His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): The Lamb and the 144,000 next on His Perfect Life.

Matt Vander Veen: It's great to have you along for today's edition of His Perfect Love online at hisperfectlove.org. Today our teacher Pastor Matt Vander Veen will enter a new chapter in our study of Revelation. In the past several chapters, we've seen destruction and suffering at an unprecedented scale. But here in chapter 14, we get a chance to catch our breath. It's a parenthetical chapter and a prelude to the coming bowl judgments. Pastor Matt wants us to see God's mercy and hope here too. Revelation chapter 14, we're going to begin in verse 1. Then I looked and beheld a lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 having his father's name written on their foreheads.

And I heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters and like the voice of a loud thunder. And I heard the sound of a harpist playing in their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. They are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men being the first fruits to God and to the lamb.

And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having an everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and the springs of water. And another angel followed and saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, the great city because she had made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Then a third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and his image and he receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name.

Here is the patience of the saints. We've seen this before this writing. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works. Follow them. Then I looked and beheld a white cloud. And on that cloud sat one like the son of man having on his head a golden crown, in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time has come for you to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

So he who sat on the cloud thrust his sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven and he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar who had power over fire. And he cried with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle saying, thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe. So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and threw it to the great wine press of the wrath of God.

And the wine press was trampled outside the city and the blood came out of the wine press up to the horses' bridles for 1,600 furlongs. This chapter, chapter 14 here is a prelude to what will ultimately be coming the bowl judgments which happen in the latter half of the 3 and 1/2 years of a 7 year great tribulation. And it's a very interesting chapter because it actually happens to be a parenthetical chapter. And let me explain because if you've been with me, you see that you know with us in our teaching here you you see that we've been going chronologically chapter by chapter.

And it would make sense that if I say to you you know chapter 14 follows chapter 13, everyone of you would say good Pastor you can count. But it doesn't necessarily mean and something that I've shared before and I hope everybody understand, just because a chapter comes after a chapter doesn't necessarily mean it's always in chronological order. Okay? That's really really important for us to have that understanding. This is a parenthetical chapter. And how do I know it's parenthetical and not chronological in order? Well, because there's a couple of things that are just very clear.

First he John, okay? Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he sees this vision. He sees the Lord and he sees him standing where? On Mount Zion. And and he sees this sort of in advance. Now, we know this doesn't happen as we've been talking about through these months until the second coming of Christ. And again, I just refer up here. If you look, you see Revelation 6 through 18 is the section we're in right now. Obviously 14. We know that it's not until chapter 19 that we see Jesus Christ returning and the bride of Christ with him back to this earth which we know as the parousia or parousia if you read 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and you read 16 through 18, you know there's two words in there.

There's the parousia in the Greek or parousia. There's also another Greek word, a harpazo. They both connote or mean two different things, right? So if I said to you the harpazo, I'm speaking to you of a rapture. That's the word we get the Greek translation from the Latin Vulgate translation which would be what? Rapturo, right? So if I was to speak Italian with you and I was to say rapturo or I was to speak in Italy or I was to say, they would not use harpazo. They would use a rapturo because they're using the Latin Vulgate version or translation of the Bible which sounds very similar to what?

Rapture, which is how we got the term here in the United States of America. So that idea of rapture, it comes from the Latin Vulgate rapturo. But that parousia or parousia Greek word, okay? That word specifically means and has always connoted a touching down on terra firma. That means a coming to the earth, terra firma earth touching down. And then we know that doesn't happen until Revelation 19. So for John to be seeing this in chapter 14 clearly before chapter 19, we know that John is not saying that this is happening right now. He's having a vision to where he can see in advance what are some of these details.

And this is really really important because this chapter is a chapter even though it it seems heavy, it is. It's getting right, you know right it comes right before the bowl judgments, but it's a chapter of hope. And it's even a chapter for hope for you and I who if you're a born again believer, you won't be there because you'll be raptured out. But the reason it's hope for us is because it talks about those that are left behind. It talks about what we refer to as prodigals. Those that don't know Christ or those that might have walked with Christ but maybe uh have turned away or rejected whatever the situation or case may be that God is not done with this earth.

