Revelation Chapter 14 The Lamb and the 144,000
Week Date Topic 1 09 Sep 15 Review and Chapter 11: Two Witnesses and the Seventh Trumpet 2 16 Sep 15 Chapter 12: The Woman and the Dragon 3 23 Sep 15 Chapter 13: The Two Beasts 4 30 Sep 15 Chapter 14: The Lamb and the 144,000 on Mount Zion 5 07 Oct 15 Chapter 15: A Scene in Heaven 6 14 Oct 15 Chapter 16: The Seven Bowls of Wrath 7 21 Oct 15 Chapter 17: The Doom of Babylon 8 28 Oct 15 Chapter 18: Babylon is Fallen 9 04 Nov 15 Chapter 19: The Lord Almighty Reigns 10 11 Nov 15 Chapter 20: The Second Death 11 18 Nov 15 Chapter 21: A New Heaven and a New Earth 12 25 Nov 15 Chapter 22: Final Admonitions
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Review Chapter 12 and 13 Chapters 12 & 13 introduced the enemies of Christ The dragon Satan, emblematic of one who leads the anti-christian movement The beast - The Roman Empire, who was the heavy hand of the evil one The false prophet - those who promoted and supported worship of the Empire Chapter 14 Its purpose was to give perspective, once again, to John's readers Specifically, to express the same thought that Elisha did in 2 Kings 6:16 to his servant - "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them! It is a message that even Christians today need to hear Three divisions of the chapter Each one begins with the words "And I saw..." or an equivalent Verses 1, 6, and 14 all begin with the same two Greek words: kai eidon John wanted his readers to see what he saw...to see what God had in store for His people...and for their oppressors Overall, chapter 14 appears to be a vision of all the redeemed in heaven it represents a spiritual reality, in essence
144,000 Worship (14:1-5) A vision of John (vs 1) After the vision of the two beasts He saw a Lamb on Mount Zion, with 144,000 followers The 144,000 are all those who are - Biblically - God's people They were sealed on their foreheads (re-emphasized here) They would be protected from the winds of spiritual destruction And here they are seen standing triumphant with Christ on Mt. Zion Chapter 14 shows the fulfillment of the promise of Chapter 3 that to all who "overcome" they would have the name of "My God" and "My new name" written on them.
Mount Zion? In the OT, the elevated area in Jerusalem which was captured by David after he became king over all Israel (2 Sam. 5:6-10; 1 Kings 8:1; 1 Chronicles 11:5) Eventually the terms "Zion" and "Jerusalem" were used synonymously (2 Kings 19:21,31; Is. 2:3). "Zion" was the "City of David" (1 Kings 8:1; 2 Chron. 5:2). David later selected the northern part of Zion as the location for building the temple To the Jewish mind, Zion was the most holy spot in the world, where God met with His people The Redeemer would be associated with Zion (Is. 59:20)
144,000 Worship (14:1-5) There was a chorus so mighty it was as one voice (vs. 2) The audience (vs. 3) The throne, the 4 living creatures, and the elders Here we have a blending of the vision of a gathering on Mount Zion and the throne room scene from Chapter 4 Don't get bogged down too much in the details - the essence of both scenes are relaying the same thing - the victorious Christians the faithful The 144,000 had the "right" to sing it because THEY had remained faithful to God until death; they had overcome (vs. 4-5) No longer part of this world, spiritually pure
Interlude on the 144,000 Symbolic: Representing totality, completeness Literal: Jehovah s Witness 144,000 is a limit to the number of people who will reign with Christ in heaven and spend eternity with God Those not in the 144,000 will earn a spot in the earthly paradise of Christ Skoptsy Christian sect in Russia Christ would return when there were 144,000 Skoptsy believers Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon The number of saints Christ must find during Rev Moon s lifetime Van Impe 144,000 Jews who will proclaim the kingdom of Christ is at hand at the rapture
Three Angels (14:6-13) Three angels flying in the sky Each of these has a special message from God to proclaim Again, this part of the vision is devoted to bringing comfort to Christians facing terrible trials First angel (vs. 6-7) Eternal gospel to preach (evangelize) Side note about Mormons interpretation this angel dropped tablets to Joseph Smith in New York Second angel (vs. 8) Announces that [spiritual] Babylon had fallen Had tried to lure and seduce Christians Third angel (vs. 9-13) Those who worship the beast and its image would be tormented, not rest day or night Call for the Christians to remain steadfast in their faith Blessed are those who die in the Lord
The Great Harvest (14:14-20) A critical time of judgment will come in the future It is symbolically presented as a harvest Harvests were used in the OT to represent judgment (Is 63:1-6, Matt 13:39-43) Most likely represents end time for the Roman empire and an end time for us One like the son of man (vs. 14) Similar to Rev 1:1, then a reference to Christ, here it is as well He had a sword in Ch 1, here he has a sickle Sickle symbolic of ready for harvest, even judgement Another angel appears (vs. 15-16) Out of temple, directing the one in the cloud to harvest, to which he did
The Great Harvest (14:14-20) Another angel comes out of the temple (vs 17) He has a sharp sickle too Another angel appears, who had charge of the fire Came from the altar, calling out to the angel with the sharp sickle to gather the grapes To which he complied The grapes were trampled in the winepress outside the city, symbolic of God s judgement (Is 63:3, Joel 3:13) Blood flows out of the press rising to the head of the horses for 1600 stadia, a symbolic number
Chapter 14 Summary This chapter emphasizes a choice that is offered to all - regardless of when you live The readers are being told, "You can choose comfortable for the short-term but hell and torment for eternity, or you can choose to suffer for the short-term and heaven for eternity We forget that the choice is really that simple - even though we often make it more complicated We cannot afford, as Christians, to be shortsighted We must live eternally even now And we must not forget that the Lord knows how difficult it will be for those who choose to endure in the face of persecution and suffering - even death He will never forget the great service and sacrifice by those who chose Him over the world