Morning, everyone. Whoa. How's that? Is that too quiet? Or is everybody hearing me? OK. That feels better to me. But I can hear myself reflect off the back wall, and it's still pretty loud that I know it's loud. OK. Good morning, everyone. Glad to be with you all here this morning. We'll be in Revelation 14 this morning, continuing where we left off in Revelation. But before we start, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we are grateful for this morning. Father, we get up this morning, we look out at your creation, and we see the sun rise. And Father, we see its glory. Father, David saw its glory and said that you have set in the heavens a tent for the sun. And he comes out like a bridegroom exiting his tent. His glory and his power shines down on us. We look at the sun, and we see its glory, and we are in awe. But Father, that glory calls us to look higher, to see something greater, to see that the sun is merely your creation, is one of your servants, that your glory is so much higher than the sun, that you're appearing to us is so much greater, that the view we have when you're in your light is so much deeper. And so Father, we gather this morning because we see the glory of the sun and we rejoice in it, but we want to see a greater glory revealed in Christ this morning. And so Father, that's why we turn to your word this morning is because we have tasted and seen that you are good in your word. We have tasted and seen the glory of Christ and we wanna continue coming back to taste and to see more. So Father, I pray that you would grant us that this morning, that you would give us eyes that are open, that we would be able to see the glory of Christ revealed in your word. Father, that you would make our hearts soft, that we would react rightly to the glory of Christ, that we would repent of our sin, that we would come and embrace him in faith, that we would desire to run after him as our king. But ultimately, Father, I pray that our hearts would be soft and that we would desire to worship Christ. as we see his glory revealed. Father, we pray that specifically over Revelation 14 this morning that you would open our eyes to see rightly and to see rightly the glory of Christ as we come to your word. So Father, for that to happen, we need to have your spirit in our midst. We need you to keep your promise to us and to send your spirit to give us understanding, to give us wisdom, to give us discernment, to give us to give us worship as we come to your word. Father, I pray for myself as well that as I come to speak your word that you would fill me with your spirit. Father, that the things that I say would be only things that are true and glorifying of Christ and only things that are beneficial to those who are here listening. We pray that during this time that Christ would be glorified so it is in his name we pray. Amen. So this morning we'll be in Revelation chapter 14, and we've been looking at the saga of the dragon. And so we've been starting in Revelation chapter 12. We saw that we're in the middle seven of Revelation. But before I go into that, as I always do, I want to step back and look at where we've been. So I want to start with our summary statement. This is what I see as the overarching message of Revelation. We started this several months ago and said that the revelation of John is a Christocentric book. That's the purpose of it is to show us Christ, that shows us the pattern of this world from Christ's first coming to his second coming, or as I'm often going to say, from Christ to Christ. And what John wants us to do, he wants us to see the spiritual realities around us, to recognize the dangers that face us, but in the face of all of that, to know that God is going to win. We will face danger, but God is in control. And so the exhortation, the call of Revelation is this. The Revelation calls us then to wisdom, to understand the world around us rightly, so that we understand what's happening around us. It calls us to perseverance, to say, yes, there will be trouble. Yes, there is an enemy, but we need to keep following Christ. But ultimately, it calls us to worship. to look at Christ, to say he is the victor, he is the king, he is the lion of the tribe of Judah who was also the land that was slain, and to gather with the host of heaven to worship him forever. So that's why we gather this morning, is actually there's just a little taste of what Revelation is giving to us every time we gather as a church. We're hearing the echo of that eternal worship, we're striving to join in together to that eternal worship. So it's a great joy to be with you all this morning. But as we've gone through Revelation, we've gone and seen several things. We started with the prologue to Revelation. Christ himself appears to John when he's on the Isle of Patmos. And he comes and brings him a message, says, I have a message for the church. But he doesn't come as a lowly man as he came before. He comes and appears to John in great glory and great power, walking among the lampstands and saying, I have all authority, echoing Matthew 28. And then he said, I have a message for the churches. And so we hear a message to the seven churches. We saw seven letters to seven churches. We saw at the heart of each letter was a warning, something that was dangerous about to happen to the church. But in the face of that danger, the letter called us to look at Christ, to love his promise, and to obey his command. And we saw this pattern over and over again. There are a variety of different dangers that may face the church as we go through the world, but the answer is always the same. Look at Christ, love his promise, and obey his command. And then if our goal is to look at Christ, then Revelation takes us in the next section to the interlude to the throne room of heaven. So first, we see God sitting on his throne with the angels and myriads surrounding him, worshiping him as the creator and as the king. And then in Revelation chapter 5, we see Christ revealed, Christ the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the one who is worthy to take the scroll and to open up the seals to reveal the plan of God for this world. But then we also looked and saw that the lion of the tribe of Judah is the lamb that was slain, a contradiction. The powerful lion looks as though he was a slain lamb. That's what Christ looks like. He looks as though he has been defeated by the world, but he comes and says, no, I have conquered the world, which is why so often the church looks weak in this world, but really we strive with the power of Christ. And then because the Lamb was worthy to open the seven seals, we then go into the second seven of Revelation, the seven seals. And so we saw that as each of the seals was opened, we saw a pattern, a general pattern of this world from Christ's first coming to his second coming. It said the world will be marked by these things, by war, by lack of peace, by famine, by plague, by death. what we often call the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. But I think John's point actually is, these are things that will mark all of history from Christ to Christ. But never fear, Christ still hears the cry of his people. He will come to save his people, and he will judge his enemies. And we reach the end of the seven seals. And so we have another interlude. If that's true, if Christ is going to come and save his people, we see in the interlude, we see the 144,000 marked out. And we saw that it's 12 times 12 times 1,000, 12 a full number times 12, a full number times 1,000, a large number. All the great multitude, and so it says literally a few verses later, it's a great multitude from every tribe and tongue and language and nation, will be gathered up from the earth and will gather at the throne with the angels, the elders, and the myriads that are around the throne worshiping God forever. But then we enter into the third seven of Revelation. We saw the seven trumpets. We saw that the seven trumpets echoed the seven seals. They dealt with the same sorts of things. So we see war and famine and plague and death. But the thing that we saw was in the seven seals, there was a quarter. A quarter of the Earth was affected by these things. but in the seventh trumpet there's a third of the earth affected by these things. We see that God's judgment will be on this earth from Christ to Christ, but we see that it won't always be the same. It will progress. God's judgment will come and happen stronger and stronger as history goes on. It'll be like as Romans says, the birth pangs of a woman giving birth that start out gentle but then get stronger and stronger as the time draws nearer. And so we thought about the fact that God's judgment is on this world, but what should the church do? And so we see, again, another interlude. In the midst of God's judgment, in which the world will not repent, The church still stands as a witness. We saw the story of the two witnesses of Revelation and saw that in the midst of the opposition of the world, the two witnesses will not be silenced. They will continue to preach the gospel. They will continue to uphold God's message. And eventually, the two witnesses will be destroyed by the world. But at that point, the end is near, and Christ will come back to vindicate them. So now we're in the fourth, the center seven. We said there's seven sevens in the book of Revelation. We said that we're in the sevenfold saga of the woman and the dragon, and that's where we are this morning. And so we split up the saga of the woman and the dragon into seven stories. We saw that first there was the woman and the dragon who are in enmity with each other, echoes of Genesis 3. But then eventually, that promise that was given in Genesis 3 was fulfilled in the people of God. A son was born, but the dragon desired to destroy the son. We thought about echoes of Herod trying to kill all the children in Bethlehem, and then greater things that were happening around that. But the dragon failed. The child was caught up to heaven, and he went to go defeat the dragon. Echoes of the gospel. The gospel was put in that second story. And so we looked at those a couple weeks ago. And then a couple weeks, the next week, we looked at the two beasts. The dragon was cast out of heaven. He was defeated by the sun. But the dragon came down to earth in great wrath and in great fury. And he says, go. That's great for you, O heavens, but woe to you, O earth. because the dragon has come down to you in great wrath and great fury and he knows his time is short. We see the dragon, he sets up two agents, the first beast and the second beast. We thought about those a couple weeks ago, the first beast representing imperial power, the might of the nations come to to a war against the church. And then the second piece, the cultic worship, the desire to make all men conform to bow the knee to the same thing. We thought about the fact that that is still how the dragon