 Revelation chapter 14 beginning at verse 1 then I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000 having his father's name written on their foreheads I heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters like the voice of loud thunder I heard the sound of harpist playing their harps they sang as it were a new song before the throne before the four living creatures and the hours and no one could learn that song except 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth these are the ones who were not defiled with women for their virgins these are the ones who followed the lamb wherever he goes these were redeemed from among men being first fruits to God and to the lamb and in their mouth was found no guile for they are without fault before the throne of God so in order to approach chapter 14 I'll remind you of a couple of things few things that we've already seen in chapters 12 and 13 when we looked at chapter 12 I mentioned to you as we looked at chapter 12 that it reveals Satan's attempt to circumvent circumvent the salvation of God and the purposes of salvation that God has in Jesus Christ and chapter 12 gave us an overview of Satan's attempt to resist God's ultimate judgment we saw in chapter 12 the nation of Israel the nation of Israel was represented as a woman we saw Satan Satan was revealed as a fiery red dragon we saw Jesus who was referred to as the male child who was born to the woman we saw the remnant seed of the woman represented by saved Jews and we saw Michael the archangel as he battled Satan so that was chapter 12 in chapter 13 chapter 13 introduced us to a figure called the Antichrist as well as a false prophet the chapter referred to the false prophet who would literally be what we would say he would be the Antichrist's John the Baptist the false prophet is going to deceive people in order that they may give their allegiance to the Antichrist to the beast and we saw how that this false prophet will use counterfeit miracles and he's going to make an image of the beast and that image is going to appear to be alive now the image is referred to in scripture as the abomination of desolation this is something that will be built in the temple in the middle of the tribulation Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 24 verses 15 and 16 when he said therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place whoever reads let them understand then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountain so Jesus refers to this abomination of desolation this this this image that is given the appearance of life he says when this takes place in Matthew 24 verse 21 then there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time no nor ever shall be when Paul was writing concerning this in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 4 he said he will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God or his worship so that he sets himself up in God's temple proclaim proclaiming himself to be God the abomination of desolation now as we've been looking at that in chapters 12 and 13 we now are in chapter 14 and as you arrive at chapter 14 chapter 14 actually gives to us the ultimate victory of Jesus Christ one of the commentators that I use said that this gives us a panoramic view of the tribulation from the standpoint of Jesus's victory this chapter has actually been called a preview of coming attractions now the verses that we find here in chapter 14 contain a prophetic view of Jesus ultimate triumph and his return to the earth and they're going to reveal the beginning of his thousand year reign it's called the millennial reign but they revealed the beginning of his thousand year reign at the end of the tribulation and his second coming this material that we've been looking at is not placed in a chronological order it is what is called a prophetic overview so the chapter begins with the assurance that Jesus will stand on Mount Zion we'll look at that in just a moment with his followers this will occur after his second coming and concludes with a series of pronouncements of judgment and so by way of introduction that was your introduction let's begin by looking at verse one where he says I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000 having his father's name written on their foreheads now one obviously the lamb is Jesus the Bible refers to him as the lamb of God and here we have him presented at the right hand of God now this is an interesting picture because notice with me how it says he's standing on Mount Zion and so when you look at the Bible it's interesting there are various mountains that are named in Scripture you have Mount Hermon you have Mount Gilboa you have Mount Tabor you have Mount Carmel there's also a mount that is referred to as just Mount Gerritzim and you have the Mount of Olives but Mount Zion is also known as the city of Jerusalem and it is from there that the king is going to reign Isaiah chapter 2 says it like this in verses 2 through 4 in the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains it will be raised above the hills all nations will stream to it many peoples will come and say come let us go to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob he will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths the law will go out from Zion the word of the Lord from Jerusalem he will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many people they will beat their swords into plowshares their spears into pruning hooks nation will not take up sword against nation nor will they train for war anymore so though that may be the scripture that is on the United Nations that is not going to happen until the Lord Jesus Christ rules and reigns now I want you to notice with him are 144,000 having his father's name written on their foreheads now chapter 7 had introduced this 144,000 to us the Jewish believers these are believers that I mentioned to you are protected throughout this period called the tribulation in Revelation chapter 9 verse 4 it says there they were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads and so these are believers that we're looking at the 144,000 mentioned in chapters 7 and 9 now you to notice something here and this is a very basic thing but it's something that that's worth pointing out notice how these 144,000 actually chose their father's name it says having his father's name written on their foreheads it's interesting that this is really a reminder that that you belong to God I didn't choose I didn't choose my earthly name if my parents would have waited till I was old enough to talk and would have said what would you rather be named what name shall we call thee my