Are You Part Of This Warrior-Choir? (Revelation 14:1-7)
GIST: God’s people will be in His presence singing their hearts out because they’ve fought this spiritual war alongside the Lamb and have been redeemed and restored —so let’s be part of Jesus building this warrior-choir!
This morning, we’re coming to what will be last full chapter we’ll cover in Revelation before taking a short break to continue our annual “Summer in Psalms” series. We’ll try to break this down in either two or three sermons (I’ll let you know for sure which one next week ☺️) and come to what should work as a natural pausing point in our study.
Chapter 14 reminds me a lot of what we saw in chapters 7 & 10. Those were breaks just before the end of pictures of judgment. In both, the vision John was given called us to step back and see the grace and sovereignty of Jesus in the midst of mass chaos and destruction. Chapter 14 functions very similarly. The last two chapters we’ve walked through have given us vivid imagery of the kind of spiritual warfare Christians will face until Jesus returns. Chapter 14 then reminds us what Jesus’ salvation means for us on an eternal scale and calls the world to repent and turn to Him before it’s too late.
Today, we’re just going to look at that first part as we camp out in the first 7 verses of the chapter.
“1 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 firstfruits for God and the Lamb, 5 and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. 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.”
The picture we’re given here is interesting because, in a lot of ways, we have the people of God being depicted using military language—like we are the victorious and obedient army of God defined by His love and character and known by His name. On the other side though, this army is getting ready to…sing. Those two pictures might not seem like they should go together, but as we’ll see even more next week, chapter 14 is all about contrasting realities for us ☺️! AND these two pictures should absolutely go together for God’s people. Here’s our gist for this morning: God’s people will be in His presence singing their hearts out because they’ve fought this spiritual war alongside the Lamb and have been redeemed and restored —so let’s be part of Jesus building this warrior-choir!
Now, that breaks down into 4 points today and a bonus takeaway, but don’t freak out; they won’t be too big ☺️. Let’s dive in!
I. God’s People Will Be In His Presence
“1 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.”
Alright, so there are a few things in this opening picture. First, we see the Lamb, Jesus, standing on Mount Zion, the→
Holy Hill. Throughout Scripture, Mount Zion is used to represent Jerusalem and the people of God in various ways, and it was even linked to specific places (the temple mount, the city of David…etc). However, what it came to represent was that perfect Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem, the place of God in its purest form—Heaven. It’s here we see Jesus, reminding us that He’s the risen and glorified Savior. And look who’s with Him→
The 144,000. We’ve seen this group before. In case you weren’t with us, the last time John gave us this number it was in the form of a military role call. We were given a stylized list of the 12 tribes of Israel all having 12,000 fighting men. 12 is the number of completion. 1,000 is a way of saying…a whole bunch. And, in that same passage, this group was also referred to as an innumerable multitude, so we concluded it was meant to represent the entirety of God’s people in Heaven—and there’s a whole bunch of them! So these are the people of God in Heaven with Jesus, and, look, they have head tattoos too! ☺️
Contrasting Marks. Context really is beautiful! This is why I love walking through whole books of the Bible. Last week, we discussed the infamous mark of the beast. I said that mark was meant to be a spiritual one. Like when the saints were being sealed by God in chapter 7, the mark of the beast symbolized belonging to sin instead of God. That mark was expressed in an equally infamous and symbolic number (666) which signified serving ourselves—mankind, our sin natures…etc. Now, what are we told here, yet again, about God’s people? They have stuff on their foreheads too, but it’s not a symbolic number; it’s a name! The name of the Lamb, the name of the Father. They belong to Jesus!
So, we’re reminded that at the end of the day, God’s people will be in God’s presence because they belong to Him…and what will they be doing?
II. Singing Their Hearts Out
“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.”
First, John tells us what he sees—God and His people. Then, he starts to tell us what he hears, and it’s like the sound develops for him. First, it sounds like the→
Roar of Many Waters and Loud Thunder. This is really neat because, again if you’ve been studying along with us, you’ll probably remember these descriptions. When we’ve seen them before, they were referring to the voice or the presence of God. (Here are the first two examples: Revelation 1:15 & 4:5) Because of that, when I first read this description I’m expecting it to be leading up to God saying something, but this time it doesn’t. It’s us! Now, this isn’t saying we’re god-like or anything. Still, it seems something about this noise reminds John of God. Now, hold on to that thought for a second. I will definitely come back to it because I know I’m in danger of sounding blasphemous if I don’t ☺️!
So, at first, the sound is indistinct. It’s powerful, like God’s voice has always been in these visions. Then, it starts sounding like→
Harpists. We’ve encountered this imagery in Revelation before, as well. In fact, one of the first times we saw Christians in Heaven they were playing harps, and we had to fight against that fallacious stereotype of fluffy white clouds and people in a trance-like state plucking tiny instruments. Heaven is vibrant and beautiful, and harp music in the Old Testament always signified joy! They were used for songs of praise. So, this powerful sound is now being described as…praise music. And then it clears up even more, and we see that the saints are→
Singing. Now, I don’t want to make too much of this and miss the forest for the trees, but there is something to be said here about what we were made to be doing. You don’t have to sing well to sing praise to Jesus. It’s not about putting on a good show; it’s about pouring out your heart it praise. For me, this resonates because music is a huge part of how I worship. Often, I feel like my songs can express what my spoken prayers can’t. Maybe you know what I’m talking about. Or maybe you’ve been in a worship service before when this just clicked. And I’m not talking about just being in a room where the music evokes just the right kind of warm fuzzies and everyone “feels” something—even if there is nothing real about what they’re feeling. I’m not talking about blind emotionalism at all. I’m talking about being with other believers and really praising together and just knowing you’re in the presence of God with them. I think we got a small taste of that last Sunday night at our World Changers concert. And I think that might be what John was expressing about this singing sounding like God talking before it sounded like music because God speaks to us through His songs.
