The Lamb and the 144,000 - Revelation 14:1-5

So I'm here for one Sunday only. So if you don't like what I have to say, I'm gone next week. No repercussions. So that's phenomenal. That being so, I'd sure like to share just a little bit about my experience with Revelation. I grew up in a tradition, I don't know if many of us have, but a tradition that says you can't know.

You can't know what Revelation says. It's too complicated. It's like the idea that if two smart people, at least two smart people, disagree on what Revelation says. And if two smart people disagree, I don't have a chance. I may as well just not read it. Which makes sense. Like, if you have two doctors who disagree that you have a problem, like, you know, I've asked an ingestion, two doctors disagree about it, I shouldn't do anything about it, right? Because two smart people disagree about it, therefore, it's not worth trying to figure out what's actually wrong with me, right? Stupid, isn't it? Or silly.

So, that was the tradition that came to Holly Hills and started to get some good teaching and found out that we can. We can see the stuff clearly. Yeah, there's some stuff that's only going to be made clear in the tribulation to the people experiencing it. But the reality is that there is importance and application for us today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. And my daughter looked like she was about to charge through, interrupt us, but she got caught. So anyway. So just as a brief introduction, first of all, your handout up here is your handout for this week and next week. So don't throw it away or whatever it is. But you're going to need it again for next week.

So what makes the study of Revelation so important? Why are we spending almost a year to go through this last book of the Bible that's so confusing and no one can figure out? That was a majority. Anybody? Figure out why it's not so confusing. Huge, right?

Because it promises a blessing. The book itself promises a blessing, yeah. It reveals something about God. That's really exciting, isn't it? We get to know God's character. I had a friend that was explaining how we interpret scripture dispensationally and Old Testament dispensationally and explained to him how the law, we don't apply that, we don't appropriate that to ourselves. And he says, well, why even bother reading the Old Testament then? Well, one reason. not the only, but one reason, is it reveals the character of God to us.

It shows us we get to behold the Lord through it. So even though we can't say, no, that's directly addressed to me, as we can't about a lot of this stuff in Revelation, right, as we deal with the Jews, where God's dealing with the Jews again, there's an immense blessing to us, an immense application to us when we get to behold the Lord.

I think also Knowing, when you're starting any big task, knowing where the end is, is a big deal, isn't it? I mean, knowing where you're going is kind of nice. If you're going to go on a road trip, it's really good to kind of have your destination in mind. Craig, when you're driving, do you like to know where you're headed, or do you just kind of set out and deliver wherever it goes, wherever the road takes you?

Helps to know. Helps to know, right? It's fantastic. Fantastic to realize that the Lord does know. So anyway, I didn't want to spend too much time on that, but because I've missed so much of this class and had to take it through remotely, it really just excites me to get to look at this book again. I went over it for a year and a half with Vern and it was wild.

So, looking at some of our principles of interpretation, the bare necessities that we need for a clear understanding. First of all, if the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense. Does that make sense? What do we mean by that? If the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense. So, if the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense, that's right. If it's not broke, don't fix it.

If this stuff makes sense, and it does, then why are we always seeking for another allegorical interpretation, another way to look at it, another way to understand it? And it does make sense, but... It only makes sense in its plain sense if you understand some other things.

As in our next point, a clear biblical understanding of the distinction between the Church and Israel. Without that, Revelation becomes opaque in a heartbeat. Right? If we don't understand this, God's returning to His program for Israel. We still think that God's talking about the church. Well, we're going to talk about the 144,000 today. What's the traditional understanding? It can't possibly be a literal 144,000 Jewish males. That's not even reasonable.

It must be what? It's got to be the church, right? So it's the denominations, like God's officially recognizing all those denominations, so it's like 12,000 from each denomination, it's a perfect number. Even though Paul kind of spoke against the whole denominations thing, as we've studied in the Korinthian study, God chose to recognize it at the end and save 12,000 out of each, right? Silly. Surely it's silly. But that's okay, that's the situation we get put in if we don't make these core distinctions as we start.

Whatever understanding we arrive at must be consistent and complementary with the rest of scripture since all 66 books are inspired by the same author and the Holy Spirit. So, getting back to, what's the figure again for how much is out of Revelations out of the Old Testament?

