Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: God is faithful. Do you need to be reminded of that? Well, if so, stay with us for Dr. J. Vernon McGee's heartfelt study in Revelation 14, verses 1 to 4. Welcome to Thru the Bible. I'm Steve Schwetz, your host, and I'm glad that you're aboard the Bible bus with us. Before we get started, though, we've got a brief introduction. Here's Dr. McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We have come through chapters 12 and 13, which without any shadow of a doubt bring the world to the darkest period in its history. And actually, the world goes through that period that the Lord Jesus labeled the Great Tribulation period.

Well, at the beginning of the period, the Lord Jesus sealed 144,000, and the question is going to arise, how many of them made it through the Great Tribulation period? And that, of course, is something that would engage the attention of all of us. Could they make it through? Well, we're going to see the Lamb on Mount Zion and you will know how many he has with him: 144,000. Not 143,999, not one of those little sheep got lost. He came through with all of them.

And if they all made it through that number, I want to say that I come back to his parable that the Lord Jesus gave of the shepherd that had 100 sheep and one little sheep got off and lost, and he went after it. Because when this Shepherd starts out with 100 sheep or 144,000 sheep, he always comes through with 100 sheep and 144,000 sheep.

And I can be thankful for a salvation that is sure—not because I'm sure, but because he is sure. And it's not because I do not have times of fear and dread, because I do. But like the lady, she says, "I tremble on the rock, but the rock never trembles under me." And so we can say today that if we are on the rock, Christ Jesus, we have something to be thankful for today.

Steve Schwetz: That's great news. God is faithful and we can trust him. Well, if you've not placed your hope and trust in God, then I invite you—no, I plead with you—to humble yourself before him. Whether it's the first time to trust him or you're trusting him day by day, tell him now. To find out more about God's great love for you and how he can save you, click on "How Can I Know God?" in our app or at TTB.org. If you're still not ready or willing, I'll let Dr. McGee give you some more convincing evidence, and then I'll give you the web address again at the end of our study.

Before we open God's Word, let's share a letter from a fellow Bible bus passenger in Kenya who recently accepted God's gift and has chosen to follow Jesus. I'll say it again: God is faithful. He writes: "I have lived a life involved in nightlife, partying, drinking, and chasing status. One evening, I was reluctantly listening to your man of God preach. He said, 'If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here.' This verse haunted me. I kept listening and, a few weeks later, started reading the Bible on my own."

"I gave my life to Christ and now I mentor my mates in my neighborhood by helping them discover their identity in Christ. It was your message about the church building the house of prayer that inspired me to become more involved in the spiritual and physical growth of my own church and the people there. I have learned through these teachings that every believer has a role in strengthening the body of Christ. I have come to understand that faith is the engine and lifeline of every human being. Having it is like being handed keys to unlock every shut door and break any impediment in life. I want others to know how to walk by faith as well. Whatever we need in this life, all we need to do is ask God by faith."

Isn't that great? Now, about our study. Revelation has some very real and very direct warnings. Dr. McGee hasn't pulled any punches in telling you about God's judgment coming to the earth. But for those of us who trust him, like we'll hear about the 144,000, God will save us. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you accept the sacrifice of your Son as payment for our sins and that you now call us your children. We pray that many more come to experience your gift of salvation through what they hear in your Word as it goes out. In Jesus' name, amen.

Turn to Revelation 14 as we go through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we've come to chapter 14 and the theme here is the Lamb on Mount Zion, the everlasting gospel preached in the world, and that Babylon will fall, and judgment and blessing is announced, and the coming of Armageddon also. So you see, this is a chapter that contains many things, and we'll be looking at that.

Now this chapter constitutes a hiatus in the series of the seven performers that concluded last time. Now it's obvious that this interlude could not be fitted in between the sixth and seventh performers, who are the two wild beasts: first the wild beast out of the sea, then the wild beast out of the earth. They had to be considered together; they're just like Siamese twins and the continuity between them could not be broken.

Therefore, this interlude follows the seventh performer in recognition of the logical sequence of this book, which is not a hodgepodge of visions but it unfolds in a logical, chronological, and mathematical order. Now there are certain performers here that are called to our attention in this chapter to give us a full-orbed view of the spectacular events of the two previous chapters.

In other words, there are other performers besides the seven that are mentioned. And it's clear from chapter 13, and we mentioned it then, that that's the darkest day and the most horrible hour in history. It's truly hell's holiday, and every thoughtful mind must inevitably ask the question, he can't avoid it: How did God's people fare during this period? Could they make it through to the end with overwhelming odds against them?

Well, the Shepherd who began with 144,000 sheep is now identified with them as the Lamb, and do you know how many he has with him? Well, he does not have 143,999 sheep; he has 144,000 sheep. He did not lose one, for he redeemed them, and he sealed them, and he kept them, for he is the Great Shepherd of the sheep. And these sheep are of another flock that are not of this fold—that is, the fold we're in today. He got these sheep through all right. And that's a picture that's before us now as we open this chapter.

