Well, good morning, church.
Would you turn with me to Revelation chapter 14?
That's page 972 in the Pew Bible.
We're going to look at the whole chapter today, Revelation 14.
As you turn there, let me ask, how was it waking up this morning?
Did you wake up with the morning sun, ready to tackle the day, full of joy?
Or did you have to drag yourself out of bed and muscle through and shake your fist at the St. Patrick's Day race on the way to town this morning, whatever it was for you?
You know, the spiritual life, life in God's Spirit as a follower of Jesus, can sometimes be like waking up, ready to tackle the day.
But sometimes it can also feel like needing to drag yourself out of bed and muscle through.
That is, sometimes it can feel hard to persevere, to keep up, and to carry on.
And that's how many of the Christians felt to whom this book of Revelation was originally written.
They lived in the last third of the first century.
The Roman Empire around them was powerful and, for many, comfortable and seemed to promise prosperity and peace.
That is, it promised those things so long as you got with the program, burned your incense to the emperor as God, and got in line with the political economy of the empire,
which went something like conquer, oppress, tax, repeat.
Now, Christians were already on the outside of the dominant culture.
After all, worshiping a crucified Jew from Palestine wasn't going to win you any immediate points with your neighbors.
But as the emperor cult began to increase, Christians found that more costly forms of oppression were on the rise.
Some had even been martyred at this point for refusing to worship the beast of Rome.
And so, they needed strength to endure, to persevere, to keep up and carry on.
And the truth is, so do we.
When hard times come, when it looks easier to just go along with the world around us,
we can be tempted to just give up or give in.
And so, it's to hearts just like our own that Revelation 14 was written.
Before we dive into each section, look down with me at verse 12, if you have it open.
In verse 12, we read,
Here is a call for the endurance of the saints,
those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
John, the writer of Revelation, wants to fuel our endurance.
He's writing this so that we will keep up and keep on, persevere in faith and obedience.
That's the big idea.
And each section of this chapter gives us, then, a reason to persevere.
To persevere in faith, that is, in trust in the Lord Jesus,
and to persevere in obedience to God's commands.
That is, His Word and His ways that are written for our flourishing.
So, let's take a look at each paragraph, then,
and hear these encouragements to endurance, to perseverance in faith and obedience.
The first thing that John is going to point to in verses 1 through 5 is joy.
He's saying here, keep up and keep on, because there is joy for those who persevere.
There's joy for those who persevere.
Let me read verses 1 through 5.
John says,
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 Lord,
and before the Lord, 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.
Now, we saw earlier in Revelation, in chapter 7,
that this 144,000 is a way of speaking about the church.
It's a symbolic number picking up the Old Testament number 12 for the 12 tribes of Israel,
and the number 1,000, which is a complete number, a number denoting fullness.
So we have here 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes equaling 144,000, right?
And then Revelation, chapter 7, immediately juxtaposes that symbolic counting of God's people
with a vision of a multitude that no one could number,
from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb.
So these two pictures together show us that this symbolic numbering of the people of God
is giving us a picture of the church in its fullness, in its completeness.
Not one is missing.
Everyone on whom God has set His saving favor and love in Christ,
each one is counted for.
But this numbering of the people of God also reminds us of the Old Testament book of Numbers,
the fourth book of the Old Testament, that begins with God numbering the people He has redeemed from Egypt, right?
And why is God numbering them?
Because they're getting ready to march to the promised land,
and the way to the promised land is through the wilderness.
In fact, the Hebrew title of the book of Numbers is Bamidbar, in the wilderness,
which seems like a more exciting title than Numbers, right?
You know?
The people are numbered because they're getting ready to march through wilderness and trial
and eventually into battle.
So the image of 144,000 in Revelation is a picture of God's people,
not just numbered and known,
but counted and prepared for trials and even spiritual battle.
And when you consider the context of chapter 14,
it makes sense that John would return to this particular image of the church.
Why?
Well, because in chapters 12 and 13, leading up to this,
John has been showing us the great spiritual battle between Satan, the accuser, and the church.
At the end of chapter 12, the dragon is pictured as raging against the church,
and then in chapter 13, he raises up two beasts that will make war on the saints to conquer them.
And it seems in those chapters as if the whole world goes after this unholy trinity,
this counterfeit God of the dragon and his two beasts.
And as Pastor Matt showed us last week,
this strategy of counterfeiting and beastly deception and violence
isn't just describing something that happened in the past,
nor is it just talking about something that will happen in the future,
but it's describing an ongoing pattern of this spiritual war throughout the church age.
