I'm not here to tell you my troubles.
I'm here to tell you my blessings. And the blessings are wrapped
up in the title of this message, The Glory of the Lamb. Look at
Revelation 14 with me. Now this is the last part of
one of the visions of Revelation. And I'm only going to deal with
the first five verses today because it's important that we understand
what these words in the book of Revelation, when you see him
talking about the lamb, mention the name of Sion or Zion, same
thing, the number 144,000, even the forehead and the arm, the
hand, things like it, what do these things mean? And I've often
told you that when you study Revelation, don't go to the newspapers
or the newscast or the headlines of the day to interpret Revelation.
That's a wrong way to interpret. Go to the Bible, especially the
Old Testament. And we'll be going back in the
Old Testament for some of these images. But the first image that
appears in Revelation 14 is the image of the Lamb. And you know
who the Lamb is. It's the Lamb of God which bears
away the sins of the world. That's God's people all over
this world, His elect. And it says, And I looked, and
lo, a Lamb stood on Mount Sion, and with Him a hundred and forty-four
thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads.
Now this Lamb is Christ, the Lamb of God, and it's the Lamb
in His glory, as the victorious Lamb, victorious over all His
enemies, and the Savior of all his people, God's elect, his
church, his sheep, for whom he died. And that's what this is. You remember in Revelation 13,
we saw Satan's fleeting victory. There's a time in this New Covenant
age, the last days, which ranges from Christ's first coming to
his second coming. the day that we're living in
the last days. John the Apostle, when he wrote his letters, he
said they were living in the last days. And we all are, it's
all true. Those last days, they span from
Christ's first coming and his death, burial, resurrection,
for the sins of his people, his ascension unto the Father, and
the new covenant age initiated and inaugurated at Pentecost
with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the gifts of ministry,
and then the gospel being shot out into the world from Israel,
and then it goes all the way to the second coming of Christ.
So we're living in the same age that the Apostle John wrote this
letter as it was revealed to him. And this Satan during this
Revelation 13 shows that Satan would have a temporary, very
temporary victory in deceiving people. and outnumber the people
of God. And it looked like he won, but
he didn't win. And then Revelation 14 tells
us why he didn't win. I looked and lo, a lamb stood
on Mount Sion. Now this image of the lamb goes
all the way back to Genesis chapter three, if you want to turn back
there. And this is one of the One of the rules of interpretation,
which is the law of first mention. As you know, when Adam fell,
he and Eve sought to hide their nakedness with fig leaves that
they gathered and sewed together. Now, nakedness in the Bible symbolizes
a lack of righteousness before God. And that was the state of
Adam and Eve after the fall. They had no righteousness before
God. That's why all of their posterity, which includes us,
are born in sin. We're born naturally, fallen
in Adam, spiritually dead and depraved, and we have no righteousness,
and we cannot gain righteousness by our best efforts to be good
people. That's why Romans 3 says, there's
none righteous, no not one. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. Now that's measured not by as we compare to one another,
but it's measured by God's standard. Because God's standard of righteousness
is measured by one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. I quoted it
in our 10 o'clock message. I quote it on TV all the time.
that God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, appointed,
in that he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath
raised him from the dead. You see, it doesn't matter how
you compare to me. You may compare yourself to me
and you may come out as a shining diamond to everybody. But how
do you compare to Christ? You say, well, I just love everybody.
Do you love everybody like Christ loved everybody? You don't. And
if you think you do, you're just fooling yourself. See, we're
sinners. And if we're saved, we're sinners
saved by grace, not by works. And we have a warfare within,
between the flesh and the Holy Spirit. Well, Christ was perfect. He was impeccable. So here's
Adam and Eve, they fell and they sewed fig leaves together to
hide their nakedness and God said, that's not good enough. It's not good enough just to
hide your sinfulness under a cover of religion, a cover of works. And it says, look at Genesis
3.21, look at this. It says, unto Adam also and to
his wife, the Lord God made coats of skin and clothed them. Now that's the, he'd already
talked about the coming Messiah in the woman's seed in Genesis
3.15. Now he talks about the Messiah's
work. What you talking about? Well, to get a coat of skin,
what do you have to do? You have to shed some blood.
You have to kill an animal. And what God was telling Adam
and Eve there, that the only way that sin can be forgiven
and taken care of and moved out of the way is by death. The wages
of sin is death. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. Why is that? Is God a bloodthirsty
God? He just likes to see people hurt?
