JRNT 526 THE SUNSET AFTER THE STORM REVELATION 14:1-5 9/20/26 JESSE RANDOLPH Joseph Agustis Seiss was an American theologian and pastor who lived in the mid to late 1800s, largely on the American Eastern Seaboard. He was an eclectic guy. He was a Lutheran minister who actually held to a premillennial perspective on eschatology which if you know much about eschatology, you know that’s an oddity, that’s a rarity to be a Lutheran who’s premillennial. Well in Seiss’ writing in the late 1800s, he gave a series of 33 lectures on the book of Revelation. That series of lectures was titled The Apocalypse, A Series of Special Lectures on the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Those lectures were later compiled and put in commentary form. I must say that though I have significant overall theological differences with Seiss on other matters especially, his 33 lectures have become one of my favorite resources on the book of Revelation. To give you a taste of why I enjoy Seiss on Revelation, here’s what he’s written about the text we’ll be in tonight in Revelation 14:1-5. Seiss writes, “The blackest storms often give place to the loveliest sunsets. The winds and thunders exhaust themselves. The clouds empty and break. And from the calm heavens behind them comes a golden light, girthing the remaining fragments of gloom with chains of brightness, and overarching with the bow of promise the path along which the terrible tempest has just passed. Like this evening glory after the summer’s gust, is the chapter on which we now enter. We have seen the coming of the Antichrist in all the frowning blackness of Satan's angry malice, and have shuddered at the awful shadow, distress, and darkness which he casts upon the world. We have seen what havoc he makes with human peace, and the base humiliation he brings upon the proud oaks and lofty cedars of the mountains of human conceit and self-will. We have felt the sickening shock of horror at the contemplation of his hellish power, his blasphemies, and his unparalleled tyranny. We have gazed upon the progress of the most disastrous storm hell’s malignant wisdom can devise, or that is ever allowed to afflict our race. We have watched the thickening blackness of darkness amid which the indignation of God is poured upon the intoxicated nations which will not have Christ to rule over them.” “But now the scene begins to change. The reign of terror cannot last. God’s merciful goodness cannot allow it long. The earth would dissolve under it if those days were not shortened, but for the elect’s sake they are shortened. Three and a half years is the fulness of their duration. In heaven’s count the tempest holds but for an ‘hour.’ And here already we begin to see the light breaking in from behind the clouds and darkness. Further details of what is to befall these terrible Beasts, their systems and their followers remain to be looked at; but the golden rays begin to show themselves. Where perdition has been holding grand jubilee of destruction, appear the symptoms of a better order.” “The still lingering gloom begins to show some gilding of its edges. And over the pathway of ‘the abomination of desolation’ are seen the forming outlines of the arch of beauty, hope, and peace. In place of the horrid Beasts, the Lamb comes into view. In place of the blaspheming herd, the redeemed appear, with the name of the Father and the Son upon their shining brows. Voices from heaven, intoned with mighty joy, and attuned to golden harps, are heard in song, 'new song,’ fit to be sung before the throne and all the celestial company. A first-fruit of a new beginning is waved before God. Successive angels cleave the air on outspread wing proclaiming messages of hope and patience to the faithful sufferers, and telling of the nearing deliverance. And the whole picture begins to look to the effectual and everlasting sweeping away of the horrible nightmare of a distressed and helpless world.” I thought about just reading that all night and just going because I think that’s just beautiful. It’s such a beautiful summary of what we’re going to see in our passage for tonight. I don’t know how much more there is for me to say actually after reading what I just read to you. But we do have some work to do here tonight. We hit pause in the book of Revelation back in early May if you can believe that. And in doing so we got to the end of Revelation chapter 13. While what I just read for you out of Seiss might have caused some of those synapses in our brains to start firing as we remember what’s happening in Revelation. That might have jogged some of our memories, our foggy memories about what we were looking at in chapter 13 involving the Antichrist, and the False Prophet, etc. I’m not expecting that many of us are going remember a great amount of detail about where we left off. In fact, I’m expecting that most of us, if you’re like me, have fading memories of all that we’ve covered in March and April and May earlier this year. Because of that and because of the passage of time, and because of the importance of this book, the importance of the book of Revelation which we know from Revelation itself, Revelation 1:3 says, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it, for the time is near.” Because of how important this book is and central this book is to be considering our future hope, I do think it would be helpful and I’d think it’d be important if we shook off some of the cobwebs in