See Revelation chapter 14. You may recall in chapter 13,
John described a vision that he had of two beasts. Those two
beasts represent satanic power. They have power in human government,
they have power in man's religion that spreads across the earth.
And John saw a lamb that looked like a lamb, but really it was
a dragon. Really it was Satan dressed up
in religion, trying to look like Christ, but coming with the message
of Satan. Then in chapter 14, to comfort
his heart and to comfort our heart, John sees the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you know what? He was there
all along. He was there all along. That's
why we have no reason to fear Satan's power in this world.
So I've titled the lesson this morning, The Lamb with 144,000. The first thing we see is Christ
the Lamb. Verse 1 of Revelation 14, And
I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion. This Lamb
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we get a glimpse of
heaven, when we look into heaven, the first thing we see in glory
is the preeminent thing, the preeminent person of glory. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And John says he sees Him as
a lamb. Now this is the real lamb. This
is not unlike the lamb that was really had the message of a dragon
in chapter 13. This is God's lamb, the real
lamb. And all throughout the book of
Revelation, John keeps describing the Lord Jesus Christ as the
lamb. 28 times in this book, he describes
Christ as the lamb. And he does that because what
he's doing for us is describing Christ who is the sacrifice for
the sin of his people. That's the purpose of lambs,
to be the sacrifice for sin. The only way anyone can be in
heaven there with Christ is through the sacrifice of Christ, the
lamb of God. And John's not giving us a different
message. He's giving us the same message as all the rest of the
Bible. All throughout the Bible, the same lamb is pictured and
spoken of. This is the same lamb who was
sacrificed on the Passover. so that the firstborn would live.
God said, when I see the blood, when I see the blood of this
lamb, the Passover lamb, sacrificed, applied on the door, I'll pass
over you. This is the same ram in picture
that Abraham offered up instead of his son Isaac. Isaac lived
because the ram died in his place. This is the lamb that God provided
for himself, the lamb that Abraham prophesied to his son. My son,
God shall provide himself a lamb for the sacrifice. He's going
to provide a lamb to satisfy his holiness. He's going to provide
the lamb who will put away the sin of his people. The only way
any sinner can live is by Christ the lamb, dying in our place
as our substitute. This is the same lamb the Apostle
John heard John the Baptist identify all throughout the Old Testament.
There's all these lambs, all these lambs, all these lambs.
And the Apostle John heard John the Baptist identifying Here
he is. Here he is, come, the Lamb of
God, come to take away the sin of the world. The only way sin
can be taken away is by Christ, the perfect, spotless Lamb of
God, taking it away from His people and putting it away by
His sacrifice. This is the same Lamb John talked
about last week. We saw in chapter 13, verse 8,
Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Salvation
in Christ is eternal. God purposed it in eternity.
He purposed it through the sacrifice of His Son and the mind and purpose
of God before the foundation of the world. Christ was already
sacrificed for the sin of His people. That's why when Adam
fell, God didn't destroy him. God didn't wipe him out because
there was a people coming from Adam's loins that God saw and
washed in the blood of Christ. God purposed it in time, or He
purposed it in eternity and He performed it. in time when he
sent his son to this earth. The purpose of God in redemption
is the redemption of God's elect through the sacrifice of his
son. That's why John keeps pointing out this lamb. Now here's the
question of questions. Christ is the lamb of God. Here's
the question. Did he do it? Did he? Did Christ save his people from
their sin or not? Did he put it away or didn't
he? That's the question. Do we have to, we all, everybody,
practically everybody in this world knows Christ died on a
cross. But my question is, do we have
to contribute something to it now in order to make it effectual
for me? Do we have to contribute some of our own morality? Or
is Christ's obedience to the law enough? Is it really? Is it? Is it up to men to decide
whether or not to accept Jesus as their personal savior? Is
it? If we decide to accept him, They tell me it's such a real,
oh, it's such a shame. Because if you don't accept him,
Christ died for you in vain. Is that true or not? Well, the
answer's here in our text. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
victorious Savior. At the end of time, John says
he saw the Lamb. He saw that Lord Jesus Christ,
God's Lamb, stood on the Mount Zion. The one who stands in the
middle of the arena Everything said and done is the victor. The champion is the only one
who stands when the war's over, when the battle's been done.
