16th Episode - Lamb Followers: Seven Descriptions from Revelation 14:1-20

 The lyrics of a song, popularized by John Lennon, invite us to “Imagine there’s no Heaven; it’s easy if you try, no hell below us, above us only sky.” The melody is soothing as the song further envisions “no country, no possessions, and no religion too.” 

Cancel all antitheses, avowed in the Bible like Heaven and hell and you arrive at utopia. That’s a motivating theme of the post-modern era; the erasure of life’s antithesis. Blend opposites and do away with differences is also Babylon’s answer to mankind’s dilemma. In Revelation, as throughout Scripture, contrasts are numerous and extensive. In fact, the antithesis, which began with Adam’s sin, reaches its zenith in the Apocalypse. 

Antithesis is John’s chief teaching method, and what a way to learn. Experiences bear out that contrasts are part and parcel of life. We learn what is good by its contrast to evil, light by darkness, life by death, blessing by cursing, and what’s real by what is fake. Not only is the Dragon’s Beast best known in contrast to God’s Lamb – so it is with their followers. Revelation chapter fourteen shows us the Lamb and His genuine followers. In chapter thirteen, we saw the Dragon, cast to earth, standing on the sand of the seashore. 

In chapter fourteen, we see the Lamb, caught up to Heaven, standing on Mount Zion. Christians possess upward mobility, but Satan and his crowd are headed down. Satan’s war efforts were exposed in chapter thirteen, but now we behold the victorious saints who overcame him. We saw that the Beast marks his followers too, since the Lamb marks His own. The followers of the Beast and Lamb are as different as the Ones they follow. Here we ponder seven main characteristics of those who follow the Lamb. 

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Unseal Book Podcast. I'm Mark Roser. In Revelation, as throughout Scripture, contrasts are numerous and extensive. It reminds me of the lyrics of a song popularized by John Lennon. These contrasts, this antithesis. You remember the song Invite Us to Imagine There's No Heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Well the melody is soothing as the song further envisions no country, no possessions, and no religion too. Well, cancel all antithesis about in the Bible, like heaven and hell, and according to the song you arrive at utopia. Well, that's a motivating theme of the postmodern era. The erasure of all life's antithesis, blend all the opposites, and do away with all the differences. That's Babylon's answer to mankind's dilemma. Mix it all. Yeah? Mix it all together. A great mixing of everything. Syncretism is what missions call it. Well, in Revelation, these antithesis began with Adam's sin. Death entered the world. There was no longer just light, there was death. There was no longer just righteousness, there was sin. They reach its zenith in the apocalypse, the antithesis in John's teaching. It's his chief teaching method. And what a way to learn. I mean, experiences bear out that contrasts are part and parcel of light. Pleasure and pain. We learn what is good by its contrast to evil. I mean, light by darkness, life by death, blessing by cursing. What is real by what is counterfeit and faith. So not only is the dragon's beast best known in contrast to God's Lamb, so it is with their followers. Revelation chapter 14 shows us the Lamb and his genuine followers. Remember in chapter 13, we saw the dragon cast to the earth, standing on the sand of the seashore, and yes, he brought forth the sea beast and the earth or land beast. Well, now in chapter 14, we see the lamb caught up to heaven, standing on Mount Zion. Christians possess with Christ upward mobility, but Satan and his crowd are headed down. Satan's war efforts were exposed in chapter 13, but now we behold the victorious saints who overcame the dragon and his beast by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony as cited in Revelation 12. We saw that the beast marks his followers as the Lamb did in Revelation chapter 7. That mark was the Holy Spirit, the seal of the Holy Spirit. So the followers of the beast and the lamb are as different as the ones they follow. Now, here, ponder seven main characteristics of those who follow the Lamb. Lamb followers stand on Mount Zion. Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his father's name written on their forehead. And I heard a sound from heaven, like the roar of rushing waters, and like a peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. Notice the word like again, like the roar of rushing waters, like that of harpists playing. All the symbolism. That's Revelation 14, verse 1 and 2. So Jesus stands victorious on Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, and with him are thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, and the spirits of righteous men made perfect, which is what we're seeing. Moses stood on an earthly mount and needed to hold his hands up with the rod for Israel to defeat Amalek. But Jesus, he's already prevailed because his hands were stretched out on Calvary's tree. His victory ensures us we will win in our day. God's Son stands on Zion's holy mountain because he had clean hands and a pure heart. He was sinless. There's no way around the fact that Jesus is the Lamb standing, standing in the midst of the throne, standing now on Mount Zion. Then I looked is a key phrase in Revelation. John is shown seven vivid scenes of the saints in glory. You can get my book, The Unsealed Book, mcroser.com. Much details, great footnotes. We're not able to go into all the detail on these podcasts, but we are seeing the Lord Jesus is coming, and his coming is near. And because James says the judge is standing at the door, he stands ready to come. And so John sees him standing. That's the eminence of Christ, that he's coming. It's drawing near. And