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As Christians, we have a remarkable legacy in those that have lived with a triumphant spirit through intense opposition and oppression. I was reminded of this again as I re-read a note from a pastor friend telling of one such believer in Scotland during the days of the Covenanters in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Covenanters practiced biblical Christianity though to do so, meant the sternest opposition of the law. Though hunted and hounded on a regular basis, believers typically assembled for worship in the bogs and fens of the Scottish terrain where the king’s dragoons could not find them. Undeterred by arrests, floggings, and even execution, their eyes were so fixed on the triumph of Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection, that no army could stop their devotion to Christ. On one occasion, a young girl, with her little Bible wrapped in a handkerchief to hide it from discovery by the dragoons, made her way to a communion service. Sure enough, the dragoons stopped her and their officer asked where she was heading. Without referring to the Covenanters Communion Service, she gave a remarkable and truthful answer, demonstrating the courageous and spiritual heart of these brethren. “My Elder brother has died and I have been told that he has left something in His last will and testament and I am on my way to hear that will being read.” [Adapted from a note sent to Pastor Wayne Herring, Cordova, TN, from Sinclair Horne of Scotland, Nov. 18, 2004]
If one does not have the assurance that Christ is sufficient in life or death, then he will not rightly practice the Christian faith, even when no opposition exists. Yet the certainty that Jesus conquered sin, death, and Satan, having risen from the dead to be exalted to the right hand of the Father, urges believers to faithfulness even in the face of great opposition. That’s what the Apostle John does in the Revelation; he continually takes the embattled believers of Asia Minor to see the triumph of Jesus Christ. It mattered not how powerful the Roman Empire might be or how pervasive emperor worship had become or how perverted the culture was, the Lamb had triumphed so that His followers might live daily in His triumph.
That is a far cry from the manipulative, man-centered, and anemic approaches to Christianity practiced in so many circles. Regardless of the opposition, our great motivation to press on in faithfulness to Christ is the triumph of the Lamb of God. The Lamb’s triumph is certain even in the face of devilish opposition to the faith. Christ’s redemptive gift provides the graces needed to walk with Him even though the dragon and the beasts stand against us. How do we live in this triumph of Christ? Consider the opening verses of chapter 14 with me as we investigate the Lamb and His gospel.
Context is critical whenever you seek to understand the Word of God. In our broad historical context, John seeks to encourage embattled Christians to persevere in the faith even though facing great opposition from the Roman culture. In the narrower theological context, John has set forth the age-old conflict between our God and our adversary (Rev. 12). The dragon could not destroy the Lamb of God; nor has he been able to destroy the Church that the Lamb has redeemed (12:13-16). So he makes war with the rest of the saints, attacking some in groups, some in various geographical settings, and others individually (12:17). He tries to shore up the world to worship the beast in defiance to the Creator, deceiving and duping multitudes throughout the world; using religion, perversions of Christianity, morality as a substitute for faith in Christ, immorality as a slave-master, and focusing attention upon satisfying self-centered desires rather than giving glory to God (Rev. 13)./p>
It’s a pretty desperate looking situation by any stretch! How can Christians keep pressing on faithfully when there’s so much opposition? Modern religious tolerance tolerates the practice of any kind of religion, even if it breeds terrorism, except biblical Christianity. By the tens of thousands, Christians are killed every year across the globe. Millions more live under constant threat of loss of liberty, separation from family, and a barrel full of other fears. Yet we’re never told by our Lord to retreat. We’re never told to have a Christian pity-party so that we whine about opposition. We’re to follow our great Head, Jesus Christ, even to death.
For those that might fear being overwhelmed by the beast, as John personifies the worldly opposition to the gospel and all who love the gospel, look to the Lamb.
In the midst of a series of brief vignettes describing the dragon’s schemes against our God, John takes us to see Christ. “Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion.” This sacred description in the Old Testament regularly pictured deliverance and victory. “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape [divine judgment], as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls” (Joel 2:32). “But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, and it will be holy” (Obadiah 17). “And the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on and forever” (Micah 4:7). But more importantly, Mount Zion is pictured for us as the seat of Christ’s sovereign, messianic reign. “But as for Me,” says the Lord God who observes the opposition of humanity against His sovereign rule, “I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain” (Psa. 2:6).
The New Testament writers pick up this language, applying it to the seat of God’s sovereign rule through Christ over the church and all creation. It’s quite obvious in this usage that the writers are not referring to Mount Zion geographically but spiritually, as the heavenly seat of divine rule. Just as God had revealed His rule in the earthly Jerusalem in the temple, even so, He establishes the eternal and sovereign rule of the Messiah in the New Jerusalem. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant” (Heb. 12:22-24). Christ alone lays claim to this eternal throne before which the saints sing (Rev. 5:9; 14:3).
John intends believers to see the strength and power and stability of Christ “standing on Mount Zion,” i.e. firmly exercising His sovereign rule even while the dragon and his servants oppose Him. He does not cower. He is ever present as the strength of believers.