Christ stood in heaven. That's the way John saw him at
the end of time. Now this is interesting. John
saw him standing. But we know when Christ ascended
back to glory after his resurrection, we know the Father told him,
sit down here on my right hand. Don't make your enemies your
footstool. He told him to sit, didn't he? Then why does John
seem standing? Well, from the time Christ ascended
back to glory until that last trumpet sounds, he did sit. He
sat because the work of redemption was done. He sat because there
was nothing else left to do. But when all things are brought
to an end, Christ is going to stand victorious. He's going
to stand so that all creation sees him standing victorious. But before this time that John
sees Christ standing there, a whole lot happened before he stood
victorious. There was a day the Lord Jesus Christ stooped down
beside a poor, guilty woman, taken in the very act of adultery.
And he stooped to her. He stooped down beside her to
identify himself with her. He stooped beside her to be merciful,
giving us a picture of how he stooped to take on him human
flesh so that he could identify himself with his people, so that
he could redeem them from their sin. He stooped beside that poor,
guilty woman. And in glory, he's going to stand
victorious. He's going to stand victorious
in his mercy for his people. By his stooping in mercy, he
brought glory to the Father, and he saved his elect from their
sin. Then there was a day the Savior kneeled to pray in the
garden. Father, help me. Help me. He's going to go to the cross.
He needs help. He's going to be made sin for
his people. He's getting ready to offer himself as a sacrifice
for the sin of his people. And he said, Father, help me.
He did. The Father helped him. So that
in the end of time, Christ is going to stand victorious because
his sacrifice that he offered just hours after he knelt in
prayer, put away the sin of his people. And he's going to stand
victorious. There was a day that Christ hung on the cross. There
was a day, three days, that he lay in the tomb. But at the end
of time, he's going to stand victorious because his sacrifice
brought him to victory over every enemy. He's going to stand in
satisfaction, just like Isaiah promised he would, seeing the
travail of his soul. And the victory of Christ is
seen in the 144,000 that are seen with Him, in verse 1. Now
I looked, and Loa Lam stood on the Mount Zion, and with Him
were 140,000 and 4,000. Now there is not just going to
be 144,000 people in glory. I don't know where people get
that idea. Compare Scripture with Scripture.
If you want to know what Scripture means, compare Scripture with
Scripture. Scripture tells us that in glory, there's going
to be a number no man can number. Well, 144,000 people is a lot
of people, but you can count them, can't you? And there won't
be just 144,000 elite, special elect to have some better place
in glory. Notice what Scripture says. Scripture
says they're all around the throne of God. They all see His face.
So this number, 144,000, represents all of God's elect. It's a representative
number. 144,000 is a large number, isn't
it? Here in a couple of weeks, Ohio Stadium is going to be filled
to the brim with people. There are going to be about 40,000
people short of this area. That's a lot of people. That's
a lot of people. And it's an exact number. It's
an exact number. That's God's elect. There are
many of them, too many to count, but not one of them is missing.
Every last one of them is there. This 144,000 is a number that
represents this one truth. God has an elect people and not
one of them will ever perish because they're with the Lamb.
Because the Lamb died for them. He took their sin away from them
and made it His and suffered and died to put it away. His
blood cleansed them from their sin. It's not possible any of
them would perish because Christ died for them. Now I want to know, and I want
you to know, I want us to know, am I one of that 144,000? Are
you one of those 144,000, one of God's elect? You know you
can know whether you are or not because they're described here
in our text, and they're described by what Christ has done for them
and what Christ has done in them. Here's the description of the
144,000. Number one, everyone in heaven has Christ's name written
on their forehead. At the end of verse 1, he saw
this 144,000 having his father's name written in their foreheads. Now, we've seen this before in
our study. This doesn't mean that the name
of the Lord is tattooed on their forehead. This is figurative
language. It means that God's elect are
sealed. We saw this a couple weeks ago.
