Now we want to turn to the book
of Revelation and chapter 13 and continue where
we left off last week.
We saw that in the book of Revelation
we have the description of the Antichrist and
the false prophet, one a political leader, the
other a religious leader, who together are going
to head up the government of the world
in the last days before Jesus returns.
And we were considering how this false prophet
described in verse 11 onwards, verse 13, it
says, he performs great signs, even causing fire
to come down from heaven to the earth
in the presence of men.
Supernatural signs by which he deceives the people.
It says in verse 14, he deceives those
who dwell on the earth because of the
signs which it was given him to perform.
And we notice that phrase, it was given
him, meaning that God permitted him to exercise
certain supernatural powers.
And the preparation for this type of deception
through supernatural miracles is already beginning to take
place.
And if we are wise, we shall be
on our guard when we see the supernatural,
that we don't swallow everything that comes our
way as though it belongs to God.
I want to give you one example from
the Acts of the Apostles, in chapter 8,
where it says in the city of Samaria,
Acts of the Apostles, chapter 8, verse 9,
there was a certain man called Simon who
was formally practicing magic in the city, and
astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be
someone great.
That was by the miracles and signs, wonders
that he did.
And all the people in Samaria, from the
smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him,
saying, this man is what is called the
great power of God.
Now, there's going to be something like that
in the last days when the antichrist and
false prophet rise, something of that type of
response.
This man is what is called the great
power of God.
And they were giving him attention because he
had for a long time astonished them with
his magic arts.
Now, we can ask ourselves, why does God
allow Satan and his evil spirits to exercise
supernatural power?
Wouldn't the problem be solved if God withdrew
supernatural abilities from the hands of Satan and
his evil spirits?
But we read in the book of Deuteronomy
that there is a purpose with which God
allows false prophets and those who are the
agents of Satan to exercise supernatural power.
And that's in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter
13 and verses 1 to 5.
There it says that if a prophet arises
in your midst and he gives you a
sign or a wonder that is just some
supernatural miracle, and that sign and wonder comes
true, it's a genuine miracle by supernatural power.
And then he teaches you things, let me
paraphrase those words, he teaches you things which
are contrary to the word of God.
You must not, verse 3, listen to the
words of that prophet.
And then we can ask, why in the
world then does God allow him to exercise
a supernatural miracle?
Here is the answer, because the Lord your
God is testing you.
And we could say, he's testing you to
find out whether you'll follow the word of
God or whether you'll be taken up in
wonder with supernatural signs.
So, the thing we need to ask ourselves
whenever we see a supernatural sign or miracle
being performed by anyone, whether it's in the
name of Jesus or not in the name
of Jesus, is to ask ourselves, is this
person leading people to obedience to the word
of God?
If not, we've got to just write it
off and say it has no value.
Now, if we don't develop that sense of
discernment in these days, then as we approach
the end, we'll find that we are thoroughly
deceived.
We need to exercise that discernment.
The Bible says, don't believe every spirit.
We need to exercise discerning of spirits to
see whether it's from God or not.
Revelation 13, 14, he deceives those who dwell
on the earth.
And then it says in the middle of
verse 14 that he does these miracles in
the presence of the beast, that is, in
the presence of the Antichrist.
And he tells those who dwell on the
earth to make an image to the beast
who had the wound of the sword and
has come to life.
Now, we consider the satanic trinity, that is,
the devil, Satan, the dragon, the Antichrist, and
the false prophet counterfeiting the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit.
And just like the Holy Spirit exalts Christ,
we find here the false prophet is exalting
the Antichrist.
And so, to further exalt the Antichrist, this
is religion and politics, hand in hand together,
the Antichrist, the political leader, and here he's
got this religious leader supporting his ministry, just
like religious leaders' support is sought even today
for political power.
You find that particularly in countries like the
United States, where people come to political power,
they want the support of religious leaders, and
they canvass that support.
This is all the preparation for the final
day when religion and the state will be
united.
It is already united in many countries.
And we find this, and it says here,
he, to exalt the power of the Antichrist,
he says an image must be made, a
statue.
This reminds us of Nebuchadnezzar, who built a
statue and got people to bow down to
him and said, if you don't bow down
to me, bow down to the statue, you're
going to be punished.
And there was a remnant in that day,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who stood up, very
small number.
While everybody bowed down, there were three people
who stood erect, and there are going to
be the equivalent of that in the last
days too.
There are going to be those who are
going to stand erect and who refuse to
bow down.
That's what God is preparing us for in
these days.
And it says here in verse 15, there
was given to him to give breath to
the image of the beast.
