In this sermon, the preacher discusses the importance of having a vision, especially in the last days. The book of Revelation is highlighted as a source of a fresh and living vision of the Lord Jesus in relation to our time and the end of this age. The sermon focuses on the fourth vision in Revelation chapter 14, which depicts the Lamb standing on Mount Zion with 144,000 individuals who have been redeemed and marked with the names of the Lamb and His Father. These individuals are described as blameless and follow the Lamb wherever He goes. The sermon emphasizes that God is waiting for His people to be spiritually prepared and dry before He harvests them, and when the time is right, the Lord will gather His people to meet Him in the air.

Will you please turn to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 14. Revelation chapter 14. We'll read from verse 1. Verse 1 through verse 5. And then verse 14 through verse 16. Revelation chapter 14, verse 1. And I saw and behold the Lamb standing upon Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written upon their foreheads. And I heard a voice out of the heaven as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of great thunder, and a voice which I heard was as of harp singers, harping with their harps, and they sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn that song save the hundred and forty-four thousand who were brought from the earth. These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they who follow the Lamb, with us wherever He goes. These have been brought from men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb, and in their mouth was no lie found, for they are blameless. Verse fourteen. And I saw and behold a white cloud, and on the cloud one sitting like the Son of Man, having upon his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Stand thy sickle and reap, for the hour of reaping is come, for the harvest of the earth is dried. And he that sat on the cloud put his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. We have been emphasizing on one point, and that is how important it is that we have vision. Because without vision the people perish. Especially when we are living in the last of the last days. We need to have a new and fresh and living vision of our Lord Jesus. A vision of our Lord Jesus especially in relation to our time. A vision of our Lord Jesus concerning the end of this age. And this we believe is given to us in the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. In the book of Revelation we find a series of visions concerning our Lord Jesus in relation to our days, the last days. The first vision is found in chapter one. We see the Lord as a glorious head to his body the church. We see the Lord as the high priest serving in the heavenly sanctuary. That is the vision given in chapter one. And then we find another vision given in chapter five. The risen Lord receiving from the hand of God the book. Because he is worthy he has overcome. And then the third vision is found in chapter ten. A strong angel putting his feet on the sea and on the earth declaring that there is no more delay. All the will of God shall be fulfilled very soon. Now this morning we would like to come to the fourth vision. And this is found in chapter fourteen. Now again we find this vision is returned to the relationship of the Lord with his church. And this vision is given in two parts. The first part we find the Lamb standing on Mount Zion with 144,000. And the second part we see one like the Son of Man sitting on a cloud and casting a sharp sickle to earth to reap the harvest. Now dear brothers and sisters we must remember that the Mount Zion here is not the Mount Zion on earth. There is a Mount Zion on earth where David's throne is set. But this is the Mount Zion in heaven. As we find in Hebrews chapter twelve. We now come to Mount Zion. It is there where the throne of God is set. In Psalm second, Psalm the sixth verse we find that God declared that I have anointed my King upon Mount Zion the hill of my holiness. God has anointed Christ as King on Mount Zion. And we know this refers to the time when he ascended upon high. And there he was anointed both as King and as priest. So Mount Zion there is in heaven. And there we find our Lord Jesus is on the throne. He is in authority. He is in power. He is in dominion. And the way to Mount Zion is by the way of the cross. Why? Because we see the Lamb there. As a Lamb he was oppressed. He was afflicted. He never opened his mouth. He was led as a Lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep done in the hands of the shepherds. There through the sufferings of the cross our Lord Jesus has arrived at Mount Zion in heaven. He is now in authority, in power, in dominion. But here we find our Lord Jesus in Mount Zion not alone. In chapter 5 when he ascended up in heaven we find him as the Lamb standing, newly slain. And there he received from the Father the book. But he was alone there. But in chapter 14 we find he was on Mount Zion but he was not alone. He was there with 144,000. You know dear brothers and sisters there is no need for our Lord Jesus to prove that he is the victor. Because he always is. But the reason why we find that he proves that he is the victor of Calvary is not for himself. It is for us. It is because of his victory on Calvary's cross he is able to bring many sons into glory. Glory belongs to him. It always existed. But it is for our sake that he has to die. He has to be resurrected. He has to win that victory over Satan, over the world over the flesh, over sin, over everything. And because of what he has done on Calvary's cross now he is