Even in his greatest time of wrath and judgment, God will bring forth his gospel. And he wants us to understand that. And again, he wants us to see mercy. He wants us to see hope. And he wants us to see all of this in the middle of this great time of wrath, judgment. John also says in chapter 14 as a reminder that Jesus is coming again. Again, even though it not till Revelation 19, but he is reminding them that are holding on the great tribulation saints. He told them you have 42 months before I will return again.

So maybe you've heard that no one knows the time or the hour. That speaks to the rapture of the church his first or I shouldn't say first but his his coming to take the church off of the earth. None of us know when that will happen. There's no predictive timetable. We know we're in the last the last days cuz in 1948 Israel obviously and we came back into the land. Ezekiel 37 fulfillment of 36 37 dry bones live. There's prophecies that we know speak very clearly that we're in the last of the last days. Matthew 24 labor pains, frequency, intensity of these things.

Um most of us that have watched the news, the weather channel, any of these things, we see the intensity and frequency uh or even our federal agencies and other countries are reporting an intensity and frequency of these natural what they would call natural disasters, okay? So there's no we we understand we're in the last last days. That's really not up for necessarily debate how long the last last days last. Absolutely no man knows the time or the hour. However, the second coming from the time of the abomination of desolation, absolutely those great tribulation saints that are alive on the earth will be able to set a 360 day calendar which is a Hebrew calendar and know the second coming of Christ because he says what?

42 months you must endure. And remember Israel is going to go out into the wilderness to the area of Petra and they're going to be there for 42 months as Satan tries to exterminate the entire uh nation of Israel and Jewish population. So it's just understanding that that we have seen God lay this out but we've also seen several chapters where he's come in and he's been so faithful to show us his mercy and the hope, right? And then this is also that you and I I believe even today in our hearts because of the heaviness of this, he gives us hope for those that we love that may be family members or friends that just aren't saved yet.

And that's a heavy thing, right? I mean if you have any compassion for another human being, if you know that they don't know Jesus Christ, what kind of heart would you be you know to not have compassion for those that will go through this? Like we talked about already. I mean 8 billion 8.2 billion people alive. If it was to happen in our generation, 4 billion people will be dead by this point in chapter 14. I mean that's heavy stuff. That's half of the earth's population. And most of them will die and be in hell separated from Jesus Christ because of their rejection of the gospel.

That should sort of everybody's heart should That's heavy. Even people you haven't met, that's heavy. So this is why this chapter is so important because he's bringing hope that even when there may not be so many Christians on the earth at that time because the church is not on the the earth anymore, God what did he we just read it in verse 1? He says then I looked and beheld the lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him what? 144,000 having his father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters like the voice of thunder.

And I heard the sound of the harpist playing harps. And they sang as it were a song before the throne before the living creatures and elders. No one could learn this song. We've read about these 144,000 already in chapter 7 and they were redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who are not defiled with women, right? For they are virgins. They are the ones following the lamb wherever he goes. These are redeemed from among the men, the first fruits of God. And in their mouth was found no deceit. And for they are without fault before the throne of God.

These are not sinless men, but these are men that are dedicated to being living testimonies, living in bristles of the word of God. And then in our section section there's three sections in the book of chapter 14 uh sorry of chapter 14. The second section we read in verse 6 talks about how God is going to do the first the first time ever. He's going to do something he's never done before. And we'll talk a little bit about that. Something very unique he does in the second section. So why? Why are people um why is God bringing this gospel?

Why is he giving us hope? Because God doesn't want to see a single person destroyed, separated from him. He wants everyone to get saved and he's telling us that he's going to give even in the great tribulation before each judgment. He's even going to give another opportunity. And he's going to do it supernaturally with an angel, but he's going to also do it with these 144,000, right? That they'll come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. So there's three parts that you see here in chapter 14 as you just went through and read with me.

Interestingly enough, each part begins with the same Greek construction. If you look at it in verse 1, then I looked and beheld. Underline that in your Bible. There's a similar Greek construction. That's not a coincidence. This is very unique to this chapter. If you look at verse 6, then I saw another angel flying. Yes, the words are different in the English translation but the Greek construction is guess what? The same, right? And that interesting? I saw another. I look and behold. Those are the same verse 1 and 6. And then look at verse 14 which brings about the third section, right?