operates. The dragon still uses imperial power of this world, the might of the nations, to try to squelch the church. and desires to call us all to bow to the same things. And so now we're ready for the fifth. Actually, that should be the fifth, sixth, and seventh. So we're going to close out the stories. But as you recall, as we go through the seven parts of the seven cycles, we see the first four go together. So the first four had to do with the dragon's war. The dragon's coming, and he's waging war against the saints. First, he tries to kill the son. Then he tries to kill the woman. And now he's pursuing the woman's children and trying to defeat them through the beasts. But then the fifth and the sixth end up being a counterpoint to the first four. And so we're going to see that there is a counterpoint. And then the seventh ends up being the end, the final day when Christ wins the victory. And we're going to see that again in this set of stories as well. So as we've been going through this, we've said that this story is an allegory. Allegory means a story, a poem, or a picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. And so as we go through the story, we do see, we see a dragon, we see a prince. We see a damsel in distress. We see a dragon. We see a false prophet. We see a fighting lamb. We see angels come to proclaim messages. And then we see a scythe to harvest the earth. And so it's full of pictures. And we thought about those pictures are telling us something. They're meant to help us feel the story. And then we're to see through the pictures and see what the story is telling us. And so the purpose of allegory is to tell a rich story. that draws in our emotions, that makes us feel a certain way. So when we interpret it, when we see that this is talking about us and our situation, we feel a new way about it. We're able to feel the truth of the story in a new way. So we looked at the first set of characters, the dragon, the prince, and the damsel in distress. We looked at the first beast and the second beast, the beast and the false prophet. And so now we're ready for the last three symbols as we go through this story. There we go. OK. So we're going to be in Revelation 14 this morning. And so if you want to open your Bibles, feel free to open them with me, or I'll have the text up here on the screen. So Revelation chapter 14. Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of a harpist playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as first roots for God and the lamb. And in their mouth, no lie was found, for they are blameless. Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, dear God, and give him glory. because the hour of his judgment has come. And worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water. Another angel, a second, followed saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She who made all nations drink the wine of the passions of her sexual immorality. And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and sulfur 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 or night. these worshipers of the beast and its image, whoever receives the mark of its name? Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, write this, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed, says the spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them. Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud. And seated on the cloud, one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe. So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth. and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle. Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vines of the earth, for its grapes are ripe. So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. and the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress as high as the horse's bridle for 1600 stadia. So as we look at Revelation 14 this morning, this is going to be my proposition. This is the end of the saga of the woman and the dragon, and this is the story's end. The dragon's war against the church will fail. The dragon's war against the church will fail because the lamb protects his own. Boleyn will be victorious, his gospel will be proclaimed, and his enemies will be destroyed. So that's the end of the story. That's what it's trying to get us to is from the start with the dragon crying to kill the sun to the end where the lamb has victory and his people are secure. And so we'll look at this, four points this morning. First, we're going to look at the lamb and the 144,000 and think about what that means. Then we'll look at the fifth story, the three angels and a voice from heaven that calls out. And then we'll look at the third story, the last story, and see the harvest of the earth. And then we'll finish with, what does this mean for us? Or how do we fit in to Revelation 14? So we'll start with our first point. And so we'll see the lamb and the 144,000. And what we're going to see here is that the beast will not be victorious. The lamb will rescue his people. So we'll look at Revelation 14, verses 1 through 5. It said, then I looked. And behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters, and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they were singing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the lamb. And in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless." So as we look at this, we see that you have this scene. So the dragon has been cast out of heaven. He tried to destroy the sun. He failed. He was cast out of heaven. He came down to earth in great fury and in great wrath. And in his anger, he's pursuing the church. And so he calls up a first beast that comes out of the sea to come and pursue the church. And he calls a second beast out of the sea to go and pursue the church. And it says they have great power. And it says there will be no way to escape. Those who are to be persecuted will be persecuted. Those who are to be executed will be executed. That is just the way of how the world will go. And so as we end Revelation 13, we ought to feel a note of, of almost despondency, despair, or fear, there's a great enemy we have, an enemy who has great power. In fact, if we don't feel that to some degree, I don't think we've understood the point of Revelation 12 and 13. It says you have a great enemy, an enemy who currently has great power in this world, an enemy who wants to pursue you to death. But the story's not going to end there. That's just the center of the story. And that's where we're going in Revelation 14 is, how does this story finish up? And so we end with another scene. We go on to another scene. The second beast is encouraging the first beast to slaughter all who will not worship him. So then we come and we say, then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb. So, so far we saw the Lamb in Revelation 5, the Lamb who was the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and so that's what we're referring to. It says in Revelation 5, verses 5 through 6, and one of the elders said to me, weep no more for the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered. so that he can open the scroll and it's seven seals. But then John turns around and he looks and it says, and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain. The central dichotomy of Revelation saying, the lion of the tribe of Judah who has conquered looks right now like a slain lamb because that's how he came. He came to die and his people will follow him in that. But he is still the lion of the tribe of Judah, the one who is conquered. And so we have this contrast between those two. And this is a reference back to them. On Mount Zion stood the lamb. But so far through the story, the lamb has been conspicuously absent. The son was born. We know that the son and the lamb are the same in Revelation. But the son was born. He was caught up to heaven. It says he stands at the right hand of the throne of the father. But on earth, it looks like he's not powerful. The beast has power. The beast has power. And the second beast encourages the first beast. But here we see the lamb is standing on Mount Zion, and with him, 144,000. And so in the midst of what ought to be a despairing story, a terrifying story, it says the lamb isn't absent. The lamb hasn't abandoned his people. He is gathering his people, again, 144,000 being 12 a full number. times 12, a full number, times 1,000. And so we'll interpret that to mean the redeemed, all those who Christ will gather to himself, the full number of all who have been chosen from before the creation of the world. And it will be a great multitude from every tribe and tongue and language and nation. It says the Lamb is standing on Mount Zion with them. So we haven't reached the end yet. In fact, I think this is supposed to be a scene within the story. The beast is rampaging against the church. And it looks like the beast is powerful. But if we take a step back and look with a different set of eyes, yeah, the beast looks really powerful. But the lamb is standing on Mount Zion. And he has gathered to himself 144,000, who the beast will not destroy. He's gathered to himself all who belong to him. And the beast will not triumph over them. And he said, this is what they look like. They look like those who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads. Again, this is a direct contrast. The beast is ruling in this world. The beast is calling all men to worship it. And specifically, we saw in Revelation 13, verses 16 through 18, it says, and it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or on the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark. That is the name of the beast, or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. So we thought about the mark of the beast last week. We saw how there's this history of having worn things on the forehead or on the hands that mark yourself out as being allegiant to something. You give your allegiance to this. This is what marks you. This is your purpose in life. And so it's saying that the beast will come and demand that all men bow down to it, to give it their allegiance, to conform to its teaching and to follow its ways. But now we have a contrast. We have, coming back to Revelation 14, that there is a different group marked on the forehead with a different mark. And so we have two different groups marked by two different allegiances. There will be a group that is following after the beast, Maybe not even knowing that they're following after the beast, but willingly giving in and running after everything that the beast teaches, giving its allegiance to the beast. But there will be another group, a group marked out by a different allegiance, one who follows the lamb and runs after the lamb in all things. And so we have two different groups marked by two different allegiances. We looked at this verse last week. We said that this was the pattern that we were drawing on Deuteronomy 6. 