this is to stimulate and safeguard us with the return of Christ. It must be central in our vision, our thoughts, our living, holy, our evangelizing, holy, for it can take place at any moment. There's no room for carelessness or unconcern. Yes, John sees the Lamb and the Father's name written on our foreheads. We saw this group, the 144,000, earlier, as we mentioned in Revelation 7, 12,000 out of each of the 12 tribes. Now this second group appeared also in Revelation 7, a great multitude, which were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. We did see the gospel is first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. But God will turn his hand again, a second time we've seen, once the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, to bring in a full number of Jewish believers. So these are God's people, owned by God, bought with a price, marked and numbered. They're contrasted to the worshipers of the beast who are marked and numbered too. The beast number is 666. We saw that as representing unredeemed mankind. Wow, God's disciples, 12 times 12, raised to a thousand. Old and New Testament saints, 12 times 12, a thousand completeness. Now, the Lamb's followers, the second feature we see, not only are they on Mount Zion and with Christ, they sing a new song, a song of redemption. John not only sees, but hears, which sounds like harpists playing their harps. The sound is sweet and soft, high and holy. It reveals another contrast, lamb worship, contrasted to that of beast worship. We saw the worshipers of the beast, but the worshipers of the Lamb worship in spirit and truth. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one, no one could learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth. Well, John does not disclose the actual words to this song because no one was able to learn it. It is surely a song of triumph, a hymn of victory to Christ, who made us free. Yes, the sense of triumph must come also from the memory of the chain being broken, the chain of sin. No angel can sing it so sweetly as the redeemed can, because the angels have not known the breaking of the bondage of sin, like you and I. Yes, there are songs that only the sons of men can fully sing. It's the strain of redemption. The unredeemed can't learn it. They can't learn such songs. No art can teach it, no rules of voice, only that of a redeemed heart. Well, beast worship comes naturally. It's common to man. It's an old song of self that Adam sang in Eden when he sang along with Satan. Well, Christian worship, adoration, praise is our response to God saving us. Yes, we give God our worship. And the Hebrew word here is to bow down. It includes bodies bowing, hands lifted, mouths confessing. And it is before the throne. It's unto God. Worship is unto God in spirit and in truth. Otherwise it's done in vain. Jesus warned, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Worship must come from a humble heart, stricken by the majesty of God's love, power, and wisdom. Such worship is not of this world, it is before the Lamb. Well, beware of today's worship when it's showy, staged like a performance, and you can't even sing it. It's more entertainment done before men to receive their acclaim. Yes, equally empty are religious rituals that inspire no one, forms that have no power. When you worship, it matters. Who and how you worship needs to be heartfelt with hope and awe and joy and confidence. Yes, it glorifies God when our hearts delight in his magnificence and we find ourselves satisfied with who he is. Yes, the Lamb followers, the third thing we see is they are blameless. Yes, these are those who did not defile themselves with women. They kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouth. They are blameless. Well, they're perhaps virgins, or that is symbolic, because we know not all the redeemed are celibate. But the bride of Christ, Paul says, was to be like a chaste virgin. And yes, marriage is honorable and all, and the bed undefiled. John may be giving us a picture of the symbolic elements of the redeemed. If not, this is a special group that are first fruits that fulfill these things literally. But we said in a book full of symbols, we would rather think the language is figurative, that they are pure, they are undefiled, which is a more encompassing description. They kept themselves pure in their relationship to people, to the things of this world. They're spotless. That's the church bride, contrasted to the prostitute with whom men commit fornification. Yes, Christ comes for a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless. So no wonder purity heads the list of virtues that Christ looks for in his church. Yes, as we said, they're lamb followers. They have forsaken a self-seeking life to wholeheartedly pursue their Lord. The tense of the verb here means to follow and to grow on following. They hid themselves, their life in Christ with him above, an unspeakable fellowship. They're willing to lack what others own and what they might have had, and to be unlike all others, so that they are only like him. Yes, they are purchased. Paul says, you were purchased with a price. They are the first fruits offering to God. Now, firstfruits are an offering made at the beginning. In Scripture, it is applied to Israel was holy unto the Lord, the first fruits. It speaks of the act of giving the first portions of one's income. First fruits is also used to refer to the resurrection of Christ, to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, even to the manifestations of the Spirit within a believer, and to the initial believers in a country. Paul talks of the first fruits and Archaea. Well, to the believers of this age, in relation to the human race, we have the first fruits. First fruits in Revelation is used as defined in the believers of this age. And they are truthful. They are faultless. They have Christ-like