But the question is, how?
How's the church going to fare in the midst of this war?
What will become of God's people known and loved?
What will happen to the church while the many beasts down through history
do their best to take the place of God and sweep the nations up
in their programs of power and propaganda
and attempt to trample the church of the crucified and risen Jesus?
Well, chapter 14 shows us.
The people of God we see here are safe.
They are preserved.
Not one is lost.
They numbered 144,000 in chapter 7,
and despite the wilderness, despite the war,
144,000 they remain.
Jesus says in John 10, 28,
I give them eternal life,
and they will never perish,
and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Jesus preserves his church.
He preserves them here in number,
and we see he preserves them here in purity and holiness.
Look at verses 4 and 5.
Verse 4 speaks of holiness of body.
Verse 5 speaks of holiness of speech.
And then right in the middle,
we see a picture of holiness of heart, right?
They follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
They belong to Him like the first portion of the harvest
was gladly given to God, the first fruits.
Now, this picture of holiness is obviously painted
with broad strokes by John.
Verse 4 doesn't mean that every single Christian
ought to remain single their whole life, right?
No, sex we know is a good gift from God.
It's meant to be enjoyed in the context of marriage,
and there's forgiveness and healing
for those who have fallen short, right?
What is it that makes the church blameless?
It's the grace of God
and the righteousness of Christ,
not our works.
But the point that John wants to drive home here
in verses 4 and 5
is that the church,
despite all that the dragon and his beasts
throw against it,
the church remains wholly devoted to the Lamb
who stands firm in his heavenly Zion,
reigning as the world's true king,
even though imposters try to usurp
his rightful place in every age.
Now, that brings us to the center of the paragraph,
verses 2 and 3.
This 144,000 who are preserved in number
and preserved in holiness,
they hear a song.
Flooding down from the hills of Zion
is the sound of an orchestra,
and on it,
waves of a new song are brought forth
from the throne of God.
And this new song is not one
that just anybody can sing.
No, this song,
this song only finds its place
on the tongues and the hearts of whom.
The church,
the 144,000,
those saints who have marched
through the wilderness,
who have known the scars of battle,
this song is theirs,
and it's theirs alone.
You see, Christian,
there's a special joy for you,
a unique song for you,
because you have fought the good fight.
A song that only you will sing,
a joy that only you will know,
together with those who have fought by your side.
And of course,
it's a song that we can sing right now.
This joy that's being described here,
this song,
isn't only for a future day,
it's flowing down the slopes of Zion
and into our ears even now.
From what we've seen from Revelation,
how might we trace out the contours of this new song?
The crucified lamb has conquered.
Sin and death have been defeated.
My sin, though great,
has been forgiven.
And even the worst that the dragon throws against you
will be turned to your good
because of God's sovereign purpose,
plan, and love for his people.
When the enemy sends his scorching heat
and you think your streams will all be dried up,
God causes that heat to produce clouds.
The clouds grow heavy with rain,
and in season,
God causes the rains to fall,
and they bring you refreshment and joy.
What Satan meant for evil,
God turns to good.
Or when the enemy sends his dark coldness
and you think that all life and light and heat are gone,
God causes the snow to bring,
God causes that cold to bring snow.
And the snow falls gently,
and the landscape that once seemed barren
is now white and beautiful once again.
The new song is the song of the redeemed.
It's a song for all those in Christ.
It's a song of joy for those who persevere.
Christian, do you know something of this song?
The song of joy?
Perhaps you need to spend some time
with an older saint,
one who has faced more trials than you,
and listen to their life and to their story
and learn some of the notes of this song of joy.
But be assured of this,
God will grant you his joy
as you persevere in faith and obedience.
It is not a lifeless or endlessly somber road
that he calls you to walk.
No, God will meet you on the road with joy,
and the strains of the heavenly new song
will come to your ears
and encourage your heart.
So keep up and keep on,
because there's joy for those who persevere.
In the next section of Revelation 14,
John will turn our sights from joy to rest.
Keep up and keep on,
because there is rest for those who persevere.
Let me read verses 6 through 13.
John writes,
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 or 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.
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.
You know, when we face hardships or trials
in the Christian life,
it can feel at times like there's simply
no rest and no comfort to be found.
And then, you know, when we get into that place,
kind of spiritually and emotionally,
we can be tempted to look at the world around us
and think that we see there a picture of just the opposite.
You know, we think,
they're not struggling with faith or obedience.
