Week 9 Revelation 14
REVELATIONS
After studying the
terrifying images displayed in Revelation 12-13, Revelation 14 serves as a
great hope and a call to endurance. Though the nations rage against the lamb,
the end is coming, and final victory is ours in Christ Jesus. We can stand with
joyful hearts right now knowing that there is a “New Song” soon to be sung by
all the saints of the living God.
Opening
Question
What’s the most
encouraging/confusing thing we have discussed so far in the book of Revelation?
THE POINT
A day is coming
when time will be no more.
Revelation 14
The Lamb and the
144,000
14 Then I looked,
and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name
and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from
heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice
I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, 3 and they were
singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and
before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been
redeemed from the earth. 4 It is these who have not defiled themselves with
women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
These have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb, 5
and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.
The Messages of the
Three Angels
6 Then I saw
another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to
those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. 7
And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour
of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea
and the springs of water.” 8 Another angel, a second, followed, saying,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine
of the passion[a] of her sexual immorality.”
9 And another
angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships
the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10
he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup
of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of
the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their
torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these
worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its
name.” 12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the
commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from
heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now
on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors,
for their deeds follow them!”
The Harvest of the
Earth
14 Then I looked,
and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with
a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another
angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the
cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the
harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his
sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
17 Then another
angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 And
another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the
fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put
in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its
grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and
gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress
of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and
blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.
The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Revelation 14.
Study
Notes
In chapter 13, we
learned of a great battle which Satan will rage on the earth. If we are not
careful, it would be too easy to grow fearful from what we read in chapter 13.
But as we turn the page to chapter 14, we read of God’s triumph and promised
rest for his people. This chapter shows us that God glorifies Himself by
delivering his followers, while punishing the beast and those who follow him.
There are a few key
things to point out:
1) The 144,000 are
singing a “New Song.”
Some have suggested
that 144,000 is just a number that represents a select group of the redeemed.
While this is not the place for extended discussion, to accept this limited
position would be to miss the thrust of John’s usage of the number; 144,000
represents completeness. The complete number of the saints are before the
throne, singing a “New Song” of praise unto the Lamb.
2) We can endure.
As the angels fly
overhead, they proclaim judgment on the earth and God’s victory of the beast.
While judgment commonly has a negative connotation, this is the believers’
great hope. God has judged the devil, the beast, and their followers, and the
pain and suffering they cause will one day be eliminated. Thus, we know the
judgment of the devil is coming, as well as Christ’s consuming victory is the
call and reason the believer can endure.
3) There will be a
harvest.
At the end of the
age, we can rest assured that a harvest will take place, and the righteous will
be separated from the unrighteous. Meaning, everyone will one day be judged by whether
they have placed their trust in the righteousness of Christ. If they have
decided not to, they have aligned themselves with the devil and the beast.
Chapter 14 serves
as a great hope considering what we have read in chapters 12-13. In our world
today, chaos and sin rage, dare I say, are even celebrated. We question if
things will ever get better. Yet, at the same time, seeds of the gospel message
are being spread by faithful believers around the world. And while we are
called to proclaim the gospel to the world, a day is coming when time will be
over, Christ will come, and the victory will be consummate. So, take heart, you
saints of the living God, there will be soon a “New Song” for us all to sing
together in glory.
Quotes
“Where we stand
with Christ now determines where we will stand in the end.” – Stephen Williams
“Jesus coming to
judge is good news because it means He is coming to make all things right.” –
Dallas Wilson
“We (the church) don’t
sing to be redeemed, we sing because we have been redeemed by Another. We sing
from redemption, not for it.” – Josh Pratt
“Followers of
Christ should not sing a song of Me, Me, Me; but a song of Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus.” – Dustin Dozier
“Does my life
reflect the song of the Lamb?” – Corey Watson
Questions
for Discussion
What stands out/or
is confusing to you from this passage?
How does this
passage call and strengthen us to endure?
Is the harvest
discussed in the passage meant to scare or encourage us? Why?
What is Jesus’
position as the beast wages war in chapter 13? How is this brought to light in
chapter 14?
How is one
identified with the Lamb and not the beast?
END
Teacher Notes:
THE 6 STAGES OF THE
JOURNEY OF FAITH
The Critical
Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith
by Janet Hagberg
and Robert Guelich
https://corellaroberts.com/6-stages-of-the-journey-of-faith-and-why-you-need-to-know-yours/
Click on the Link to Read
It’s not perfect,
and we don’t always fit neatly into the 6 categories, but much like how
personality profiles can help us understand ourselves and operate with greater
understanding toward others, this spiritual-life profile can help us navigate
the work of God in our lives and move forward with greater trust and hope.
STAGE ONE: THE
SEARCH FOR GOD
We recognize our
need for a savior and accept His invitation to new life. This is the point of
belief, of being born again.
STAGE TWO: THE LIFE
OF DISCIPLESHIP
We are hungry to
learn everything we can about God and what His truth means for our lives. We
want to belong and will search for a community of faith where we are fed from
the Word.
STAGE THREE: THE
PRODUCTIVE LIFE
We want to give
back to the God who gave everything for us. We start looking for ways to share
our faith and do good deeds. We ask if we have a personal calling from the Lord
and take a step of faith to pursue it (i.e. taking a role in the church, starting
a Bible study, helping a neighbor in need, focusing your work more on spiritual
matters, becoming a teacher, pastor or missionary, we begin viewing parenting
as discipleship).