No, it's because justice must be satisfied. God is a holy God. He's a merciful God. He's a gracious
God. He's a loving God. But He cannot
and will not show mercy, love, and grace apart from His holy
law and justice being satisfied. That's why the great question
of questions is how can God be both a just God and deal with
sin righteously and yet be a savior of sinners like us? And there's
only one ground upon which He can do that. The shedding of
the blood of a lamb. I believe this, it doesn't say
it here in Genesis 321, but I believe it was a lamb that he killed
and made coats of skin because in Genesis 4, what did Abel bring
to the Lord to be accepted? The blood of a lamb. And that's
Christ. And we see the lamb all through
the Old Testament. You see the lamb in In Abraham's
case, when he's taking Isaac up on the mount to kill him,
and you know what Isaac said? He said, Lord, where's the lamb
for sacrifice? And Abraham said, son, don't
worry, the Lord himself, he will provide for himself a lamb. And there appeared a ram in the
thicket. And think about the Passover, huh? Get a lamb of
the first year, without spot, without blemish, that's a type
of Christ. There was no real eternal spiritual forgiveness
and salvation in the blood of an animal, but only in the blood
of the one that it typified, Christ. Put it on your doorpost,
and when I see the blood, huh? Now I want you to listen to me
very carefully here. Does God love his people? Yes,
he does. and he loves them in Christ.
There's no love of God outside of Christ, folks. Don't fool
yourself. There's only wrath and justice. Our God is a consuming
fire to any sinner who stands before him without being washed
in the blood of Christ and without being clothed in his righteousness
imputed, accounted to him. But when he brought those people
out of Egypt, He didn't say right over the door that God loves
me and Christ died for me. He didn't write that. Did God
love his people? Yes, he loves his people. Did
Christ die for his people? Yes, they did. But what did he
say? When I see the blood, when I see justice satisfied, I'll
pass over you. 1 John 14, herein is love. Not that we love God. You see
that love that exists between God and His people is not defined
or originated from our love for Him because by nature we have
no love for God. We have no love for God until
the Holy Spirit in the new birth gives us life and sheds that
love of God for us through Christ in our hearts, Romans chapter
5. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation
for our sins. What's a propitiation? You ever
studied that word? It's a sin-bearing sacrifice
that provides satisfaction. Satisfaction to what? To God's
justice. God is both a just God and a
Savior to those who are in the Lamb. And that's the glory of
the Lamb. that he provided everything that
God requires and everything that we need in both his person as
God manifests in the flesh and in his finished work, it's finished. By one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified, Hebrews 10, 14. Here's one offering. In Isaiah 53, 7 that I read,
he was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
He's brought as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before
her shears his dung, so he opened not his mouth. In Revelation
5, worthy is the lamb that was slain. We have no worthiness in ourselves.
One old preacher said, we're not worth anything. but he's
worth everything and we stand before God in him. That's our
hope. As I quoted in the 10 o'clock
message, my hope is built, you ever heard this hymn? My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, no matter how good it
looks, no matter how hard I try. No matter how sincere I am, I
dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy, W-H-O-L-L-Y. Completely lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Look back over here in Revelation
14. Here's the lamb, he stood on the Mount Sion. What is Sion? Turn to Hebrews
chapter 12. Zion with a Z, Sion with an S,
they're the same thing. And it was a literal place. It
was a mount on which King David built a home, a castle, so to
speak, a building. Zion and Sion were pictures symbolizing
the true church of the living God redeemed by the blood of
Christ. And that's what this lamb in
his glory is standing on Mount Sinai. Christ is the foundation
of the church. He's the chief cornerstone of
the church. The foundation, it's built upon him, not the apostle
Peter, but upon Christ. When Peter made that confession,
Christ was not telling him, Peter, I'm gonna build my church upon
you. No, no. What he was going to build his
church upon was that confession that Peter made, thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God. Christ is the chief cornerstone. Everything is held together by
him and everything is measured by him. And Christ is the head
of the church. But he's also something else.
He's the heart of the church, the life of the church. He's
everything. Without him, there is no church.
If you come into a church service and that preacher does not preach
the gospel of Christ crucified, risen from the dead, who saved
all of his people from their sins and brings them to glory,
what do you have? There's no life there, there's
no heart there. It's all about him. But look at Hebrews chapter
12. He's talking to Hebrew believers here, Jewish believers. most of whom who had been taught
the law of Moses from their youth up. And it was perverted because
the Pharisees and the scribes had taught them that you can
be saved by keeping the law. Well, that's a lie. The law wasn't
given as a way of salvation. The law was given for several
reasons. The main reason was to show them their sinfulness
and their need of turning to the God of all grace in the coming
Messiah. And that was pictured in the
ceremonies, the lambs, the sacrifices, the altar, the priesthood, all
of that. And so what the writer here tells
them, look at verse 22 of Hebrews chapter 12. Did I say 13? I don't remember. Go to Hebrews
chapter 12. He tells them, he says, you haven't
come to Mount Sinai for salvation, but verse 22 of Hebrews 12, you
are come unto Mount Sion and unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem. There's no salvation in the earthly
Jerusalem. The heavenly Jerusalem to an
innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church
of the firstborn, the church of Christ, and to God which are
written in heaven, their names are written in the Lamb's book
of life before the foundation of the world, and to God the
judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect. Those
who were justified legally in the personal work of Christ but
who are now in heaven with Christ and made perfect within themselves.