our study and reviewed where we’ve been thus far in Revelation. That’s the plan for tonight. That’s our road map for tonight. We’re going to spend the first half of the sermon reviewing the first 13 chapters of Revelation 13. So, if you’re new here this will be, I pray, especially helpful. We’ll take some time working through those first 5 verse of Revelation 14:1-5. That’s going to move right into the communion portion of our service tonight. Feel free by the way to turn with me and let’s just let our fingers do the talking and the moving in the book of Revelation. Let’s move back to Revelation 1. In Revelation 1 the apostle John receives this vision sometime in the mid-90s AD from the risen Lord Jesus. John is imprisoned on the island of Patmos, for his testimony of Christ. As he’s on this island, he gets this startling vision of Christ Himself. In fact, that’s given here in Revelation 1:13-16 where John says that “in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters, and having in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp two-edged sword which comes out of His mouth, and His face was like the sun shining in its power.” So that’s Revelation 1, this vision that John receives of the glorified ascended Lord Jesus. Moving into Revelation 2 and 3, John now lays out through this vision these characteristics of the church age. He is doing so, Jesus is giving this vision to him, of these seven historical churches which represent the types of churches that will exist in the church age to come. That includes the church at Ephesus, the adrift church, the church at Smyrna, the suffering church, the church at Pergamum, the compromising church, the church at Thyatira, the tolerating church, the church at Sardis, the dying church, the church at Laodicea, the lukewarm church, and the church at Philadelphia, the obedient church. Revelation 4 Jesus gives John this vision of God’s heavenly throne room where John saw this multi-colored throne and he also saw these twenty-four elders. And he saw these lamps and he saw lightning and heard thunder, and he saw something like a sea of glass surrounding the throne of God. Revelation 5, John receives this vision of the Lamb, the glorified Lord Jesus, in the throne room, and he heard in verses 9 and 10, a song being sung in praise to the Lamb. “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And You made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.” Then starting in Revelation chapter 6, Jesus laid out for John a vision of this future period known as the Tribulation which is going to fall upon this earth as church-age saints like us are snatched up, Raptured, taken out of this world. The Tribulation is going to be that period of time in the future when God is going to unleash His righteous wrath and fury on this planet. Wrath and fury that’s been stored up for generations, for centuries, for millennia. But wrath and fury which His justice requires on account of the sin of mankind. John’s vision of the Tribulation starts in Revelation 6:1 where he said, “Then I looked when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals.” So, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the only One who would be worthy to open the seals of this scroll, a scroll which outlined the judgment which was to befall the earth during the Tribulation. In Revelation 5:5 it says, “Behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the scroll and its seven seals.” And here in Revelation chapter 6, that’s exactly what Jesus who is both the Lion and the Lamb is described as doing. Jesus begins opening these seals, breaking these seals, which open up the floodgates to divinely ordained Tribulation judgment. Now the first four seals in the Tribulation are ushered in by these four horsemen. There’s a rider on the white horse, if you look at Revelation 6:2. “He has both a bow and a crown and He goes out both overcoming, and to overcome.” There’s a rider on the red horse, who takes peace from the earth, and he has a great sword. There’s a rider on the black horse, who has scales, a pair of scales in his hand. There’s rider on the pale horse whose name is “Death and Hades (it says) was following with him.” And look at Revelation 6:8, “Authority was given to this one. The one who is on the pale horse, over a fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.” So, each of these four horsemen is going to usher in a distinct form of judgment in this beginning phase of the Tribulation period. And then you have the opening of the fifth seal in Revelation 6:9-11, where we’re introduced to this group of martyred dead ones, the Tribulation Martyrs. They are pictured as being gathered under the altar in the throne room. They’re looking to have their blood avenged by the Lord. “They say how long oh Master, Holy and true, Revelation 6:10. Will you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth.” Then we get to the opening of the sixth seal in Revelation 6:12-17, where John witnessed this series of additional destructive events which would come during the Tribulation. A great earthquake, the sun becoming black, the whole moon becoming blood, the stars of the sky falling to earth, the sky splitting apart and rolling up like a scroll, kings and commanders begging to be buried under rocks in order to escape the wrath of the Lamb. Then before the seventh seal was opened, we come to Revelation 7 where we saw that John experienced this break in the