4 through 9, this is the great Shema, the heart of the theology of Israel. It says, hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. And you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates." And we saw that the Old Testament people of Israel were to be marked by the Word of God so completely that it is like as though you had written it on your hand, or stamped it on your forehead, or taken the door of your house and written it all over the frame of the door of your house, so that you couldn't get away from it. You were marked so completely by that. And so as we go through Revelation 14, we're going to see that the earth is split. One group is going to be marked so completely by the beast that they give their allegiance wholeheartedly to the beast. They willingly and joyfully come and bow down and follow after the beast. And then there's going to be another group. a group that says, I can't give my allegiance to the beast because my allegiance already belongs to Christ. I'm going to be marked by him so completely that I can't give my allegiance to anything else. And actually, as we go through the Old Testament, looking at the mark on the forehead is actually an interesting study. I thought about putting all these verses in here, but I think I'm going to be a little long this morning already. So it took them out. But we see that this happens multiple times in Deuteronomy. We see it here in Deuteronomy 6. We see it in Deuteronomy 11. It says that we are to teach these words to our children. We are to write it on our foreheads and on our hands, teach them on the way. And so we are to be marked by the word of God. We see that Aaron wore a mark on his forehead. He wore this turban. And on this forehead, it said, holy to the Lord. He was marked out so that he could go and approach into the holy place. And it says to the Israelites, and I Exodus chapter 13, that we're to go and tell the story of redemption to the children. Every time they come to the Passover, they're to tell the story of their redemption. And it ends by saying that the story of redemption should be told so often that it's as though it were a front flip between your eyes, as though you had marked it on your forehead, saying, we are the people who are redeemed. That is what we are set out as. And so there's two different groups with two different allegiances in this world, one to the beast and one to the lamb. So we come back to Revelation 14, those who had his name and his father's name written on their forehead. And so we see the lamb has not abandoned his people. The lamb is standing with his people, and he is ready to fight for his people. But then John keeps looking. He says, OK, the lamb is standing on Mount Sinai with 144,000. He's gathering his people to himself, and they exist under his care, not under the beast's authority. Then it says, I heard a voice from heaven, like the roar of many waters. and like the sound of loud thunder. He says, when I looked and I saw the 144,000, I was overwhelmed by the loudness of a voice. But then he continues on. It says, this voice was really loud, but this was what the voice was doing. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. He saw 144,000 standing on Mount Zion with the lamb. And what were they doing? They were singing. They were standing with the lamb, and they were singing. And so it says, and they were singing a new song. before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. This is kind of a side note, but if we ever want to underestimate the importance of singing, we shouldn't. Revelation comes and shows us this massive war between the dragon and the lamb that's got us caught up in the middle with the beast coming and pursuing us, trying to destroy us. And it says, what do we do? We stand on Mount Zion and we sing. We sing out the praises of Christ. And so we have this great voice, this overwhelming multitude that's singing with a loud voice, like harpists playing on the harp, singing a new song before the throne and before the poor living creatures and before the elders. This is, again, a point back to Revelation 5. In Revelation 5, we saw the line of the tribe of Judah being the lamb who was slain, but he was worthy to open the scroll. And this is where it goes. And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And he went and he took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you are slain. And by your blood you have ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God. And they shall reign upon the earth. There's a song going on in heaven before the throne of God and before the Lamb that praises them eternally. And as we come to Revelation 14, it says, a church in the midst of her war on earth is going to stand on Mount Sinai with the Lamb. And what do they do? They sing. They sing forth a song of victory. And so they come, and we see there's a song of victory and a song of praise. The redeemed are joining in the worship of heaven. Again, a side note, the beast isn't going to like that. The beast is going to do everything he can to stop that song. We see that in a variety of different ways, but he wants us to stop singing. And so what we do, we gather together every Sunday, and we sing out the praises of the Lamb. It's one of our greatest weapons in our war to say, you know what? No, we're standing with Christ, and we're going to keep singing. Whatever you guys may say, whatever you guys may do. And so as we look at Revelation 14, 1 through 5, this is kind of the sum of the matter. The Lamb is victorious. He's standing on Mount Zion with 144,000 chosen out from the earth, the sum of His people from every tribe and tongue and language and nation, and they belong to Him. The beast has cheated of its prey. The beast thought it was powerful. The beast thought he could pursue them to death. And in this world, it looks like he can. He does pursue them to death. But the lamb stands with them. The lamb gathers them to Mount Sinai. And they stand before the lamb and sing. But then we keep going on and say, OK, so we have 144,000 gathered out from the earth, a great multitude, which is the full number of the redeemed. And we ask a question, who shares in that victory? Who are the 144,000? What is going to make someone be one of those who stands on Mount Sinai, whom the Lamb is with through all the troubles of this world? And so Revelation 14, verse 3 goes on. And it starts to describe, what do these people look like that are standing on Mount Sinai? It says several things. First, it says no one could learn that song. It said they were singing a new song. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth, with the emphasis on no one. And so as we look and say, who are these people? Who are these 144,000 that are standing together? We say, first, that God's people are exclusive. No one else gets to learn that song, only those who have been redeemed by the Lamb. Those are the ones who are set apart by Christ. There isn't any other pathway to get to Mount Zion. There aren't other religions that might be leading to the same place. It says, no, no one else can learn that song. The rest are, yeah, under the power of the beast. But the ones who can learn the song of this, those who have been redeemed from the earth by Christ. But then it keeps going on. It says, "...it is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever He goes." This could be confusing. We could say, okay, just a second, does this call us all to be virgins, to give up marriage, to give up all those things? We look at the whole of the New Testament and say, no. That's not the call of the New Testament. In fact, Paul will tell Timothy that people who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God gave to be enjoyed with thanksgiving, they're corrupting the gospel. They're leading you away from the things of Christ. This isn't meant to be a call to go away from those things that God has given us on earth. Instead, it's a picture. If we go back to the Old Testament again, the Old Testament helps us understand what's going on in Revelation over and over again. Israel's rebellion against God was always pictured as a rebellious wife, a adulterous woman who would go and find everyone else to go find her pleasure, her faith, her hope in. But this, he said, these are those who have not been like that. They didn't run after the things of this world. They didn't come and partner with the world and get in bed with the world. And so there's a contrast. They were not defiled with women. They weren't like Israel of old that kept running after the things of the world. Instead, there are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Because they've been marked on the forehead, on the hand with allegiance to the Lamb, they look like they have allegiance to the Lamb. So we could say God's people are exclusive, but we could also say God's people are pure. They pursue only Christ. They don't get in bed with the things of this world. They're not defiled with the love of the things of this world. That's something Revelation calls us to see over and over again, that we don't love the things of this world because the beast has authority over those. If we love the things of this world, even up to our very lives, then the beast is going to win because he's going to have power over us. But those who say, you know what? Those things mean nothing to me. I can give up goods as Number 92, Mighty Fortress said, it says, give of goods, even kindred, your mortal life also. The body they may take, but God's truth abideth still. He says, no, get rid of those things. Set them aside. Don't be tied up in them. Instead, pursue only Christ. That's what the people standing on Mount Zion will look like. But then it keeps going. It says, these have been redeemed from mankind. I'm sorry. Yeah, redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and for the land. So we can say a third thing, God's people are exclusive, God's people are pure, but God's people are also redeemed. That means they belong to Christ. They have been bought by a price, and they belong wholeheartedly to Christ. That's why their allegiance belongs totally to him, because they recognize that they were redeemed out of the earth, they were bought back with a price. And then finally, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. We can say God's people are holy. They're pursuing Christ and only Christ, turning away from the things of this world. So they're marked off by Christ, holy to him. And because of that, they turn away from the sinful things of this world. They aren't allured by the pleasures of sin. And so in their mouth, no lie was found, and they are blameless. They've given those things up to run after the lamb. And so who shares in the victory over the beast? It's those who have embraced the gospel, and the gospel has transformed to be Christ's people. Those are those who stand on Mount Zion with the lamb. And so as we come to Revelation 14, 1 