They're sealed in their foreheads. They're sealed, preserved, kept. They're kept from being corrupted.
And they're kept, they're preserved by the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
knows His people and they know Him. That's why His name is written
in their forehead. They know Him. To know Him is
life eternal. Now you might say, well this
says they have the Father's name written in their foreheads. How
is this the name of Christ? Well, it's true. It says they
have the Father's name written in their foreheads is what it
says. But you know what? That is the name of Christ. It
is His name. Jesus of Nazareth is God. And I can show you that in Isaiah
chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9. In verse 6. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. And the government should be
upon his shoulder, and his name, his name should be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. The name of the Father is the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ because Jesus of Nazareth is
Christ. And everyone who's there in glory,
they know and they love Christ. Everyone in heaven belongs to
him. They're there because they've been sealed by Him, preserved
and protected and kept and brought to be with Him. Second, everyone
in heaven sings the same song. They all sing a new song of redemption
in Christ. Verse 2 of Revelation 14. And
I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters and
as the voice of a great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps. And they sung as it were a new
song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and before the
elders. And no man could learn that song, but the 140 and 4,000
which were redeemed from the earth. Now John heard this song
being sung very loudly. It says the voice of many waters. Well, of course it's loud. It's
being sung by an innumerable host, and they're singing their
hearts out. So of course it's a loud, it's a very loud song.
It's just like if you go to Niagara Falls. You get close to those
falls, that water is so loud. You can't think about anything
else. You can't hear anything else but that water. That's what
John said heaven is. People in heaven are so consumed
with Christ and His glory and worshiping Him and thanking Him
for what He's done for them. They can't think about anything
else. They're just consumed with Him. John said this song also
sounded like the voice of great thunder. This song has divine
authority in it. This song is about the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. It has divine authority. He is
the sovereign Savior. It's a sound of thunder. But
you know, it's also a very sweet song. Oh, it's so sweet. John
said along with this, he heard even over the sound of many waters,
even over the sound of the thunder, He heard harpers harping on their
harps. The song of God's softened grace,
free and softened grace in Christ is a sweet, sweet song to hear. It's a sweet song to sing. And
John says it's a new song. And it's interesting he calls
it a new song. This is not a song someone awakes
in glory and suddenly learns there. No, you're going to learn
the words to that song here. This song is an old, Old song. Grace is an old song, because
God's grace is eternal. It's God's grace in Christ, the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God's grace began
before this creation ever began. So it's an old, old, eternal
song. But in glory, this song is going
to be sung as a new song. It's going to be sung in a new
and perfect nature, like we've never sung it before. In the
end of time, it's going to be sung in a new resurrected body,
isn't it? This is a new song. It's a new
song of grace. It's a song of the new covenant
of God's grace in Christ. There's nothing about the old
covenant in this song. There's nothing about the law.
There's no legal duties. There's no legal fears in this
song. It's all grace in Christ. And everyone there sings this
same song. But John said, this new song,
the song of grace, it's a song the flesh cannot learn. The flesh
can't learn it. The flesh can't sing it. You
cannot learn this song by the powers of your intellect to memorize
scripture, memorize doctrine, and learn these things. The only
way you can learn this song is God's got to put it in your heart.
It's the only way you can learn it. Only the new man born of
God can sing this song. You can't sing this song. Unless
God puts praise and thanks, thanksgiving to God in your heart, you can't
sing it. You can't know, you can't love,
and you cannot be thrilled by this song unless you know something
about God's grace in Christ Jesus. And if God puts this song in
your heart, even if you think you can't sing, you're going
to sing. You're going to sing this song
because it comes from the heart. It doesn't come from the voice
box. It comes from the heart. My grandmother,
she's a young woman. She was injured in a very bad
car wreck and something happened to her voice. It was very gravelly. She just had great difficulty
in speaking and singing. And she said when she would come
visit us, she would love to sit in front of Cecil Thornberry.