action. This break in his vision, and interlude many have called it. And in Revelation 7, what John was doing was describing this vision he had of these two distinct groups of redeemed ones. That the mixed multitude, who are going to be handled specially by God during the Great Tribulation. First would be the 144,000 converted and sealed Jews. They are mentioned in Revelation 7:4-8. These would be the 12,000 of the twelve tribes of Israel who would be sealed and protected from the judgment that going to come in the remainder of the Tribulation. We’re going to interact with these individuals later tonight in Revelation 14. Second, is the great multitude which no one could count, who are mentioned in Revelation 7:9 and following. They come from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues. These are who are known as the Tribulation Saints. Those who come from different people groups and they place their faith in Christ during the Tribulation. So that’s Revelation 7, the interlude. Then in Revelation 8, we see that John’s vision picks it up again chronologically as he’s given further insights into this outpouring of God’s wrath during the Tribulation. There’s the opening of the seventh seal of the seven sealed scroll here, where an angel, verse 5, takes a censer from the altar in the throne room of God. (Revelation 8:5) He “filled it with the fire of the altar, and he throws it to the earth.” And then this angel wreaks even more havoc on the now Tribulation-ravaged earth as he brings about “peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and earthquake.” Following the opening of that seventh seal and the pouring out of the judgments associated with that seventh seal; John in his vision saw these additional waves of judgment coming, which were going to be poured out on the earth during the Tribulation. What we saw with these next waves of judgment was that these judgment waves would not come with the opening of more seals, but instead through the blowing, and the blaring, and the blasting of trumpets now. Now we get now into these seven trumpet judgments. The first one’s mentioned in Revelation 8:7. This is the first trumpet judgment which is described as having hail and fire raining down mixed with blood. A burning of a third of the earth’s vegetation and the resulting scarcity and likely starvation that came from that. The second trumpet judgment is found in Revelation 8:8-9 where a burning mountain is thrown into the sea and there’s a killing off of a third of the world’s sea creatures, leading to more scarcity and more starvation. The third trumpet judgment starts in verse 10. That involves a great star falling from heaven, polluting the rivers and polluting the earth’s water sources, causing an even wider range of death. The fourth trumpet judgment starts in Revelation 8:12 and that involves a diming of the sun, the moon, and the stars. The planet gets darker and darker in a reversal of God’s creation order. When God created everything, He said let there be light. But now He’s bringing darkness into the Tribulation. The fifth trumpet judgment is laid out in Revelation 9:1-12 where we have this description of these horrific sounding preachers, these demonic locusts, who come out of this pit of the abyss, and they have this terrifying appearance. They have the faces like the face of men. They have hair like the hair of women. They have teeth like the teeth of lions. And they inflict pain on the people that they go after. They sting like scorpions and it says that their sting brings pain that lasts for five months. So terrifying are these demonic creatures and so awful is the pain that they bring, that those who are terrorized by them desperately want to die. But death it says, is going to elude them. Look at Revelation 9:6, “And in those days men will seek death and will never find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.” Can you imagine what a frightful experience that will be of desperately wanting to die but you can’t finish the job? You can’t get the job done. You load the chamber but the gun misfires or you’re getting ready to slit the wrists, but the knife drops and you just can’t take care of business? That’s what’s being described here. These folks want to die, they are in so much pain, but God says no. You’re going to go through the pain and the suffering. The sixth trumpet judgment is laid out in Revelation 9:13-21 where there are these armies of demonic horsemen numbering two hundred million. They cause even more staggering amounts of wreckage. With the plagues they bring, they end up killing a third of whatever of the earth’s population remains, a third of whoever is left after the first seven seals, and the first five trumpets, they are all killed off. Mass carnage. Mass devastation. But the saddest and most striking of all of this, I would say up to this point, is what’s said next in Revelation 9:20-21. Though a third of mankind by this point has been wiped out and though the earth and its population has been absolutely ravaged and decimated at this point in the Tribulation, look at what still exists in the hearts of those who survive. Revelation 9:20, “And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their sexual immorality nor of their thefts.” What that’s describing is that in the Tribulation just as in the church age by the way, Romans 1, there will be this unrepentant, calloused, hardened sense among individuals, who are still