Now, though the verses are fewer in this chapter, the matter and content being great, we will read together the first seven verses of Revelation 14. We have the lamb and his 144,000, his war with the beast, and later in chapter 14, we'll have the harvest reaped. Hear now the word of Almighty God, inspired by his spirit and profitable for us. Revelation 14, verse one. And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps, And they sung, as it were, a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders. And no man could learn that song, but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth. And to every nation and kindred and tongue and people saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters. Thus far the reading of God's holy word, Revelation 14 verses one through seven. Verses 1 through 5, we have the Lamb and the 144,000, seen, heard, and qualified. Verse 1, we have a lamb stood on the Mount Zion. Now do you recall from chapter 13, for this chapter contrasts pretty significantly with chapter 13, do you remember verse 11? We had the first beast rise out of the sea, and he had the remnants of all the great empires of the ancient world, according to Daniel 7. The first beast had the remnants of the Babylonian Empire, it had the remnants of the Medo-Persian Empire, of the Grecian Empire, and that final fourth kingdom of Rome, the Red Dragon, you remember him? That Red Dragon passed on his throne on the seven seats, the hills of Rome. He passed it on from the pagan Rome to the papal Rome. Then there was this other beast in verse 11. Do you remember what sort of horns he had? And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he had a mouth of what? A dragon, speaking lies in hypocrisy. Here you have the true Lamb of God. You have Christ versus who? The antichrist, the replacer of Christ, the vicar, as the Latin word is for antichrist, the vicar of Christ. Here he is in chapter 13, looking so much as if he were Christ, exalting himself in the temple of God, but speaking lies in hypocrisy and doctrines of devils. Here now is the true Lamb of God. Where is he? Standing upon the earth, getting his power from the earth, springing up from below? No. Seated in Mount Zion, the city of the living God. Now remember also in chapter 13, where was the city of the living God? Was it out in the open? Was it publicly available for all to see? Were there angels preaching to all the nations of the earth? No. In fact, the woman who is that church or spouse of Christ, she was pushed back into the wilderness for that whole period when the Antichrist reigned, the whole period when they trampled on the courts of God's temple, the whole period of those two witnesses who went forth and preached and were put to death and who rose again. The church is no longer in a wilderness, hiding itself. The church now has become public, standing on a hill, as a city upon a hill. The Lamb King, ruling and reigning on His throne, ready to do battle with the beast, with the whore, with the dragon. And notice, together with that true Lamb of God, that true Christ, Who's with him? The hundred, forty, and four thousand. Now remember in chapter seven we read of these. They were sealed by God, chapter seven, verses four through eight. They were called, they were sealed, they were preserved, faithful, justified, sanctified, glorified. This is the remnant of the church during the whole period of the Antichrist. Where was the church before Luther? Well, they were in the wilderness. That's where they were. They were pushed out of the church. The courts were trampled by the Gentiles, and now they come forth publicly after the 144,000 are redeemed. They have the father's name written in their foreheads, no longer secretly pushed back into the wilderness, now publicly professing the authority of the father. Arthur Dent in his book The Ruin of Rome says the following, they did profess and practice the doctrine and religion of God their father only, utterly renouncing and abhorring the worship and religion of the beast. For the Father's name in this place is set opposite to the mark of the beast. Do you remember where the mark of the beast was? On the forehead. To say what? I, the beast, am your authority. What do they have as their mark? The authority and name of God himself. The Father's name, Dent continues, in place is set opposite to the mark of the beast to signify that as the worshipers of Antichrist receive his mark, so the true worshipers of God receive his brand, which is his spirit. Then notice, I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, as the voice of a great thunder. Now this is not God's voice. This is the voice of the church. This is the voice of her who was booted into the wilderness, who flew away to save her life. Now she's open. Now she's public. Now she is both seen with the lamb and heard with the ear. The voice of harpers harping with their harps. A threefold repetition in Hebrew is a multi amplification as if you would raise and raise and raise your voice. Pay attention. Harpers harping with what? Their harps. Who did that? Who played the harp? But the sweet psalmist of Israel upon Mount Zion, the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great King, where the law shall go forth to all nations. This is a kingdom of priests, a prophetic kingdom as David was, as they played the sweet psalms in the temple with the instruments. Who did? The priests did, the Levites did. The people of God are the kingdom of priests. They begin to sing again the Psalms of God in His holy worship. But notice, they sing before the throne of God as in the presence of God. And the rest of the earth hears the song, but they cannot learn it. They're drunken with spiritual whoredom, not possessed of reason, worshiping