Maybe that’s not you. Maybe music really doesn’t do too much for you, so this point just seems too flowery for your taste. Even if that’s the case, our lives are meant to be poured out in this kind of unbridled, powerful adoration. We should want to praise Jesus with everything we have. I think that’s what’s happening in this picture as they sing a→
New Song. What is this song? Well obviously it doesn’t give us the lyrics, but it tells us only the redeemed can learn it (which is another reason this isn’t meant to be just a literal 144,000). It seems to be the praise learned through perseverance as we live as Jesus’ people in a broken land.
So they’re in God’s presence, and they’re singing to Him→
III. Because They Have Fought This Spiritual War Alongside The Lamb
“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.”
For obvious reasons, this first sentence has led to much discussion. However, I want to make sure to keep it with the one that follows because they really seem to be expressing the same idea. Essentially, this is more imagery that paints these singing saints as part of God’s army. The first line is referring to them as what we’ll call→
Pure Warriors. Some will take this reference to virginity to mean the 144,000 are a special group of celibate men. However, everything we’ve seen so far points to this being a symbolic picture of all believers which means it would have to include a much wider category of people ☺️—not just men, not just celibate men. People much smarter than me have pointed out that this is referencing the Jewish custom of remaining celibate during times of war. The passages might be a bit awkward to read outloud with the number of small children we have present today, but you can crossference these two to see what I’m talking about: Deuteronomy 23:9-11, 1 Samuel 21:5 ☺️. Furthermore, the next line tells us these are people who follow the Lamb wherever He goes which is a picture of→
Obedient Warriors. It’s also the reason they are represented as pure. Christians are people who follow wholeheartedly after Jesus. They fight the good fight and run the race→
IV. And They’ve Been Redeemed & Restored
“These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, 5 and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.”
They have been→
Redeemed or Purchased. This points to Jesus’ deliberate rescuing by paying your price, taking on your Hell, so you can be an→
Offering Set Apart. That’s what firstfruits are. They’re the beginning of the harvest, but they’re also the part traditionally setaside as an offering to God. Yet again, this is a picture of us belonging to Jesus. He paid our price, and we willingly and eagerly give our lives over to Him.
Perfect People? This section ends by saying they have no lies and are blameless. Does this mean Christians are also morally superior beings? Hardly. Instead, this is how God sees us because we’ve been covered by Jesus’ perfection even though we are still sinners saved by amazing grace. It also points, though, to what our testimony is meant to be. We’re called to proclaim the truth of Jesus while striving to live a life, though flawed, that is above reproach as good witness to the world around us.
Ok, so let’s try to put this all together in some→
TAKEAWAYS
Let’s→
Remember the blessing of belonging to Jesus. Our live gets flipped upside down so often. You might not being having a great day as you read these notes. To be completely transparent. As I type this section, I’m preparing to change gears and preach this message virtually because we’ve had a COVID outbreak at our church. On top of that, today hasn’t been the rosiest. I’ve been grumpy with my kids. I’ve been trying to put out fires from the moment I got out of bed. I’ve been running on far less sleep than a human probably needs. It’s so easy to be in moments like that and just see the frustrations. But at the end of the day, I’m a child of the King because He loved me so much He gave His life to rescue me. May we never forget in our brokenness how the incredible blessing of belonging to Him!
Sing now. We saw this awesome picture of us in Heaven…and we were singing. Music is heart-language. Don’t wait to get to Heaven to start praising Him like that—whatever that looks like or sound likes for you now ☺️.
Take this spiritual battle seriously by clinging to His redemption & following His lead! We’re also described as an army though. There is a real battle around us. Wherever He leads and whatever He calls you to do—follow Him, trust Him, serve Him.
And Be Part Of Jesus Building This Warrior-Choir!
Admittedly, what I’m about to read really belongs with the next section, so we’ll come back to it. However, it fit so well as an admonishment for us today, I couldn’t pass it up.
“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.”
This should be our message wherever we go…and we should be going…everywhere! As your pastor, my heart is to keep missions in front of you all the time. We’re planning a large outreach to our neighbors in TDL this summer—that’s missions; they need to see Jesus. We’re gearing up for our annual VBS—that’s missions; those kids and families need to see Jesus. We have members going to FL with World Changers in July—that’s missions; they need to see Jesus. We talk about the campus ministry of the Mahler family—that’s missions; those college kids need to see Jesus. We’re praying for Ryan Steel and my parents who are international missionaries—that’s missions (it’s in the name☺️); the world needs to see Jesus!
Until He returns, there will be chaos and devastation, but a warrior-choir is learning a new song that will burst out like the roar of many waters. Let’s be part of Jesus building that choir!
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