surviving. Though they see all the carnage and all the death and all the destruction that surrounding them, they still will not humble themselves and repent and turn to God. Instead, they will carry on in their rebellion against the Lord. Tragic. As we continue on in our march toward Revelation 14, we come to chapters 10 and 11. In 10 and 11 we have another one of these interludes, another one of these breaks in the action where God is unfurling and describing where the judgment is going to come as the chronology will pick back up later. Now by this point, in Revelation 10, we are now well into the second half, the final 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation. Before the seventh trumpet sounds, it hasn’t sounded yet and before the destruction of the Tribulation period intensifies even further, there is this pause now in chapters 10 and 11. In Revelation 10, John interacts with this strong angel he’s called. And he hands John this little scroll which contains the contents of what would eventually become the second half of the book of Revelation. John then eats that scroll and having eaten that scroll, John’s told in Revelation 10:11 that “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings,” which John does as he takes in this vision and writes it out and we now hold that prophecy in our laps today. In Revelation 11, we’re still in this interlude between trumpet number six and trumpet number seven. In Revelation 11 we learn about this rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. There’ll be a rebuilt temple during the Tribulation whose dimensions are given in verses 1 and 2. But then starting in verse 3, John receives this vision of these two witnesses who are going to testify for 1,260 days. Meaning the 3 1/2 years marking that second half of the Tribulation also known as the Great Tribulation. Now initially these two witnesses have success. They testify against the sin that’s running rampant on earth during the Tribulation. We see that in verses 5 and 6. But then these two witnesses begin to meet some opposition, and they eventually meet their demise in verse 7 when “the beast that comes out of the abyss” it says Revelation 11:7, the Antichrist, he makes war with them and he kills them. Then the dead bodies of the two witnesses, Revelation 11:8-9, they lie untouched in the street for 3 1/2 days. And during those 3 1/2 days there’s this grim, McCobb, holiday-like celebration that’s now breaking out among the evil inhabitants of the earth as they’re celebrating the fact that these two witnesses have died. Look at Revelation 11:10. “And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them (rejoicing over the death of the two witnesses) and celebrate and send gifts to one another, (it’s like Christmas) because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.” But then the two witnesses come back to life. Verse 11, “The breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet.” Then in verse 12, they are transported up to heaven. In verse 13, God rains even more judgment on the inhabitants of the earth during this part of the Tribulation. It says, “And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Now at the end of chapter 11, we get now to the blowing of the seventh trumpet. And another wave of judgment crashes upon the earth, where it says in verse 19, “and the sanctuary of God which is in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His sanctuary, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.” So, with those words it seems now like we’re back to getting into this chronologically ordered laying out of the sequence of events during the Tribulation. We turn to chapters 12 and 13, the vision that John received from Jesus, hits pause again. In chapters 12 and 13, we’re introduced to several different players who are going to play an important part in the second half of the Tribulation, specifically in connection with the seven bowl judgments that are going to come before Christ eventually returns to the earth. Namely in Revelation 12, we encounter a woman symbolizing Israel. We encounter a dragon, the devil, or Satan. We encounter a male child who is referring to Israel’s Messiah. The vision John received in Chapter 12, what it’s doing is it’s tracing out this perennial battle that’s been fought between Satan and between Israel, and between Satan and Israel and Israel’s promised Messiah, who would be shown to be Jesus of Nazareth. But it goes back many centuries before that. That’s what we see in chapter 12. Then, in chapter 13, which is where we left off back in May, we’re introduced to these two additional figures who are going to play this prominent role in the remaining days of the Tribulation. Namely there’s a beast coming out of the sea; that is the Antichrist, a counterfeit Christ. Then in the second half of the Tribulation that he’s going to lead many people to follow him, he’s going to be this henchman of Satan who will get people to follow the antichrist rather than the true Christ. And then last in terms of stage setting, we’re introduced in the second half of Revelation 13, to this beast who’s now coming out of the earth. This would be the False Prophet. In a way that’s similar to how the Holy Spirit points people or directs people to Christ and to the true worship of the true Christ. The False Prophet what he’s going to do is point people to the Antichrist. Direct them away from the true worship of the true Christ and to