study. From chapter 14 till the end of the book of Revelation, look at all the times you have the lamb. See if you can finish the picture for me sometime. Yes, we have a vision here of the eternal Redeemer because we come to the crux of the matter in the chapter when we look at the vision of the triumphal remnant. Verse 1, John said, And I looked, and lo, a lamb, capital L, stood on the Mount Zion, and with him an hundred and forty-four thousand having his father's name written in their foreheads or here. Some of my dearest friends do not believe that the hundred and forty-four thousand here is the same as the hundred and forty-four thousand in chapter 7. They don't believe that because they tried to tell me that the hundred and forty-four thousand back in chapter 7 without any trouble at all are one hundred and forty-four thousand Jews. I believe that. That's exactly what I believe. One hundred and forty-four thousand of the children of Israel, in fact. But they now try to tell me that the hundred and forty-four thousand here, Sir, this is a picture of the church, if you please. Now, without any explanation being given one way or another why there are two one hundred and forty-four thousands. Oh, I would think God would have needed cleaner than that. I said to one of these friends who come to argue with me, why did God say one hundred and forty-four thousand? Why this particular figure? And why this particular figure again? And no details about the cross? Why? He says, I think it's only coincidental. Now, I don't think that's exposition at all. If you think it's a coincidence, it's a pity of you. That's what I would think. I would think you would have a nerve to talk like that. God's word is no coincidence. This is an inspired book. This is not a coincidence that we have two one hundred and forty-four thousands. No, my friend, I won't accept that. Of course, these who argue with me being a millennialist have to say that this is the church and she has just come through the tribulation now. This was the time to tell you. So then I had to tie him down a little bit. The moment that I talked about Mount Zion, he got on his high horse then. So I had to leave that for a moment. And I had to say, let's read it carefully. The Lamb is on Mount Zion, and we won't argue about the Mount for a moment. And with him an hundred and forty and four thousand, the exact number that we had in Revelation chapter seven, and you're quite sure the word Jews then. Now, I said, let's go careful with this bit. Having his father's name written in the font, I said, if it had been the church, would it not be our father's name? His father's name. It's Jewish. But we can't hang our hats there because it's not solid enough. So I went on reading and I said to him, and I heard a voice from heaven, of the voice of many waters and of the voice of a great thunder. And I heard the voice of starting with the horse. And they sang as it were a new song before the throne. And before the four beasts and the elders. And no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were the dean from the earth. Which were the dean from the earth. I said, now this is a particular song. And this particular crowd. They're the only ones who can learn this song. No man could learn that song. I said, if you say this is the church coming through the tribulation, then you'll have to go back to chapter five with me and explain who is singing there. Because in chapter five, before the tribulation began, there's a crowd in heaven and they're singing, thou art worthy for thy wife's flame and hast redeemed us by thy blood out of every kindred and song and people and nation. I said, who's singing there? No answer of course. I'm telling you the church was in heaven long before this scene began. The church was singing in heaven in chapter five. Then you know it goes a little bit further. It says here, not only that they were able to, but it says they were redeemed from the earth. It says in verse four, they were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and the Lamb. You know I'm positively sure that the 144,000 in chapter seven and the 144,000 in chapter 14, they're just the same company. Only with this difference that there they were being sealed before the tribulation began. Here they're singing because the tribulation has been traversed and the Lord has kept them and they're now meeting him as the first fruits of the great tribulation and they're meeting him on Mount Zion. Let's go back to the book of Zechariah. Malachi is your last book of the Old Testament and Zechariah is the one before Malachi. So that if you get the last book which is Malachi, then you get the one that's before that. You know if we go to chapter 12, I would love to do these chapters for you properly, but time will not allow us to do this, but I'll start you along as and when you can do it yourself. It says in verse one, the burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, and I don't think you've any problems there, this is Israel, says the Lord which stretches forth the heavens and layeth the foundation of the earth and formeth the spirit of man within him. So you're quite sure that he's the creator, aren't you? You know the day that he gathered the dust together, he was only making the material part of man, made it out of the dust of the earth of