They've been brought to the fruition of that. This is the Lamb in
victory. His glory, saving His people.
And notice back in Revelation 14 now. He says, with Him, 144,000. Now people have really gone crazy
with that one. Some say that's a literal number.
Well, let me fill you in on something. All the numbers in Revelation
are symbolic. all of the numbers. And if you
don't believe that, all right, let's say you go over here and
you say, well, now this number is symbolic, but now this number's
literal. Tell me what rule of scriptural
interpretation you use to tell the difference. You don't have
one. You just choose to believe that.
They're all symbolic. And what is this 144,000? Well,
they were first mentioned back in Revelation 7 and verse 4.
But this 144,000, it's multiples of 12. And 12 is the number of a complete
entity. 12 apostles, 12 patriarchs, all
right? What does it symbolize? It symbolizes
the complete, redeemed, regenerated, justified church of the living
God. How do you know that? How are
they described? They have their father's name
written in their foreheads. Now does that mean they got a
tattoo on their foreheads? No. The forehead is symbolic
of the mind. Just like back in Revelation
13, those who follow Satan, the dragon, and his beast, They have
the 666 written on their forehead and their hand. Forehead means
their mind, their heart, you can say it, because in the Hebrews,
they don't make a difference between the mind and the heart.
It's all the same. And their hands, that's their
works, what man tries to do, what man reaches for. 666 is
the number of man. It will never be a seven. Seven
is a perfect work. You know what? You know how we
can be a seven? In Christ. Christ is our seven. Christ is our Sabbath. Did you
know that? Read Hebrews 4. Sunday's not
our Sabbath. Sunday is a great day. It's the
Lord's day. It's where we meet together to worship Christ. But
Sunday's not our Sabbath. Christ is. We rest from our labors
trying to save ourselves. We rest from them in Him. And that's what Hebrews 4 says
and other scriptures. But this 144,000, that's the
complete number, symbolically in that, not just, not literally
140, there are more than 144,000 redeemed people. These are the
justified, purchased by the blood of the Lamb, clothed in His righteousness, sealed with God's name. What
is God's name? He has many names, but He's both
a just God and a Savior. And they are protected from the
wrath of God that's coming on earth, just as over here in Revelation
13, 16, those who have the number of the beast. In their minds
is false doctrine, lies, deception. In their hands are dead works.
But in the minds and the hearts of the 144,000 is the glory of
God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, the gospel. It's sealed
in their minds, in their hearts, their minds, their affections,
their wills, their consciences. How does God cleanse the conscience?
When the Spirit comes and reveals Christ, the Lamb to us, having
put away our sins, having established all the righteousness that God
requires to ensure our salvation under glory. Oh my goodness,
that's peace, isn't it? Look to the Lamb of God. Huh? He said it over in Isaiah 45.
He said, look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the
earth. He didn't say work hard and maybe
you'll make it, no. He said, look unto me. Should
we work hard? Yes, but that's not gonna get
us there. Looking unto Christ. How do we
run the race of grace? Hebrews 12 to looking unto Jesus,
the author, the beginner, originator and finisher, completer of our
faith. He didn't start it and then we
finish it because if he just started and we finish it, we'd
all be doomed. So think about that. Back at
Revelation 14, look at verse two. And I heard a voice from
heaven as the voice of many waters. Christ is the water of life.
He'll quench our spiritual thirst. Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. How?
As they come to Christ, the voice of many waters, and as the voice
of a great thunder. This is authority and power.
When he speaks, In the power of the Spirit is people listen. And I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps. That's worship. That's worship. Worshiping the Lamb that was
slain. Verse three, they sung as it were a new song before
the throne. What is that new song? Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain. The words of it are back in Revelation
5. Worthy is the Lamb. You see, the new song of the
redeemed is not worthy I am, it's worthy is the lamb, and
I stand in him. And before the four beasts, the
four beasts here, this is not like the beast of Satan, a wild
beast that cannot be tamed. These are animals tamed by God,
and they refer to the ministers of God, four, because they go
north, south, east, west, all over the earth preaching the
gospel. And the elders, there were 12
elders that were mentioned back in early passages of Revelation. That's the complete church. There's
no one missing from the church. There's no, there'll be, you
look around here, we have a few people, but we got a lot of empty
pews. There'll be no empty pews, no empty seats in glory. That's
the glory of the Lamb. And then it says, It says, no
man could learn that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed
from the earth. Why is it that no man could learn
that song except the redeemed? Because that's all, the redeemed
are the only ones that God reveals himself to. Look over at John
chapter six. And how do we learn that song?