graven images. They cannot learn this song. It is foreign to them. It doesn't make sense to them. Why would I sing this song? They could not learn it. So these 144,000, they are seen standing on the mountain with the lamb. They are heard singing this new song. And now notice, they are qualified. Verse four, they are not defiled with women, for they are virgins. Now, it's important to understand that in the Old Testament, the relationship between God and his people is compared to a husband with his wife. The people of God are his spouse, they are his wife. God is the husband. In fact, the word Baal Lord, it means husband. So when they went after Balaam, they went after other husbands, in other words. What do we call that when a woman goes after other husbands? Is she pure as a virgin? No, she's a whore. And we'll see that later in the book of Revelation. That church, devoted to idolatry, devoted to graven images, devoted to the false lying wonders, and the dragon-like lies, the hypocrisy and lies of the devil, What exactly is she compared to throughout the whole Bible? Well, it's not to a chaste and lawful wife. It is rather to a whore, defiling himself or herself. The people of God, though, are as virgins. They're not defiled in spiritual whoredom, in other words. Matthew Poole comments, that these are such that would not comply with anti-Christian idolatry and superstition, for idolatry is all along in holy writ compared to whoredom and fornication. What's the other qualification? They follow the Lamb, withersoever he goeth. Does Christ suffer? So they will suffer. Does He reign? They will reign with Him. Does He live? They live with Him. Does He die? They will die with Him. Is He at peace? They will be at peace. Is He at war? They will go to war. They follow Him whithersoever He goeth. In fact, we will see they themselves, not just on one white horse. We will see later in the book of Revelation the whole company of the faithful. What do they ride? White horses. They follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. They follow His kingship. They follow His rod. Remember the temple and the altar and them that worship there? What was it measured by? the rod that was a reed, the king's rule, the scepter of the great king. They follow the lamb withersoever he goeth. They do not follow the beast. They do not follow the dragon. They do not follow the whore. They follow rather the lamb. These are the first fruits unto God and to the lamb. They're not the end. They're not the fullness. They are the first fruits, the 144,000. Though they were but a small remnant, during the reign of the dragon, the beast, and the whore, this is only the beginning of God's redemptive work. The harvest is not yet come. And notice another qualification in verse 5. In their mouth was found no guile. Remember the dragon's mouth of the lamb with the two horns? He spoke hypocrisy and lies. He spoke as a devil, though he gave himself out to be as a lamb. There is no guile in their mouth. They do not speak the devil's lies. They don't ape the hypocrisy. 1 Timothy 4, 1 through 3, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of what? The dragon, devils, they speak forth with the mouth of a dragon, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Do you know what Paul says doctrines of devils are? Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats. Oh, pray tell, who's done that in the history of the church? No, you can't marry because if you want to be a priest or a bishop, you cannot marry. If you want to be truly holy, you had better become a what? Monk. A nun. Oh, this day don't eat this meat. That day you can eat that meat. No, don't eat this on this day. And this you can eat on Friday. And during this 40 days of the year you can't eat any meat. Who said that? The devil. And his lying minions. Their mouth was found no guile. True Israelites, as Nathanael before them, men of truth, who have flowing forth from their lips what? Only what is true? No guile, no deceit. And they are without fault before the throne of God. God's justice is fully satisfied in their case. Jesus, their Savior, the Lamb that they follow everywhere, He was slain for their sins. He obeyed in their place. He rose again for their justification. These people are transformed, they are justified, they are sanctified. Let us be such a holy people, not defiled with the whoredom of idolatry, following the Lord Jesus in his sufferings and reigning. living under the authority and name of our Father in heaven, singing the praise of Almighty God, speaking the truth, and trusting in Christ's perfect righteousness. This, by the way, is what we call the Reformed religion. I just summed it up for you. This is what it means to be a Reformed Christian. Now, verses 6 through 13, we have the three angels and the war of words. You'll notice here, there's a war of speaking and preaching, which is followed by a war of destruction and fighting. First, then the war of words. And these ascend. There are steps upward. It's ratcheted up. The words get more and more severe, as we'll see this evening, God willing. Verse 6. I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach. Here's step one. Now that this time is coming to a close, the small remnant has come through all of this trouble and has now began to become public. Now notice the gospel is preached yet again. The everlasting gospel. Now you might say, angels aren't those spirits that serve? Not in the book of Revelation. In the book of Revelation, angels are those ministers of God, either in the church or in the heavenly sanctuary itself. They preach the word, they preach the gospel, in other words. Remember Wormwood, what was he? He was an angel, a star in the church, who fell down to the earth