And he's going to have the last word, not the two beasts. The Lord Jesus will, the Lamb. And this is not the lamb that speaks like a dragon; this is the Lord Jesus himself. And since he's going to have the last word, Babylon will fall. And that will be the great political capital, the great commercial capital, and the great religious capital of the world during the Great Tribulation. It'll fall, and the followers of the beast will be judged.

Many of his own became martyrs, but they didn't lose; they won. Again, I say with Calvin, I'd rather be on the side that seems to be losing today but it's going to win finally than to be on the side that seems to be winning today but it's going to lose eternally. I'm glad I'm on the winning side. Now we are told then that they are martyrs and their works follow after them. He's going to reward them and the Lamb's returning to the earth.

We're going to see that when we get to the 19th chapter. And the morning is coming, the darkness will fade away and the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in his wings. Now we have here, first of all, the picture of the Lamb with the 144,000, and that's presented to us here in the first five verses. Now let me read.

"And I saw and behold the Lamb standing on the Mount Zion and with him 140 and 4,000 having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads." Now John says, "And I saw." Now that indicates that John is still the spectator to these events, and the reel here continues to roll and the story continues to unfold. And the Lamb here is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now we have already seen that in the fifth chapter. I'll not go back there, but we saw it in verse 6, verse 8, verse 12, verse 13. Then in chapter 6 and verse 1, chapter 13. We see now the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb. And then something that we ought to make very clear: Mount Zion here is at Jerusalem. No use trying now to locate this any other place except where it is, and that's Jerusalem.

And what we have here is a picture of a placid and pastoral scene, and this is what opens the millennial kingdom here upon this earth. And the Lord Jesus is going to reign from Jerusalem. He called it the City of the Great King. And then in Psalm 2:6, if you have any doubt about Mount Zion: "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." Now it's the Lord's intention to put the Lord Jesus on the throne of David in Jerusalem and specifically Mount Zion.

Now the 144,000, we believe here to be the ones that were sealed back in chapter 7. Now I recognize there are some problems that are connected with this view, but they came through the Great Tribulation like the three Hebrew children came through the fiery furnace. And notice that the Lamb is standing with them on Mount Zion. Although he is in his person the Lamb, he is also the Shepherd.

He started out with 144,000 and he came through the Great Tribulation, not with 143,999, but 144,000. He has all of them; he didn't lose a one. And in this hour in our day, when the pressures of Satan bear us down, the living victorious Christ is available to us. Oh, that you and I might come to know him better, that we might draw closer to him and that he might be more meaningful to us and that he might occupy a greater place in our lives day by day.

I'm convinced in my own experience that the Lord Jesus Christ in person is the answer. It's so easy to say "Jesus is the answer," and when I see that I always say, "Well, what's the question?" Well, he is the answer to all of these problems that men are running around today trying to work out some little method or some little system, and that if you do it, why, you can solve the problems of your life, your home, your work, your church, and all that sort of thing.

And if there ever was a day in which there was so much teaching in all of these areas and there's less living of these things out in the lives of believers, in the homes of believers, in the business of believers, in the community where the believer lives. What is the real problem today? It's not that we need a method; we don't need a method, we need Christ. We need to know him more. We need to draw closer to him. He needs to be more meaningful to us. Have you talked to him today yet, friends? And by the way, when was the last time you told him that you loved him? Well, he says he loves you and we ought to say that back to him.

Now I'm going to read verses 2 and 3 here. And as usual, I'm reading in my translation. "And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a great thunder and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps and they sing as it were a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders and no man could learn the song save the 140 and 4,000, even they that had been purchased out of the earth."

Now John begins by saying here, "And I heard." John's a spectator, but he's also an auditor to this scene here. Now the 144,000 join the heavenly chorus in the millennium. And have you ever heard a choir of 144,000? Well, up to this time, earth has been out of tune with heaven. But here the rule of Satan is over and heaven and earth are in tune. And what Browning said is true when you get to the millennium: "God is in his heaven and all's right with the world." But boy, all things are wrong with the world right now.

Now the 144,000 here learn this new song and they join in the harmony of heaven. God has put his harpers in heaven while the 144,000 on earth on Mount Zion. That's a long ways from the instruments, by the way. And these harpers here, now I have been a pastor for many, many years and I can say that I've met a lot of harpers down here; they're always harping on something. And they're harping about this, but these are a different kind of harper; they are really going to make music. Ones I've listened to didn't make very good music.