70%. 70%. So if you don't have a good firm of reference for that 70%, what chances do you have of coming up with a really solid understanding of it? Any? I read the newspaper once every two years. And it's always really confusing to me. Because I don't know what's going on. I haven't been following the stories over the last 10, 15, 20 days, six months, or whatever. So by the time I pick up a newspaper, it's, I don't know, the show's halfway over. I can't figure it out.

So would that possibly be the same thing if you just started with Revelation? Yeah, probably so. We also know that John the Apostle was a very consistent writer, using phrases and words consistently and systematically in his writing, which we're going to see a ton of today. And finally, we recognize the chronological order of this book, which is evidenced in part, but not in its entirety, but in part by the fact that John continues to use this chronological term after these things, after these things, after these things. And I believe you have an appendix of it or a handout that talks about it. Well, it's been included in several So, here we are.

If these simple biblical principles are consistently applied, the end result is that Revelation becomes clear and two interpreters working completely independent of one another will come up with the same or very similar conclusions as to the meaning of the book. And, you know, what amazed me is there's really very little that's unclear. Very little that's still, gee, I wonder what that's about. Once you just look at these bullet point principles and look at it that way, it's not confusing at all.

And you've got to understand, what the Bible does tell us and what we can't know yet, because I think a lot of people who get involved with prophecy and eschatology really want to get concerned with when, like give me a date, which we know scripturally we're not going to come up with, and who, who's the antichrist going to be, who's this going to be, who's that going to be, and also probably not a great investment of our time. But if we go through what we can know from scripture, Yeah, it becomes really easy for us, which is cool. Any other questions or comments while we move to the first verse? I've never covered eight pages in one class, so pray for me, I guess. Otherwise, we're going to be in a heap of deep.

Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. So, I looked and behold, this might be something that we would easily blow by, just as readers, until we realize that this phrase, I looked and behold, is something that comes up a lot in the Old Testament prophets, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and yet we don't see it again in the New Testament until Revelation. And then all of a sudden, you're seeing this same language again. In the New Testament, you see it how many times? There we go. Thank you. I'm better at reading my own hand out than mine. So, you see it seven times.

So this language, I looked and I behold, goes away completely for the whole New Testament. As we're getting this revelation about this new thing, this church thing, and all of a sudden, John's writing about this prophecy thing, and his very language changes back. to this Old Testament prophecy type language. Once again, another great indicator that the book of Revelation is dealing primarily with Israel. That's what this is all about. It's about God finishing up His program for Israel.

Let's move forward. The Lamb. Who's the Lamb? Christ is the Lamb, right? How do we know? What kind of Lamb is He as we studied last week? The little lamb. I still think that's so cool. There's this little picture, this word used for Jesus is the little lamb, this little helpless lamb, and he's moving the world. He's doing everything because he's the lamb of God.

Also, we've got the definite article here. What is the definite article in Sinuate and Greek? Just like it does in English, right? We don't have, or in Greek, they didn't have an indefinite article like a or an. They just left out the definite article.

So when the definite article is there, he's talking about the specific little lamb who is, as we pointed out, Christ. But now we've got kind of a chronology issue. How could the lamb, how could this little lamb, obviously Christ, be standing on Mount Zion before he returns? I mean, it's not like he's going to wrap everything up at 14 and then we're just done. The last chapters are just filler. But all of a sudden, you've got to deal with this chronological thing. Any ideas? How could the Lamb be standing on Mount Zion before he returns? I said, well, we'll get there. We'll get there. And here we are. And we've made it. The Lord didn't come back sooner, which is really kind of a pity. Okay, well let's talk about it.

First of all, we need to go back and remember Revelation 119 was our clear, scriptural outline of the book, which is fantastic. I love it when books give us outlines, Acts gives us an outline of how to understand it, which is really neat. Revelation also gives us one of those, and Revelation 119, would someone care to be bold enough to read that out loud enough to be heard?

What's on your handout? Therefore, write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. Fantastic. So, here John's commanded to write these three things. The things you've seen, the things which are. So, what's the things which he's seen? I think that'll be, or at least my interpretation is that that's one of the things that are.

So the things that he's seen is Jesus, right? Christ. He's seen Christ. He walked with Jesus. And obviously, I wrote a lot on the vision of Christ in the first chapter of Revelation. It's amazing. It's not elsewhere. It's wild. I don't know how believers make it through without looking at this book, without looking at this picture of our Lord.