And what do he say? Then I looked. All three sections of chapter 14 bring in with the same Greek construction, the same introduction tying it all together understanding that this is unique in how he's doing this. And again, verse 1 in the first of the three he's going to talk about the 144,000 and we're going to go into more detail. Verse 6 he says I see another. Now he uses again a different section to talk about how there's going to use three angels to proclaim the gospel and judge the world. That's section 2. And then the third section verse 14 again same Greek phrase but now he is going to use three angels to harvest the world by separating.

Remember he talked about the the the sickle and we just read that about believers and non-believers that are even alive during the great tribulation, those that get saved great tribulation saints compared to those that aren't. Remember when Jesus talked about the wheat and the tares and it wouldn't be till the end when he actually divided them. And I I shared with you last week it would be like you going to a farm field. We have them all around us even in the backyard there. We can go and we can turn around and look and we could have weeds growing up right in next to fruit or or or you know wheat growing next to tares.

And it's very difficult to tell the difference until you get really up close, right? Really really microscopic. The reality is God knows right now who they are. Even here this morning God knows who's truly saved in this room and who isn't, right? If anybody's going through the motion, it's not like anybody's manipulating or fooling God. But the reality is he waits till the very end. Why? Cuz he's long suffering and patient and he wants to give every opportunity for those individuals to truly come into a true real relationship with Jesus Christ. And that's why he's been pausing the whole chronological aspect of these events.

It didn't take 2,000 years for God to put in motion the last of the last days. He could have done it very quickly. He did it because he's long suffering, because he doesn't wish that any would you know be without him in you know hell. He wants everyone to be brought into heaven. Even Jesus when he was on this earth when he came to Israel when I I think about this often. I let the video play in my mind's eye. And I think what it would be like when he walked in as part of his triumphal entry even right before that seeing all these people knowing the fickleness of humanity that the very people that were with him aren't going to be the same people that are with him 5 days later.

Most of them are going to abandon him. They're going to forsake him. They're going to say I believe but then when it comes to true faith and true proof or application, they were heroes only not necessarily doers. And he knew that and he said only Israel if you would come unto me. You remember like a hen like wanting to protect only. And I thought about Jesus's heart. He says cuz that could have been his time. It was his time of visitation but that could have been his time in which he would have carried out much more than he did the first time but these things needs be.

So couple things we need to also notice here is John in this vision here he sees him as a lamb, right? We saw that right in verse 1. He he sees them as a lamb. Then I looked and beheld a lamb, okay? Uh this is a reference to obviously none other than Jesus Christ. It's a term that he uses for himself 26 times in the book of Revelation, okay? And Jesus has opted to be use this as primary because he came to sacrifice his life uh for the sins of the world. So it makes sense that this is something he knows but he's also a conquering king.

Now John sees here the Lamb and it's reference to Jesus standing on Mount Zion. And there is a debate. I don't want to ensnare you into these things scholarly. I not maybe some of you are not interested in that but there's a debate by many scholars on whether Mount Zion is a literal reference to Jerusalem or whether this is a picture of what's happening in heaven. I clearly believe this is a picture of what John is seeing on earth. And I would simply say that I think this is very clear that this scene is on earth because all I do is I read verse 2.

I allow the scriptures to give me interpretation. I I I don't know about you but when I read the Bible, I before I do a study, I pray to the Lord to clear my mind number one. I pray to the Lord to clear my presuppositions. And then I pray as I go through the Greek if I'm in the New Testament or Hebrew and I just say Lord, you show me what you're saying by letting me be in context which is the number one rule of hermeneutics. Show me. And then let me take that word and understand what you're communicating rather than me trying to apply meaning from my personal opinion or viewpoint.

So it's it's a process, right? We all need to do that. We need to separate our opinions, our views. Well, by doing that when reading the scripture, I could see why some scholars might say that. But then in verse 2 he says and I heard a voice from heaven. And in the Greek the construction cuz I always check Greek to English just to make sure it's not a readability insert by a scribe or some somebody like that but I want to make sure it's in the Greek manuscripts and it is. When it says from that idea from heaven when John is saying that he's describing something from a place he's not at would this happened from there.