STAGE FOUR: THE
WALL AND THE WILDERNESS
Many times,
triggered by some form of suffering, we often revert to more learning or more
service to hopefully break through. But eventually, we still end up at the wall
with the choice to keep on looping backwards in the journey or to surrender to
a major work of the Spirit in our lives at the wall.
We used to be sure,
now we are not sure, not as confident as before. We thought we had a lot of our
life and faith questions figured out or resolved only to find more penetrating
and unanswerable questions arising. These questions are frequently stimulated
by an incident, a significant birthday or anniversary of an event, a death or
divorce, or a significant disappointment in another person, perhaps a leader or
a family member. We gradually learn to seek out opportunities for reflection,
for these are the primary way in which we can approach our questions. We become
aware, perhaps for the first time, of an inner spiritual and personal path, one
that is not necessarily predicated on what our community espouses.
What is
God Doing at the Wall?
God’s unconditional
love for us slowly emerges as a dimension of this stage that we were not
expecting. So often when we feel we are losing our faith or struggling, we
think that those in authority will be displeased. If, at these times, we can
take in God’s love, we find God’s grace and love are abundant. What a
discovery. God’s grace also allows us to discover new elements in our
relationship with God that we never knew were there.
God’s grace appears
in unusual ways and when we least expect it. We may lose a job, for instance,
and find out that this was the only way in which we could take the risk to
change careers or to get into work that is more suited to us. God brings us
through the depths to a place that is better, even if we don’t earn as much
money or have as much power as we did before. Our hope at the Wall is that we
will move forward one day at a time and receive enough of God’s love to carry
on.
A Vicious
Circle
People stuck here
can’t seem to reach inward to risk looking at themselves and can’t reach
outside because they feel no sense of community here. Some may go on a
life-long search for the right answer and make the search an obsession -- ever
learning, never coming to Truth. This is generally true of those who make faith
an intellectual search and are afraid to open their hearts. Some revert to an
earlier stage that is more comfortable or is a relief from the tension. And
others simply drop off the journey all together, giving up on a pursuit of
faith. Some move to a non-faith community that meets a need, usually
an intellectual or social one.
We move forward at
the wall when we rediscover who God really is in our lives. If we are willing
to take God more personally, we can move into the next stage. We may need help
here because we will be called on to give up our ideas, control, and ego.
If we can ask God
to help us stay with this process and commit to it, no matter what, we will not
recognize ourselves on the other side of the Wall.
2 Corinthians 5:17
says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has
come: The old has gone, the new is here!
STAGE FIVE: THE
JOURNEY INWARD
We learn to accept
that deep change is necessary, and we struggle through a season of
deconstruction as God works with us to expose idols and egos and His Heart in
pursuit of our own. We begin to reconstruct our relationship with God
based on intimacy, and a new sense of self-realization leads to more profound
God-realization.
STAGE SIX: THE
JOURNEY UPWARD AND OUTWARD
We learn to live
out the greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul,
and mind; and from that life of God-love the second commandment flows: Love
your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39) We may still revisit times of
testing and refining in the wilderness, but hope is secure, and our hearts are fully
surrendered.
Revelation 14:1-5
Then I looked, and
behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and
his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven
like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard
was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a
new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the
elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed
from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for
they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have
been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb, and in their
mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.
“We (the church)
don’t sing to be redeemed, we sing because we have been redeemed by Another. We
sing from redemption, not for it.” - Josh Pratt
Revelation 14:6-13
Then I saw another
angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who
dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said
with a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment
has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of
water.” Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon
the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual
immorality.” And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud
voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his
forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured
full strength into the cup of His anger, and he will be tormented with fire and
sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And
the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day
or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the
mark of its name.” Here is a call for
the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their
faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are
the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit,
“that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
Revelation 14:14-20
Then I looked, and
behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a Son of Man, with a
golden crown on His head, and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel
came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud,
“Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest
of the earth is fully ripe.” So, He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle
across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a
sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has
authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the
sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the
earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So, the angel swung his sickle across the
earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great
winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city,
and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600
stadia.
“Where we stand
with Christ now determines where we will stand in the end.” - Stephen Williams
In our world today,
chaos and sin rage, dare I say, are even celebrated. We question if things will
ever get better.
A day is
coming when time will be no more.
If you are reading
this, you have already heard God’s truth. You know that God’s final judgment
will not be put off forever.
·
Have you joyfully received the everlasting Good News?
·
Have you confessed your sins and trusted in Christ to save you?
If so, you have
nothing to fear from God’s judgment. The judge of all the earth is your Savior!
Back to our journey of Faith...
Well, let me tell you what He's not doing - He's Not Our Coach!
We often visualize
God standing on the sidelines, maybe even standing farther ahead of us, waving
us towards Him. Telling us to work harder and keep going. Telling us we can be
who He called us to be and produce the fruit that He desires in our life if we
just don't quit. This creates a player-coach relationship with God. A
relationship where we try hard to please Him and hope that everything works
out. A relationship where we work hard every day, striving and trying to live a
fruitful life, but just can't seem to make it happen.
God is not our coach. He is not waving us down, trying to get us to work harder
and keep going. He’s not further ahead, waiting on us to catch up to Him. God
is not a coach.
God is a gardener.
And a gardener gets close to their garden. A gardener isn’t afraid to get down
on hands and knees in the dirt to tend to their plants. A gardener isn’t
yelling at their garden to produce.
No, a gardener is
right in the middle of the garden. Tending. Shaping. Pulling weeds. Pruning
what’s dead and removing what’s hindering the growth of their plants. A
gardener doesn’t demand fruit. A Gardener Cultivates Fruit.
Next Week…The Bowl
Judgments
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