|
The Victorious
Lamb and the Redeemed
(Revelation
14:1-5)
Revelation chapter 13 ended with
a somber and chilling picture of
what the first century
Christians were up against.
Christianity was outlawed by the
Roman Empire, it was illegal for
the Roman citizens to engage in
commerce with the Christians who
refused to worship Domitian,
there was a government
organization who's sole duty to
the empire was to enforce
emperor worship and Christians
who were caught refusing to
worship Domitian were being
persecuted to the point of
death. God has forewarned His
children what they are soon to
be up against and now, starting
in chapter 14, He is going to
give them some encouragement.
While we look at the hope God
gave them, let's keep in mind
that it is upon the success of
these and other persecuted
Christians that was responsible
for keeping the light of God
shining for us down through the
ages. God promised us that His
kingdom would stand forever,
(Luke 1:33). It always was, is
and will be the responsibility
of the faithful to make it so.
Revelation 14:1
And I saw, and behold, the
Lamb standing on the mount Zion,
and with him a hundred and forty
and four thousand, having his
name, and the name of his
Father, written on their
foreheads. (ASV)
Revelation chapter 14 opens
with the Lamb standing on mount
Zion. The lamb is symbolic for
Jesus Christ, (John 1:29,
Revelation 5:6), and the mount
Zion is used in the scriptures
to represent physical Jerusalem,
(2 Samuel 5:6-7), the church,
(Hebrews 12:22-23), and here for
heaven or divine headquarters at
the right hand of the Father,
(Acts 7:49). The Christians
knew this couldn't mean physical
Jerusalem because it had already
been destroyed along with the
temple.
Notice the Lamb, (Jesus) was
not seen standing on the sand of
the sea, like Satan, (the
Dragon), or rising from the
restless waters like the Roman
Empire under Domitian, (the
first beast), or on the earth
like the second beast, (the
Roman Concilia). Rather, the
lamb was standing on mount Zion
which throughout Jewish history
consistently represented
victory. Hebrews 12:22 notes
Mount Zion as the location of
the church of the living God,
the immovable kingdom. The Word
of the Lord was said to go forth
from Jerusalem, which is also
Mount Zion. Jesus, the champion
of the Christians, was seen,
looking down from the
immoveable, eternal, invincible
Mount Zion, here representing
the heavenly headquarters of
which Satan himself directly
attacked but was defeated and
thrown down.
Standing with Jesus on Mount
Zion was the one hundred and
forty four thousand who had the
Father's name written in their
foreheads. The number twelve
represented a complete nation
and religious organization to
the Hebrews. This is the number
of the tribes of Israel which as
a whole represented their entire
nation which descended from
Abraham. There were twelve
tribes, there were twelve stones
on the breastplate of the high
priest, (Exodus 28:21). At the
dedication of the alter at the
tabernacle, each tribe offered
their sacrifice, one per day for
twelve days. Then when the
alter was dedicated there were
twelve chargers of silver,
twelve silver bowls, twelve
spoons of gold, twelve bulls
sacrificed along with twelve
rams, twelve yearling sheep and
twelve goats, (Numbers 7). When
the Israelites crossed over the
Jordan river into the promised
land they carried twelve stones
to build an alter, (Joshua
4:3). When Elijah confronted
the priests of Baal, he built an
alter of twelve stones according
to the number of the tribes of
Israel, (1 Kings 18:31). There
are more examples but this is a
sufficient sampling to establish
that the number twelve had a
very significant religious
meaning to the Hebrews. It
symbolized completeness in their
organized religion. Twelve
times itself and then multiplied
by 1000, a multiple of 10 which
represents a complete man, would
therefore represent a religious
assembly of complete Christians
of vast proportions, hence the
visual imagery of a large number
of the redeemed. This large
group of redeemed souls is
further identified as we move
further along in the chapter.
So we have the image of Jesus
standing on an unconquerable
position with a large number of
the redeemed surrounding Him.
These souls have the name of His
Father written in their
foreheads. This imagery is in
contrast to those who bore the
mark of the Beast and identifies
them as belonging to God and
abide under His protection.