They've cast those things aside
and now they seem at ease.
They seem at rest.
Why not just join them?
Why not just give in?
Life is short.
Am I really supposed to take up a cross
and follow Jesus?
What sort of life is that?
It's easy to get in that place.
But remember the words of Jesus, friends.
What does it profit someone, Jesus once said,
to gain the whole world
and to lose your soul?
Life is short.
There is no doubt about that.
But friends, eternity is very long.
James Joyce in his novel,
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,
describes eternity using this powerful metaphor.
I'm just going to paraphrase it.
You know, he says,
imagine a beach and all those grains of sand.
And then he says,
take those grains of sand
and pile them up as high as you can go.
A thousand, ten thousand,
a hundred thousand miles.
Make a pillar of that sand.
Now picture a bird coming
and taking one grain of that sand
and flying away.
And every year the bird returns.
How many years would it take
for the bird to diminish that pillar of sand?
And Joyce says,
when it gets to the bottom,
eternity's just begun.
Friends, eternity's very long.
And what verse 13 tells us
is that there is a rest to come
for those in the Lord
that far outstrips
any temporal rest or ease
this world might be able to offer.
Whatever rest you feel like you're forgoing now,
oh, friends, it's no sacrifice at all
compared to what waits in eternity.
You know, this rest was written
into the very fabric of creation.
This rest.
God embodied
in the Old Testament instructions
this rest
as he told his people
to keep the Sabbath day
over and over and again.
It was this picture.
This weekly Sabbath rest
was pointing to something
much greater
than a simple temporary pause
and our labor
as necessary as that is.
Right?
This pattern of Sabbath
was pointing to an even greater Sabbath,
a greater rest,
an eternal Sabbath rest.
And this real gift
of this eternal rest,
what is it?
How would we describe it?
Well, friends,
it is to be welcomed
and to be unashamed
in the very presence of God.
You know,
what you and I
were created for,
what the real deepest longing
of our heart is,
is communion with God,
union with Him.
And that's why verse 13
can say something
that sounds, you know,
almost paradoxical to our ears.
Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord
from now on.
Well, they're blessed
because they're present
with the One who created them.
And in the Lord,
all their sins are forgiven
and they are welcomed
and unafraid.
And there's this wonderful phrase,
they rest from their labors,
but their deeds follow them.
Think about that.
On the one hand,
the day is coming
when we will get to rest
from our labors.
No more striving,
suffering,
persevering.
We will step into
the eternal Sabbath.
The rest of Christ
will be ours forever
forever because He
is our Sabbath rest.
And at the same time,
John says,
our deeds will follow us.
Now, what does that mean?
Well, do you remember
Ephesians 2
where Paul says
that God has saved us
by His grace,
but He's prepared
in advance for us
good works
that we ought to do?
We've been created
by grace
for the works
that God prepared
in advance for us to do.
And what John's
pointing us to here
is that those works
of faith and obedience
that God prepared
in advance for us
to do in the strength
of His grace,
they won't be lost.
They aren't meaningless
or absurd.
God in His infinite grace
will take our imperfect labors
in this life
and sweep them up
into His eternal kingdom
and into the new heavens
and new earth to come.
And friends,
that will be ultimate rest.
To know not just
that your labors
can finally cease,
but that all you've struggled
and strived for
will play a part
in the new world
God is creating.
So don't give up,
brothers and sisters.
Keep up and keep on.
But John here also issues
a warning.
For the Christian,
there is eternal rest
that awaits them.
But for those
who've rejected Christ,
there is eternal unrest.
As the angelic messengers
ring forth in John's vision,
they proclaim the gospel
that Christ died for sinners
and that all who turn to Him
shall be saved.
And then they announce
that Babylon,
the worldly city,
will fall.
And that for those
who have rejected God
in Christ
and who have knowingly
or unknowingly
given their allegiance
to the evil one,
God's judgment will come.
And their eternal state
will be one of conscious,
unending unrest.
The smoke of their torment,
John says,
goes up forever and ever,
and they have no rest
day or night.
What keeps you up at night?
Anxieties?
Fears?
Guilt?
Shame?
Regret?
Friend, to die
and to be without Christ,
without His shed blood
forgiving your sins,
to be separated
once and for all
from the presence of God,
what will be left for us?
There will be no rest,
John says.
Having spent your whole life
refusing God's mercy,
the time will come
when God says,
once and for all,
thy will be done.
And when God removes
His mercy,
all that remains
will be the undiluted
opposition of God
to sin.