through 5, we're going to sing a song in a few minutes, which is How Firm a Foundation. I think the verses of How Firm a Foundation really capture what Revelation 14, 1 through 5 is supposed to be teaching us, because we see that the beast is running after the people. There is sorrow, there is trouble, there is persecution in this world. But the lamb is still standing beside them. And so, Halfurma Foundation, verse 3, says this. When through the deep waters I call you to go, when you are called to face the beast and he comes to destroy you, he says, the rivers of sorrow will not overflow. The lamb will stand beside you. You will be caught up with the 144,000. For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. Or again, when through fiery trials thy pathway shall lay, My grace, all sufficient, shall be your supply. The lamb stands with you. You are not abandoned. So the flames will not hurt you. I only design your draws to consume and thy gold to refine. And so that's the message of Revelation 14, 1 through 5. Yes, the beast are powerful and the beast reign in this world, but the lamb has not abandoned you if you belong to him. If you have been marked out on your forehead, if your allegiance is to Christ, if you have embraced his gospel and are running only after him, the lamb will not abandon you to the beast. The beast may look powerful, but you have a much more powerful ally. So that's the first point. The lamb and the 144,000. But now we're going to go through these two, the fifth and the sixth, always go together pretty closely. So in the midst of the beast's reign, what is happening? First, the lamb is standing with 144,000, with all those whom he has called out from the world. But then we're going to see, what is the lamb doing in the world during the time of the beast? We're going to see that God is not silent during the time of the beast's reign. So we come to Revelation 14, verses 6 through 13. Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. 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 heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water. Another angel, a second followed saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality. And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast in its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and sulfur 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 or night. These worshipers of the beast in its image, whoever receives the mark of its name. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, write this, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from the laborers, for their deeds follow them. So we have three angels and a voice from heaven. So come back, we'll look at each of the angels. Revelation 14 through 6 through 7, the first angel. It said, then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth. And so right now, the beast is ruling. The beast is ruling and his false prophet is calling all people to bow down to the beast. And they're pursuing Christians, they're pursuing the church to force them to bow or to be slain. But it says God's not going to be silent. He sent out his messengers. Angel literally means messenger. This is a picture of a divine being coming and proclaiming over the earth, but also there's a more subtle message that he will send out his messengers, and they will be proclaiming the eternal gospel. A gospel that does not change, no matter what sort of opposition or persecution happens. A gospel that will be proclaimed to the very ends of the earth. A gospel that will fulfill the claim of Christ in Matthew 28 when he says, Go to all the ends of the earth, because all authority belongs to me. The beast looks like it's powerful, but that authority belongs to me. So go out and proclaim that gospel. He said, as that happened, it will be proclaimed to every nation and tribe and language and people. The common refrain of Revelation 14, the nations rage against God, some too. Why do the nations rage in the people's plot and vain? But Christ comes and says, but the authority belongs to me. and all the ends of the earth, the coastlands of the Gentiles, will come and will bow to me. And there will be a people redeemed from every tribe and tongue and language and nation." And so the sum of the first angel is this, the beast may reign, but God's message still advances to the end of the earth. The beast isn't powerful enough to silence Christ. The beast isn't powerful enough to silence the church. The gospel will keep going forward no matter how much the beast tries to stop it. But then it tells us what the message of the gospel is. The angel comes out and he says with a loud voice, fear God and give him the glory. And that's at the core of what the gospel is. We can talk about the gospel being the story of how man was fallen into sin, but Christ came to redeem them by giving himself in their place. And now he calls all of us to give a response. We can talk about all those things. But at the very core of the message of the gospel is this, fear God and give him the glory. And all the other things fall out of that. And so at the heart of the gospel's message is a declaration that God, and with the emphatic I'm losing my words. With the implication, emphatic implication, that it's God, not the beast, who is to be feared in worship. Yes, the beast looks powerful right now. The beast looks like someone to be feared. The beast is calling for worship, but no. You don't bow the knee to Caesar. You bow the knee to Christ. It is the beast. I'm sorry, it is God, not the beast. who is creator in God. And so the message goes forward. The beast is trying to proclaim his supremacy, but God says, you're never going to squash the message. My people are going to keep going forward and proclaiming that message, that you are not in charge, that you are not to be feared, that I am to be feared, and come and bow to me. So that's the first angel. The message of God will still go forward even when the beast reigns. But then we come to the second angel, Revelation 14, verse 8. It says, another angel a second followed, saying, fallen. Fallen is Babylon the Great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality. So once again, because we don't get away from references to the Old Testament, this is a reference back to Isaiah 21, 6 through 10. And so it says this. For thus the Lord said to me, go set a watchman. Let him announce what he sees. When he see riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, Let him listen diligently, very diligently. Then he who saw cried out, upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights. And behold, here comes riders, horsemen, and pairs. And he answered, fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground. O my threshed and winnowed one, What I have heard from the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you." So Isaiah 21, it's looking to the final time, or the time when Babylon would come and crush Israel, and saying, that's going to come. Babylon is going to come and pull you away. And they're going to send you out into exile, but that won't last forever. The kings of this world may look for a time like they have power over the church. The king of the world may look like they're able to send the church into exile, to kill the church, to persecute them, but that time will not last forever. He says, watch. Watch, and one day Babylon will fall. In Isaiah's time, it was literally Babylon will fall, and they will no longer be your persecutors. But now as we come back to Revelation 14.8, there's this echo. He says, remember back. I said, fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great. And then you went into exile. And Babylon looked like it had power for a time. But what happened eventually? Fallen, fallen was Babylon the Great. What I said happened would happen. Now I'm saying it again. Look at the beast around you. What empire is trying to squelch out the church right now? What imperial power and cultic worship is trying to stamp out the worship of God? And it says, the beast may reign. But God declares that their end is near. Every empire will fall. Babylon fell before. There will be no empire that stands forever. God will come and he will crush them all. That beast looks powerful now, but remember it has an end. It won't be there forever. And so really, it's the message of Daniel 2. Daniel 2, we have the king having a vision in the night. He goes, and he tries to figure out what the vision was. So he calls all the wise men of Babylon. And the wise men of Babylon can't tell him anything about what the vision was. So he says, I'm going to kill all the wise men. And the king's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. That seems rash. Maybe give me a night. I'll pray to God, and I'll see whether I can come up with an answer. And so God gives Daniel an answer, and he comes back, and he says this. This was the dream. Now we will tell the king the interpretation. So Daniel's already told the king what the dream was, and now he's going to interpret it. He says, you, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, and whose hand he has given wherever they dwell, the children of men, the beast of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all. You are the head of gold. And another kingdom inferior to you shall rise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over all the earth. And then he says there will be a fourth kingdom of iron, and then finally of iron mixed with clay, a beast different than all the rest. But then he comes back in verse 44 and says, yeah, these great kingdoms will arise, these great empires which will oppress the people of God. and seek to squash the message of God. But it says, in the days of those kings, whatever empire it is, whether it's the first, second, third, or fourth, the kings of this world, in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. He says, yeah, all those empires, they're temporary, and they're not eternal. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end. And it shall stand forever. Just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand and that it broke in pieces, the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great god has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain and its interpretation is sure. God said, every empire will fall. It doesn't matter who's oppressing you right now. That empire will fall, whether it's in time, and then another empire will take its place. But assuredly, by the last day, every empire will fall, and God's kingdom will reign supreme. And so the first angel says, God's message will still go forward. The second message, God is not signed. He says, the beast will be destroyed, and his kingdom will fail. In Revelation 14, 9 through 11, a third angel And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast in its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into a cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur 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 or night, these worshipers of the beast in its image and whoever receives the mark of its name. So again, this is a contrast. A contrast to Revelation chapter 13. Revelation 13, it said, the second beast gave authority to the first beast to have those who had not bowed down to the image of the first beast be slain. And it says, in this world, it's going to look like that power is supreme. Whoever is to be taken captive to captivity goes. Whoever is to be slain with the sword by the sword, he must be slain. That beast looks like he has great power. But God says, that beast tries to execute his own justice, that beast tries to execute his own will, and he will destroy those who oppose his will. But God stands up and says, my justice is supreme. And so, yeah, right now the beast may ring, but God's justice is still supreme. He says, you worshipers of to this world, you give your allegiance to the imperial power that opposes the church and worship the things and fall in line with the things that they desire for you to fall in line with, I will judge you. And not just a little bit. It won't be the little judgment that the beast thinks he can execute on the church. It will be an eternal judgment, a judgment that will never be escaped. It'll be a judgment by fire and sulfur that goes up forever and ever from which there is no rest. The beast may reign, but God's justice is still supreme. He is the judge, and he will still judge. And so three angels go forward with three messages. God's gospel will not be squelched. God's authority will not be taken. And God's judgment will still fall. Don't look at right now, look at the end, and wait for God to take his action. So those are the three angels. But then before we get to the final scene, we have a little interlude. It says, here's a call. I love Revelation. Every once in a while, it's like, you know what? There's a lot of on-the-surface applications, but I want to make sure you see them. This is what I want you to do with this story. This is what the story is calling for you. And the call is for endurance. He says, right now, you're under the authority of the beast. Right now, it looks like you are powerless. Right now, you look a lot like the lamb who was slain. Surprise, surprise. Not a whole lot like the lion of the tribe of Judah. But endure. God is not silent, and he has not abandoned you. Endure. So call for the endurance of the saints in exhortation. So we should hear this story and say, yes, I can keep going, even when the beast brings out every weapon that it can against me, I can keep going, because Christ is standing at my side. And specifically, endurance for the saints, those who are set apart to God, and they're marked as those who keep the commandments of God. Keep obeying Christ. When the beast calls you to obey it, say, no, I'm going to obey Christ. Keep following the commands of God and keep putting your faith in Jesus. The beast is going to say, I have the answer. I can solve your problems. I can fix what's going on in your life. We're going to say, no, our faith is in Christ. We're just going to keep saying, I obey Christ and my faith is in him. And yeah, we may be killed in this world and we may be cast out for all sorts of persecution, but we endure because we know that Christ is not absent. And then after the call, a voice from heaven echoes and says, write this. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. So it looks and says, you know what? That is going to be the end for so many of you. You're going to be pursued by the beast. You're going to be persecuted. You're going to be killed. And if somehow you survive that, old age is going to get you anyway. You're going to die. And it's going to look like you were powerless and a failure. But know this. Blessed are those who die in the Lord. You have a reward that extends past the sufferings of this world. You have a reward that extends beyond what the beast could ever take away from you. As Jesus says, the body they can kill. They may kill you, but they can't take away your soul. And Martin Luther echoes that in the song we sang this morning again. And to emphasize it, we get a doublet. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. And the Spirit answers, blessed indeed. Hear this. This is a message you have to get. You might die. If by the sword you are going to be slain, then by the sword you must be slain. But blessed indeed are those who die in the Lord. and says this. So there's an exhortation and a promise, blessed indeed, because they get to rest from their labors. So there's a contrast here. There's a contrast between endurance and rest. He says right now the call is to endurance. The call is to keep looking at the beast and saying, no, I follow Christ. The call is to look at the beast and say, I obey Christ. My faith is in Christ. I don't care what you call me to do. I'm going to keep following after Christ. Right now, that's going to take endurance. It's going to take keep running the path. But he says, that's not going to last forever. You will find rest in Christ. You'll find periods of rest in Christ in this world, and Christ will be your rest in this world. But there's a hope beyond that to say, once the endurance is over, once you die or are laid in the grave and are simply waiting for Christ to return and take his throne, you will find rest. The endurance will not last forever. It's like people tell people who are running a race, you can do anything for a little while. It doesn't seem always like a little while, but you can do anything for a little while. Just endure. It doesn't last forever. They will rest from their labors. And so three angels and a voice from heaven, God is not silent during the beast's reign. But then we come to the last story, the harvest of the earth. And we see, once again, the seventh always overlaps. The seventh is always the end. What is the end of the story? And the end of the story is the beast's kingdom will fail. they will be judged and destroyed. So we come to Revelation 14, verses 14 through 20. Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud. And seated on the cloud, one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come. For the harvest of the earth is fully ripe. So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire. And he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth for its grapes are ripe. So the angel swung his sickle across the earth. and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horse's bridle for 1,600 stadia." So we come to Revelation 14, this is the last story, the end, the final day. And what does it proclaim on the final day? It says, I looked, I'm sorry, then I looked and behold a white cloud and seated on the cloud, one like a son of man. We've already seen this picture already in Revelation. We saw this back in Revelation 1, when one like a son of man came and appeared before John and he was clothed in glory and walking among the lambskins. We've seen that the son of man is Jesus, but it's a reference back to Daniel. We'll read verses 11 through 14. It said, I looked then, because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season at a time. And I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man. And he came to the ancient days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people's nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. And so in Daniel, Daniel looked forward, and he saw, yes, there will be beasts that rise up out of the earth, the beasts that were a picture of the final beast, the beast that represents every imperial power that exists in this earth, the background of most of Revelation 13. But he says, the end of the matter is this. One like the Son of Man appears. And when the Son of Man appears, this is what happens. The beast is killed. The beast will die. His dominion does not last forever. He will be destroyed and be given over to be burned in the fire. The beast appears powerful now, but the end of the beast is certain. The Son of Man, Christ, will appear, and he will destroy the beast. But also, that's the one side. He will judge and destroy the beast, take their dominion away from them. But on the other hand, it says, to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom. This kingdom will fall. The kingdoms of this world will be crushed by Christ. and his kingdom will reign supreme. And that kingdom will be what the beast could never be. The beast tried to have authority over every tribe, and tongue, and people, and language, and nation. But here, when Christ comes to him, all people's languages and language will serve. And so that's the background. And so when we come to Revelation 14, 14 through 20, we're going to see that double. We're going to see the beast fall in Christ's kingdom established. But then we're going to see a second thing. The one like the Son of Man comes riding in on the clouds, a reference to the end of Matthew, where Jesus says, I will return on the clouds to bring my judgment. But then it says he's holding a sharp sickle in his hand, a reference back to Joel 3 and a couple other places. But Joel 3, verses 11 through 14, says this. Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O Lord. Let the nations stir themselves up and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the wine press is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. Joel is looking forward to a day when all the nations will be gathered and Christ executes his final judgment. God comes and says, the nations will fall and my kingdom will be established. And what does he say? He says, the harvest is ripe. It's time for me to come and execute my judgment. I will sit and judge all the surrounding nations. And revelation that expands to all the nations of the earth and why for the evil is great. He hasn't overlooked the time that the beast reigns coming to judge. But Joel has both sides again as well. We see that on that day, God will come to judge the nations. But Joel 3, 16 through 18, it says, the Lord roars from Zion. He's coming to bring his justice. And he utters his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earthquake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people. a stronghold to the people of Israel. He says there's going to be two sides. I'm going to gather the earth and reap them and destroy them, but I'm also going to gather my people and protect them. So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it. And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills flow with milk. And all the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water, and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord, and water the valley of Shittim. So it's really what Jesus says in a parable in Matthew 13, 24 through 30. He put another parable before them, saying, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? And he said to them, an enemy has done this. So the servant said to him, then do you want us to go and gather them? But he said, no, lest in gathering the weeds, you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until harvest. And at harvest time, I will tell the weepers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned. but gathered the wheat into my barn. He said, because of the enemy, there's going to be a double harvest, a harvest of those who belong to Christ to be gathered into him, and a harvest of those who belong to the world to be destroyed. So we come to Revelation 14, and that's what it says will happen on the last day. So first, there's a first sickle. One like the Son of Man comes to put a sickle in, and he says, put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, and the harvest of the earth is fully ripe. There's not a lot said about this, but this first reaping, there's not a lot said, but it's done by the Son of Man. And I think that's the first reaping, the weeping of the wheat of the earth, those who belong to Christ. So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped. Saying that Christ will gather all of his own on the last day. He will gather them in, and they will be put into his barn, be gathered into his place, and belong to him. And they are gathered before the earth is destroyed. But then a second angel comes out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. The first reaping has passed, the second reaping is coming. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who had authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had a sharp sickle, put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth. for its grapes are ripe." He said, both halves of it are ripe. We'll gather the wheat into the master's barn. Then we're going to gather, in this one, it turns out to be grapes. It's actually because he's going to use another picture, the treading out of the grapes and the winepress, which is an image of the wrath of God. So the angel swung a sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. So it says, this is the last day. You can choose whether you will follow the beast. You can choose whether you will follow the lamb. But at the last day, Christ will come and he will harvest the earth. And he will gather those who belong to him and will mark on their forehead with his name. Who have had their allegiance to him, they will be gathered into safety. And then the rest of the world will be harvested and they will be destroyed in God's wrath. And the last verse says, the blood flowed as high as a horse's wild for 1600 stadia. The purpose of that image is to say, the wrath is great. It's unescapable. The carnage will be intense. The judgment of God will completely destroy, to the nth degree, the kingdom of the beast. So the lamb is victorious. The beast is destroyed. That's the message of Revelation 14. But what does Revelation 14 have to do with us? So Revelation 14 and us, I want to give four short exhortations. But first, we need to stop and say, as we've said so far throughout all of this, Revelation 14 is about us. We are those who are the children of the women who are being pursued by the beast, who the false prophet is calling to worship the beast, to give up our worship of Christ and run after them. And we see that in different ways around the world right now, that the imperial power and the worship of this world is calling us away from Christ and seeks to squash our worship. And so these things about Revelation 14, they are written directly to us. And so there's four causes we look at Revelation 14. First, Revelation 14 is a call to hope. Revelation 14 is a call to hope. So then I looked. In the midst of the reign of the beast, while the beast looked like it had all authority, then I looked. And behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads. The beast looks powerful, but he's not. He has a limited power within this world to govern physical things, but his power is limited, and the Lamb stands beside you. So have hope. Whatever happens in this world, the Lamb is with you. And so our enemy is strong in the times we look dark, and we'll look out over the world. And I think as Americans, we thought maybe at some point we lulled the beast to sleep, or maybe we even tamed the beast. A bad decision. The beast is rising up, and it's going to oppose us. It's happening slowly now. I fear that it will happen more and more. Our enemy is strong, and the times look dark. But we will not be defeated. The Lamb stands with us, and he has marked us as his own. Those who belong to Christ, Christ knows, and he's not going to abandon them. So it's a call to hope. Don't give in when the world looks strong. But then second, Revelation 14 is a call to sobriety. It's a call to sobriety. So I come to Revelation 14, 9 through 11. Hence said another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast in its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur 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 or night. These worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name." So there's a warning that happens in Revelation 14. It says there's great hope for those who are marked by the limb, but there's great danger for those who are marked by the beast. And it calls us to say, which one are we? Are we following after the things of this world? Are we giving in to the allegiance to the beast? Are we trying to fit in and look like the rest of the world around us? Or are we being marked out as different in following the lamb? He says, if you aren't running away from the world and running towards the lamb, you're in a very, very dangerous spot. As James says, do not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God. So it's a call to sobriety. We cannot partner with the world. The world is the enemy of God. So when the world calls you to do things, you ought to look at it and say, no, what does Christ call me to? I'm going to obey Christ. I'm going to follow only after him, not the things of this world. So it's a call to hope, but also a call to sobriety. But then third, it's a call to holiness, which kind of goes along with sobriety, those two are intermeshed very closely together. But it said, Revelation 14.3, no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women for their virtues. It is these who follow the lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as the first fruits for God and for the lamb. And in their mouth, no lie was found for their blameless. We thought about the fact that God's people are exclusive, they're pure, they are redeemed, and that they are holy. These are what mark the people of God. And so we enter into the people of God through the gospel, but if we have held on to the gospel, then our lives will be being changed to look like Christ. We will follow the lamb wherever he goes. And so it's a call to say, our lives ought to be marked out by holiness. If we find ourselves in a battle with the beast, that's a good thing. What do we run after? Christ and holiness that Christ loves. And so it's a call to holiness. Those who will be sheltered by the Lamb are those who are marked as belonging to the Lamb. And that mark looks like this. They're marked by pursuing holiness and not the world. So it's a call to hope, a call to sobriety, a call to holiness. And finally, the straightforward call, the one that it says, it's a call to endurance. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. So the message of the saga of the woman and the beast, or the woman and the dragon, is this. Things aren't going to be easy. We have a powerful enemy who has been given authority over this world and he seeks to crush all that belong to Christ. Things aren't going to be easy. Don't lull yourself into thinking otherwise. But The battle will not last forever. And so we must endure in obedience and in faith. Endure in obedience and in faith. Keep following after Christ. Keep following after Christ until the Lamb claims his victory. The Lamb is already victorious. He just has to claim his victory. And until his enemies are defeated. And so we say, yeah, things may get dark. Things may get worse. But we know the path we're on. We're just going to keep going that way. There might be a lot of people who tell us not to go that way. We're just going to keep going that way, and it won't last forever. So as I thought about these things, we see a great picture of this in the Old Testament. What does this look like? This is a great picture, Daniel 3. This is the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were brought before the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. They were told to bow before his image, to worship those things that belonged to him. They were dragged before Nebuchadnezzar when they wouldn't, and Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? You almost hear this note at the end of your day, like, what's going on here, guys? That's dumb. Now, if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall be immediately cast into a burning, fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? Nebuchadnezzar says, I'm in charge here. You can obey. Chedrek, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. I love that opening. They're like, we don't even need to respond. But we're going to, just for fun. If this be so. Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. They said, that's what our God is like. He hasn't abandoned us. He knows where we are. He will not leave us to go through this by ourselves. And then they have great confidence. He will deliver us out of your hand. They say, that's our God. We face you, the king of the empire, the one who rules over everything that we know. And you are almost right when you say, what God can take you out of my hands? But here's the thing. We serve a God who can. And I put my full trust in that. But then they didn't stop there. They said, but if not, God could deliver us. And I'm confident that he will. But here's the thing. I don't know what's going to happen in this world. So here's what we're going to tell you, Nebuchadnezzar. We don't know what's going to happen. You could throw us in a fiery furnace. Not sure where that ends up. But this is my final word. We will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. He looked at Nebuchadnezzar and said, you have power. You have great power. You can destroy us. Our lives are in your hands, but we won't bow. We'll keep following our God. We know the end of the story. It says, then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. He rose up in haste. And he threw them into the fire furnace. We're jumping forward a few inches in the story. Coming back, they've been thrown into the fire furnace. And the Nebuchadnezzar's like, something's not going right. So he jumps up, rises in haste, and he declared to his counselors, did we not cast three men down into the fire? Like, something's not working out here, guys. We cast three in. The answer to the king said, true, O king. Like, we threw three guys in there. You told us to. And the answer did, but I see four. I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt. And the appearance of the fourth is like the son of the gods." And so this is the message we have today. We will not be abandoned. We could be thrown into the fiery furnace. We could be called into judgment by the kingdoms of this world. But Christ will not abandon us. It worked out very well for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But Brian, you really anticipated the end of my sermon. Hebrews 11, 32 to 38. It says it won't always work out that way. It says, yeah, what more shall I say? For time will fail me to tell of Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, of David, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms. They enforced justice, obtained promises. They stopped the mouths of lions. They quenched the power of the fire. They escaped from the edge of the sword. They were made strong out of weakness. became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women even received back their dead by resurrection." He says, yeah, these are the sorts of things that will mark the people of God. The kingdoms of the world will oppose them. And over and over again, they will escape supernaturally because God is with them. But he says, that's not the end. There's a big break there. He says, yeah, those things have marked the Old Testament. Know that God is standing beside you. But also look harder at the Old Testament. That wasn't the only story. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated. Said, things didn't go well for everyone in the Old Testament. They won't go well for all of you either. The beast will have power. He will crush you. Hear that as a promise. The beast have power and he will crush you. But all this says is these are those of whom the world is not worthy. They're waiting for a better resurrection. The lambs still didn't abandon them. They went all the way to death. But blessed are those who die in the Lord, for now I'm blessed indeed, says the Spirit. They wandered about in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. And so we don't know which one God could miraculously save us when we're called to face the imperial powers of this world who call us to bow down. We can say like Shadrach and Meshach and Benegal, I don't know what's going to happen. You might kill me tomorrow. I don't know. But here's the thing. We're not going to bow down and worship. Could happen like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. God can come and be present and save us. But oh, so often he doesn't. He says, you know what? I'm going to let you be like lambs given over to be slaughtered. Because that's what I was. That's my mark in this world, is you're going to be slaughtered in this world. But you'll be raised up on the last day, and you will still stand with the lamb and the 144,000 at the last day. So kids, here's your kids' questions. What is the end of the dragon and his servants? The answer is Jesus will come to judge the dragon and destroy him and his servants forever. That's the end. The dragon looks powerful, the beast looks powerful, but they're going to be judged and destroyed. We just have to keep that in mind when it looks completely the opposite. So that's the end of the dragon and his servants. But then what is the end of those who follow the lamb? Jesus again will come. Jesus will come. But when he comes, he will save his people. He will gather them to himself at the end, no matter what the beast thought he could do to them. So that's the message of Revelation 14. Let's close in prayer. Father, we come with gratefulness that you don't end the story with the two beasts. Father, you could abandon this world to send into destruction. Father, you could even execute your wrath against this world, and you would be right. But Father, you've chosen to redeem a people. You've chosen to take a people and rescue them from the power of the beast. You've chosen to take a people and mark them with your name and with your Father's name. Father, we look at ourselves and we say, why us? We know that there's nothing in us that is worthy of that, and so we just come with thanksgiving, and we come with a prayer for endurance. Father, the world does look mighty, and it looks mightier all the time. Father, I pray that you would give us endurance, that we would continue to follow after Christ, be able to look at the world and say no. Father, I pray that you would also give us wisdom, help us to see what the world is calling us to, and to see what Christ is calling us to. and to be able to clearly make the right decision to follow after Christ. Father, that power doesn't belong to us, it's not found in us, and so we pray that your Spirit would give us a taste for Christ, would give us a hope of a final resurrection, and give us the ability to oppose the powers of this world and to run after Christ. Father, we pray that this would be a great glory to Christ. We pray that you would gather us together to sing the praises of Christ. We're thankful for the times that we get to sing his praises. We pray that we would get to sing his praises forever. Christ, we pray. Amen. Let's open it up if there's any questions or comments or other discussion. Yeah. You made a statement about now being under the authority of the church. Now they're under the authority of the beast. Yeah. So as believers in this world, we belong to the lamb, but we're in the beast realm. We're on earth, which Paul says, as ruled by the prince of the power of the air. That doesn't mean we belong to him, but we are in the sphere where his authority is exercised. And therefore, we do fall under his authority and can be killed by his authority. It doesn't mean we belong to him. Does that answer the question? Yeah. Yeah, one of you go. Apparently it's going to be Justin. I've been noticing, looking at it this week, the contrast between the easy route and the restful route. They promised rest the same, but it's not necessarily the easy route now. Sometimes your mind has to put those two together. Right, no, absolutely. I even thought about bringing Hebrews again. There still exists a Sabbath rest for the people of God. It has been realized in Christ that rest belongs to us, and we can rest from our labors to seek salvation, but that rest hasn't been fully realized. The last Sabbath hasn't come. And so we are still enduring in this world until that Sabbath rest is fulfilled in Christ supremely. And so he says, endure now. You'll get to rest later. Absolutely. Yeah? So is all of Revelation allegory or just portions of it? Is all of it an allegory or just portions of it? Well, I can say straight up not all of it is allegory, because we've got things like the letters to the churches. And so some of it is very straightforward. Are all the images and revelation an allegory? Answer this carefully. I'd have to make sure that I'm thinking through everything. I'd say, in general, yes. It's meant to show us pictures of what is going to happen from Christ to Christ. And so we have to take context of what's going on in Revelation and understand it by its Old Testament reference, and then understand what it's supposed to be saying to us. So. All of those things that are allegories that you made reference to earlier, would it be an unfair statement to say they were created things, even though they're in allegories, created things, and The beast, which I assume is capital B, as opposed to small b, is in control of that, as opposed to the dragon or the beast. OK. So in the sense that God is God over all, the beast is God over the earthly realm. Yeah. So is the beast safe? Is the beast, yeah. And so I would say, as we go through Revelation, the dragon is Satan. The dragon is the one, the ancient serpent. It's actually spelled out in Revelation 12 that the dragon is the ancient serpent. And so the beast, there's two of them. And what are the beasts? The first one is the beasts, plural, out of Daniel 7. The first beast, the second beast, the third beast, the fourth beast, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and then all combined and said the beast are the imperial powers of this world that will always oppose the church. The dragon is Satan, the god over the prince of the power of this world. He's been cast out of heaven. He has no authority there anymore. But he's been cast down to earth in great wrath. And he does hold strong authority in this world to be the prince of the power of this air. And under the dragon, he has set up his authority structures through the beasts, which are the imperial powers of this world and the cultic worship of this world. Is that answering your question a little bit? Oh, yeah. That's good. Do you want to keep going? Well, you know, I was just sitting here thinking, OK, how do we make this real in our life as analogists? So what do we see in the world that we could plug in and say, hmm, that kind of sounds familiar from analogists. And for some reason, I'm sitting here listening to you, and I'm thinking, We live in a world of governments, and we live in a world of economic systems. And they're kind of blended. And I'm sitting here thinking, you know, everything that you're talking about that's, I'm going to use the words, sound bad, in terms of the efforts of the dragon and the beast, sure sounds like communism to me. I'm not saying capitalism is any better. I'm not saying that. But I'm just saying, oppression, fighting God, at least my knowledge, my limited knowledge of the tenets of communism. Not that I want to bring this discussion down to earth, but... No, you're right, that's where we should bring it down to, and I'm not going to disagree with you. Communist governments are assuredly 100% accurate representations of the beast. But then I would come and say, every earthly government Every earthly government is a representation of the beast. And it's actually been a danger and failure of the American church not to recognize that, to think that we contain the beast and make it our own. And so that's not a call not to be involved. We've been given ability, even on this Tuesday, I forgot there's an election. But we've been given power to interact with our government and we should use that power in ways that are good that we want to represent the land and all that we do and as much as we have a voice to say, this is the way that government should be under Christ, we should exercise that But this world does belong to the dragon, not portions of this world. Yeah, we can look at other countries and say, yeah, we can see these things in China. We can see these things in Russia, wherever we look. But we also have to be able to look at ourselves and say, we see these things now. And so as our government runs and towards things like pushing LGBTQ or whatever they're pushing us towards, we say, yeah. We were lulled into a false security that