This is an amazing thing, what it says
here, that there's going to be some type
of fantastic supernatural deception that is going to
imitate creation.
Can you think of that?
To imitate creation.
Man is in the scientific world, is in
the pursuit today of creating life.
Well, God's going to permit a fantastic amount
of deception here, and it says here he's
going to give breath to the image of
the beast.
And the image of the beast will even
be able to speak, and cause as many
as do not worship the image of the
beast to be killed, exactly like in the
days of Nebuchadnezzar.
Now, this image is probably what is going
to be placed in the temple in Jerusalem
in the last days, and is what perhaps
what Jesus referred to in all likelihood as
the abomination that causes desolation.
You remember, and Jesus said that in Matthew
24, and verse 15.
We looked at that some time ago, where
Jesus was speaking about the last days, and
people asked, the disciples asked Jesus what was
going to be the sign.
And one of the things he said was,
verse Matthew 24, 15, when you see the
abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through
Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place,
and it says in the brackets, let the
reader understand.
We are expected to understand that, not to
be ignorant of it.
Then let those who are in Judea flee
to the mountains.
I just want to give you a little
background to this from the book of Daniel.
If you turn to the book of Daniel,
which Jesus referred to, following Jesus' exhortation there,
let the reader understand.
We need to understand.
If you turn to Daniel chapter 11, I
mentioned in an earlier study that in the
book of Daniel, we see about these kingdoms,
the kingdom of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and
Rome is not mentioned, though it is pictured
there.
But before the Romans came into power, between
the Grecian empire and the Roman empire, something
happened in between, which is described in Daniel
chapter 11.
And that is when Alexander the Great, who
was the great emperor of Greece and a
world ruler, died all of a sudden at
a very young age.
His kingdom was divided up between four of
his generals, and two of those generals who
were most powerful, one ruled in Syria and
one in Egypt.
And in between Syria and Egypt was the
land of Israel.
And this is what is described in Daniel
chapter 11.
The king of the south, Egypt, and the
king of the north, two of Alexander's generals.
This is a period between the reign of
Greece and the reign of Rome.
And you'll understand why I'm saying this when
you consider here.
It says here in verse 35, some of
those, let's look at verse 33, verse 31,
sorry, and forces from him will arise, desecrate
the sanctuary, fortress, and do away with the
regular sacrifice, and they will set up the
abomination of desolation.
Now what happened was, about 175 years before
Christ, there was a king of Syria, whose
name was Antiochus Epiphanes.
And he was one of the generals of,
the descendants of one of the generals of
Alexander the Great, and he came down into
the city of Jerusalem, stopped the sacrifice, he
sacrificed a pig on the altar, and he
set up a statue of Jupiter in the
most holy place of the temple.
Thus he desecrated the sanctuary, and that's referred
to here as the abomination of desolation.
That's actually happened.
That happened 175 years before Christ.
But Jesus says in Matthew 24, 15, that
there is going to be a repetition of
that in the last days.
And therefore, Antiochus Epiphanes, who lived 175 years
before Christ, is a type of the Antichrist
who's going to come.
And something similar that took place there is
going to take place again at the end
of the age.
And we see here a little description of
him, which is also going to be true
of the Antichrist in the last days.
It says here in verse 32, by smooth
words, he will turn to godlessness, those who
act wickedly toward the covenant.
But in those days, the people who know
their God will display strength.
That's going to be fulfilled in the last
days.
If we know God, like Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, we will be able to stand.
Otherwise we'll collapse, because he's got all the
smooth flattering words to deceive people.
And verse 33, those who have insight among
the people will give understanding to many.
Those who have revelation on the word in
those days will explain that this is the
fulfillment of prophecy.
Yet they will fall by the sword.
And it says here, verse 35, some of
those who have insight will fall in order
to refine, purge, and make them pure until
the end time.
Verse 36, this is a clear reference to
the Antichrist, the king will do as he
pleases.
He will exalt and magnify himself above every
god.
He will speak monstrous things against the God
of gods, and he will prosper until the
indignation is finished.
For that which is decreed will be done.
And it goes on to say that in
verse 38, he will honor a god of
fortresses.
In other words, he will rule by power.
And it goes on to say how he
is going to enter, verse 41, the beautiful
land.
That's referring to Israel, and many countries will
fall.
Now we can turn back to Revelation 13
and see that this is the fulfillment of
what Jesus spoke of, the abomination of desolation.
This image that's going to be placed in
the most holy place of the temple.
Let's turn now to 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2.
This is a New Testament passage referring to
the Antichrist.
2 Thessalonians, chapter 2.
It says here, Now we request you, brethren,
with regard to the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him,
that you should not be quickly shaken from
your composure, as though that day of the
Lord has already come.