Now we're told that they are purchased out of the earth. It means that they've been purchased to enter the millennium on earth, not taken to heaven. They've been purchased, which means to live on the earth because the unsaved are not going to live on the earth. And no one can sing this song but the redeemed; no one can sing praises unto God but the redeemed. Again, I wish that that could be gotten over to a great many song leaders today.

Now I can see their problem: they want to get everybody to sing. And they say, "Now look, I see everybody's not singing. Now we want everybody to sing this song." Well friends, if you've got a mixed audience—that is, of saved and unsaved people—don't ask the unsaved to sing a song of redemption. Don't ask them to sing "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me." Why, if an unsaved person sings that, you're making a liar out of them. Don't ask them to sing it; just let the redeemed sing it.

In fact, the psalmist says, "The Lord is good; let the redeemed of the Lord say so." And friends, who else can say so? Nobody else is going to say so, only the redeemed. And that's the reason that we need a "say so" Christianity today, to say that God is good. That's something that we need to emphasize today. Now heaven and earth are brought here in marvelous harmony during the millennium.

And what a contrast it was to chapter 13, where earth is in rebellion against heaven under the beasts. Here all is tranquility under the Lamb. Now let me move on down and read to you verses 4 and 5 and I'm going to read in my translation here. "These are they that were not defiled or besmirched with women for they are virgins. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men to be the first fruits unto God and unto the Lamb and in their mouth was found no lie, they are without blemish."

Now they were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. Now what does that mean? That has always been a puzzle to me, I'll be very frank with you. Now it can have a literal or spiritual sense, or both. And I personally think that probably both are here. Now I think John would have indicated which one he was emphasizing. Now the period of the Great Tribulation is one of unparalleled suffering, and the 144,000 have been through that period.

And the abnormal times demanded an abnormal state, and that was the reason. I can recall in World War I as a boy that many a young fellow went to war and he was engaged to a girl and he never came home. And sometime they got married right before he left, and he had a child that he never saw because he never came home. Well, that was wartime, and I've heard, well, I had one woman say, "I wish I'd never gotten married." Well, that's her viewpoint.

Well, certainly during this period, it's going to be so terrible that they'll not get married. Now Jeremiah lived at a critical time also, at the time of the Babylonian captivity, and God forbade him to marry because of the dark days. Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah the 16th chapter—will you listen to this beginning of verse 1? "The word of the Lord came also unto me saying, thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place. For thus said the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land; they shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried, but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth; and they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine; and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of earth."

Now our Lord pronounced a woe, you'll recall, upon those who were with child during the Great Tribulation. In Matthew 24:19, he said, "Woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days." Now you and I are living in a day when we're told, Paul says, that marriage is honorable, the bed undefiled. In 1st Corinthians 7 he talks about this a great deal. And God's injunction to Noah after the flood, not before, was to multiply and replenish the earth.

And that is not the scripture to apply to a world today that's faced with a population explosion and at a time when believers can see the approach of the end of the age. During the Great Tribulation, there will be an exaggerated emphasis upon sex and, obviously, immorality will prevail. And it will not be a good thing to marry during the Great Tribulation. Now the 144,000 will have kept themselves aloof from the sins of the Great Tribulation period.

And considering adultery now in a spiritual sense, and I'd like to mention that also: idolatry was classified as spiritual fornication in the Old Testament. A classic example is Ezekiel 16, and there you find God's severe indictment against Israel for fornication and adultery, which was idolatry. Now the 144,000 have kept themselves from the worship of the beast and his image during the Great Tribulation.

So you see that when it says here "these are they that were not defiled with women, for they are virgins," it apparently means that they kept themselves from the immorality of the Great Tribulation period, although they had not married because of the extreme and severe times into which their lot was cast. And they didn't marry, but they didn't yield to that immorality of this period. And also, and I think that both things are true, that fornication and adultery is labeled that in the Old Testament, but it means idolatry, it means worshipping idols. And so we have here both in view. I think the literal sense and the spiritual sense, and I think both of them make good sense, by the way. Now we've come as far as we can today, but you mark that place because we're going to begin right there next time. And until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: Yes, mark your place in verse 5 and also take some time to read the rest of Revelation chapter 14 to prepare for our next study. To listen to these messages again or share them with a friend, it's available—all of them—on our app or anytime at TTB.org. And as I mentioned earlier, the most important decision that you'll ever make is the decision to accept God's free gift of salvation, his amazing offer of eternal life.

So if you haven't already done so, then you can click on "How to Know God" in our app or at our website, and there you can read and listen to some of Dr. McGee's resources at your own convenience. Or if you prefer to receive a few by mail, call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. That's 1-800-652-4253. You can also write to us at Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109, or in Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1, or send an email to Biblebus@TTB.org. Well, there's more in this important study of Revelation as we continue to make our way through the Bible, so hop aboard the Bible bus as you're able. I'm Steve Schwetz, praying that the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you as you walk with him.