Well, you know, in John chapter six, verse 37 here, here's what
Christ said. He said, all that the father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Well, when did the father give
those to him? Before the foundation of the world. That's what the
scripture teaches. He says that in John 17. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. Well, look at verse 44 of John
six. He says, no man can come to me
except the Father which has sent me draw him, and I will raise
him up at the last day. How does the Father draw the
redeemed? Verse 45, it's written in the
prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard. Heard what? The gospel. In the
power of the Spirit. You remember Christ said you
must be born again or you cannot see? the kingdom of God. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Every man therefore hath heard and hath learned of
the Father. They shall be all taught of God,
Jeremiah said. How does God teach us? Through
the preaching of his word in the gospel, in the Bible. And
if you've heard it, and if God has taught it to you by the power
of the Spirit in the new birth, I know one thing about you. You're
going to come to Christ for salvation. You're going to lean upon him.
You're going to plead his blood and righteousness. And Satan
and his devils and the world cannot stop you. Cannot stop
you. And that's that 144,000 which
were redeemed. That word redeemed, you know
what it means, don't you? It means bought. If you're a child of
God, you're bought and paid for. He didn't pay part of the ransom
and then leave the rest up to you. He paid it all. We sing a hymn, Jesus paid it
all. All the debt I owe are all to
him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as
snow. Look back at Revelation 14 verse four. These are they
which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are
they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed,
bought, from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and
to the Lamb." Now what does he mean they're virgins? They are
not defiled? He's talking about spiritual
virginity here. We've looked at this passage
several times over in 2 Corinthians 11. What that means is that when
the Lord brings a sinner to Christ, That sinner is dedicated in love
and loyal to Christ alone and not to other gods. That's that spiritual virginity.
We're cleansed by the blood of Christ and we have no husband. You know, the church is called
the Bride of Christ. And when we're married to Christ in the
power of the Spirit, He is our one and only love, our one and
only husband. We do not sell ourselves out
to idols. And that's what Paul wrote in
2 Corinthians 11 verse 2. He said, I'm jealous over you
with godly jealousy, for I've espoused you to one husband,
that I may present you as a chaste, pure virgin in Christ. Now what
does Satan try to do? He tries to divide your loyalties,
divide your love. Look at verse three of 2 Corinthians
11. But I fear this by any means
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. That word
simplicity is singleness. Singularity. My heart belongs
singularly to Christ. Not to the world. Not to the
flesh. Not to idols. And that's what
he's saying here in Revelation 14. If you're a child of God,
you're not defiled in the way that the children of the devil
are. You remember he calls Babylon, Mike, you read it there as you
go down, Babylon is called the mother of all harlots. Because
it's false religion. But in Christ, our loyalties,
our love, our dedication, our faith is in him alone for our
salvation. Now don't get me wrong, believers
can get sidetracked. But as one old preacher said,
and I know some people get offended by this, but I don't. One old
preacher said, we're on God's leash. And he will not turn loose
of that leash. He said in John chapter 10, you
remember he said, my sheep, hear my voice, I know them, they follow
me. No one can take them out of my
Father's hand, I am my Father alone. And what does he say in
John 6, 37? He who comes to me, he says,
I will no wise cast him out. And later on, I think it's in
verse 38 or 39, he said, this is the will of him that sent
me, that of all which he had given me, I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. Well, these were redeemed,
verse four, Revelation 14 from among men. That tells you who
he died for. Those who were redeemed from
among men, being the first fruits of God into the land. And verse
five, in their mouth was found no guile. Does a believer ever tell a lie?
Yes. I can show you that in scripture
if you wanna take the time to go there, but I'm not gonna.
Yeah, well, Paul wrote to the Colossian believers. He said,
stop lying to one another. Oh yeah. What is this guile? It's hypocrisy. It's dishonesty. And what does the gospel make
us? It makes us honest before God and before men. And that's
the guile that he's talking about. In their mouth was found no guile.
When God brings us to saving faith in Christ, we stop trying
to be more than what we are, act like we're more than what
we are before God. Lord, I'm only a sinner saved
by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace.
This is my story. To God be the glory. And it says,
for they are without fault before the throne of God. How in the
world is it possible for a sinner like me to stand before God without
fault? only as I stand before him washed
in the blood of Christ and clothed in his righteousness imputed
to me. That's it. That's the glory of the Lamb.
Sometime when you get an opportunity, sit down and read John chapter
17. There's a really good commentary in the Lord's Prayer there of
the glory of the Lamb. I believe it'll be helpful to
you. Well, we praise the Lord for his word and bless his name.