The wine of God's wrath
poured full strength
into the cup of His anger.
In the ancient world,
when they served wine
at a party,
they would often dilute it
with water
to kind of make it go
a little further
and to take the strength down.
The image here is of a cup
utterly unmixed,
utterly undiluted,
handed to drink.
This is what you've wanted,
and now in judgment,
it is what you receive.
The scriptures teach
quite clearly and terribly
that for those who refuse
the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the only future for them
is conscious,
eternal,
and horrible.
Many have questioned
whether we can believe
such a thing.
Doesn't this kind of seem
a little unfair of God,
we ask?
How could eternal punishment
be a just sentence
for finite human rejection
of God, right?
We've only, like,
rejected God
for a finite number of years.
How can an infinite punishment
be at all just?
But the problem, friends,
is that we're thinking
about things in that way.
When we frame things that way,
we're thinking about things
in a very human-centered way,
not in a God-centered way.
You see, God is infinitely beautiful,
good, and merciful.
And to sin against
an infinitely worthy object
justly requires
an infinite sentence.
You know, if I visited your home
and kind of maybe intentionally
sort of broke one of your mugs,
you know,
it's like,
you know,
I don't like the chiefs,
you know, whatever.
What would the penalty be?
Like,
five, ten bucks,
you know?
Maybe you had to order it
on the internet
so it's like,
twenty,
because they're shipping.
But what if I broke
the heirloom vase
in your china cupboard,
the one that's been passed down
in your family
for generations
that's, like,
not replaceable?
Like, what would the penalty
be then?
Thousands of dollars?
Tens of thousands of dollars?
You see,
it's the object of the offense
that determines
the kind of weight
and justice of the punishment,
right?
But what if it wasn't
a mug or a vase,
right?
What if I harmed your spouse
or your child?
What would be the cost then?
Can you even put
a dollar amount to that?
Would a million dollars
even begin to repay
what I've done?
And now,
what about the infinitely
worthy God
who made you
and the world
and everything in it,
who keeps you
and everything beautiful
in this creation
existing every single second?
What if I live
not just one day,
but every day
rejecting Him,
ignoring Him,
dishonoring Him,
using His creation
for my own ends
to His dishonor,
rebelling against Him?
sin.
Sin against the eternal God
justly demands
an eternal punishment.
And that's why
the first angel
flies forth
proclaiming
the eternal gospel.
There's only one
who could pay
the eternal sentence
of sin.
Who is worthy enough
to pay the penalty
not just for one sinner,
but for every sinner
who repents and believes?
Who could possibly pay
that infinite mountain,
that pillar
of infinite sand
that we've accumulated
because of our rejection
of God?
It's obvious, right?
Only God
is worthy to pay
that penalty.
Only if God
were to descend
into the darkness
of wrath and sin,
only if God
were to experience
the terrible unrest
of sin's penalty,
only then
could we ever hope
to be saved,
only if God chose
to do that
in our place.
And friends,
that
is
exactly
the gospel,
the good news.
In Jesus Christ,
God took
human flesh
to live
and to die
to pay
that horrible
sentence.
On the cross,
Jesus descended
into the depths
of wrath
to pay sin's
awful,
infinite cost.
And on the cross,
do you know
what Jesus said?
It's finished.
The infinite cost
has been paid
because the infinite
God became finite
and died for you.
And now the offer
comes forth.
Will you receive
that gift
or will you continue
to push it away
to your own demise?
Friends,
there is eternal rest
for all who trust
in Christ.
And he says
to all of us today,
come to me,
all you who are weary
and heavy burdened,
and I will give you rest.
He's the only one
who can do it.
He's the only one
who can give you
that rest.
You're not going
to get it
from church attendance,
although church attendance
is good.
You're not going
to get it
from trying to be
a good moral person,
although we need
more of those around,
right?
And you're not going
to get it
from trying to be
a more spiritual
or religious person.
It's not going
to be external religion
or good moral effort
or spiritual connection
with the divine.
You're not going
to find the rest there.
It's only in Jesus.
Come to me,
he says,
and I will give you rest.
Have you stopped
trying to rest
in your own record
and your own efforts
and your own
supposed goodness?
Have you stopped
resting in those things?
And have you rested
in him?
That's the invitation
for all of us today.
And if you do rest
in him,
then this is the promise
for you,
that there is eternal
rest for you
now and in the age
to come.
So don't give up
and don't give in.
Well, let's look finally
at the last section
of chapter 14.