This language calls to mind the
words of Jesus as quoted in John
6:27, ("...for him hath God
the Father sealed"). Paul
spoke of the sealing twice in
his letter to the Ephesians in
1:13 and 4:30. So we see that
the name of God written in the
foreheads of the redeemed are
representative of the "sealing"
or the marking of ownership that
takes place when one becomes a
child of God.
Revelation
14:2
And I heard a voice from
heaven, as the voice of many
waters, and as the voice of
a great thunder: and the
voice which I heard (was) as
(the voice) of harpers
harping with their harps: (ASV)
John heard
a voice from heaven which
substantiates Mount Zion as
being the heavenly
headquarters in verse 1.
The voice John heard and
described for us in earthly
terms was like many waters,
great thunder and harpers
harping with their harps.
John did not not literally hear water,
thunder and harpers with
harps. The water probably
represented soothing peace
and tranquility, the thunder
described volume, and the
harpers with harps, beauty
and harmony.
Revelation
14:3
and they sing as it were
a new song before the
throne, and before the four
living creatures and the
elders: and no man could
learn the song save the
hundred and forty and four
thousand, (even) they that
had been purchased out of
the earth. (ASV)
Please
note that in verse 2, John
described the voice he heard
as a singular designation,
while in verse 3, he uses
the word "they"
characterizing a plurality
of singers. This is
significant in the text to
note that John described
these singers as singing
with one voice. This is
representative of absolute
unity, which is what every
Christian is to strive for.
The song John heard was the
unified redeemed singing
with one voice, a song that
only they could learn
because no one else has the
right to partake in it. It
is likely a song of praise
and victory. Those who are
not redeemed will not get to
partake in the singing of
that song.
The four
living creatures and the
elders will be the same as
those depicted in the throne
scene of Revelation 4:6-11.
Each creature had eyes in
front and back signifying
the all seeing omniscience
of God. Hebrews 4:13, "And
there is no creature that is
not manifest in his sight:
but all things are naked and
laid open before the eyes of
him with whom we have to
do." (ASV) One creature was
like a lion which represents
strength. Another is like a
calf which could represent
endurance under the yolk.
Another has the face of a
man which could represent
intellect. And the fourth
is like an eagle which
represents
penetrating vision and
swiftness in the execution
of judgment. These
creatures are always before
God, revering Him and
declaring His holiness and
his eternal nature. Psalms
90:2, "Before the mountains
were brought forth, or ever
thou hadst formed the earth
and the world, even from
everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God." (ASV)
The elders
mentioned will represent
great historic figures in
the minds of the
Christians. Such figures as
Abraham, Moses, and Elijah;
great figures of faith
designed to inspire hope and
perseverance in the minds of
the oppressed saints. Of
significance in identifying
them in Revelation 4:10 is
the description of them
"casting their crowns before
the throne." These elders
enjoy kingly authority, but
it is due entirely to their
relation to God, all of
their authority being
derived from him. This is a
beautiful symbolization of
words in this verse. They
are elders before the throne
of God, but they owe it
wholly to God and when they
bow before the almighty,
their authority, which is
represented in their crowns
is doffed and thrown at the
creator's feet. When the
creation looks upon the
throne, all eyes are on God.
At the end
of verse 3, we have the
hundred and forty four
thousand mentioned again in
this context, and John
identifies them for us this
time; Revelation 14:3, "the
hundred and forty and four
thousand, (even) they that
had been purchased out of
the earth." (ASV) Those who
have been purchased out of
the earth are the redeemed,
bought back from death by
the blood of Jesus, (Acts
20:28).
Revelation
14:4
These are they that were
not defiled with women; for
they are virgins. These
(are) they that follow the
Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
These were purchased from
among men, (to be) the
firstfruits unto God and
unto the Lamb. (ASV)
John
devotes the entire next two
sentences to further
identify the hundred and
forty four thousand. Paul
wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:2,
"For I am jealous over
you with godly jealousy: for
I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present
you as a chaste virgin to
Christ." The saints
written of in the new
testament were often
referred to as a "bride" in
their relationship with
Jesus Christ, (Ephesians
5:27, Romans 7:4). There is
another sense of defilement
for which John is
undoubtedly alluding to in
the imagery here. Idolatry
is characterized in
scripture as committing
spiritual adultery. In
Ezekiel 23:37 we see God's
condemnation for
participating in the
idolatrous worship of Molech,
where part of the worship
was the sacrifice of their
children by fire to the
pagan god. This idolatrous
worship was characterized as
adultery. Those to whom
John were writing were
warned not to bow down to
the beast and worship him.