For it says here in verse 3, Let
no one deceive you, for that day of
the Lord will not come unless the apostasy,
that is, the falling away from the faith,
comes first.
And I just want to tell you that
falling away has already begun.
It's already begun in Christendom.
The falling away from that true faith which
Jesus and the apostles gave to the world.
The faith that leads to a godly life.
They've fallen away from that.
The beginning, anyway.
And the man of lawlessness, or the man
of sin, is revealed, the son of destruction.
That is the title Jesus used for Judas
Iscariot, the son of destruction.
And Satan entered into him.
Here is another person who is going to
come at the end of time, called the
son of destruction, the man of lawlessness.
What does he do?
He opposes and exalts himself above every so
-called god or object of worship.
He takes a seat in the temple of
God, displaying himself as being God.
That's how it's going to be.
And he says, Don't you remember that I
was, while I was still with you, I
was telling you these things.
That means when Paul was in Thessalonica, he
felt it important enough to teach them about
the coming of the antichrist.
It is something that all believers need to
know about.
And then he says in verse 6, You
know what restrains him now?
What is it that restrains the full revelation
of the antichrist?
That is the power of the Holy Spirit
manifested through the overcomers in the church of
Jesus Christ in the last days.
That's what's restraining.
But it says in verse, because that time
has not yet come, but the time is
drawing near now, when he will be revealed.
Verse 7, For the mystery of lawlessness is
already at work.
Only he who now restrains, that is the
Holy Spirit, restraining, not eliminating the power of
Satan, but restraining the power of Satan, will
restrain until in God's time that restraining influence
is removed, and the Holy Spirit moves out
of the way so that the antichrist can
be revealed.
And then when that restraining influence is removed,
the lawless one will be revealed, and he
will rule the earth for three and a
half years.
That is what we have seen in the
book of Revelation.
His coming, verse 9, is in accord with
the activity of Satan with all power and
signs, and we can say deceptive wonders.
With all the deception of wickedness, there are
going to be supernatural signs and wonders in
abundance, but it's all meant to lead people
astray, and that's why we have to be
very careful in this area of supernatural signs
and wonders that we don't get led astray
by them.
And it says here in verse 10 and
11, that God allows people to be led
astray because they do not love the truth.
So these supernatural signs and wonders are going
to be a means by which God is
going to allow people to be deceived because
they did not love the truth.
And so our salvation in the last days
is going to be by loving the truth.
That is the protection against all deception.
Then we shall not be deceived now, we
shall not be deceived then.
Then I want you to turn back to
Revelation 13.15. It says here, there was
given to him to give breath to the
image of the beast that the image of
the beast might even speak and cause as
many as do not worship the image of
the beast to be killed.
Now this is quite something to create an
image and to make that speech and to
get people to worship it.
I'm reminded of television and video.
There is an image and the image speaks.
And there are people all over the world
who worship.
Why?
What do I mean by worship it?
They spend hours in front of that TV
and video who have no time for prayer.
I'm talking about believers.
No time for studying the word of God.
They have come to worship the image that
speaks on the TV screen.
It's just the preparation for a godless Christendom
that has a form of godliness without that
inner devotion to Jesus Christ.
Little by little, I'm not saying the television
is the Antichrist.
I say all these things are means by
which Satan is preparing the world for the
revelation of the Antichrist where men begin to
worship something other than the true and living
God.
Now we come to Revelation 13, verse 16.
It says here, and the false prophet now
he causes all the small in the graves
and the rich and the poor and the
free men and the slaves to be given
a mark on their right hand or on
their forehead.
This is called the mark of the beast.
There's going to be a mark they have
to receive on their right hand or on
their forehead and he provides that there will
be no no one should be able to
buy or to sell even the necessities of
life except the one who has the mark
either the name of the beast or the
number of his name.
Now this teaches us that the Antichrist is
going to give people the option of either
being public followers of him or secret followers
of him.
Public followers of him means the mark is
on your forehead.
Secret followers of him means the mark is
in your right hand and you can keep
it hidden.
Now this has an application for us even
today because we have considered in 1 John
2, 18 and 19 that the spirit of
the Antichrist is already at work in Christendom
and it is possible for people today to
publicly follow the Antichrist.
For example, the prostitutes, the gamblers, the drunkards,
the film stars, they publicly follow the Antichrist
but it is also possible to secretly follow
the Antichrist to do unrighteous things in one's
office with one's right hand, sign false statements,
get a little more money, give a little
bribe with the right hand and then come
and sit in the meeting as a spiritual
brother, spiritual sister to praise God and have
a reputation.