Standing with the Lamb, John says, “and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.” He emphasizes that in the face of Satan’s attacks, Christians can remain confident that they are in the presence of the Sovereign Lamb of God. They are sealed, as John described in 7:4-8, with the name of the Lamb and the Father written on their foreheads. The contrast in the use of “mark” (13:17, charagma) and “seal” (7:4, sphragis) shows that to be marked is to be characterized by something while sealing authenticates and secures. Those marked by the beast’s name are characterized by rebellion against God. Those elected by grace, regenerated by the Spirit, and justified through Christ’s redemptive work are secured forever. John adds that the divine names are “written on their foreheads,” using a perfect passive verb that describes the permanent, unchanging divine action through Christ to secure us for Himself. These names are written and forever remain on their foreheads!
Notice that none of those whom Christ sealed are missing from His presence. John had earlier (in 7:4-9) represented the totality of the redeemed by the use of the number representing God’s people squared and then multiplied by the number of completion to the third degree (12x12x10x10x10=144,000). When he again refers to the 144,000 by Christ’s side, it is a reminder that He loses none that He redeems. Not even the power of the dragon and his two beasts can separate believers from their Lord (Rom. 8:37-39).
It is quite apparent that the scene on Mount Zion refers to something heavenly rather than earthly, particularly as we consider verses 2-3. First, John looked and beheld the Lamb on Mount Zion (v. 1). Then he reports, “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,” or more literally, “and the voice which I heard was as harpists harping on their harps.” He doesn’t tell us whose voice he heard, though in 1:15, he said that the voice of Jesus “was like the sound of many waters.” He combines interesting metaphors. At one and the same time, the voice was “like the sound of many waters,” such as that powerful sound of Niagara Falls rushing unstoppable to the water below; “like the sound of loud thunder,” such as the mighty, ear-pounding shock of thunder as it reverberates through the heavens; and “like the sound of harpists harping on their harps,” such as the peaceful, soothing, and gentle sounds of the harp. If indeed, he has in mind the voice of Christ, then he insists that he is comforted by the certainty that nothing can overwhelm the power and might of Christ; that sovereign rule speaks peace to the heart of any believer walking through adversity and trial.
Then there’s a new song sung before the throne of God and in the presence of the heavenly witnesses that we’ve already encountered from chapter four onward. “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.” Quite often in Old Testament times of God’s deliverance, God’s people sang new songs that expressed the increased dimensions of revelation concerning the power, mercy, and might of their God (Ex. 15:1-21; 2 Sam. 22; Psa. 96:1-6; 98:1-3; 144:9-11). The song that John heard extolled the wonder of what Christ has done—something that others in the world and even the angels do not understand. Dennis Johnson adds, “The purpose of this secrecy is not to keep God’s glory veiled but to symbolize the astonishing truth that sinful people redeemed by the Lamb are qualified by that experience of salvation to extol him in a way that even the purest, highest angel cannot. Into the mystery of our salvation even angels long to look (1 Peter 1:12)” [Triumph of the Lamb, 204]. The Heidelberg Catechism’s first question expresses this well:
Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death?
Answer: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.
John identifies the 144,000 in the presence of Christ as those “who had been purchased from the earth.” The word “purchased” is the term often translated as “redeemed.” It means to buy at a cost or to buy out of the marketplace at a cost to the purchaser [cf. Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 53-55]. The cost of our redemption has already been stated: “for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). No less than the blood of the Son of God was necessary for our redemption. No higher price could be laid on our account. So heinous is our sin, so desperate our condition and separation from God, that only the bloody, redemptive death of Jesus Christ could satisfy divine justice on our behalf and deliver us from bondage to sin and Satan. John’s description of the redeemed is really a commentary on the heavenly song that he heard: “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth” (5:10). What does it look like “to be a kingdom and priests to our God”?
Keep in mind that John is not describing some special category of Christians, some elite group at a particular timeframe in God’s economy. Just as he used the 144,000 in chapter 7 to describe the totally of those redeemed by Christ and secured through His all-sufficient death, he identifies the traits of the redeemed. It is evident by the three-fold use of “these are” (houtoi), which mark three particular traits.
Some interpreters have identified the 144,000 as an elite group of converted Jews who are witnesses or martyrs at the end of the ages. But to do so appears to create a division in the ranks of Christians, whereas, through Christ, the dividing wall that separates us has been removed. There’s neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female; “for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise” (cf. Eph. 2:11ff.; Gal. 3:28-29). Instead, what John does through drawing on the language of the Revelation is to explain what it looks like to belong to Christ.
“These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste.” Obviously, John is not denigrating marriage since “marriage is to be held in honor among all,” as Hebrews 13:4 reminds us. Instead, he uses the Old Testament background to explain the need for fidelity to Christ. Quite often, in both the historical writings and the prophetic books, Israel’s wanderings away from the Lord to other gods was called “adultery” or “whoredom” or “harlotry” or another term that implied infidelity (cf. esp. Hosea, Judges, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles). But the church is Christ’s bride (Rev. 19:7ff.). Christ has sanctified and cleansed the church so “that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:26-27). Paul used similar language to the Corinthians to rebuke them for their flirtation with the world. “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin” (2 Cor. 11:2). Added to John’s meaning is likely the common practice of ritual prostitution in the Asia Minor communities. The temptation to embrace the sensualities of other religions lay before them. But he reminds them that being a Christian is antithetical to the adulterous ways of the world. Even the world in opposition to God is personified as “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the earth…with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality” (17:1-7). Christians must remain chaste, remembering that we are the bride of Christ and not the consorts of the world. We must not try to find favor with the world in unfaithfulness to Christ.