But anyway, we'll move forward. And then the things which are, which once again is the seven churches. Those are the seven actual literal churches that were being dealt with there at the time. And finally, the things which will take place after these things, starting at chapter Any guesses? Four. Nice. Outstanding. So, starting in chapter four, the prophetic and chronological series of events that happen after these things. So, this passage, however, is looking forward to the time when Christ's will ran on earth. So, why would John do that? Or why would the Holy Spirit do that? Why would he jump ahead to the end, right in the middle? Any ideas?

Think about it from, obviously from our perspective, but think about it from the perspective of those going through the Tribulation. The believers who are living through this time, these horrible things are happening. The Antichrist has come and taken over and slain and apparently had some kind of a resurrection. The Holy Trinity, as we studied last week, is setting itself up against the things of God as the Antichrist can be their replacement. So really the satanic powers are working to try to replace Christ. The 144,000 are under massive attack. Believers are dying left and right.

Is there a place, as you're in the midst of that, as you're studying through, as you're looking to see what's going to happen next, is there a place in the midst of that where it might be nice to know that the end is not that far off? Maybe a place of comfort for the believers who are dying or being killed, knowing that maybe in just a few short years there's going to be something more, that there's going to be something better. and that God's in control. So, in any event, I think that's one really important reason God, or the Holy Spirit, writing through John, doesn't want the reader, or the person going through the tribulation, to forget for one second who's in charge. To forget for one second where this is all going.

And it's going towards this. Towards what we're going to study today. It's all moving this direction. This break is taken to remind the leaders in the First Future Years that the end is already declared." Remember, God is in control. I'd love to screw one's butt to the floor, but then I'd just go in circles. So, how do we know that this passage is speaking about Christ on earth? at the start of the millennium.

Well, the verb here, standing, as you see in verse 1, is the Greek word hestos, which is in the perfect tense. So, does anybody have a feeling or an understanding of what the perfect tense means? action in the past continuing into the future. There you go. It's a past-completed action. So, this is not one way you might think or someone might think to interpret this is that the Lord came and stopped for a minute and then back up after verse 14. And that's not what's said here by the Greek tense of the perfect in standing. He's standing and he's going to keep standing. He's there. He's on Mount Zion.

This is further supported by the numerous Old Testament references to Mount Zion. You've got a text box in here that reads Psalm 2-6 and Psalm 148, or sorry, Psalm 48, 1 and 2. Does someone care to read those verses for us? Be bold. I have indulged my King upon Zion, my holy mountain. Psalm 48, 1-2, Great is the Lord, and great is to be praised. And the city of our God is holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion of the far north, the city of the great. Thank you.

So there's this continuing association between the coming King, the Messiah, and Mount Zion. And so if he's standing on Mount Zion, we can be assured that he's not gonna get up and move again for another couple chapters. Just wanted to mark a spot reserved on it and then come back later. This is looking forward yet to the context surrounding it.

Where exactly is Mount Zion? In Israel. It's the city of David, right? I believe so. I'd actually have to defer to Vernon on that. Actually, Mount Zion is in the southwest quarter of Jerusalem. I heard on, and obviously if it's on TV it must be true, but they were talking about that there's some doubt as far as which mount is actually Mount Zion or Mount Moriah, I guess it is. There have been some questions about whether the Jewish temple has to be placed on there.

I believe that it does have to be placed on that location. Dr. James Martin, I think, is the one who has put forth the idea that he thinks it is located somewhere else other than where the Dome of the Rock is. Leon Rittmeyer is the outspoken spokesman for NOAA needs to be there. And having read both of their writings, I agree with Dr. Rittmeyer.

So it's there. Yeah. Isn't it the Mount of Olives? No, not of Olives. But I think wherever the Lord chooses to touch down and say, hey, this one is non-sign, I don't think I ever am going to say, no, no. OK. They'll probably put up with the Lord's interpretation. But still, that's a great question. You don't think he's going to have a garment? OK.

So who are the 144,000? Any guesses? We've seen the 144,000 before? Jewish males? Yep. So, how do we know that these 144,000 are the same 144,000 that we saw before? 12,000 from each tribe, yada, yada, yada. How do we know that they're the same 144,000? Any ideas? Because it's not 139, Jack. That's probably the best answer ever. How many times do you see 144,000 in scripture?

Just off the top of your head. Twice. Where are they? You don't see them again. Additionally, on top of the fact that there's not another 144,000 mentioned here, John's pretty clear when he says, you know, such and such an angel did this, and then another angel did this. This angel did this, and then another angel. He's very clear when it's the same one or when it's a different one. And yet here, he doesn't even bother to approach the issue.