That is to get the mark of the
beast right now in your right hand right
here.
And you see there are people who don't
want to have it on the forehead because
then they won't have a good testimony in
the assembly but they'd like to have it
secretly somewhere because there's some profit from it
in the world by compromise and here is
where our faith is tested and our devotion
to Jesus that we stand clear of this
mark of the beast in any form not
on our forehead and what is even more
dangerous not secretly on our right hand where
the other believers don't know anything about what
we're doing in our private life and our
private financial affairs etc.
But we stay clear like the Apostle Paul
we say I have the marks of Jesus
Christ on my body Galatians 6 17.
I don't need the mark of anyone else
and we see here it's going to be
quite a test in the last day when
you have to for example if you can't
buy food unless you have the mark of
the beast that's going to be quite a
test.
The test that came to Eve in the
Garden of Eden was a test of food
and the first temptation that came to Jesus
in the wilderness was the test of food
you're dying why don't you turn the stones
to bread and Jesus said it's not necessary
to live it's only necessary to obey the
word of God and I want to tell
you this brothers and sisters it's the person
who has that attitude who is going to
be an overcomer in the last day it
is not necessary to survive it is only
necessary to obey the word of God man
shall not live by bread alone but by
every word that proceeds from the mouth of
God.
If we don't have that attitude that it's
better to obey God's word and die rather
than compromise and live we are going to
be sucked away in this apostasy and falling
away that there is in Christendom already.
Further verse 18 says here here is wisdom
and let him who has understanding calculate the
number of the beast for the number is
that of a man and his number is
666.
Six in the bible is the number of
man.
Man was created on the sixth day that's
why we say six is the number of
man.
Seven is the number of perfection when God
rested and eight is the number of a
new creation because the eighth day is the
beginning of a new week you know that
and in music the eighth note is the
beginning of a new octave so eight is
the number of new creation it is all
in creation the number eight and six is
the number of man.
Now what does it mean when it says
let him calculate the number of the beast
in the greek language in which the new
testament was written they use alphabets the greek
alphabets for numbers for example the greek alphabet
alpha has got the value one and like
that right down through the letters of the
greek alphabet each alphabet has got a numeric
value and i want to tell you something
here about the name jesus the name jesus
it's difficult to write it in english how
it is written in the greek language but
the closest to writing it in the english
would be yesus with six letters i h
s o u s and in the greek
language these letters have got a each has
got a different value and when you total
up the value of these different letters in
the greek language yesus the total value comes
to 888 you see that's very significant it's
888 it's exactly 888 if you're interested in
the value of each it's 10 plus 8
plus 200 plus 70 plus 400 plus 200
that's 888 that is the number of the
new creation jesus rose up on the first
day of the week that is the eighth
day and began a new creation now here
is the antichrist whose number is 666 and
this seems to indicate that whoever the antichrist
is going to be his name is going
to add up to 666 that will be
one indication that this is the man and
also we can say that since six is
the number of man 666 is man's attempt
to be like the trinity to be like
god and this is the significance of six
three times because god is the trinity the
antichrist man attempting to be god now we
move on to chapter 14 and there is
a contrast here just like there were those
who received the mark of the beast on
their right hand or forehead here we read
of certain other people who also have a
mark but this mark is not in the
hand or the forehead it is only on
the forehead chapter 14 verse 1 i looked
and behold the lamb was standing on mount
zion and with him 144 000 having his
name and the name of his father written
on their foreheads not on their right hands
notice the contrast what does it teach us
it teaches us that the followers of the
antichrist can be public followers or secret followers
but the followers of jesus christ can only
be publicly known as his followers there is
no such thing as a secret follower of
that's a lot of humbug people talk about
it but jesus said if you don't confess
me before men if you're ashamed to confess
me before men i will be ashamed to
confess you that's why i say dear friends
if you're working in an office i hope
the mark of the lord is so evident
symbolically that it's on your forehead so that
everyone in your office knows that you are
a follower of the lord jesus christ there
is no such thing as having a little
mark on your hand and being a secret
follower of christ anyone sitting here who thinks
he's a secret follower of christ i just
want to tell you you're living under a
world of delusion there is only one type
of follower of christ a public openly known
follower of jesus christ who's got the mark
right on the forehead everybody knows and i
tell you it's an absolute shame for a
lot of believers in our land i see
hindus who come to the offices with the
something like the mark of the beast on
their forehead and christians who are absolutely ashamed
to be publicly known as followers of jesus
christ shame on them what type of christians
are they i'll tell you compromisers they're not
in this number here they're not the people
who are unashamed to boldly admit that they
are followers of jesus christ they are wondering
whether they'll get that promotion if they confess