the false worship, the blasphemous worship of the Antichrist. That is where we left off last time at the end of chapter 13. The seven seal judgments have been opened and poured out. The seven trumpets have blown. The seven bowl judgments are about to be poured out. Now the stage is set for these different evil players the unholy Trinity, we called them 4½ months ago. The dragon, Satan, the beast, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. Now the stage is set for them to wreak further havoc upon the earth. So, more judgment and more wrath is about to befall the earth. And really as we sit here on the precipice of chapter 14, truly the worst is now yet to come. It’s about to go from really, really bad to even more bad, to worse. There is encouragement because in Revelation 14:1-5, our text for tonight, actually provides an encouraging burst of sunshine leading up to the carnage that’s still to come. There is some positivity. There is some positive activity, there’s positive things happening now that we’re going to get a preview of in these five verses that we’ll study very briefly tonight. So, we’re going to look at Revelation 14:1-5 now. This is our new material for the evening where it says, “Then I looked, (this is the apostle John speaking) and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth. These are the ones who are not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.” Let’s pick it up in verse 1 where John does say, “Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion.” Quite a few commentators have taken this to be a heavenly scene. One that takes place in the heavens rather than one that takes place on earth. According to those who hold this view, they would say this is a heavenly city, Mount Zion is referring to heaven they would say. Some sort of depiction of the church triumphant because they would point to passages like Hebrews 12:22 which says “You have come to Mount Zion and in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” I would disagree with that interpretation. I think what we have here actually in Revelation 14:1 is a futuristic look-in on a scene that will take place on earth where the Lamb meaning Jesus, the Messiah, will physically be standing on physical actual Mount Zion. Yes, there are passages like Hebrews 12:22 which make illusion to a Mount Zion in the heavenly Jerusalem. But the overwhelming testimony of Scripture is that Mount Zion is and, in the future, will be a literal location on earth. A literal city of Jerusalem. The literal city of David. For instance, Zion is mentioned for the first time back in II Samuel 5:7. That’s where it was captured by David from the Jebusites. It’s described this way. II Samuel 5:7, “David captured the fortress of Zion, that is the city of David.” It’s a physical location. Zion is described as God’s chosen city all over the Old Testament. Psalm 132:13, “For Yahweh has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation.” All over the Old Testament in reference to the coming Messiah, the one-day King over Israel. We learn that Zion is this place over which He will rule and which he will dwell. Isaiah 24:23 tells us that the Messiah will “reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem.” Psalm 48:2, Zion is referred to as “the city of the great King.” Isaiah 2:3 says, “from Zion the law will go forth and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.” Now a question. Is Christ reigning in Zion today? Is He an inhabit of, is He living in Mount Zion today? Does He sit on David’s throne in Jerusalem today? Answer, no, no, no. All three of those. Christ today we know is sitting at His Father’s right hand. He is in heaven. But here in Revelation 14:1 He’s depicted as “standing on Mount Zion.” And what that tells us is that as John was taking in this vision in 95 AD. The events in this vision that he was taking in, were still very much far off. What he saw in this vision was this vision of a future day when Christ would be standing physically on Mount Zion. Meaning, at the conclusion of the Tribulation, when He returns triumphant to this earth and begins and establishes His millennial reign. That’s the picture here of Revelation 14:1, Christ standing as He comes back to earth and begins the Kingdom. Now, speaking of the 144,000 here, also in verse 1, look where it says that as the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion. And then it says and with Him 144,000. Now who are they? Who are the 144,000? Well, this is the same group we saw back in Revelation 7:4. This is that group back in the first half of the Tribulation, who were described in these terms by John as he received this vision of an earlier time in the Tribulation. Revelation 7:4-8. “And I heard the number of those having been sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: from the tribe of Judah, 12,000 having been sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin, 12,000 having been sealed.” So, these individuals were sealed at this point in the Tribulation, marked out by God, and they were sealed and marked out by God to make it through the Tribulation, completely unscathed. To be preserved as Christ’s witnesses for the duration of the Tribulation and preserved as His witnesses to then enter Christ’s Kingdom when He returns to this earth. These witnesses will be there to witness the fulfillment of Psalm 2:6, where we’re told by God that He has installed His King upon Zion, My holy