favorite name is Aaron that's my favorite name I love the name Aaron a favorite male name Aaron when my son David was born I was planning on naming him Aaron that was his name that was his name through the entire pregnancy Aaron I love that name and so the day came the morning came that he was born and the doctor knew that I I wanted a son a Marie and I didn't know the gender of our children we did it the old-fashioned way we got surprised and so when when my son was born the doctor says you have your son he knew I wanted a son and he said and what is his name and I looked at him and I said David kind of question is that well the doctor knew that I was planning on naming him Aaron Marie knew that I was planning on naming him Aaron but the minute I looked at him I said no this is David so his name is David Aaron that's his name we got the Aaron in there David's wife is pregnant she will give birth to God willing in November it's a little boy and he already got him a Dodger Jersey that says David Aaron Junior on it right yeah how cool is that but anyway how to get to the point I was gonna make right see I didn't choose my name and he didn't choose his my name was given to me but in a very real sense everyone in this room has the ability to make a choice for the name that you're gonna have in a very real sense either you're a child of God you're his son his name is written on your forehead you're his daughter his name is written on your forehead he owns you or you don't belong to him it's that's the those are your two choices you have the ability to say I will be a child of God but as to his to as many as received him to them gave he the power to become sons of God even into those who believed on his name John 112 and so in the receiving of Christ I actually have taken the name of God and and in a very real sense I belong to him I'm identified with him I can be identified with either God or I can be identified with Satan and so these 144,000 have their father's name on their forehead they belong to him this is simply a reminder that they belong to God now this is an obvious contrast to chapter 13 verse 17 which speaks of the mark of the beast the mark of the beast is is a mark that they have on their forehead or on their hand and I'm pretty sure they have some kind of reader that they can use and something I didn't mention to you about the mark of the beast that I ought to really have mentioned is the mark of the beast is really a mark that is on their heart long before it's on their forehead or their hand it's in the heart already it's just evidenced on the hand of the or the forehead but these others have a mark of the father and these 144,000 have been preserved by him because they belong to him so in contrast to the mark of the beast he brings it up in chapter 14 verse 1 that they have his father's name written on their foreheads meaning they belong to the father now in verse 2 he said I heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters and like the voice of a loud of loud thunder I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps and so I'll read verse 3 they sang as it were a new song before the throne before the four living creatures and the elders and no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who are redeemed from the earth and so John hears a voice as he says from heaven there are there are different opinions as to who or what this voice is there are those who would say this is the voice of God and others would say well it's a loud voice and perhaps it's the combined voices of the 144,000 whatever it may be if it's the combined voices of the 144,000 it reminds me of Revelation 5 11 and 12 and we'll look at this for just a moment because it says I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands 10,000 times 10,000 they encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders in a loud voice they sang worthy as the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise so there's a sound of loud loud loud praise there's a sound of of loud worship it interestingly notice it speaks of harp is playing harps and you know the idea of harps and all that's where you see sometimes these old movies and these cartoons where angels running around with harps that they're playing but the harp is actually simply a and it's an instrument it's an instrument that makes some beautiful sounds when played skillfully and and this is basically just a picture of the worship but I want to I want to really focus on verse three when it says they sang as it were a new song before the throne here here's something very important that I want to share for just a moment about they sang a new song listen believers we sing a new song believers sing a new song there's an old song it's old to me even by the love song and it speaks about how God has given to us a new song because he said we sang the old songs for much too long we sang the old songs for much too long when I got saved when I got saved I was introduced to something very powerful that's part of the reason why I showed you that that video before we began our study I got introduced to something that radically has changed my life and it's very basic thing that just it's just a very basic thing to all believers and that is I got introduced to worship I sang the world song until the day I got saved and I can tell you some of those songs are poetic some of those songs are beautiful some of those songs still have a tender spot in my heart there are songs that I heard in the past that that do it's not that they're evil songs they're not evil songs some of them are kind of stupid you know you know I thought the Beatles are very deep but what is goo goo gajube it mean anyway right I am a walrus okay I mean some of the things which just share nonsense and I like it I know a whole lot of old songs by the way I won't bore you with them but I know hundreds of them and and many of them were just nonsense songs there are some songs that are beautiful I'm not gonna knock songs that sometimes come out of the pen of somebody writing about love my favorite song is Unchained melody it's my most beautiful I think is a beautiful song beautiful song nobody will ever sing it like Bobby Hatfield saying it nobody will it's just a beautiful song but that's my opinion somebody else is oh no Unchained melody that's some old song man you want to talk about old songs that are great how about Wild Thing okay shows me where you were at a long time ago you make everything Ruby is a very deep line I but here we go we have these old songs but when you got saved God gave you a new song a new song song of praise and it's a song that comes from the depth of your heart