to be followers of christ they're wondering whether
they'll get that increment they're lovers of money
lovers of promotion not bold witnesses of jesus
christ the lamb and his followers are marked
by this they are publicly known as disciples
of jesus christ their relatives know that they
are wholehearted disciples they're not compromises in the
midst of their unconverted relatives they are not
compromises in their office they're not compromises in
their neighborhood the mark is clearly seen and
every time we see a hindu man with
a mark on his forehead let that speak
to us if that man is not ashamed
to show that he worships the devil why
in the world should i be ashamed to
admit that i am a son of the
living god the lamb was standing with 144
000 having his name and the name of
his father written on their forehead now this
has a symbolic meaning too because in the
old testament name symbolized nature verse one i
looked and behold the lamb was standing on
mount sign with him 144 000 now this
is not the 144 000 that we saw
earlier in chapter seven because they were from
the tribes of israel 12 000 each and
the tribes of israel certainly don't follow the
lamb that's clear they don't believe that jesus
christ is the messiah this is another group
altogether this is from the church this is
what the book of revelation calls the overcomers
you read off in revelation chapter 2 and
chapter 3 he who overcomes he who overcomes
he who overcomes this is the group spoken
of there and the characteristic is they reflect
the nature of the lamb and of the
father and that's a good question to ask
ourselves in our attitude towards other people do
i reflect the nature of the lamb who
when he was sheared kept his mouth shut
who when he was slaughtered was silent who
could see people taking away his rights tripping
him and be silent i'll tell you some
people say you mean to say it's such
a small number over overcomers i ask you
this question how many believers have you seen
in your life who never lose their temper
who can learn to keep quiet under provocation
i tell you it's a pretty small number
who know how to follow the lamb in
being silent when deprived of one's rights who
know how what it is to take up
the cross and die there are not many
but here are those who wholeheartedly followed and
who have now that nature which they inwardly
acquired has begun to shine through their personality
in their face and it says the nature
of his father that is god's desire for
every one of us that we grow up
to maturity where we can be like fathers
towards other people god is training us we
start off as children we grow up to
be sons we read that in one john
two and then we grow up to be
fathers towards other people denying ourselves to serve
them longing to lead others onto maturity his
nature the nature of the lamb and the
nature of the father brothers and sisters this
should be our passion that the nature of
the lamb of god and the nature of
the father should become ours so completely that
it begins to be reflected through our personality
blessed are those who take that seriously i
believe with all my heart i don't have
a shadow doubt in my mind that these
are the overcomers and it says here in
verse two and three i heard a voice
from heaven like the sound of many waters
and like the sound of loud thunder and
the voice which i heard was like the
sound of harpists playing on their harps that's
the music of heaven it's a music full
of praise worship joy ecstatic joy in the
presence of the father and it says here
there were certain people on earth who learned
this while they were on earth these are
the ones who stood on mount zion now
mount zion mentioned in verse one is just
another name for the heavenly jerusalem and if
you turn back to revelation three i want
to tell you who's who has got the
name of jerusalem written on them revelation 312
we consider that when we studied revelation 3
but just to refresh our memory so that
we understand it clearly he who overcomes not
everyone but he who overcomes i will make
him a pillar in the temple of my
god says the lord jesus and he will
not go out from it anymore and look
at the names that are going to be
written on the forehead of whom of the
overcomers i will write upon them him the
name of my god what is the name
of god that jesus revealed to us what
is it father that's right i have revealed
your name to them jesus said in john
17 that's the name of father and he's
going to write that name on the forehead
not of everyone but the overcomers and the
name of the city of my god the
new jerusalem that is the bride of christ
now that verse clearly teaches that it is
the overcomers who constitute the bride of christ
which comes down out of heaven from my
god and my name the name of the
lamb notice that the name of the father
the name of the lamb and the name
of the new jerusalem that's what we see
in revelation 14 they stand on mount zion
which is the heavenly jerusalem and his name
and the name of his father so when
you put revelation 312 into revelation 14 1
it's pretty clear that this is referring to
the overcomers we've only got to compare scripture
with scripture get rid of our preconceived ideas
and traditions and we understand it clearly and
they learned that they sang a new song
it says in verse 3 these overcomers they
sang a new song before the throne and
before the four living creatures and the elders
and listen to this revelation 14 3 no
one could learn the song except the 144
000 who had been purchased from the earth
now this is quite significant why is it
that no one else could learn the song
is it because these people were musically minded
it's got nothing to do with being musically
minded i'll tell you that there are a
lot of people in the devil's camp who
are musically minded i mean the film songs
teach you that it's not a question of
being musically minded it's a question of having
a heart to learn this new song what