mountain. Here in John’s forward-looking vision in Revelation 14 of coming Kingdom glory. Those same 144,000 who were sealed at the beginning of the Tribulation in Revelation 7, are pictured here in Revelation 14 as still living and now standing at the conclusion of the Tribulation, as Christ’s prepares to return and set up His Kingdom. So just as God has designed, the 144,000 have survived. They’ve been spared. All of them. Note it doesn’t say that it’s 142,000 now that are entering the Kingdom or surviving until the end. It’s not 143,500. It’s not 143,999. No, it’s exactly 144,000. The same number that was sealed back in Revelation 7. That tells us and reminds us that God is always faithful to keep His promises. He’s always faithful to protect and be faithful to His followers no matter the era, no matter the age. The church age, the Tribulation age into the future. Just as He seals His Believers with His Spirit in the church age, Ephesians 1:13, He’s going to affix a seal to these 144,000 Jews in the Tribulation. Once He does so no matter how terrifying, no matter how violent, no matter how seemingly hopeless the Tribulation eventually becomes, none of those individuals will have anything to be concerned about because God sealed them, He’ll protect them, He’ll spare them. There will be nothing to fear. And note the nature of their seal still in Revelation 14:1. End of verse 1, these individuals who make up this 144,000, they have it says His name. Meaning the Lamb’s name, Christ’s name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. So those of the Antichrist are going to have a certain type of mark, the mark of the beast. We saw that last time in Revelation 13. In fact, you can look at that Revelation 13:16-18. This is referring to the Antichrist. “He causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the freemen and the slaves, that they be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.” (Which we know at the end of verse 18 is 666) Those who are following Antichrist will have one type of mark but those who are sealed of God and protected here these 144,000 Jews, they’re going to have a different type of mark. They’re going to be marked on their foreheads with the name of Christ and God, and they’ll stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion in victory. That’s what we’re told here in Revelation 14:1. That now brings us to verse 2 in our passage, where John says “And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.” So now John is moving from the visual, what he saw in verse 1, to the auditory what he heard. He’s now moving from what He saw, that vision of the 144,000 who were preserved from the beginning of the Tribulation, to now near the end to what he now heard in verse 2. But not only is there a shift from the visual to the auditory from he saw to what he heard, there’s also this shift in the timeline in verse 2, as John, who has just in verse 1, been catapulted forward to the end of the Tribulation, is now back in the middle of the Tribulation here in verse 2. Meaning, we’re back in chronological order as we get to verse 2 for the time being. This part of the vision we’re back in the middle of the Tribulation as John heard this voice from heaven. So, this voice from heaven. What is it? Well, it says there’s this sound of many waters attached to it, like the sound of loud thunder. Those references ought to sound familiar to us, back in Revelation 1:15, John described the voice of the glorified Lord Jesus as being “like the sound of many waters.” Back in Revelation 6:1 before the first seal judgment was opened, John said that “I looked when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, ‘Come.’” We have something similar here in Revelation 14:2, where we’re told that this voice which came from heaven was “like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.” But then John adds this; “And the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.” So, John chronologically speaking, he’s taking us back to the middle of the Tribulation. He’s heard this cry of this mighty voice from God’s heavenly throne where Christ the Lamb, will still at this point in the Tribulation along with the elders and the living creatures, still be there around the throne. Then the 144,000 we know at this point in the Tribulation, the middle of the Tribulation, these sealed Jews, they are out still witnessing on the earth. So, you have these 144,000 Jews that are on the earth and everybody else that we’ve looked at here so far in heaven and it’s against that backdrop that John hears this voice from heaven. It wasn’t just a voice that he heard but it’s a voice that’s singing. Look at verse 3 “And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders.” Now, who’s the “they” here? Who’s the “they” who are singing the new song? Who’s singing this new song. I think we can actually figure this out by process of elimination. We know that the singers are not the 144,000 sealed Jews, because they’re not in heaven at this point. They’re on the earth. They’re out there witnessing at this point in the Tribulation. So, they can’t be the source of the voice from heaven. We also know that this voice from heaven in verse 3, those can’t be the four living creatures and the elders who we’ve encountered all the way back in Revelation 4 and 5. And that’s because it’s plain from the text here, whoever is doing the singing here in Revelation 14:3, is depicted as singing before