character. Now, to fooly contrast, the lamb and the beast followers would take a library of books. But this illustration highlights a core difference. Picture an older lady in a faded dress and her gray-haired husband in a worn suit. They step off a train in Boston. Without an appointment, they walk into the receptionary of the president of Harvard's office. His secretary at once imagines that such backwards people have no business at Harvard. She frowns. We want to see the president, the man says softly. He'll be busy all afternoon, the secretary snaps. We don't mind waiting, the lady replies. For two hours they wait, as the secretary ignores them, hoping they will go away. They don't. The frustrated secretary finally disturbs the president. Maybe if they just see you for two minutes, they'll leave. He sighs and he says, Okay, someone of my importance, he thinks. And the clutter and the reception. Well, the stern-faced president walks out of his office toward the couple, the lady informs him. We had a son who intended Harvard for a year. He was happy here, but a year ago he was killed in an accident. My husband-in-law and I would like to erect a memorial to him on campus. Untouched, the president gruffly says, Madam, we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, the place would look like a cemetery. Oh no, she quickly clarifies. Not a statue, something more. Maybe a building. The president rolls his eyes, glances at them and at his watch, and exclaims, A building? Do you have any idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in building. For a moment the lady is silent. The president looks pleased. He can see them all. But she then turns to her husband and calmly says, Is that all its cost? Why don't we start our own university in our son's name? Well, her husband nods and takes her by the hand. The president's face wilts in bewilderment, and Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walk away, traveling to Palo Alto, California, where they established the university that bears their son's name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about. Well, we must remember that we are followers of the humble Lamb, not a proud beast, and one day our father will measure every life and every deed by him. Well, the Lamb followers, a fourth feature, they have a message to proclaim, the eternal gospel to proclaim to all those who live on the earth, to every nation, tribe, language, and people. That we see in Revelation 14, the gospel, the call to repent, the forgiveness of sins, the promise of eternal life. Well, now is the time, Paul says, now is the day of salvation, and that is what the Lamb followers do. They're ready to share the witness of Christ. We also see that by doing so, a fifth feature, they overcame the beast in Babylon through their testimony. A second angel followed, saying, Follow, fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great. A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast, he too will drink of the wine of God's fury. He will be tormented with burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels as of the Lamb. This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. This is the second of the two specific calls for patient endurance. As Babylon is introduced, just like the beast made war. The beast from the land through political power, the beast from the sea through religious deception. And they may battle on the saints in war to overcome them through either force, that is, persecution and death, or through deception, through this mixing, which Babylon is astute at. Yes, here's John's first reference to Babylon in chapter 14 of Revelation, and his first reference concern her fall. But she will take places in the next two chapters. She will occupy her importance, which is equal in number to the two chapters for the seven churches. But John starts with her obituary, fallen, fallen is Babylon, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries. Yes, the cry, fallen is Babylon, is also found in the books of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel. Babylon holds a place bigger than historical Babylon. Babylon's fall is prerecorded. If only men could read their obituary beforehand, like the Swedish chemist Alfred Noble did. He awoke one morning to read his obituary in the local paper. Alfred Noble, the inventor of dynamite, who died yesterday, devised a way for more people to be killed in war than ever before, and he died a very rich man. Well, it was actually Alfred's older brother who had died, and a reporter had bungled the epitaph. The account, however, had a profoundly sobering effect on Noble. He decided he wanted to be known for something else, and he instituted the Nobel Prize. He used his money to award scientists and writers who foster peace. Noble said every man ought to have a chance to correct his epitaph in midstream and write a new one. Well, most men do not stay sober long enough to consider their end. They have drank Babylon's wine and have gone mad. The reason for the insanity is the mystery of the working of iniquity. Yes, it has an effect like alcohol. It deadens man's moral senses, making him bold to do what he would otherwise shun. But with restraint gone, all manner of sin is possible at the same time. Same time, Babylon's undiluted mixture awakens in man sinful pleasures like a harlot. Yet men are not aware of these demonic influences over them. And so the image follows that of judgment. The judgments are terrifying. They're tormented by fire and brimstone. God's undiluted anger. They don't rest day or night. The lamb followers will rest. This is another contrast. Then I heard a voice from heaven say, Write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from this time on. Yes, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them. I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the white cloud was one, like