able to lead us, his many sons into glory. We find it is said in Hebrews chapter 2 that God to whom are all things by whom and through whom are all things that he shall make the leader of our salvation suffer in order that he may lead many sons into glory. So in chapter 14 we find the Lamb standing on Mount Zion with 144 thousand. In other words he has led many sons to the throne. Now who are the 144 thousand? Of course we know in chapter 7 of the book of Revelation we find the number 144 thousand. But that number is different from chapter 14. Because in chapter 7 we find the 144 thousand is referred to the children of Israel. We have the names of the tribes of Israel mentioned and they have the seal of the living God upon their head. They are the remnant of the Jews whom God will keep through the great tribulation, Jacob's trial. But here the 144 thousand is different. Now who are the 144 thousand here? We find a seven fold description of who these people really are. First of all we find in verse 1 with him 144 thousand having his name and the name of his father written upon their forehead. On the forehead of the 144 thousand there is the name of the lamb and the name of the father written upon them. Not only the name of the living God but the name of the lamb and of his father. Now we know that when you put a name upon anything it shows that that thing belongs to that name. So a name means, a name put means belonging. So here you find the 144 thousand they belong to the lamb and to his father. He has bought us with a price. Even with his precious blood. So now we belong to him and we belong to his father. Now when you put a name upon the forehead everybody can see it. In other words these people belong to the lamb and to the father and these people openly and publicly confess that they are the lamb and the father. You remember our Lord Jesus said if you confess me before the world I will confess you before the father and before the angels. So here are the people who not only belong to the Lord but a people who confess the name of the Lord and of the father publicly. They are not ashamed to confess that they belong to the lamb and to the father. That is the first description. The second description is in verse 2 and the voice which I heard was as of harp singers harping with their harps and they sing a new song. They are harp singers. In other words they are not only playing with a harp with their hands but they are singing with their mouth a new song. Now you know a harp is a kind of musical instrument we call it the instrument of the heart. Why? Because as your hands your fingers touch the strings of the harp it is as if you are touching the strings of your harp. It is a harp instrument. In other words they play the music from their very harp. It is out of the fullness of their harp that this music comes forth. And they sing a new song. A song that nobody knows except these people. Even if you want to learn it you won't be able to learn it except you learn it in the way they learn it. You know on the earth you have music and you can learn it. If you are talented certainly you can learn it. But here is a song that nobody can learn. It is not a matter of musical talent. It is not a matter of good ears. It is a matter of what you have gone through. If you have never gone through what these people have gone through. In other words if you have never experienced the Lord in the way that they have experienced you will not be able to sing that song if you want to. They learn it in their life. They learn it with the experiences of the Lord. You know in a sense this is the way that we have the book of Psalms. Psalms in the Bible is different from the music in this world. Why? Because Psalms in the Bible are the expressions of those who have experienced God. In all circumstances. And out of these circumstances they know God in a way that nobody knows. And out of such experience they pour forth in music, in Psalms. And here is a new song that only those 144,000 can sing. And you remember they play the harp and they sing the song before the throne and before the living creatures and before the 24 elders. In other words they sing and they play before God. What a privilege it is. Here is an orchestra and a choir and here you will find they play and they sing before God. They sing unto God. You know when the president of this country entertains people well he may ask the marines to come and play or he may ask some famous singers to come and sing. And what a privilege it is that you can play before the president and honored guests and to play before these people of high position. You know people consider that as a privilege. Just to play and to sing before the president and his honored guests. Dear brothers and sisters we may not be called to the White House to sing and to play but we are called to play and to sing before the throne. And what a privilege that is. Before the throne and the living creatures. The living creatures represents the whole creation. The 24 elders represent the rulers of the universe. In other words here you will find we are playing and singing with the universe listening to us. And God is pleased with what we sing and what we play. What must be this new song? It must be a song singing praising telling proclaiming of the love, of the mercy of the grace long suffering faithfulness of God and of our Lord Jesus. It is an endless new song. It will never grow old. And thirdly verse 4 These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. Now you cannot explain this in little terms because it is too spiritual and high for that. In other words here are people who have not been defiled. They