is this new song the new song is
as we know from revelation 5 9 thou
art worthy to receive praise and honor and
glory and dominion and power it is a
song which doesn't have a smell of complaining
or grumbling or murmuring in it 11 how
many of us have learned it do you
know that god gives us an earthly lifetime
to learn that song the song of heaven
a song of praise and thanksgiving completely free
from even a smell or trace of grumbling
murmuring and complaining 12 how many believers are
there who have learned to be 100 free
from grumbling and complaining when they miss the
train when the food is not up to
the mark when somebody who promised to do
something for them does not do it somebody
takes away their rights somebody does some terrible
evil to them or to their children perhaps
somebody speaks evil perhaps of them or their
children what a lot of opportunities we have
to follow jesus taking up the cross and
to learn that new song it is impossible
to learn that song unless we are willing
to take up the cross and die to
our own rights and to our honor and
to our own self that's how we learn
the new song and so it says here
there's a small group of people who fulfill
the word of god which says in philippians
2 13 14 do all things without grumbling
and complaining all things who fulfill the word
of god in one thessalonians 5 18 which
says in everything give thanks they learned it
they learned it in their earthly lifetime and
the word learn teaches us that it is
an education the word learn is a word
from the field of education it's something i
have to go through in this earth and
educate myself in i have to learn how
to sing this song i don't know it
enough to start with this is being spiritually
musically minded to take up the cross and
to learn that song no one could learn
that song except these why because the others
heard about taking up the cross but in
the moment of temptation they didn't take up
the cross and so they never learned that
song and what a sad thing it is
when a man's been a believer for 20
30 40 50 years and he still hasn't
got victory over murmuring over a bad temper
over grumbling and complaining and bitter words and
backbiting words i tell you that's a great
grief to god and it's a sad thing
that in 30 years on earth this person
who claimed to be a believer never seriously
took the matter of denying himself and taking
up the cross and dying to himself and
learning that new song he just sat there
thinking i've accepted christ everything's all right with
me and lived under that world of delusion
well i don't believe such a person's ever
going to be in this number because it
says these people learned that new song and
it says here they were purchased from the
earth notice in the book of revelation there's
a phrase we considered we saw coming often
called earth dwellers now this is the opposite
of that these were people who were not
earth dwellers they were freed from the earth
they were not occupied with the things of
earth their mind was set like it says
in colossians 3 on the things that were
above where christ sits at the right hand
of the father they were not thinking where
can i make the most money and still
go to heaven when i die where can
i live a comfortable life as a christian
and go to heaven when i die these
are the earth dwellers these people were thinking
how can i fulfill the will of god
and fulfill his purposes forget about comfort and
money making where can i fulfill god's will
before i leave this earth their mind was
set on the things above they were not
this compromising half-hearted wishy-washy worldly type
of people who call themselves believers and christians
these days no sir they were quite of
a different category they were redeemed from the
earth their mind was not set on earthly
comfort or earthly wealth or earthly honor the
honor of men their song is not you
know how worthy we are their song is
thou art worthy oh lord those who are
wondering uh do other people think we are
worthy they don't belong in this category the
people who are seeking the honor of men
they don't belong in this category these are
people who have learned the new song we
are not worthy we are not worthy he
alone is worthy how many believers have learned
that who are who have not the slightest
desire for the honor of a human being
i tell you there are very few people
the number of things that believers do to
get the honor of men the approval of
men the approval of their fellow believers shows
very clearly that they just don't belong in
this category no here are people who have
learned that song thou art worthy not us
oh lord not unto us oh lord be
the glory but unto thee alone and who
don't have the slightest desire for the honor
of any human being any fellow believer any
religious leader any christian leader or any such
thing they consider it all garbage the opinion
in the honor of men they sang a
new song and no one could learn it
except these people who had been purchased from
the earth and that's pretty clear unless i'm
freed from the earth i can't learn the
song if i love material things i love
earthly comfort i cannot learn this song it
says in verse four further about them they
were not defiled with women for they are
virgins now if you look at the first
half of the verse you'll think it's all
men they were not defiled with women and
if you look at the second part of
that sentence you'll think it's all women because
it says they are virgins what's the answer
they're both men and women it's not referring
to physical virginity it's not referring to physical
harlotry later on in the book of revelation
chapter 17 you read of verse 5 of
babylon the great the mother of harlots mother
of many many harlots spiritual harlotry and those
are the women referred to in verse 4
here were people who were not defiled with
spiritual adultery they were virgins men and women
spiritually keeping themselves undefiled in the in terms