Yeah, that 144,000, same ones, almost seems a bit silly to question it. But we have to, because it's been questioned before. They're described here to show that God has protected all the 144,000. I think you've got something more akin to 144, like 1,400,000. I've got too many zeros on there is what I'm saying. So go ahead and knock one of those off and you'll be just fine. In the middle of page 3. But they will all be preserved through the tribulation by means of his seal. Every last one is preserved. See also Revelation 9, 4.

Also, according to Revelation 14.5, these 144 tell no lie.

And that's what Zephaniah 3.13 says will be the true of the remnant of Israel. And in chapter 14.69, John writes about three angels.

This is what he talked about. John is very clear when it's another or a name. I looked at the old, you know, out of the Old Testament prophets, and you look at, you know, tell no liars, Zechariah, I mean, it just, it keeps coming. And yet, the part that John tells is unique, like this number 144,000, what's interesting is a good deal of that 30% that's not out of the Old Testament is brand new information. So John's got and yet that 30% that he's got there that's not out of the Old Testament is brand new and shows up nowhere else a good portion of it, including this 144,000 here. Any other comments, questions? And then the funny thing is, I don't know if we probably discussed this last time, but the 144,000, right, those are the people who are going to go to heaven, even though John has them on the earth.

Anyway, so once you let go of all reason and your third grade reading ability, you're ready to accept that. And then, now that there have been more than 144,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in the world, heaven's pretty much full, because that's the nature of heaven, right? Just fills up, no more. So everyone else gets to be, if you can imagine, the people on the earth. Kind of a bummer, right? So if you get saved now, I mean, sorry, if you become a Jehovah's Witness now, going to hell. But if you weren't going to hell and you were right, Then you go on the earth.

Such a bummer. I kind of like the promise of heaven. I really actually like the promise of heaven a lot. And it's really tragic to think that they're out selling a product that, well, one, they can't deliver them, and two, that denies people the promise of heaven. were thousands and the Ahmadiyya was witnessed. So I mean it's just terribly confusing. Which honestly if you ever read like Reformed information on this or Protestant information it's also terribly confusing.

Yes, because they're both allegorical. So no two interpreters are going to come up with by necessity the same thing. Because I ate baked beans the night before, and he ate steak the night before. So when we come and examine our feelings of how we want to allegorize this or that passage, we're just not going to come up with the same thing, by necessity. Those believers look forward to the kingdom. To reform. Yeah. Or the kingdom is now. We're building the kingdom right now. Yeah. No. But once again, like I said, that's the beauty of getting to look through it like this. That's why I was so impassioned over the course of the year and a half or so that we got to study it. It's exciting. It's really exciting.

We've got to move on. So these guys are sealed. I don't know if you guys have ever seen someone play the name of a sports player or a sports team on their forehead. Just in their haircuts. Which is classy. But the point is, why do people do that? Why do people write the name of their sports team in their hair or whatever? What they believe in. They believe in, they want to associate, they want to identify with that player, that team.

So here's these 144,000 virgin Jewish males and they're sealed. This is a seal. This lesson kind of indicates that it's a contemporary thing at the time of John. so that he would not be killed. Is that a similar mark or a similar marking? It's tough to say that there's a definite connection there, although that is similar.

But it was common in the culture of the New Testament era for people to take the marking of their god on the forehead in the pagan world. Well, okay, the Jews would have this little box with scripture that they would have on their forehead and on the back of their hand. But the Gentiles actually would have this marking of the God. These days, with this latest generation, tattoos are becoming popular. Well, in New Testament times, if they got a tattoo, it would be the name of their god on the front. Other people that are alive now have to have a mark to be able to buy and sell, don't they? Yeah, so it's almost like pick your mark, you can't have both of them. You're going to have a mark, depends on which one. But yeah, well actually, that being said, how do we use seals? When something's sealed? In our modern culture, what do you think that's like? Preservation. Preservation, exactly. Preservation, what else? Putting something out.

Yeah, if you look at aspirin, don't use this if the seal's broken or something to that effect. Because you don't want someone putting non-aspirin in your aspirin. Legal mark. Legal mark. So if the presidential seal's on something, what does that mean? It's official. It's an official mark. Identification. Awesome. So, here, biblically speaking, identity, ownership, and authority. So, these 144,000 are sealed and they're identified with whom? By whom? Christ. They're identified with a lamp. What's the ownership issue here? He bought them. There it is. So they're owned by him. And what's the authority issue? Yeah, they're under his authority.