are virgins. They are the five wise virgins. You find in Matthew chapter 25 They are virgins because they have not been defiled. You remember Paul told the Corinthian believers I am jealous with you with the jealousy of God I have espoused you to Christ as chaste virgin and I am fearful lest the enticer hath enticed you from the simplicity which is of Christ. But dear brothers and sisters here you find 144,000 they remain as chaste virgin to the one to whom they are enthroned. They are chaste pure single they have not been enticed from the simplicity that is of Christ. Their heart is wholly set upon the Lord and because of that they are privileged to stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion. Number four These are they who follow the Lamb wheresoever it goes. Wherever the Lamb goes these people go. When the Lamb was on earth going through Gethsemane going through Calvary going through the tomb these people follow the Lamb. They follow the Lamb to the Garden of Gethsemane they follow the Lamb to Calvary they follow the Lamb even to death. Wherever the Lamb goes it is not a matter that you choose where you go. If it suits you you follow Him if it doesn't suit you then you go your own way. Not so. But these people while they are on earth they follow the Lamb wheresoever it goes. Dear brothers and sisters wherever the Lord goes will you go with Him? Will you go with Him if He means affliction? If He means suffering? If He means tribulation? If He means persecution? If He means death? If He means the loss of yourself? If He means shame disgrace, repose? Are you willing to follow the Lamb wherever He goes? It is true sometimes the Lamb seems to go to a place of still water of green pasture but sometimes the Lamb will go through the valley of the shadow of death. Will we follow Him wherever He goes? And if we follow Him to the cross here you'll find the 144,000 follow Him to the throne. They follow Him wherever He goes. Number 5 These have been brought from man as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. Who are these people? They are the first fruits. And you know in agriculture suppose you have a field of wheat. And you always will find that when the time is come in that field you will have the first fruit of the wheat. Of the whole field of wheat you will have a patch which is ripened first. And because it is ripened first it is cut first. And according to the law of Moses when the first fruit is ripened and cut it will bring to the temple to offer to God before anybody could eat of it. So in other words the first fruits are always the best of the crop. And the first fruit is meant for God and for the Lamb. So here you will find of all the believers whom the Lord has brought with His precious blood there will be the first fruit of the believers. And the first fruits are those that are first ripened. The first fruits are always the best. And the first fruits are for God and for the Lamb. They are presented to God and to the Lamb. That's why they are among Zion. They are there. You know the wheat. After the sun has scorched it. When it is ripened it is dried. It is so dried and the root is so loosened from the earth that when you pull it it will come off. And here you will find 144,000 they are ripened. And they are ripened before the rest of the field. Quite probably they suffer more than the rest for the Lord's sake. The rest may try to evade the cross. But these people will follow the Lamb to the cross. And because of that they are dry first. They are ready. Therefore they are raptured. They are raptured and taken to Mount Zion. Brothers and sisters in chapter 12 you will find the man child. When the man child is born he is taken to the throne. And this is the 144,000 here. They are there on Mount Zion. Number 5 Number 6 And in their mouth was no lie found. Why is it that this point seems to be labored here? In their mouth there was no lie found. Why is this so important to be mentioned here? The reason is there is the word of their testimony. You remember in chapter 12 they overcame Satan because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives even unto death. The word of their testimony. These people have a testimony to give. And they utter their testimony. And what is the word of their testimony? The word of their testimony is that Jesus is the first and the last and the living one. And he is the one who became dead and behold he lives forever and forever and hath the keys of death and of Hades. What is the word of their testimony? That Jesus is Lord. Whenever Satan is active these people utter the word of their testimony. And Satan is defeated. And because of this how important is their mouth. If there is lie in their mouth the word of their testimony will not be able to overcome. But they speak the truth. What they say is true. Not only objectively true but subjectively true. In other words brothers and sisters you may say something that is true but if you have no experience of it it is not so true. But when you say something that you experience it is truly true. Really true. And it is really true. There is effect to it. There is impact to it. And I believe this is the meaning of there is no lie in their mouth. They are not just saying something which is correct but whatever they say they have experienced and therefore there is power behind it. And how important it is that we have the word of our testimony. And the seventh for they are blameless. You remember in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 God has chosen us even before the foundation of the world in Christ Jesus. That we may be blameless before him in love. And in chapter 5 of Ephesians you find that Christ will sanctify his church by the water with the word that he might present the church to him a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any other step but be holy and blameless. In other words it is the purpose of God that we should be blameless before him. There is nothing to be blamed. How can we be blameless before him? It is not because of the blood of the Lamb. Oh how he has claimed us. He has claimed us in such a way that we are now without blame. God cannot blame us anymore. And another thing is in love. Because of his love. How he forgives us. He has a way to bring us to that place being holy and blameless before God. And these are the sevenfold description of the 144,000. So who are these 144,000? These 144,000 represent the overcomers of the church. 