the four living creatures and the elders. Meaning, it’s not those living creatures and the elders themselves singing, but it’s someone else. So, if it’s not the 144,000 sealed Jews who are singing and it’s not the four living creatures who are singing and it’s not the elders who are singing, who is doing the singing in verse 3. Well, it’s a heavenly throng, we know that. Because back in verse 2 again it says it was a voice from heaven that John heard. Now I think that what that does is it leaves us as our best option as who’s doing the singing here, that these are those who were martyred, killed, during the Tribulation. The ones who went to heaven during the Tribulation. The Tribulation Martyrs of Revelation 6:9-11. The ones who asked, and I quoted this earlier, oh Master holy and true, will you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? I think those Tribulation Martyrs from Revelation 6 who are in heaven. They’re around the throne, are the strongest candidate for who is now singing this new song in Revelation 14:3. This song they’re singing “before the throne (it says) and before the four living creatures and the elders.” Now, as to what the lyrics of their song would be, we don’t know. I think we can rightly assume it would be a hymn of praise of some sort, offered up from heaven, during the time of the Tribulation to encourage those still on the earth. fact we know that this song is given for the benefit of these 144,000. Look at the last part of verse 3, “And no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth.” So, the Tribulation Martyrs, it would seem, they are now singing this new song before the throne of God. And they’re doing so for the benefit of these “144,000 who had been purchased from the earth but are still walking in the middle of the tribulation on earth.” The song is sung to encourage them to persevere and to remain faithful. Speaking of the 144,000, that’s who’s being referred to in verse 4. Where it says, “These are the ones who are not defiled with women, for they are virgins.” Some have taken that word virgins, parthenoi in Greek, as meaning exclusively spiritual purity, chaste individuals. That’s how NASB translates it. Those who take that interpretation that this is not referring to physical virginity but rather spiritual purity, they would quote II Corinthians 11:2, where Paul addressing the Corinthians says, “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” And Paul there in II Corinthians 11:2 was likening spiritual purity to virginity. And so the argument would go by those who take that position, that like Paul, took a spiritual view of virginity in II Corinthians 11:2, the same thing is happening here in Revelation 14:4. I take an opposite view. I guess you could call it a literalist view. I think that Revelation 14:4, and I believe the LSB translators got this one right. I believe that virgins here among the 144,000, refers not only to be spiritually pure and separated unto God, but I think this is referring to actual virgins, in the actual physical sense. Meaning there will be something going on in the Tribulation that will prevent these individuals from being married and living normal, physical lives of sexual fidelity. That’s my interpretation of verse 4. They are still spiritually pure though because if you look at the second half of verse 4 it says, “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” That’s a statement of their faithfulness. And then it says, “These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.” Now the word “these” is still referring to the 144,000, those who are saved Jews converted Israelites. They will be first fruits in the sense that they’re going to precede many other Jews who, toward the end of the Tribulation and in connection with Christ’s Second Coming, are finally going to turn to Him in faith. This will be that time mentioned in places like Zechariah 12:10 where the people of Israel will look on Him whom they have pierced. This will be that time of which Paul speaks, in Romans 11:26, where all Israel, believing Israel at this time will be saved. The 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 14:4 in other words, this is going to be the first of a great spiritual harvest, which will come for Israel, as many of Israel come to Christ and then enter into the Millennial Kingdom. Last verse 5. Still referring to the 144,000, John says, “And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.” No lie was found in their mouth, meaning their confession of Christ as their Messiah by these 144,000, their confession will be true. They’ll reject the false Messiah of the Tribulation. They’ll reject the Antichrist and they’ll truly follow Christ. Then it says, end of verse 5, that they are blameless. It doesn’t mean they’re perfect. It doesn’t mean that they’re sanctified in the sense of being glorified at least. Rather to say they’re blameless is the way we would say that we seek to be blameless. That we seek to be dedicated servants of the Lord. In their context this means they refuse to conform to the teachings and the blasphemy of the Beast, the Antichrist. Instead, they’ll be wholly loyal to and obedient to their actual Master, the true Christ, the Lamb, the One who purchased them. There’s so much more to get into, we are going to get into it next Sunday night as we pick it up in Revelation 14:6 and we’re going to ambitiously seek to take the rest of Revelation 14 next Sunday night.