course, but when he formed the spirit within man, then he had a real man. Now the woman was the creator saith, behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people around the boat, and I believe we're very near that spot just now. I was listening to Dion last evening, because I have to listen in, I need to know what they think and what they say, and I can see that this military leader in Israel is as determined as Elijah was that he will never give back one inch of the land. He said they were talking about us giving back the Palestinian part of Jordan now. We will never, never, never, and then he said it again, never. Now with that attitude, Jerusalem is going to become a cup of trembling unto all the nations. I can tell you that if the Syrians move into Lebanon tonight, then there'll be the biggest trial in the Middle East there ever was, and the Syrians would almost attempt to do it. And if they do, I'll tell you what will happen before it happens, then Israel will move on Jordan and on Lebanon and will take Jordan and Lebanon and Syria. Make you no mistake about that, make no mistake at all, and I'm afraid Egypt won't be able to help them, but it makes Jerusalem a cup of trembling. Now that's the day we're nearly at. You see verse one, verse three, and in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. And he will do that. See verse six, in that day will I make the governors of Judah make a hearth of fire among the woods. And it goes on down that chapter, and it goes on down through the next chapter. You see verse nine, shall come to pass in that day. See verse 11, in that day. See the next chapter, 13, in that day. See verse two, and it shall come to pass in that day. And it goes right on down till you come to chapter 14. Now look at verse one. Behold the day of the Lord cometh. Now that's the day of his wrath that we were reading about in Revelation chapter six. Because the day of the Lord is a very long day. First of all, it's the day of the Lord's wrath. That'll be for seven years, three and a half, very bad indeed. But then after that, it will be the day of the Lord's reign. That'll be for a thousand years. And the day of the Lord cometh. And thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle. Whether Dion likes it or not, the nations are coming against you, and the city shall be taken, and the house is rifled, and the woman ravished, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the refugee of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then at that psychological moment, shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of Batov. And his feet shall stand in rod day upon the Mount of Olives, which happens to be Mount Zion. That's where he's coming to, you know. You know, we're very near to the Lord's return. He'll take the church away one of these nights. And out of the old common market, you'll find this man of sin will appear. He'll be a Jew, all right. There's a lot of Jews there already. And you'll find that this time of trouble will come. And Jerusalem will be a cup of trembling, and a burdensome stone to all the nations. And then at last, they'll all gather round, squeeze her in. Next week, we'll see her in the melting pot, in the winepress, when God crushes her. But you know, when the nations just think they're going to blot her out for good and for all, because she's been so burdensome, the Lord will come again. He'll come to the earth that time, and his feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives. And that happens to be Mount Zion. And when he comes to Mount Zion, there'll be 144,000 there to meet him. They'll be the first fruits of the tribulation. And they'll be on the Mount of Olives. That's what John sees. Yes, you see, the book of the Revelation has always been going along a chapter or two, and then a parenthetical one, just to show us what's happening. And this is exactly where we are this evening. Well, let's get back there. We're back at chapter 14. And I think you can see this now, that here the 144,000 Jews who were sealed off before the tribulation have been serving God. They were the servants of God throughout the tribulation. Now they're singing after the tribulation is over. In fact, they're saved out of the tribulation now when it is passed, because the Lord is about to set up his kingdom. But we don't only want to look at the vision of the eternal Redeemer, and the vision of the triumphal remnant. We want to have a look at the vision of the spiritual record of these 144,000. It says in verse 4, these are they which were not defiled with woman. You know, this raises a little problem. I have the class of, we've got a number of coming creatures, bless them. I think we had 24 of them out at the class last Saturday. We go on Saturday to the Bible school. And they do papers for me, and I have to correct them now and again. And last week we were looking at a band of men whose hearts God had touched. And I had asked the class to find me quite a number of bands of men whose hearts God had touched. And you see some of the class, they found a great crowd on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 called, hey. Only I said that's not a band of men. That's a band of men and women. And then one of our men said 144,000. Is that a band of men? Come on, he's a believer. And I said that's not a