of spiritual adultery with the flesh and with
the world you remember what james says james
4 4 you adulteresses know ye not that
friendship with the world is enmity with god
it's that type of adultery spoken off here
friendship with the world adultery with the flesh
in the moment of temptation these are the
ones who kept themselves from that who were
faithful in the moment of temptation who kept
themselves from worldliness they are virgins they follow
the lamb wherever he goes in other words
they take up the cross and notice another
phrase here they are purchased from among men
they are freed from the earth verse 3
and they are freed from men and men's
opinions as well and as a result they
are first fruits to god and to the
lamb first fruits means those fruits that ripen
first of all you look at a mango
tree and a few among all the green
mangoes here and there you see some that
are yellow that are ripe we call them
the first fruits and here are those who
responded correctly and rightly to the holy spirit
and ripened in the time that god gave
them on earth they didn't waste their life
they didn't waste the opportunities that god gave
them to take up the cross they didn't
waste the opportunities they got to follow the
lamb they took every opportunity that came their
way to die and to follow jesus to
obey the leading of the holy spirit and
the result is they became right quickly they
are the first fruits now i just want
to say in james chapter 1 it says
that god 118 in the exercise of his
will he brought us forth that means he
brought us to birth by the word of
truth so that we might be as it
were the first fruits of all his creation
but not everybody necessarily is going to respond
to god in the right way that's pretty
clear but there are those who are going
to respond and to me it doesn't matter
whether the number 144 000 is literal or
symbolic one thing is pretty clear to me
it's a small number and the way to
life is narrow jesus said and few there
be that find it there are going to
be many people in the presence of god
who are going a great multitude which no
man can number as we read in revelation
7 who say we are saved because of
the blood of the lamb i think many
of them will be babies who died before
they came to the age of understanding babies
of people of all religions and that's why
there'll be millions of africans and asians babies
who have died before they reach the age
of accountability who are justified by the blood
of christ but they had no opportunity to
become overcomers they are saved all right great
multitude of millions of people and many others
but those who have chosen that narrow way
that leads to life are few jesus said
that few there be that find it here
are the few who chose that way you
take matthew chapter 5 6 and 7 for
example and here are the people who took
matthew 5 6 and 7 seriously we have
the opportunity today we can hear the word
of god but whether we take it seriously
in our daily life is another question they
follow the lamb they are first fruits to
god into the lamb no lie was found
in their mouth don't you believe the number
is few when you put this as a
qualification no lie they had so cleansed themselves
from lying that they were pure in this
area and i'll tell you this lying is
one of the sins that goes most slowly
out of us we are born telling lies
children babies before they can speak they lie
to their parents crying pretending something's wrong with
them when all they want is a little
thing picked up and patted around it begins
there and it develops into all forms of
lying deception giving people wrong impression adding something
in our sentence so that they get a
particular impression and not saying something so that
they don't get the correct impression adding something
in our letters so that they get this
particular impression oh what a lot of hypocrisy
and lying there is i'm talking about believers
you think believers are free from all this
how many people take it seriously to cleanse
out lying from their life to speak the
truth that their yes is yes their no
is no and to cleanse out all lying
from their life so that there is no
lie found in their mouth i tell you
i'd be surprised if there were 144 000
in the history of the human race who
took this seriously but i tell you that's
our calling brothers and sisters to follow the
lamb wherever he went do we see any
footstep of the lamb where he told a
lie no that's where we are called to
follow let your yes be yes and let
your no be no when we come to
christ we are not like that when we
are born again we are not like that
we are full of and now the holy
spirit comes to transform us into the image
of jesus who never spoke a lie who
could say i am the truth and he
transforms us into that image and if we
cooperate we can find our place in that
number no lie was found in their mouth
notice again the emphasis on the mouth we
consider that in our last study the mouth
the mouth of the antichrist and here is
the mouth again of the overcomers oh what
a tremendous importance the new testament gives to
speech by your speech jesus said in matthew
12 37 you will be justified by your
speech you will be condemned by our speech
we manifest whether it is the spirit of
christ that rules in our hearts or the
spirit of the antichrist in their mouth there
was no lie found therefore they are blameless
blameless what a calling to be blameless before
the father we can be in that number
if we take it seriously brothers and sisters
verse six and i saw another angel flying
in midheaven having an eternal gospel to preach
to whom to those who are not purchased
from the earth to those who and it's
in the margin it says here the literal
word there is those who sit on the
earth in other words those who have made
this earth their dwelling place the comforts of
this earth the money of this earth the
honor of this earth the pleasures of this
earth are why where they have decided to