144,000 is the multiples of 12. And 12 is a perfect number. In other words the 144,000 144,000 represents the overcomers of the church through the ages. If you want to take the 144,000 literally, then you may say these represent the cream. And because they are the cream, therefore they represent the whole of the overcomers. But I don't think you can take it literally. Because this is taken in a way that it is a perfect number. In other words God will have his overcomers in perfect number. In fullness. In spite of everything that we see today. You know when we look at ourselves when we look at the church of God in general, sometimes you wonder where will God ever have his overcomers? Where will the number of the overcomers be fulfilled? But He knows how to get them. And He is getting them. And here you will find 144,000 standing with a lamb on Mount Zion. There they are. It is by the overcomers of the church that the King is being introduced upon the earth. These are the overcomers. How blessed it is that by the grace of God we may be ranked among the 144,000. In other words that we may be among the overcomers of the church. But this is just part of the vision of our Lord Jesus. The lamb with the 144,000. Then you come to the second part of that vision. And the second part of that vision you see I saw and behold a white cloud. You notice the difference? In the first part you see Mount Zion which is the throne. But here you see the white cloud. And on the cloud one sitting like the Son of Man. In Matthew chapter 24 our Lord Jesus said He will come with the cloud of heaven. In Matthew chapter 26 when He testified before the Jewish council He said You shall see the Son of Man sitting with God in heaven and He shall come on the cloud of heaven. In other words our Lord Jesus shall come with the cloud of heaven. He will ride the cloud to come upon this earth. So you can see that He has descended from Mount Zion to the cloud. Maybe for some it is necessary for me to go back a little bit in order to help you understand this. You know when our Lord Jesus ascended up to heaven He ascended to heaven on Mount Olive. And probably about 500 brethren saw Him going up. So they saw Him taken by God. He began to ascend. And when He ascended all looked up at Him. And then after He ascended for a little distance a cloud took Him. They couldn't see Him anymore. The cloud was rising up and up and up but they couldn't see Him because He was hidden by the cloud. But these men of Galilee they still look up and look up and look up and look up until two men in white appeared and said men of Galilee why do you look up? The one who is taken from you he shall come back in like manner. In other words the way that our Lord Jesus is taken up He will come in the same way. Now how was the Lord Jesus taken up? He was taken up from the earth Mount Olive to the cloud that is the first stage and the second stage is from the cloud to Heaven to the throne. So in His coming back He will come back in like manner. That is to say He will descend from Heaven to the cloud first and then the second stage will be from the cloud to the earth on Mount Olive. The 144 thousand were standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion in Heaven. So brothers and sisters the first fruits of the church are raptured to Heaven to the throne with the Lamb there. Then after this has happened you remember in chapter 12 when the main child is taken up then there will be war in the air because the air is where Satan has his headquarters and there will be war in the air Michael and his angels will fight with Satan and his followers and there will be no more place for Satan in the air. Satan will be cast down upon the earth. In other words the air will be cleared Why is it clear? That the Lord may descend to the cloud with the cloud of Heaven to the air. So here you will find our Lord Jesus is already descending to the cloud but he is still sitting on the cloud. In other words the cloud has not been broken up yet therefore on earth you cannot see him. You still cannot see him from earth but one day he will break the cloud and will be like a lightning that everybody will see and he will descend upon this earth. Now why did he come to the cloud? Here you will find he was like the son of man. Of course we see that in chapter 1 That is the Lord. No doubt about that but he has upon his head a golden crown. You know something is interesting because in chapter 1 you will find he was like a son of man and yet there was no crown His head and hair white as snow as wool. You can see his hair There is no crown there Now why is that? But here you will find he is crowned. In Hebrews chapter 2 you will find our Lord Jesus after he has suffered death for everyone he is now crowned with glory and honor. In other words so far as our Lord Jesus is concerned he is already crowned He is crowned