What is going on in the life of this world behind the scenes?
That is the question to which John is giving us the answer in chapters 13 and 14 of Revelation. It is the third major division of the book, each of them written to a pattern: an introductory vision first, followed by seven teaching segments. In this case, each of the teaching segments is a vision too. In the first two, of the Beast from the Sea and the Beast from the Earth, John has shown us what is going on in the life of the World; now we are to be shown what is happening in the life of the Church.
This third of seven teaching visions is of the Lamb on Mt. Zion and with him the 144,000 who have His Name and His Father's Name written on their foreheads. We were first introduced to them in ch. 7, where it is clear that they represented the Church Militant, the company of the redeemed on earth. (There they were seen to be one company with "the multitude no man can number who stand before the throne", the Church Triumphant in Heaven.) They are the Church on earth here too in ch. 14.
i. 144,000 The Church
The number 144,000 is not a literal number of some élite class of Christians in heaven, as the Jehovah's Witnesses hold. What nonsense the idea generated! They believed their own number would constitute the 144,000: when their numbers exceeded it, they had to cobble up some other category into which to fit the rest - the "other sheep I have which are not of this fold"!
We have seen that John gives the number 144,000 to the Church. That he locates them with the Lamb on Mt. Zion confirms that it is the Church on earth he here has in view, as he did in ch. 7. That he hears their song before the Throne does not mean that they have suddenly been translated, for believers while on earth, as Paul says in Ephesians, are in fact "seated with Christ is the heavenly places."
The picture John gives us of them is a perfect illustration of Rom. 8:35 - despite the trouble, hardship, persecution, danger and sword to which they are subjected, they are more than conquerors; nothing has separated them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus their Lord.
Distressed on earth, they have nevertheless "set their minds on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God."
ii. Lamb's and Father's Names on their foreheads
They are "sealed in their foreheads," v. 1. In 7:4 that is the same as to say that they are "the servants of our God," for "the Lord knoweth them that are His," (II Tim. 2:19), and they are "Redeemed" v. 3. "Not one of them is lost," the Lord said in John 17:12 "I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost ..."
"Sealed in their foreheads" - they have the 'mind of Christ' for it is the Spirit with whom they are sealed, Who "leads them into all the truth." (John 16:13) (3:12, "Him who overcomes ... I will write on him the name of my God ... and I will also write on him my new name.")
iii. New Song
The new song they sing is like a ...
1.
Sound of many
waters - for they speak with the voice of the Church's Lord revealed
in the opening vision, 1:15.
2.
Sound of Loud
Thunder - it is authoritative for it is in praise of Truth.
3.
Sound of Harpists
- it is melodious.
The New Song is sung ...
4.
Before the Elders
and Four Creatures
That refers back to ch. 4 where the 24 elders represented the People
of God and the four living creatures the Creation.
5.
Only by the
Redeemed - none else may sing it (angels desire to look : I Peter
1:12), for they sing of more blessings gained in Christ than Adam
lost; none know to sing that song save sinners redeemed by the blood
of the Lamb.
They are ...
6.
Undefiled with
women. By that John does not mean that a true Christian must be
celibate; rather he is using language in the vein of Heb. 13:4,
"Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed be
undefiled" ... or of Paul in II Cor. 11:2, "I promised you to one
husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to
him."
In the Old Testament idolatry is often described as improper sexual
relations. Try to interpret this language literally and we shall be
in six feet of glue in no time with questions of sexual
discrimination (only men? - "not defiled with women"; only women? -
they are "virgins"!) In v. 8 John will refer to Babylon (the godless
state) who made the "nations drink the wine of her impure passion"
and he obviously refers to a wider evil than merely sexual evil
there. So here.
They who sing this song are ...
7.
Followers of the
Lamb - disciples - and ...
8.
First Fruits - as
in James 1:18, "He chose to give us birth through the word of truth,
that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created."
9.
No lie was found
in their mouth - they are "of the Truth." (John 18:37) It may be said
of them as it is said in Psalm 32:2, "Blessed is the man whose sin
the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no
deceit." They are spotless, not because they have never sinned, but
because they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.
It is a resilient, defiant, inspiring faith John has given us in this paragraph. The beleaguered company of Christians on earth, despised and down-trodden though they are, are in reality a triumphant and rejoicing company. In the world they have tribulation; but with their Lord they "have overcome the world."
The next vision occupies verses 6-13: it is of three angels in mid-heaven and of utterances they are given to the peoples of the earth.
We shall meet another trio of angels in the fifth vision. These first three issue an invitation and warnings, the second three call for a verdict on the response men make to those announcements.
In their utterances John is clearly presenting a contrast to the arrogant mouthings and blasphemous utterances of the two beasts. The angels' words are words of grace and truth.
John is also saying that despite the loud-mouthed arrogance of the system and the ideology, it is really God Who has the last word on the life of this world. It is the Word of the Gospel and the Sentence of Doom pronounced from Heaven that will sound when all other voices have sunk down to silence. John is drawing a contrast between the Beasts who aim to usurp Christ's authority, and God Who affirms it:
Psalm 2:2, "The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters."
But the One enthroned in heaven laughs. Then he rebukes them, saying "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill" - to Whom He says, "Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
"Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled."
"Blessed are all who take refuge in him." (Echoed in Rev. 14:13)
John is saying: I have explained to you the full significance of the conflict of our time. Let me now show you its final outcome. "The wheat and the tares will grow together ... until the harvest. (Matt.13:3) A harvest there will surely be."