The sealing is absolutely fantastic. Now, is there a difference between their sealing and our sealing? Because we're sealed too, right? Ephesians 1.13 tells us that we have a sealing of the Holy Spirit too. Do we have the same sealing? No, they've got the new covenant. For them it does. So, our sealing assures us of what? It's phenomenal news. And if we want to know something about the one who sealed us, we can look at other people whom he has or we can say will seal. His sealing brought these 144,000 Jewish males through what? Tribulation. Yeah. The worst time that the earth has ever seen.

But he sealed them, so they're okay. They fulfilled his purpose. They got through. Did I miss something here? He was down on Mount Zion with them. Right. So does that mean that they were killed and then went into heaven? Or, where's the transition here? I've always had a problem with that. Hold on, I'll have to look verse by verse here. Are you talking about between verse 1 and 2? Yeah. Well, they were down on Mount Zion earlier, right? Right. That's on Earth. Okay, now obviously here they're before the throne.

And the living creatures and the elders, I assume, Well, the voice is coming from heaven, and I heard a voice from heaven, verse 2, like the sound of water. So, I'd say this is the Bach call, this is God's voice from heaven, coming down to bless the situation. But then in 3, it says, they sang a new song.

I won't say that I have a good answer for that. It seems like they were down and then they were taken up, and I thought maybe that's what had been purchased from the earth. I thought maybe that clarified that they had been taken up or something. We'll definitely talk about the purchasing very, very shortly here, but that is another question. I don't have a good answer off the top of my head. It took me a minute to ask that.

Isn't that where the, because it's the millennial kingdom, actually it's heaven on earth? And there will be a literal, yeah, there will be a literal throne on which Christ will sit, but the question then is, I don't know, I just don't know that the four living creatures will sit before Christ's throne as they sat before the throne of God the Father and the heavenly semen. There's definitely something to be dealt with there. Actually, since that phrase says, had been purchased from the earth, indicating that that was another location. Oh, so once again, we've got to talk about redemption a little bit. We'll move forward, and we're going to have to come back to that at some point, because I don't have a thought on that, I'm sorry. So, number two.

I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing their harps. So, we hear a lot of things about this voice. One, it's coming from heaven, right? Any other voice from heaven accounts and stories that you can think of, or Bible stories that you can think of? Gospel angel. Gospel angel, yep. That's kind of what I was thinking of. At the advent of this earthly ministry, the first time, we get this voice breaking in from heaven. Remember? Come on. Okay. It's a big deal.

So, you get this voice. This voice comes from heaven, and we've heard a lot of these terms before, but not together. So there's a voice from heaven, and it's likened to the sound of many waters. You get the idea that this is a big voice, right? It's loud. And yet it's singular, it's a voice, it's not, I heard many voices, but it's so big that it sounds like many waters, it sounds like thunder.

He's almost, as John is so often grasping after something earthly that he can attach to this so you can understand, so we can understand as readers, the grandioseness of it. But I'm sure there's a sense of, this is the best I can do, guys, this is the biggest earthly picture I can give you to understand how amazing this voice was. And also the sound of harps gives it the sense of, I'm sorry, and a voice, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. So he doesn't say that harps were playing, right? But he says that the voice was like that. We've got a picture of the harp that we've been talking about so far in Revelation. What was a harp used for?

Kind of a simplistic question. Soothing. Soothing? Yeah, very. In the case of salt, right? Specifically used to soothe him. What else? What do we use? Harpsichord or guitar score. Or anything of that sort. Jamming. Jamming? Rocking? Will there be ACDC in heaven? I don't know. I don't know.

But the reality is that we've got so much music in our lives. We just do. We've got the radio. CDs, you've got mp3 players, you've got speakers that you can attach to your mp3 player. I mean, there's no situation in life where you're without noise or music.

Just saying, regarding this verse, remember that this is looking ahead at a millennial kingdom time. Right now we have And that's why it's kingdom of heaven term is used. This is the bringing heaven down to earth. So that's why you see earthly and heavenly, they're in the same passage. So does that answer Stan's question? Yeah, that's what I'm looking at here. You know, right now, as believers, we, by faith, Someone says look at heaven, you won't look up, you'll look east.