settle down in every nation tribe and tongue
and people and he speaks with a loud
voice fear god that's a gospel did you
know that fear god is a gospel it
says that here it says it's the eternal
gospel that's the gospel in the old testament
too fear god is the gospel in the
new covenant it's going to be the gospel
at the end of time fear god that
is an essential constituent of the true gospel
given glory that's part of the true gospel
give him the glory don't touch it yourself
don't take one bit of it to yourself
give him the glory and the hour of
his judgment has come is that good news
it is if we understand it right the
time has come peter said that judgment must
begin where at the house of god with
me with you first then for the world
because much is given to us much will
be required from us blessed are those who
hear that to judge myself is a gospel
worship him that's a gospel who made the
heaven and the earth and the sea and
the springs of waters the creator because man
would not give him the glory as creator
therefore man goes down into the pit of
darkness we read that in romans 1 verse
20 and 21 they saw the glory of
god in creation and they were not thankful
they did not fear him they did not
give glory to him they did not worship
him therefore they sunk into sin and i
wanted to notice another thing here notice this
phrase the hour of his judgment you remember
when we considered isaiah 61 free isaiah 61
2 sorry it says there that jesus said
the spirit of the lord has anointed me
to preach the gospel to proclaim the acceptable
year of the lord and then he stopped
because in isaiah 61 2 the next phrase
is the day of vengeance of our god
the acceptable year and the day of vengeance
we saw that that grace extends over a
period of a whole year vengeance over one
day god is as it were saying i
would rather act 365 days in grace and
one day in judgment that's my nature now
notice the same contrast here the hour of
judgment in second corinthians 6 2 we are
called we are told this is the day
of salvation the day of salvation and the
hour of judgment that means god would much
rather act in salvation and grace rather than
in judgment now i want to say something
from that for our own nature you know
brothers and sisters our own adamic nature would
much rather act in judgment rather than in
grace towards other people for the race of
adam it is the day of judgment and
the hour of grace you see that in
the garden of eden as soon as adam
was caught by god he pointed at his
wife the day of judgment had begun this
my wife she's the cause of all the
problem and now the lord is trying to
convert us from that wretched nature that would
rather judge others criticize others find fault with
others and once in a while act in
grace to his nature which is exactly the
opposite he would rather act in grace than
only when stretched to the utmost limit he
finally acts in judgment and he's communicating to
us that nature of mercy that's just in
passing the hour of his judgment has come
verse 8 another angel the second one followed
saying fallen fallen is babylon the great this
refers to the mother of all the harlots
mentioned in verse 4 the women who tried
to tempt the overcomers this is the mother
babylon harlot christianity the counterfeit church that pretended
to follow jesus but lived for itself for
the world and for its own lust and
passion fallen because she has made all the
nations in every country you find this harlot
church made them drink of the wine of
the passion of her spiritual immorality we'll deal
with that more when we come to chapter
17 and 18 we read in verse 9
another angel a third one followed them saying
if anyone worships the beast and his image
and receives a mark on his forehead or
upon his hand he also will drink of
the wine of the wrath of god in
other words verse 8 the last part if
you drink of the wine of babylon then
verse 10 you have to drink also of
the wine of the wrath of god you
can't drink one and escape the other what
you drink in verse 8 will lead you
to be compelled to drink the wine of
the wrath of god mentioned in verse 10
and it says something about the wrath of
god in verse 10 it is mixed in
full strength without mixture you know what that
means it means without mercy he who has
shown no mercy to others james 2 13
will be judged without mercy in the final
day he who has never understood to be
merciful to other people who have harmed him
and cheated him and robbed him and done
evil terms will in that day receive a
judgment without mercy from the hand of god
that's why if we don't want to get
judgment without mercy we've got to be merciful
to other people today and he will be
tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels and in the presence
of the lamb that's judgment and the smoke
of their torment goes up forever and ever
this is eternal judgment for those who have
not responded to god's call of grace they
have no rest day and night those who
worship the beast and his image when we
consider chapter 4 we saw there in verse
8 that the living creatures don't have any
rest day and night because they're always worshiping
god here is a similar phrase they don't
have any rest day and night because they
are tormented because they worship the beast and
his image and whoever receives the mark of
his name and here again that sentence comes
here is the perseverance of the who keep
the commandments of god and their faith in
jesus the call to endure and notice the
two things mentioned there obedience and faith and
in the amplified bible it says those who
habitually obey the commandment i hope we are
in that number of those who habitually obey
the commandments of jesus and about commandments of
god and have a strong faith in jesus
these are the two most important requirements as
we approach the end of time faith in
the lord and a habitual obedience to the
commandments of jesus then we shall endure as
we approach the end of time