we had tamed the beast, that we're saying we haven't. the beast is still going to oppose us and run after us. Does that answer what you're talking about? I don't have an answer. There's lots of questions. That's fair. Yes. With that, because, I mean, my mind actually goes political probably way too often. I went political in a much different direction, not that communists isn't a concern, but that when we see communists, we run to the other side and say, this man or this group is fighting, and we go to join their fight against communism instead of running to Christ. And I find myself doing that. That's a danger that Revelation is talking about. That we look to man and say, we can stop this. We can control the beast. We're not called to run away, are we? No. No. We're called to exist and keep preaching Christ's message. But I think you're exactly right. Revelation is an extremely political book. I'm slowly trying to draw that out. Revelation is extremely political. But it will look at us and say, you're all not political enough. The thing is, all governments of this world belong to the beast, belong to the dragon. And you have an allegiance that's infinitely deeper than those things. You might participate in the movement, whatever shallow surface that you have ability to, but your allegiance is to the land. And if that beast goes that way, like, sorry, bye, beast. We're going that way. Yeah. Joseph's son, who by far, far from a perfect preacher, he was persecuted in Romania as a preacher. And one of the things that he said to me, with a gun to his head, he said, you have the power to kill me, and I have the power to die. It's your decision. Either way is fine with me. And they wouldn't kill him because they didn't want to make him a martyr. But that is our power against the beast, is to be a martyr. Absolutely. And that's why the call is for endurance. Yeah, lots of people back here. So yeah, go ahead. Yeah. You've mentioned several times, Matt, that the governments today or the empires are representations of the beast. OK, we're seeing, or at least I see, Are we saying that the beast is here now? These governments are the beast? So I would say yes. Let me anticipate a little bit. If you're saying, is there a time when the beast will be one? I don't know. And I won't argue positive or minus to that, maybe. But taking what John is saying, his first point is at the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire has been gone a while. So if we were to take John seriously and then say there is a beast, it would have been the Roman Empire. And so I would say, well, that doesn't apply to us at all anymore. That'd be the predator's view. I'd say, no. What John's saying is the Roman Empire is the current manifestation of the beast. It's the same beast that existed in Babylon, or in Persia, or in Greece, or in Rome. And now it's in Rome now, and it may be somewhere else later in China, in America, in whatever imperial power comes. And may there be a time when the beast conglomerates together? I don't know. People would read Revelation that way. I hesitate to push that too strongly myself. But I also wouldn't argue it and say, we may see a day when the beast consolidates its power and just be, I don't know. Yeah. I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time, so to speak. I hope. Just recognizing that there are greater evils and fighting that fight is also our calling, in addition to primarily recognizing Christ as our refuge. Right. And so Jeremiah would tell us to seek the city because of the city to which you've been exiled. And then we can take that and expand it and say, yeah, we should be seeking good in this world as much as we're Christians. I would soften that call and say that it's at best a secondary call. But if you have the ability to do good in the world, you should do good in this world. But I think there's been a heart in the American church that says, our side is good and the other side is bad. And I think that's been really dangerous and is leading us towards really bad things to say no. Yeah, right. And so I don't go participate, go vote, vote for good things, things that represent Christ, but don't place any hope there. Yeah. One of the contrasts, one of the things, at least here on Earth, that we want to remember is that socialism and capitalism don't really have a problem with God. Communism's got a problem with God. Because to them, there is no God, and they don't want you to worship anything else but them. Socialism moves that way. Capitalism does not. I'm just talking from an economic and political system. So that's why I say there's something about communism that's a representation. And that's the name we use it today, where communism's probably existed prior to the Soviet Union, et cetera, et cetera. But I'm just trying to put it here in the context of what I see every day in the news, in our community, or whatever the case may be. But then here's a preview. We're going to keep going on in Revelation, and we're going to actually talk about economics a lot. Revelation talks about governments. It talks about worship. And it talks about economics. It knows those three things are things that are central to who we are. And it's going to say, those who are rich who have figured out how to make money, who have figured out how to gather the wealth of this world, it's going to look at that and say, it was just one more manifestation of that as well. And those things are all going to fall. So I don't ever disagree. Communist governments, absolutely. I think we should be really careful in saying, capitalists, not. We have to be super careful and say, no, those are all things that belong to this world. We belong to Christ. Say, OK, yeah, it's a blessing from God that we get to participate in whatever way we get to participate in our government. And I think there's good biblical things to having some freedom of how people use their own money. But those things are super secondary. So they all belong to this world. Sometimes I think we get caught up in the trees in the forest. Yeah. Not that all these things don't matter, but the one thing that I see more clearly than anything in all of Revelation chapter 14 is how the direct, very, very stark contrast between the lamb stood and those who were with him stood, a symbol of victory. And then when it talks of Babylon and the beast and all that is represented in them, it doesn't just say that they're fallen. It says, fallen, fallen is the city Babylon. The destruction of this world and all that is represented in it, everything that is opposed to Christ, ultimately, its destruction will not only be partial, but in fullness. And that's our hope. That's our hope. It's not government systems. It's not saying that this side is going to win out over this side. It's not aligning with one of them. It's that we're aligned with Christ, and that ultimately, In Him, we are victorious. Whether this world kills us or not, our death will not be full. I think he's exactly right. And the answer is found in the text that you just preached today. There are two groups of people. Those who belong to Christ and those who do not. It's not about a particular nation. It's not about a particular economic view or system. There is one distinguishing mark. The mark is those who belong to the Christ. That is a people. And that is the group. That's where the circle is inscribed, is around that particular people. Everything else aside. And so if we were to bring it to this world, we'd say we have much more in common with a Christian in China under a very different system than we do with whatever secular government we have right now. Because that's secondary. It's ephemeral. And so, yeah, the land and the world are opposites. Yeah? So when you're talking about the idea of all governments being one form or another of this beast, how do you, as far as living now as a Christian, whether it's the beast or not, we have to deal with it? Right. So how do you rectify the way you relate to that with the verses about, you know, when Jesus says, render and receive, render and do Caesar, and the Old Testament talks about the government being on his shoulders. How do you kind of make that fit? Right. That's the exact question we should be asking. Good. And I would say that verse actually gives us the answer. Whenever we can, We look at the beast, we look at the governance of this world, and say, you're following after the wrong thing, and I don't belong to you. My allegiance is not to you. But here's what my Lord called me to do. Whenever I can, I obey you. Whenever I can, I obey you. That's my political statement is, you know what? You're wrong, and I can still obey you. Until the contrast of, I'm pulling the limb. When you're going away from the Lamb, I'm not going to follow you. And so it calls for wisdom and discernment, absolutely, but to say, when is our government calling us to run away from Christ? When is our government calling us to disobey the commands of Christ? When is our government calling us to not do the things that Christ calls us to do? And that's when we say, politely, kindly, and recognizing you have all the power in this world, but I will not submit. Okay, that lasted a long time. Apparently Brian wants to say something and then we'll be done. Okay. Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a gold crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out to the temple crying with a loud voice to him, and he sat on the cloud. Put in your sickle and wreath, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe. And so it says, harvest of the earth. And then over here at the end, where he's talking about the wicked, he says, put in a sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth." Right. What did I miss in translation that, because, you know, I see the vine of the earth, of the earth. Right. It says, of the earth. Is there something a little more obvious there that should cause us to see the means, not those who are of the, because I assume he says, I assume he's contrasting the vine of the earth with the vine of Israel. So what we're saying is there's two separate reaping events. There's a first reaping and a second reaping. The first reaping, it doesn't say anything about them other than they're reaped by the lamb. And in the second reaping, it's very clear that that reaping goes and gets trodden in the wine press. Some would argue. I'm not sure that there's a lot of point in arguing. But I think that we're seeing two events. And so we're seeing Matthew, just come back to Matthew 13, said there's going to be a double harvest, one to righteousness and eternal life, and one to eternal suffering. And then, yeah, we could argue over that back and forth. And I'm not sure that we know that that's a true principle, regardless of how we interpret that passage. When I looked at it, it looked like obviously the second one had to be the harvest of the wicked. I'm going to sit down now.