Therefore it is obvious that
John's reference here to the
virgins is representative to
those who refused to bow
down and worship Domitian.
John is making this vision
more personal to the
oppressed Christians as the
imagery narrows down to them
specifically.
These
(are) they that follow the
Lamb whithersoever he goeth.
Refusing to worship
Domitian was a priority to
those who would stand with
the lamb on Mount Zion, but
it was by no means the only
requirement. In addition to
refusing to bow down to
Domitian, the redeemed had
to be faithful to Jesus and
keep His commandments
whatever they may be or
wherever they may lead.
These
were purchased from among
men, (to be) the firstfruits
unto God and unto the Lamb.
Those who stand with
Jesus were purchased from
among sinful mankind. Of
significance is the wording
"the firstfruits unto God
and unto the Lamb." The
use of the word "firstfruits"
leaves no doubt that there
will be more redeemed than
those pictured in this
imagery. This is in direct
contradiction to those
denominational doctrines
which espouse the number of
souls in heaven to be
literally one hundred and
forty four thousand.
Denominational teaching
literalizes the hundred and
forty four thousand in
various ways to represent
the number of saved souls
who will be taking up
residence in heaven with
God. Some of those who
hold to this doctrine try to
set forth the idea that
earth will be regenerated
sometime in the future to
stand forever. The
millennial doctrines hold to
belief in the physical
return of Jesus Christ who
is said will reign for a
thousand years from
Jerusalem. It is not
in the scope of this study
to examine all of the
variant beliefs regarding
the misuse of the hundred
and forty four thousand
symbol. However, it
should be noted here that to
literalize any element of
this imagery demands the
rest of the figures in this
context be interpreted
literally as well. So
with this in mind, if the
hundred and forty thousand
is literal then we can also
infer from the accompanying
text that they will be all
men in consideration of the
fact that they had never
been defiled with women.
In addition to this, the
fact they were all virgins
according to the text, means
that no one who had ever
been married would have any
hope of being among those
privileged to live in
heaven. Therefore
heaven would be populated
with a hundred and forty
four thousand men who had
never been married.
No woman that ever existed
would get to live there with
God in heaven. Such a
notion is utterly ridiculous
and should be summarily
rejected on the basis of
being at best nonsense.
There is no limit to the
damage one can do with
scripture through selective
literalization of the text.
The figure of the hundred
and forty four thousand is
as symbolic as the rest of
the language complementing
it within the context.
Serious students of
scriptural analysis must
learn to interpret figures
such as these consistently
so as to avoid error in
understanding.
Revelation
14:5
"And in their mouth was
found no lie: they are
without blemish." John
teaches that there will be
no liars in heaven,
(Revelation 21:7-8,
Revelation 22:15), and the
redeemed are spotless,
washed in the blood of the
lamb, (Revelation 1:5).
These five verses in
Revelation 14 are full of
imagery, and it's no
wonder. The letter has
reached a significant
turning point. The enemies
of God and the Christians
are not going to prevail.
Their defeat is being
announced before the
struggle even begins. If
such a document stating this
and the following facts
plainly were to fall into
the hands of the
authorities, it would result
in a wholesale extermination
of the already hated
Christians. Just the rumor
of Jesus being born was
enough to spell the doom for
every male child 2 years old
or less under the rule of
Herod. Imagine what the
result would be if Domitian
came into possession and
could understand a document
that spelled out his
ultimate defeat?
A
paraphrase of what John was
saying could be worded thus:
"And I saw
Jesus Christ, our champion,
standing on an unconquerable
position surrounded by the
redeemed, knowing them
personally. They were all
singing a comforting and
beautiful song of victory.
The song they sang before
the throne of God was a song
no lost person could ever
know or hope to sing. They
never gave in to Domitian or
bowed down to worship him.
They kept the commandments
of Jesus to the end and were
among the first to be
eternally saved from among
the men of the earth."
|