John has held up
for us joy and rest,
and lastly,
he's going to point us
to justice.
Keep up and keep on
because there is justice
for those who persevere.
Let me read
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.
Now we've seen
that Revelation
presents the return
of Christ
multiple times
throughout the book
and from multiple perspectives.
And here's another
one of those pictures
of Christ,
the Son of Man,
the one on the cloud,
his return in glory
to save and to judge
at the end of history.
And here the image
is a harvest, right?
And actually,
there's two harvests here.
In the first harvest,
the Son of Man,
that is Jesus,
gathers the ripe grain
into his barn, right?
And I think this is
a picture of Jesus
gathering his people
into his presence
at the end of the age.
And it's a comforting picture.
Harvests were times
of rejoicing
and celebration
and that day
will be one of great joy
as Christ comes
and gathers us
to himself.
But there's a second harvest
in verses 17 through 20.
And this image
strikes us at first
as very troubling.
What's pictured
is a grape harvest
and the grapes
are gathered
and then crushed
in a winepress.
But we're told
that this winepress
is the wrath of God.
That is God's
ultimate rejection
of evil.
And what flows
from the winepress
is a shocking scene.
1600 stadia
was about 200 miles,
give or take.
And that's approximately
the length
of the Old Testament,
the length of the
Old Testament land
of Israel, right?
And in the symbolic
language of Revelation,
what we're meant
to take away,
I think,
is that this is a picture
of complete
worldwide judgment.
Now what are we meant
to take away
from this picture?
Well, we've seen
many times in Revelation
that the coming judgment
is meant to be
a warning.
It's a warning
calling us
to turn to God
and receive
his forgiveness.
forgiveness.
But judgment
and justice
is also meant
to be a comfort.
A comfort
not for the comfortable,
not for the powerful,
not for the emperor
and his wicked,
self-exalting designs.
But justice
is meant to be
a comfort
for the powerless
and for the comfortless,
for the downtrodden,
for the weak,
for the oppressed,
for the poor.
For the Christians
in the first century
and in the 21st century
who are being unjustly
persecuted,
imprisoned,
killed,
the coming justice
of God
is good news
because it means
one day
evil will end.
Wickedness will end.
Injustice and oppression
will end.
It will all be gathered
into the winepress
of God
and crushed
no more
to threaten
his people
or his world
anymore.
And God's judgment
will be perfect.
You know,
our system of justice
is far from perfect,
right?
Mistakes are made.
Lawyers and judges
can be corrupt.
Humans cannot possibly
judge perfectly.
But God can
and God will.
On that day,
no one will question
the rightness
of his judgment.
It will be seen
as perfect justice.
And that means
oppression will cease
and wars will cease
and hunger
and violence
will be no more.
They will go
into the winepress
of his wrath
never to return.
Yes,
it's a sobering picture,
but for those
who are crushed
under the weight
of evil
and sin
and oppression,
it's a picture
of hope
that it will not last.
Do you see how
this message
of God's coming justice,
this harvest,
is meant to help
suffering Christians
persevere in faith
and obedience?
Evil and wrong
won't have the last word.
The tyrants
and the bullies
that prey on the weak
will come to an end.
So John is saying,
keep up and keep on.
Though it looks like
evil is winning.
Though it looks like
every effort
to stand up
for love
and forgiveness
and peace,
even though that looks
like a lost cause.
Though it seems like
living in righteousness
and praying for justice
are a dead end.
When you're so tempted
to pick up
the means
that this world
holds forth
as the means
to an end.
Don't do it.
Don't give up.
The seeds
that you are sowing now,
though they seem
like a mustard seed,
they will grow,
they will take root,
and the harvest
will come.
Evil and death
and all the world systems
that prop them up
will be crushed
never again to rise.
And the mustard seeds
of faith
and hope
and love
will be seen
to be the real
lasting fruit.
And the Son of Man
will gather it
to Himself
and His kingdom
will be forever.
And the new heavens
and the new earth
will be a garden
and a city
where righteousness
dwells forever.
True and lasting justice
is coming, saints.
Persevere in faith.
Persevere in obedience.
Don't give up.
Let's pray.
Amen.
Father, we ask
that you would,
by your Holy Spirit,
work into our hearts
a perseverance
born
from the deep joy
that we have in you,
from the rest
that you promise us,
and from the great justice
that will come.
Lord, help us to run
this race with endurance,
looking to Jesus,
the author and finisher
of our faith.
In His name we pray.
Amen.