with glory and honor. But why is it in chapter 1 you find there is no crown there? Because he is standing in the midst of the seven golden lampstands In other words there you see him in relation to the church It is in the beginning of the church and the Lord is examining is looking at his church and if his church is faithful he will be crowned. You remember the promise to the overcomer? He who overcomes he shall be crowned with the crown of life and in the church of Philadelphia be careful lest you lose your crown In other words the reward is still in the future and because our Lord Jesus is with his church therefore you will find he was not crowned as if he is waiting to be crowned with us but here it is at the end of the church period because the Lord is coming to reap the harvest In other words the testing has already been done. Who will be crowned and who will not be crowned is to be decided very shortly at the judgment seat of Christ Therefore our Lord Jesus comes with a crown. He is crowned and he is going to crown those who are faithful to him Now he has in his hand a sharpsicle. In other words he comes to reap to reap the harvest It is to reap the wheat Another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the crowned cloud Send thy sickle and reap for the hour of reaping is come for the harvest of the earth is dry Now even that he is waiting for an order from the Father You remember our Lord Jesus said No one knows the hour and the day of his coming Not angels Not man Not even the Son but the Father His time is in God's hand. He is waiting for an order from the Father And when the order comes then he cast the sickle and reap the harvest God has a timetable But God's timetable is not mechanical That is to say you do not set a year a day, an hour and say the Lord will come say year 2000 January 1st No. God's timetable is not mechanical God has a timetable but his timetable is spiritual In other words when the condition is fulfilled then the time is come The time of harvest is come Why? Because the harvest is dry See? When the harvest is dry then the time of harvesting is come The condition is fulfilled That is God's timetable And because of that dear brothers and sisters there is such a responsibility upon us Why is it that God's time is still not coming? How often we say How long will you delay your coming? The cry of the church throughout the ages is How long? Why is it so long? Brothers and sisters It is because God's timetable is living It is based on condition It is because the church is not yet ready Therefore he cannot come to reap it You cannot reap a field when the harvest is not dry You have to wait Like a farmer waits patiently for the time to reap Oh how patiently a farmer will wait Sometimes he gets anxious But he cannot do anything He has to wait But when the harvest is ready then the time of harvesting is coming and how he rejoicing it Dear brothers and sisters God is waiting Waiting for us to be dried Oh we are to wet We are to wet with the cares of this life With anxieties of life With the riches of this world With all other things These things diluted us, wet us We are not dried enough to be cut But when we are dried then the time is come And the Lord will cast his sickle and will harvest the harvest And of course when he harvest them he will take them to the cloud to the sky, to the air This is 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 we find when the last trumpet is sounded and the voice of the archangels Then all who were dead in Christ will be raised from the dead And those who remain and alive shall be changed and we shall all be taken to meet the Lord in the air This is what it is So brothers and sisters in this vision of our Lord Jesus, we find his relationship with the overcomers of the church And we find his relationship with the rest of his church And the point is Do you know the Lord as the Lamb among Zion Or do you only know him as the Son of Man sitting on the cloud Will you be with the Lord among Zion Or will you be with the Son of Man in the air It makes a great difference That is the difference between the first fruits and the harvest And how we need to look to the Lord that by his grace it is grace We need to allow his grace to have a free hand in our lives And grace can bring us to the first rank To be overcomers And to stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion Dear brothers and sisters Do not linger and linger with the things of this world Until you have to pass through the great tribulation And thank God for the great tribulation Why? Because the great tribulation is like the sun scorched the rest to dry If you are not willing to suffer with him today You may have to remain for the great tribulation to dry you And thank God it is still for a positive purpose We must be dried We must be dried But why not today? May the Lord have mercy on us Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father We do praise and thank thee for showing us thy relationship with us in the last days O how thou does long that we may be the first fruits That we may be dry first That we may be presented to thee even to thy temple for thy purpose for thy satisfaction and joy O Lord We pray that by grace we may be rank among those Do not allow us to love the world to love ourselves and to miss the opportunity try to escape troubles and tribulations try to live for ourselves go our own way and Lord be remained behind and be scorched by the sun of the great tribulation O Lord give us wisdom that we may have a wise heart that we may follow thee today where so ever you go we go where you are, we are where you stay, we stay we ask in thy precious name