She said because when he sings, Then I can just sing out and
nobody's going to hear me. She said, I'd love to sing if
I can. In that day, you're going to sing out. It'll be in your
heart and you'll have a sweet voice. You'll sing it with all
of your heart. This is a new song of redemption
in Christ Jesus. Then here's the third thing about
God's elect. Everyone who's in heaven will
be faithful to Christ. Verse 4 says, these are they
which were not defiled with women for they are virgins. Look over
at 1 Timothy chapter 4. Let's just get this out of the
way right from the beginning. This is not talking about that
people being celibate. Do you know actually trying to
put that on someone that, oh, you know, this person, they're
so much more holy than everybody else because they're celibate.
Do you know that's wicked? It's wicked. That's the doctrine
of devils. Look here at 1 Timothy chapter
4 verse 1. Now the spirit speaketh expressly.
Then in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Now
here is the seducing spirit and the doctrine of devils, speaking
lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot
iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats
which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving. of
them which believe and know the truth." So John cannot be talking
about these 144,000 being celibate on this earth. He's not even
talking about fleshly adultery. Certainly, we should never do
that, but that's not what this is talking about. Well, then
what is it talking about? He's talking about spiritual
adultery. Everyone in heaven has one husband. Everybody in heaven has one head. They have union with one head
and one husband, and they'll never break that union. They
won't leave him, and he will never leave them. They'll not
be like Babylon, a spiritual whore looking for something other
than Christ. They've been faithful to one
Savior, to one God. They're faithful to him. Look
at 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 1. Would to God you could bear with
me a little of my folly, and indeed bear with me. For I am
jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste version
to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means
as a serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, So your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity, the singleness that is in Christ. Everyone, all of God's elect,
they're not gonna be beguiled by Satan and by this, they're
not gonna be taken away from the singleness of Christ because
they've been faithful to one husband, to one head, the Lord
Jesus Christ. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Everyone who's in heaven follows
Christ. John says in the middle of verse
4, these are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Now, God's elect follow Christ.
They don't follow men. They don't follow religious traditions.
They don't follow their feelings. God's elect follow Christ. They
seek Him and they find Him and they follow Him. They hear His
voice and they follow Him. Every one of them is like Peter.
that they're given a chance to go away from Christ. They're
all like Peter. Our Lord, after all those heard
him preach, they said, this is a hard thing. Who can hear it?
And they departed from it. The Lord had no unwilling servants.
He looked at the 12. He said, you're free to go. Will
you also go away? These 144,000 are just like the
apostle Peter. Lord, to whom shall we go? You notice he didn't say, where
shall we go? To whom shall we go? He's following a person.
He's following the Lord Jesus Christ. To whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. We believe and we're sure
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and we're
going to follow you whithersoever you go. Wherever you go, we're
going to follow you. They're following the Lord willingly. I can say this as the honest
truth by God's grace. Wherever Christ is, That's where
I want to be. I just want to be where He is.
God's people follow Christ. They follow Him through the cold
of night and through the heat of triumph because the only comfort
they have, the only protection they have is Christ. They follow
Christ through the deep waters. Dan prayed for those we know.
Those we know and love are going through deep waters. Well, they
followed Christ through those deep waters and they're not going
to be swept away by the deep waters because Christ is with
them. They follow Christ when they
don't know why. They don't know why he's taking
them, why he's leading them the way they're going. They don't
know why. But they follow him because they need to be with
him. They're going to follow him. And everyone who follows
Christ, they're going to follow Him all the way home. They're
going to end up in Mount Zion with the land, the land sacrificed
for them. I'll tell you why they end up
at home. Because in reality, this is what happened. They were
lost. They were wandering. They willfully
went away from the shepherd. And Christ, the good shepherd,
left the 99 in the wilderness. And He went out looking for that
one lost sheep. And when He found them, and put him on his shoulder.