band of men. And then my son, he said to me when he came home, he said, God, listen. Do you see this verse here, verse 4? These are they which were not defiled with woman. There must be a band of men. I said, you're not reading enough. You're stopping too soon. It says they are virgins. So I can argue from that angle none of them were a band of women. Oh no, I don't think that sort of argument will do. You see, I'm looking at this wee thing among men, I'm going to confess this, that you know if it's 3,000, they'll have to have them all men. And if it's 144,000, they'll have to have them all men. You know, they wouldn't give a woman a chance at all. No wonder there's a woman's libs. For all the boys that I see, they're all men. They're just three men. You know, I don't think that God will take 144,000 men, Jews, male Jews. I believe they'll be women taking their stuff. You see what this is this evening? This is a great figure of speech. And this is the thing you've always got to look out for when you're expanding this book, that there are figures of speech. You see, supposing I took you back to Paul writing to the Corinthians and he's talking about the church. And he says, you know, I exhort you and I preach to you that I may present you a chief's vision. It ain't the church of men or the women, because it's the figure of speech. When he talks about the bride, the church, it's all women. It's the figure of speech, that's what it is. When the Lord said, I am the door, well, it was the figure of speech. And the figure of speech is there to bring out something that God wants to be brought out, and you have the two sides of the pier. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. I believe the figure of speech is telling us that the 144,000 Jews came right through this tribulation period, and they were frothless before the world. What a record that must be. You know, sometimes we think we're in trouble here because we've a few barriers up. And of course we talk about these terrible days in Austria and all the rest but I can tell you that the 144,000 are going to come through the worst period that we're ever for on this planet of ours, and come through with flying colours. Oh, how it should make us forget our moanings. We moan about very little, you know. Sometimes some of them say it was too warm, you know, it was far too warm. Then you get another old lady, she says it's far too cold. We had an old man here who used to come to me with all his problems. And he came one morning, and he says, did you see that wee lass in the front this morning? She had no skirt on at all, he says. But then one morning in walks one of our girls with a neck fit on, nearly flippin' on it, you know what it is. Later flashes up to me after, she says, did you see that one with the long clothes on? Will you forever stop at this? No, I says, a week ago you were saying there were two shorts. Now you're saying that you were, would you tell me the measurement amount of an outfit. But we do the greatest bit of moaning, you know, about all of it. I couldn't say a word to any girl with a long skirt on. Why would I dare to do it? You know, these old fellows only annoy themselves and keep themselves upon hell upon earth, over nothing. If they had something to mourn about, they would, they would be better off with it. I'll tell you that the man that goes through the tribulation on the woman will be in a fierce time. But they're going to go right through. Without a thought, the world can say nothing about them. Oh, how we should be ashamed of the way we mourn at times. Watch what it says about them. It says, these are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which follow the man for those whoever he goeth. You know, they were faultless before the world. They were followers of the Lamb. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits. Here's a lovely phrase here, And in their mouth was found no guile. Here's the great testimonial to them, for they are without fault before the throne of God. What a vision of the spiritual record of this crowd. Faultless, followers, firstfruits, singing for a speech. You know, there was once a little laugh said to Peter, thy speech betrayeth thee. It's a great thing when your speech tells folk that you have been with Jesus. Oh, we're not going on with the other thing tonight. We're going to take time and do the voices properly when we come to it next week. But keep that in the back of your mind as we come to next week. Here's a great hymn for us to sing this evening, 848. It is the grandest theme through the ages wrung. It is the grandest theme for a mortal tongue. It is the grandest theme that the world ever sung. Our God is able to deliver the 848 things. And if you came to the meeting and you have no money with you, just take whatever you want and we'll trust you, you'll come back with the money all right. So don't miss them while they're here because we're not reprinting them again. Last verse, please. Thank thee for the great fact that thou art not only able to save us, but thou art able to keep us. Thank thee that thou didst keep Daniel even in Babylon. Thou wilt keep the hundred and forty-four thousand in the tribulation, and thou art able to keep us as we wait for thy coming again. Part us in thy fear, and with thy blessings, for thy holy name's sake. Amen.