The Three Angels
Angels are "sent forth to serve for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation ..." Heb. 1:14
1. Appeal:
The first angel proclaims the Everlasting Gospel "to every creature" (refer to Matt. 24:14 - This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be published throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come.)
That he "flies in mid-heaven" we in these days of communication satellites should understand better than readers of Revelation in earlier generations, for it is the mid-heaven position of the satellite that provides it with blanket coverage of the earth below.
It is the 'basic' Gospel that is announced: "an appeal to the conscience of uninstructed heathenism" (Swete) who may be dimly aware only of some 'Great Spirit' and the evidence for Him of creation.
That God is Creator is the foundation affirmation on which all truth builds.
That it is an "eternal Gospel" means that it is permanently valid.
That it is "proclaimed to every nation and tribe and tongue and people" means that it applies universally to all.
Note John's estimate of the proper response to the Gospel: "To fear God and give Him glory ... and to worship Him."
Has the Gospel produced that response in us?
2. Doom for the System
The second Angel pronounces doom on the system, the third on the ideology.
The System, i.e. the Kingdom of this World, is doomed.
This is John's first mention of Babylon - it will figure a great deal from this point on; its fate will be elaborated in ch. 18. Like Babel in Genesis 11 it stands for the pride of man in the godless city state.
Judgment is an unavoidable implication of the Gospel. The judgment of God is a judgment of redemption, but that very redemption means the destruction of evil.
The "wine of her impure passion" is in contrast to the redeemed who are chaste.
3. Doom for the Ideology
The third angel's sentence is pronounced on those who worshipped the Beast and its image, receiving their mark on forehead (they "believed the lie") or hand (they "did not the truth.")
v. 10 has disturbed many a reader of Revelation. Those who reject Christ and the Gospel are tormented "in the presence of the Holy Angels and the Lamb." Does this imply a wretched attitude of gloating on Christ's part over those who disdained Him?
No it does not. What John means is that it is the very vision of Christ's holiness that constitutes their torment. Hell exists in sight of heaven, and that it is precisely what makes it hell. Those in hell cannot escape the knowledge of what they held in contempt. They must for ever contemplate the perfection that condemns their perfidy.
Studdert Kennedy has a powerful poem of the Last Judgment in which he suggests that "there ain't no Throne, and there ain't no angels" at the last, only the Lord to whom we front up face to face. "It's 'Im you 'ave to see, just 'Im" - and all He says to us is (and it is enough to condemn us totally), "Well?"
"Fire and brimstone" recalls the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, in the Bible a standing symbol of divine judgment.
The language is to be understood symbolically, but taken seriously: "John is quite sure that the consequences of sin follow sinners into the life of the world to come." Leon Morris
"They have no rest ..." stands in contrast with v. 13 "They rest from their labours." (Isa. 57:20) "The wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. '"There is no peace,' says my God, 'for the wicked.'"
"There is a rest that remaineth unto the People of God."
I like the story of the Highland Scots woman, condemned to live in a city slum, who answered when it was suggested to her that she had been given little reason in this life to believe in a God of love, "God will make it up to me, and I shall see the flowers again."
The Call for Endurance
The call for the endurance of the saints in v. 12 is a conclusion to the utterances of the three angels; when the threatened judgments overtake the earth, the saints will not be immune to the devastation.
"Henceforth," v. 13, means "assuredly" - since Christ has died and risen again. It should not be understood to mean, "From some mysterious point in John's time." as though something happened to make it true thereafter where it had not been true before. "Henceforth we see that death is blessing" is the sense of it, rather than "death has at last become a blessing."
It is Beatitude No. 2 in Revelation, this "rest that remains to the People of God" - it is the rest of accomplishment, of the task completed. (The other Beatitudes are: 1:3, 16:15, 19:9, 20:6, 22:7, 22:14)
"There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience." (Heb. 4:9)
"Their deeds follow them ..."
i. It is the Spirit Who speaks.
He does not speak very often in this book: He does to the Churches (2:7, 11), here, and with the final invitation 22:17. What God does 'by His Spirit' is what He does 'from the heart,' for His Spirit is His inmost self; how interesting it is then that the Spirit does not speak with the voice of judgment, but of invitation and blessing.
ii. "Labours" = toil to the point of pain.
John does not mean that no work is done in heaven but that pain has ceased there. Work is at last refreshing and fulfilling as at the first it was given to be.
Also, just as John insists that sin in this life carries its effects into the life to come, so do "righteous deeds." They do.
Summary
v. 9 - 11 = The
Destiny of those Who Reject the Testimony
v. 12 - 13 = The Destiny of those who Receive the
Testimony
Michael Wilcock sums
up the teaching of this section as "A Parallelogram of Forces"
(Michael Wilcock, "I Saw Heaven Opened" S.C.M., p. 135):
- on the one side the System and the Ideology bringing only fire and
torment,
- on the other side the Church and the Gospel bringing blessedness
and rest.
It calls for us to take the long view. What sustains the believer is a consideration of ultimate realities, for when God's judgments are abroad in the earth there is no magic immunity from them is granted to Christians - they suffer along with the rest of the world, even to the point where they cry from the heart, "How long O lord, how long?"
Leon Morris: "Believers must pass through troubles, but they know that their troubles are temporary, whereas those of their tormentors will be eternal."
Paul: "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory out of all comparison, because we look, not to things that are seen, but to things that are unseen; for things seen are transient, it is things unseen that are eternal." (II Cor. 4:17)
Keeping the commandments and the faith of Jesus means "Trust and obey, for there is no other way."
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