a son of man, with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. While another angel comes and tells him to thrust his sickle, the earth is ripe. And we know that death for Christians is like sleep at the end of a busy day. And many have gone on and been part of that great harvest. They await the dawn, the reward for their labors, the resurrection. Yes. When our children retire for the night, do we sorrow over their condition? Of course not, because we know they will awaken in the morning. While those who have slept died in the Lord, they rest. Just like the mother who tucks her darling in his crib, sings to him a soothing lullapie until his eyes close and he enters the land of forgetfulness. Then she tiptoes quietly out of the room, happy in her love for him. She knows she will hear the delight, some prattle of her child in the morning. There are no fears, no aching heart, no lonesomeness. Her child is merely sleeping. In the morning, his brightness will once again permeate the home. Well, with such assurances, we can be comforted when a loved one dies, they're secure in the father's bosom. Winston Churchill, his famous funeral, began with a bugular doing the taps, which is the universal signal to wake up. Yes, he had taps, he had a bugular placed on the other side of the great dome. That was Churchill's testimony. At the end of history, the last note will not be taps. It'll be the revelry. And that's what he had played, rather than taps. Well, the judgment at the end of the age is represented by a harvest. The wheat and tares have grown together. They will experience the sickle or the angels separating them at harvest. The word sickle, a symbol of the harvest. And Jesus told his disciples, apart from the Father, no one, not even the Son, knows the day or the hour. What Jesus taught in Revelation comes out in a dramatic, visionary manner. For the angel shouts, put your sickle in now. Well, lamb followers do not fear judgment. They do they don't shrink back. They are confident when Christ comes, they will meet him at his coming. Angels do participate in the gathering of the saints and the casting away of the wicked, according to Jesus' parable, and according to this picture, the angel swung his sickle in the earth. And there is a great winepress of God's wrath as well, and that's the harvest continues as men are right for judgment. And as the grapes of wrath are trampled underfoot, so in this judgment, God's wrath is expressed on the wicked. Some claim that a God of wrath is Old Testament only, and a God of love is New Testament, as though God were converted. But Revelation teaches otherwise. J.I. Packer says people who do not actually read the Bible confidently assure us that when we move from Old to New Testament, the theme of divine judgment fades into the background. But if we examine the New Testament even in the most cursory way, we find at once that the Old Testament emphasizes God's action as judge. Far removed from being reduced, is actually intensified. The entire New Testament is overshadowed by the certainty of a coming day of universal judgment. Well, ironically, the message of God's wrath is urgently needed in our days, but churches today seem less prepared to declare it, in spite of the fact that the seven bowls of wrath have been filling since John's day and depict the final judgment on a Christ-rejecting world. John's next two chapters, 15 and 16, depict God's wrath released. Jonathan Edwards provides a fitting picture of this in keeping with the imagery of Revelation. He says, it's like great waters that are damned for the present. They increase more and more and rise higher and higher till an outlet is given. The longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, whence once it is let loose. It is true, judge, of judgment also. Judgment has not been executed yet, but the floods of God's vengeance have been withhold. But man's guilt in the meantime is constantly increasing, and men are every day treasuring up more wrath. So the waters are constantly rising and waxing more and more. Well, in our next part on Babylon, we see against whom God's wrath is released. We read of seven bowls of wrath. We're told of Babylon's relationship to the beast and her judgment with the white horse rider. Well, that'll be for the next episode, but in the meantime, we do know the state of the church. When the church is lukewarm and feels like she has everything. She doesn't proclaim God's wrathful judgments. No, men are soothed in their conscience. They are told everything's okay, only believe. And yet we find in this present age and during this time, many who say Lord, Lord. And Jesus spoke of such. They will call Jesus Lord, but Jesus will say he never knew them. Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, Jesus said, but the one who does the will of my Father. So under our current events in this episode, may God make us and may we become more and more like the Lamb followers, pure in our speech, pure in our habits, pure in our mind, pure in our lifestyle, pure in our devotion and worship of God. May we overcome all the seduction of Babylon, the things that are in the world, the love of the world, the pride of life, the lust of the flesh and eyes, all these things that are not of the Father. And may we not allow our assemblies to become compromised. But may we declare God's word in all its fullness, and that includes the return of Christ. Yes, the return of Christ is so necessary because the Bible says he who has his hope purifies himself, even as he is pure. Oh Lord, we pray, make your church pure and holy, make us followers of the Lamb. Wherever he goes, wherever he takes us. Lord, conform us to his image. Even as you said and desired of your people from of old, make us holy as you are holy. Make us a holy, peculiar people. Lord, may our works be holy to glorify and honor you. In Jesus' name we pray.