Again, he has the marker (houtoi) that identifies the trait. “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” John frames for us the Church in both the here-and-now and the not-yet. Though standing with Christ on Mount Zion, the church is still living in the world, and must therefore, “follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” The implication in this is strong. The Lamb did the will of the Father. We are to do the same through obedience to His commands. The Lamb went to the cross. We are to do the same by dying daily, mortifying the deeds of the body. The Lamb laid down His life for the brethren. We are to do the same through humble service and love for one another. The Lamb did not shrink from doing all that the Father gave Him, even when it meant drinking the bitter cup of suffering. We are to do the same, drinking the cup that Christ providentially gives us, leaning upon His strength, and rejoicing even to share in His sufferings (note how Peter expounds this idea in 1 Pet. 2:9-3:17, esp. 2:21-23).
“These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.” While the first fruits of the harvest were the evidence of more to come, John appears to be using this term in a very specific way. The first fruits belonged to God. They were given to Him freely as expressions of worship to His name. James calls believers “a kind of first fruits among His creatures” (Jas. 1:18). Greg Beale suggests that first fruits “refers only to the totality of God’s people as an offering set apart to God with no thought of more to come…“firstfruits” here may allude to the whole people of God” [NIGTC: Revelation, 744]. Here was John’s picturesque reminder that we belong to the Lord—so therefore, live like those that belong to Him; trust Him as those that are His first fruits; rest in the security that you are His.
He sums up the traits of the redeemed: “And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.” The dragon and the two beasts are characterized by deceitfulness. The devil is a liar and the father of lies (12:9; 13:5, 14). Like the lambs offered in sacrifice, we are to be blameless. And as our Lord spoke without deceit, even so are we to do the same. “In an anti-Christian world saturated with lies and deceit,” writes Simon Kistemaker, “Christians stand out as emblems of truth, honesty, and integrity” [NTC: Revelation, 405-406]. Rather than speaking lies we are to speak truth to the glory of God.
Though the gospel is addressed throughout Revelation (e.g., 1:5-6; 5:9-10; 7:9-10), the term “gospel” is used only here in the entire book. John demonstrates that the gospel is a sharp, two-edged sword.
Since the last angel we saw mentioned was in chapter 11—the seventh angel, we’re not told who this gospel-bearing angel is. “And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.” This angel preaches the gospel from the vantage point of “midheaven,” which implies that it is visible, reaching the expanse of the earth with the gospel. Here he emphasizes the global aspect of the gospel. The eternal nature of the gospel shows that it transcends seasons, centuries, and ideologies to speak the truth of God to all humanity. The gospel is not just for a small group in a few centuries. The gospel is for the world. Because it is “an eternal gospel,” then it bears eternal accountability for all humanity. Everyone in “every nation and tribe and tongue and people” has a responsibility toward the gospel of Jesus Christ. John calls additional attention to this accountability when he refers to God as the one “who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.” He’s not as the dragon, who has no power to create, but only deceives and destroys. God created the earth that we enjoy; but He is no absentee landlord. He calls us into accountability to the eternal gospel. And what kindness has been shown to a world of rebels by offering to us the good news of the Savior, Christ Jesus the crucified and risen Lord!
The presence of the angel in midheaven spanning the globe and crying “with a loud voice,” displays the urgency in the gospel message. We typically look at the positive aspects of the gospel: believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. But there’s also a negative message in the gospel. The gospel warns of judgment. Since judgment is certain, the death and resurrection of Christ was necessary for sinners to honor the Creator and be reconciled to Him. Yet, the gospel is not an option among many religious and ideological choices for the world. Believing the gospel is a necessity to know God and to glorify Him. We cannot worship Him apart from the gospel.
To not believe in Christ as Lord is to further seal our own condemnation before the judgment of God. “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of water.” The mercy of God is shown every time the gospel is proclaimed; but it also comes with a warning. Because God is Creator, because we are sinners condemned before Him, and because judgment is soon to come, fear God, give Him glory, worship Him.
Why the urgency? The gospel calls us to faith in Christ even as it warns of the certainty of judgment. If you do not believe there’s judgment coming, then look at the cross of Christ. The cross declares that God hates sin and condemns with eternal judgment the sinner. And it is only by finding refuge in the One that has felt the blow of eternal judgment on our behalf at the cross that we come to see that the gospel really is good news for all that will believe. For those who remain unbelieving, the gospel is God’s promise of judgment for you. Just as certain as God saves all that will come to Christ in repentance and faith, He condemns forever all that do not.
The Lamb stands on Mount Zion with His people gathered securely around Him. That’s the triumphant certainty in the gospel for all that believe.
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