That's phenomenal. Does anyone have any other questions regarding that issue? On this verse 3 it says, and they sang a new song before the throne. Now who's singing the 144,000? Is that what they... We'll get there. If it's alright. No, no. You're right. We might not get there because I'm slow. So the voice that John heard was singular, commanding, overwhelming, and lovely to listen to. That's the point, right?

Music was a rare treat, I would say, compared to what we have now. I was a music major, you might know in college, and the professors were constantly complaining that recorded music has destroyed the desire for live music. Why would I go see the symphony? I can get the best symphony in the world playing Beethoven's 5th. Why do I want to hear the Colorado Symphony Orchestra do it?

They're not as good as these guys. But they didn't have that, they hadn't cheapened it to that point yet. You might actually, if you heard someone playing music in the street, want to stop and listen, because that was your chance to hear music that day. So, I think it's hard for us to overestimate the beauty and the attractiveness that John was trying to communicate by saying that it was like the sound of harpists playing this voice. It was really beautiful. It was really attractive. So, we'll move forward then.

Number three, and they sang a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders, and no one could learn the song except for the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth. This is obviously not the first mention of a new song in scripture, is it? Or is it? Clearly not.

We've got a text box below. Would somebody like to read those out for us? My hand up's a little dilapidated. I think there may be a couple of them. Psalm 33, 1-3. Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones. Praise is becoming to the upright. Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre. Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy. Psalm 144, 9. I will sing a new song to you, O God, upon a harp of ten strings. I will sing praises to you. Revelation 5, 9 And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals. For you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

So, notice something of similarity between all these new songs that get sung? Who do they get sung to? Always to the Lord. These new songs are always getting sung to the Lord. The next thing I'd like to point out about us today is that we've had two new songs so far in Revelation. The first one was at the beginning of the Tribulation. Who got to sing that? It's Amanda. Fear not to cheat. It's the Elders. He didn't even look down. He knew it. It was the elders. That's right. It was the elders who sing the song that starts off this tribulation.

So how neat is that? The tribulation starts off with a new song, and then as we look forward to the end of it, it ends with a new song. It starts off by this new song being sung by those who were redeemed out, who were pulled out, us, before the tribulation began. And it ends by these people who are preserved through the tribulation. This new song being sung by them. So these new songs kind of bookend this amazing and terrifying, gruesome time in human history.

It's kind of cool. So a new song bookends in that. Cool. So now we get to talk about the elders. Who do the elders represent? Pretty simple? Excellent. So the Church Age believers will, in some way, be participating in this picture of the Tribulation while 144,000 Jews take the central place in worship. Now we're getting into the questions asked here. 144 Jewish virgins had somehow been given this exclusive ability to learn this new song.

This is their song. The people on the earth couldn't learn it, and we in the church couldn't learn it. It's not our song. It's not our time to sing. So, when we get into hearing about, wow, everything's the church, from Adam to to Christ wrapping this whole thing up. God has the same plan for everybody, right? Of course not. I mean, at least not here. Clearly not here. Because here, these 144,000, they get to sing this song. And I'll be happy to hear that too. That'll be really exciting. But the point is that God had a special plan for these 144,000, didn't he?

God has a different plan for us, doesn't he? Had a different plan for Israel? Has yet more to wrap up there? So, this is another example of the fact that God does in fact deal with different people differently throughout time. He has a different plan for everybody.

Think about, I mean, those who want to lump everybody who's ever believed in God and been saved by faith through grace throughout all of human history into one big pot and just kind of stir it up real nice and have, you know, just a pot of saved people at the end of all things. What about, well there's obviously New Testament saints, Seraphim, Cherubim, Tribulation saints, the 144,000 here. All these different people have a different part in glorifying God. So I guess the question would be, is God big enough to be glorified through a number of different things in a number of different ways?

Will God be glorified by those who go to the lake of fire? Has to be. He will. Is God glorified? At the end of all things, will we look at what happened with Satan and say, God's glorified? Satan exists, Satan's a play in the world, for one reason and one reason only. Because he's going to glorify God that way.

Willingly or unwillingly. It's done. So, we needn't be threatened. by people who want to try to lump all believers, all saints throughout all time into one pot. It's almost a bit silly. Looking at it more from an individual standpoint, God has a unique relationship with all these different people groups.

Let's look at Revelation 2.17, which reads, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone, which no one knows but he who receives it.