it's the deepest it's from the wellsprings of your heart your soul and and it's a it's fresh and it's vibrant and it's powerful and it's reflective of what God has done it's joyful because that's what happens when you get saved that those old songs you know as sentimental as they can be at certain times I'm nothing like when it's just you and Jesus Christ in a moment of worship where your heart is open and your face is perhaps upward in direction where you you perceive he could very well be ruling and reigning in right now in heaven and and your hands are raised and it's not you don't raise your hands because because the worship leader said let's all raise our hands you raise your hands because because it's a surrender to God because because he deserves all that I have and and I want to lift my holy hands to him for what he's done it's a new song guys worship isn't boring worship isn't about us worship is a new song the song of those who have come to know God the song of those who know what they were where they were at what they were doing how miserable their lives really were how sad and how broken and how messed up my dad every Saturday would mow the lawn they need to come in when I was a little boy he played mariachis mariachi it's just a Mexican version of country in Western she left me she took my truck I'm gonna kill her mariachi my mom hated mariachi my dad would play the Trio Los Panchos and others every Saturday I heard it growing up how he's mad someone's always fighting someone's gonna shoot somebody we sung enough of these old angry songs guys we sung enough of them we sing a new song a song of praise a song of worship a song of joy a song of thankfulness and we all have that new song if we're saved Psalm 96 verse 1 oh sing to the Lord a new song sing to the Lord all the earth Psalm 149 one praise the Lord sing to the Lord a new song and his praise in the assembly of saints they sang a new song before the throne a third thing we see in verse 4 he says these are the ones who were not defiled with women for they are virgins these are the ones who follow the lamb wherever he goes these were redeemed from among men being first roots to God and to the lamb and so these are the ones you notice in verse 4 who are not defiled with women they're virgins now there are at least three basic ways you can look at this one it just speaks concerning the fact that they are morally pure they live undefiled lives the word undefiled simply means pure they live pure lives they live what we would call morally excellent lives and so obviously that's a simple command to all people especially believers that we should live pure lives and so there are those would say this is simply speaking of the fact that those who are being referred to are the ones who have lived and undefiled because it says that these are the ones who are not defiled and so they say in a very basic way it's just speaking concerning their moral purity but two it could be saying that in the tribulation they did not marry in order that they would remain undistracted Paul makes it very clear in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 that a married man and an unmarried man are really two different kinds of men the the unmarried the single man is free to do whatever God calls him without the concerns of marital life but the married man on the other hand because he's married has to make sure that he cares for his wife and so one of the ways that this may be speaking of is that they were simply literally unmarried so that they could continue to serve the Lord undistracted and then there's a third application and it could be say be saying that they are doctrinally undefiled these are the ones who did not follow anti Christ these remain spiritually pure and thus are free from his false religion James chapter 4 verse 4 says you adulterous people don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God interesting isn't it that's a powerful statement isn't it anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God what a powerful statement someone once said that when we go into willful sin and continue in willful sin without a sense of repentance or remorse it is like kissing the tip of the spear that was plunged into the side of Christ that's a powerful picture don't you think it's like kissing the tip of the spear that was plunged into the side of Christ when you love sin you're basically saying I'm cool with Jesus's death then matter to me at all and unfortunately and I'll say this briefly there are large groups of people professing to be Christian who have mistakenly believed that the grace of God that you receive through Christ is really permission to continue in a sin laden life and go to heaven I can't tell you I've been in the ministry as a matter of fact I just thought of this as I'm saying this I started teaching the word of God trying to learn to teach the word of God in September of 1973 so this month marks my 41st anniversary of doing Bible studies just like this 41 years of teaching the word of God and I can tell you that in 41 years I have seen many who think that God's grace gives them permission to sin what shall we continue in sin that God's grace may abound God forbid how can we who have died to sin live any longer there in Paul asks the Romans and that's still a worthy question to ask why were you saved to continue in sin or to be freed from it well we have been saved to be set free from it Jesus said you will know the truth and the truth will make you what free free from what free from the bondage of sin because he who sins is a slave to sin Jesus said in the same chapter in the same passage so sin is slavery truth sets you free these are those who are undefiled they're pure I would lean in the direction that they remain unmarried and that they are doctrinally pure also there's two aspects of it that I lean towards you see as the scripture says believers cannot be both a friend of God and a friend of the world Jesus and Matthew 12 30 said it like this he who is not with me is against me and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad either you're helping him or you're hindering him now notice they follow the Lord wherever he goes these are fully committed to Jesus Christ they live lives that are pure and they are living lives that are holy before him it's like what Jesus said in in Luke 9 23 if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me and so these according to verse 4 are the redeemed from among men notice how it says being first fruits of God and to the lamb now when he speaks of being first fruits we need first to remember that that was one of the Jewish feasts it's called the feast of first