and befouled the waters of life. A minister in the church of God, falling away from the heavenly doctrine to earthly doctrines, doctrines of devils. This angel preaches. He's a messenger. Here comes the word from God, and what does the word do? It consumes the man of sin, 2 Thessalonians 2.8. His spirit from the mouth of Christ consumes the man of sin, wastes him away, and this gospel lasts forever. The gospel preached is spiritual warfare against the devil and the kingdom of the antichrist. Pray for your pastor. Pray for all ministers to have boldness. Will they go forth and preach with boldness as they ought to preach? Or will they hold back what ought to be said for the fear of men? The temptation is, don't say that. Hold that back. Don't speak that. Yes, it's there. That's fine. Deal with it later. Don't deal with the text. Deal with it some other time. No. Pray for your pastor, for all pastors to speak boldly. as they ought to speak, to declare an everlasting gospel, not a flimsy, weak, unprofitable, corruptible gospel, here today, gone tomorrow. No, this is an everlasting gospel preached. Now whom do they preach to? Is it just the two witnesses now? Are they just the two of them going out to one city to preach, and everybody hates them and kills them? No. Now it's preached to all the world, unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. The entire world, once held under the sway of the beast, now hears the message. After an age of anti-Christian deceit and bondage, the gospel was to break forth as one step in the destruction of the anti-Christ kingdom. After an age of darkness, of bondage to this beast, to his deceit, to his appearance of lamb-like meekness, but a mouth speaking lies in hypocrisy, there would be an age of gospel preaching. The kingdom of the man of sin would be weakened, it would be brought down, until eventually we'll see completely destroyed. What is the message of these preachers? Listen, verse 7. Fear God and give glory to Him. Do not fear Goliath. Do not fear the dragon. Do not fear the beasts. Do not fear Wormwood. Do not fear their power to call down fire from heaven. Do not fear their idols that come to life by the spirit given to them by the beast and the dragon. Don't be afraid of them. lying wonders, boasted claims from the man of sin, follow the lamb wherever he goes, fear God, show reverence to God. Has God spoken? Listen carefully. Has he promised? Believe it. Has he commanded? Obey. That's the fear of God. Fear God, the angel says. This is the gospel. Fear God and give glory to Him. Do not glorify creatures. Do not glorify the whore. Do not glorify the beast or the dragon. Glorify God. Him. Him alone. Fear Him. Glorify Him. Why? For the hour of his judgment is come. Oh, but you see, the fear of God was taught in the Old Testament, right where the book of Revelation is, right? No, the fear of God is a natural thing. We must fear God. We must have reverence for him. We must be ready to hear and be afraid of offending him. Why? Because the hour of judgment, he says, is come. The fear of God is partially grounded upon his judgments. He will divide and separate the true spouse from this false woman. He will separate them, the sheep and the goats. He'll put them aside. He'll judge between them. So therefore, fear him and give him glory. And furthermore, The gospel not merely preaches the fear of God. It doesn't just preach the glorification of God. It does not merely preach the judgments of God in light of which we should fear and glorify him. It preaches this, worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters. He is the maker of all things. He is the judge of all men. Let me ask you, did the dragon make the rivers of water? Did he form the heaven and the earth? Did the man of sin with all his boasting, is he actually the Lord God? He is not. Now in the canon laws, they call him the Lord God, the Pope, God walking upon the earth. Yes, they say that. Did they exalt themselves in the house and temple of God and say, we should be worshiped as God, worship the image? Yes, they did. But did they make anything other than their images? No. God and Him alone is to be worshipped. Worship Him that made, that's a name for God by the way, Him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters, that's a name of God. Grace, then, perfects nature. The fear of God is our natural reverence we owe to God. Does the gospel say, stop fearing God? Just love Him now. Just believe in Him. Is that what the gospel says? Is that what they're preaching here? The angels from heaven reviving the gospel after an age of oppression by the man of sin and the beast? Are they just saying, well, just be nice. Just think happy thoughts about Jesus and everything will be okay. No. The gospel preaches the fear of God, the giving of glory to his name, the judgment that is destined to come on all that worship images, the worship of the universal creator. Grace then perfects nature. What does the Antichrist do that is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt? Does he perfect nature? No, he distorts nature. Nature says worship goes in one direction, up to God. Not to the angels, not to the saints, but to God alone. What does the man of sin say? Worship the image. If you don't reverence these images, you are anathema. You're going to hell. You're outside of the visible church. There's no hope of salvation for you unless you bow to the image. Unless you come through Mary. Unless you listen to our Lord God, the Pope. And you're cursed if you don't. No, the gospel preaches a whole different message. Fear God, obey His commandments, trust in His Son, sing His praise, glorify Him and worship Him that made all things. And thus far the exposition of Revelation 14 verses 1 through 7.