Are you there or are you here? You're here and it's from there. Are you with me? So he is clearly describing a scene on the earth cuz he says he hears in verse 2 a voice from heaven, from God, from the throne of heaven, right? Just just let the Bible translate the Bible. Let the Bible be the commentary for the Bible. And then we don't have to fight and and you know seminaries are full of cemeteries, whatever you want to call them are are just full of this stuff because we just want to keep you know arguing about these things when we don't we just need to let the word of God speak for itself.

Well, it seems that he's something's happening on earth but at the same time he hears a voice from heaven. Now Mount Zion is a reference to Jerusalem in the Bible. And if anybody's here this morning and from an apologetic perspective you're going well, just how many times do we see that reference cuz maybe you're just interested. It's over 160 times. So when I see Mount Zion linked to Jerusalem, I can go through the 66 books of the Bible and I can find it over 160 times. And not to be matter of fact or like um you know the nerd about this, excuse me.

There's only two times in all of scripture, all 66 books where it's not. So this is clearly tying these two things together that Mount Zion he's talking about specifically Jerusalem. And it's the physical location of the city of Jerusalem in Israel. So we know he is talking about the earth and not heaven. Now again, I don't believe there's any real reason to believe that. Um John sees on Mount Zion again a preview of the return of Christ. That's what we're supposed to see here in chapter 14 but again we as I mentioned this doesn't happen until chapter 19 when Christ actually comes to the earth after the 7 years of tribulation are over.

You can see that right up here on the screen. And that's when the battle of Armageddon happens and Jesus then comes uh certainly to Mount Zion specifically the Mount of Olives. Cuz remember Mount Zion links what again? Over 160 times. When you see Mount Zion and you read it from now on other than the two distinctive times, what are you going to take Mount Zion as? Jerusalem, very good. So you know that's exactly how it's used in the scriptures. So if you see that it says that basically it's going to happen directly in Israel. And specifically we read in other passages that Jesus is going to physically touch down on what Mount?

The Mount of Olives, right? The Mount of Olives. And oh by the way, we'll see that first hand because Revelation 19 says we, the bride of Christ who have been raptured out at that point, we will return with Jesus for the 1,000 year millennial reign. How many of you been to Israel? Okay? 2 3 4 5 5 out of you know whatever a couple hundred whatever it is. Guess what? Every one of you is going to get to Israel. Had you ever think about that? We call it the rapture plan, right? You're going to go up, you're going to come back down.

You're all going to get to go to Israel. You're all going to get to check it out uh and it's going to be and your tour guide's going to be none other than Jesus Christ himself. Amen. And for those that went to Israel already, what a blessing, huh? That's a blessing of a lifetime to be able to go to Israel in this in the to be alive now and do that. I encourage everybody if you have the means and the the the ability and maybe even I I've talked to Pastor Bill about this in years past.

I've said maybe we ought to plan you know a trip. And then with COVID they shut things down and now it looks like they're opening things back up for travel. So and they have been I think for the last year or two. So maybe we need to plan a trip to see how many people would want to go to Israel from the fellowship and take a trip over there.

Guest (Male): That is Pastor Matt Vander Veen on His Perfect Love. We're going through Revelation at the present time. And I'll remind you that you can hear the program again when you visit hisperfectlove.org. That's hisperfectlove.org. We're also at oneplace.com and look for us wherever you get your podcasts. We also offer a mobile app. This is a great way to take Pastor Matt's teachings with you on the go. You can learn more about the mobile app and start your download when you visit our website hisperfectlove.org. We can't thank you enough for your prayers for this ministry. Please pray that as God's word goes forth that lives will be greatly impacted for the glory of God.

And people would grow by His grace and love or even enter into a relationship with Him. And if you have a prayer request, please send that our way. You can email that to us through our website at hisperfectlove.org. If you live in the Mechanicsburg PA area, we hope you'll stop by for a visit just like you hear on the radio. Pastor Matt teaches verse by verse through the Bible here at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg Westshore. Sunday morning services begin at 8:30 and 10:30. We have a midweek gathering on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. We're located at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg PA.

Go to ccharrisburg.org for more information. And then join us next time when Pastor Matt will pick up where we left off in Revelation here on His Perfect Love.

Matt Vander Veen: His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg Westshore.