Who's the overcomer? Who is the overcomer? Yeah. Why are believers, why is every believer an overcomer? Because we're in Him. We're in Him. And He overcame. It kind of works out well for us. So we're not working to be overcomers. We're resting in the fact that we are overcomers. And the result of this is that you're going to have a name. That's a good name. Okay. You're going to have a name specifically known between just you and the Lord. That's your destiny. that the Lord will be able to address you in the name that only you and He know.

Hebrews 12.2 states that Christ died, or sorry, endured the cross, scorned against shame, for the joy set before Him. It's theologically sound to put your name in there. For you, for Brad. Christ endured the cross, scorned against shame, for the joy set before Him. We're going into overdrive, so buckle your pubes. We've got three pages in four minutes.

He who had been purchased from the earth. This is one of the things we talked about before. Redeemed is somewhat in some, it's redeemed actually in a lot of other translations. It comes from this word, agorazo, which takes its root word, agora, which means the marketplace. So this is people who were purchased from the earth. Then the question obviously comes, if they're purchased from the earth, what do they Right? Makes good sense.

Well, are we redeemed from the earth? Are we up there now? I mean, obviously in a spiritual, positional sense, but physically speaking, we're still sitting here, right? But we are redeemed from the earth. We are redeemed from this ungodly, worldly system. And yet, here we are. Well, the same thing with them. They'll be redeemed from the ungodly worldly system of the fallen hearts.

And yet, they'll be sitting there for that time. So, does that make sense? Questions? Back and over again. And number four, these are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. They are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. So, obviously this verse teaches that it's a really bad idea to get married and God doesn't want you to get married, right?

Probably not. Probably not. Anybody have any feelings on the biblical teaching on marriage? Any thoughts? Any experience? We've spent some time at Holly Hills talking about marriage and what it is and should be. What does Ephesians 5 say about marriage? It's a deep mystery. But he's talking about It's an image of Christ in the church, right? Sorry, usually I wait a while to be polite, but we're kind of early.

Ephesians 5.32 says it's about Christ in the church. Our marriages, individually, display the eternal romance to this fallen guilt of Christ in the church.

Kind of a big deal, right? Kind of a cool thing that we have. Paul went so far as to say that prohibiting marriage was a doctrine of demons. And the Jews viewed being fruitful and multiplying as one of the 248 things that they had to do. Marriage is a good thing. Marriage is a great thing.

However, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, hey, if you're not married, be happy that you're not married. Be content. Rest in Christ. You're single. God's got something to do with you now that you're single. When you're married, God'll have something to do with you if you get married. God'll have something to do with you then. Both situations, both positions, we are supposed to glorify God, right? It's not a statement. But looking at Matthew 19, which Matthew is a great book to look at, looking at Revelation.

He said to them, 19, 11, and 12, not all men can accept this statement, but those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born in the way their mothers womb. There are eunuchs who are made eunuchs by men. There are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it. So this is talking about people who have a specific reason, a specific vow, and given specific enablement to not crave and not live after those things.

To be single. Would these guys have that kind of a commission on earth? Possibly? Do you think they'll be the target of some negative feeling and negative actions? Oh yeah, probably so. If they were to take a wife, don't you think she'd just become a target for all the ungodly forces just so they can get at him? Well, you can't kill him.

We've really tried. But we can sure get at the people he cares about. And with that, we're practically out of time. No lie was found in their mouth. They are blameless, which will connect to Zephaniah very clearly. Zephaniah 3, 12 through 17. So, does anybody have any questions before we finish? Comments? We're running right out of time. There's got to be time to get more coffee. So just to finish, the same Lord will bring every last one of these 144,000 Jews unscathed through the tribulation. He's going to work all things together for good for us. So the question that's left for us is, do we believe? Can we trust Him?

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this wonderful message. Lord, for the assurance that you're in control. The end of this thing is already called. And Lord, we thank you for that assurance in every difficult situation in life. That you're not confused, you're not lost, you're not wondering, you're not pacing the floors of heaven, bringing your hands, wondering if it's going to turn out okay. But Lord, rather, at every point, at all the darkest, worst, most scary points from our perspective, You know what's going on. You're working it all together for good, for Your glory. And we praise You for that, that wonderful assurance. Lord, as we go to have some fellowship together and then off to get to look and praise You and look at Your Word again, Lord, I pray that our hearts and minds would yet be illumined by Your Holy Spirit. that we could rest in you and rest in the fact that you've got eternity in hand, you've got our lives in hand, you've got our months and years and days in hand, you've got our moments and seconds in hand, and we can trust you for that. In Jesus' name, Amen.