fruits and the feast of first fruits fall on Sunday following the week in which Passover occurs it's been called an agricultural tide the feast of first fruits because you actually give a tide of the first things that's why it's called first fruits and when you gave your your your offering of the first fruits that that simply recognizing that God gave the harvest the first sheaf of first fruits of the harvest would be cut it would be presented to the Lord and the Lord accepting the first fruits is a pledge on his part of a full harvest that will come here the hundred and forty four thousand are referred to as the first fruits these are the first fruits of those who are saved and they have the first fruits of those saved during the tribulation if you take note Zechariah 13 8 and 9 says this in the whole land declares the Lord two thirds will be struck down in parish yet one third will be left in it this third I will bring into the fire I will refine them like silver test them like gold they will call on my name I will answer them I will say they are my people they will say the Lord is our God these are the first fruits and then finally verse five in their mouth was found no guile the word guile means no uh no lies no deceit for they are without fault before the throne of God they are sincere in their faith sincerity I'll close with a couple of thoughts okay when a christian today lives and you know a life that isn't perfect and they've got plenty of people to point to them and and let them know that they're not I was working before I became a pastor a long time ago now um and I had shared my faith with my supervisor and the job I had was unloading and loading trucks and so I was I was putting these containers on a palette and as I was working I had placed the box down on the ground reached over picked up another one and forgot that I had placed this box on the ground and so I bumped into it and when I bumped into it I I kicked the box to get it out of my way and so when I kicked it to get it out of my way and I can tell you before the Lord I wasn't angry about it I just was getting it out of the way it just so happens my supervisor comes walking right when I kicked it and he says oh oh and he points does his little finger wag at me oh I thought you were a christian christians aren't supposed to get mad so I hit him no I threw the box at him what was he saying you're a hypocrite hypocrisy the word hypocrite is a word that originally was used as uh in reference to an actor the hypocrite was the actor they had two masks one a comedy one of tragedy so when they were playing the part they put one mask on when they played another part they put the second mask on comedy tragedy you still see those masks you know today they're still in image and it's a it's a picture of the actor but the word is hypocrite and so it came to mean somebody who says one thing and yet does another hypocrisy you know when it speaks concerning the fact that these are sincere in the faith hypocrisy is when I intend to put something on as if I am this but in reality I'm not I'm just putting it on I'm an actor I'm a hypocrite but we are all and this is no excuse for my flesh to be given permission to continue to to rule the fact is no matter how much you desire to live for Jesus christ you're going to blow it I know some of you won't but you are going to fail because our human flesh is weak the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak that's why I glory in the grace of God and that's why I'm so grateful for my Savior Jesus that's that's a huge reason because as you know to will is present with me the ability to perform that which I desire is not sometimes my flesh does get the best of me even when my intentions are to live a life that glorifies God all the time all the time right so don't get caught up and I said this for you don't get caught up thinking oh you're just the worst thing there is because if you've given your heart to Jesus christ and you have a sincere desire to follow him I've discovered something about God and it's a good thing that I discovered I discovered that he cleans the fish after he catches them but he does clean the fish he brings something into our life called conviction you know whereas before man you go out and you party do whatever it is that you did with no regret as a matter of fact you woke up then the next morning when you finally did and you said I want to do that again no regret just man I had a blast last night I'm going to have another you know if we can have a party every day of the week I want it then you get saved and then your friends say you know you want some of this and and you go yeah why not and then you go home and you say God forgive me a sinner I am so miserable and I'm so sorry what I've done you see a dog returns to its vomit Peter tells us and a pig returns to the mud that it's been washed clean from the reason that a dog returns to the vomit and the reason the pig returns to the mud is because it's a pig and it's a dog that's their nature but I might jump back into that that that pigs pigs you know style I guess that's what it's called I might return to the vomit but man it's repulsive it isn't what it used to be I can't enjoy it anymore because conviction of the holy spirit just racks my conscience God loves me so much he allows me to be miserable and then I cry out and I say God be merciful to me I am so sorry and I first got saved I'd I'd walk straight and then I'd veer I'd end up back in the pigs dying I'd wake up and I'd say what am I doing here I'd get back on that that road I go for it and I did that off and on for the first two or three years or so if I walk with Christ somewhere along the line the holy spirit finally said to me are you tired of playing are you tired of playing think it real either be in or be out but don't try to be both because you will be miserable be hot or be cold but don't be lukewarm and so many years ago now the holy spirit said I'll be with you every step of the way so these people are sincere in their mouth was found no guile they are without fault before the throne of God they have remained away from the the the doctrines of the false prophet they have remained faithful to God they desire to be conformed to the word of God they're living the word of God out and God is blessing them these are the ones that God is mentioning to us that are walking solidly with him they're the ones they're on Mount Zion they have their father's name written on their foreheads worshiping God with this new song God has called us to be holy and blameless in his sight to take what he's given to us and to live it out and these are great examples of those who did