He didn't leave that poor little lamb home. No, he put him on
his shoulder. He carried him in his bosom and he carried him
all the way home. And when they sing that new song
in heaven, that's what they're gonna sing. I'm here because
Christ brought me here. All right, fifthly, everyone
in heaven is gonna be there because Christ redeemed them. They belong
there because Christ redeemed them. The end of verse four says,
were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God
and to the land. And all these in glory, when
they were born on this earth, they were born a sinner. And
the law had a price on their head. They'd broken the law.
The law demands justice. When Christ the Redeemer came,
he paid that redemption price. He paid it with his own precious
blood. He rightfully owns it. He redeemed
them back. He bought them back. We're redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ and nothing else. Nothing we
add to it, nothing anybody else adds to it. It's the blood of
Christ that paid the redemption price for His people and they're
free. Christ paid this redemption price
for a particular people. He paid it for these 144,000
of His elect. Christ died. He shed His blood.
He paid the redemption price for His elect. and only His elect. Now, someone might wonder, why
make such a big issue of that? I mean, don't you know that's
going to drive people in the flesh away that aren't going to like
to hear that? Why make such a big deal about this? Well, I can tell
you why. This is no minor point of doctrine. The glory of Christ
the Savior depends upon it, utterly depends upon it. If Christ died
for all men, and some men are in hell anyway, you know what
that means? It means Christ went to the cross to pay their redemption
price, but he wasn't able to pay enough to redeem them. If
Christ died for people who are in hell, then the precious blood
of Christ was not precious enough, was not valuable enough to pay
the redemption price. If Christ died for people who
are in hell, then Christ alone is not enough to save. Christ
died for people who are in hell. Then Christ is not all I need.
I must need something else. You see, it's blasphemy to say
Christ died for all men. It's just utter blasphemy. It
takes the glory of salvation away from Christ. But listen
how glorious it is to say Christ died for his people. He died
for his elect people. He shed his blood to pay for
their sin, and their sin's gone. Christ came and He took it away
from them. He was made sin for His people. He took their sin
away from them so that He called it mine iniquity. He took their
sin away from them and put it away, blotted it out forever
with His precious blood. And all those people for whom
Christ died are saved. They're redeemed. Of course they're
going to be in heaven with the Lamb. Of course they will. There's
nothing to keep them out. Christ put their sin away. You
see, now that's glorious to Christ, isn't it? And that's comforting
and assuring to the hearts of God's people. And this is assuring
too. John here calls God's elect the
firstfruits unto God. The firstfruits. I'll tell you
what that means. God's elect belong to God. They belong to Christ. Just like
every year, the firstfruits of the harvest belong to the Lord.
God's elect belong to God. He's going to gather them all
and bring them to Him just as surely as the reapers gathered
the first fruits and brought them to the Lord. God's going
to gather His first fruits together to Him and have them with Him
forever because they belong to Him. He redeemed them. Right
here's the last thing. The description of these 144,000,
God's elect. Everyone in heaven has been made
just like Christ. Verse 5. And in their mouth was
found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne
of God. Everyone in heaven's been made
just like Christ. John says there's no guile found
in their mouth. Does that remind you of anybody?
That's the way Peter described the Savior in 1 Peter 2, verse
22. Who did no sin, neither was any
guile found in his mouth. Well, why is John describing
God's elect the exact same way Peter described Christ? Because
they've been made just like Christ. Because they're one with Him.
There is no guile found in their mouth. Everyone in heaven is
faultless. And not just faultless in each
other's estimation. No, faultless where? Before the
throne of God. Before the throne of God, the
eye of God that sees everything, they're faultless. How did that
happen? Christ made them that way. Christ
made His people just like Him. He saved His people and He made
them holy, unblameable, unapprovable in God's sight. He gave them
the exact same sinless nature as His nature. They've been made
just like Christ. It's no wonder they sing that
great song as the sound of many waters. They love to sing that
song of the land. who died for them, redeemed them
from their sin, and brought them all the way to glory. All right,
I hope that'll be a blessing to you.