Revelation
The Lamb of God: On His Throne and Among His People
Time to Decide
Revelation 14:1-13

Study Notes

Quotes and Thoughts

The Case for 144,000 as Symbolic of the Church (from Revelation 7 notes, where you can also see the other view as well)

• In the NT, all who believe are considered Abraham’s children (see Romans 4:16-18; Galatians 3:7-9).
• The number 144,000 is very much like a military unit. Whenever a census was taken in the OT, it was a count for military purposes, which is why Levi is not mentioned in those counts.
• 12 (tribes – OT) X 12 (disciples) X 1,000 (military unit) = 144,000
• The people listed in 7:4-8 are the same ones who are described in 7:9-17 – it is the literary device of recapitulation (see the notes from Revelation 7).
• Nowhere else in Revelation is a distinction made between Jews and Gentiles.
• Therefore, these believers represent all believers (in Jesus) until Jesus returns.
• We are always at war (thus the precise military numbers) with spiritual forces that are often intent on persecuting the saints.

GK Beale: In the OT, the new song was always an expression of praise for God’s victory over the enemy, which sometimes included thanksgiving for God’s work of creation (Cf. Psalm 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10). Now the “new song” is sung again, but on an escalated scale and for the last time, “last” understood as carrying on into eternity. This means that vv.1-5 focus not only on an ideal description of the church throughout the ages but also on the end of the age, when at last the church has been fully redeemed.

D.A. Carson: I suppose there are few theological topics that are more unacceptable to the contemporary, Western world than the theme of the wrath of God. Yet the fact remains that the wrath of God is spoken of something like 600 times directly or indirectly in the Old Testament alone, quite apart from New Testament usages. And that is in addition to passages where the expression — “the wrath of God” — or anything analogous is not actually found, but the narrative carries the same theme.

More from the Carson article/interview: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/the-bible-often-mentions-gods-wrath-why-does-it-matter

Sermon about the Tower of Babel – and the spirit of Revelation’s Babylon: https://www.graceccnc.org/sermons/sermon/2023-08-20/the-trouble-with-earthly-kingdoms

 It has been a long time since I read it, but Neil Postman was on point:

Here is an excerpt from Amusing Ourselves to Death by Postman as he discussed the two futures seen by George Orwell in 1984 and Aldous Huxley in Brave New World:

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."

In 1984, Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.”

Postman would likely write a slightly different book today, but his concerns would still be valid. Either way, we must not allow ourselves to be distracted from the (spiritual) war that matters most!

Charles Spurgeon from the Spurgeon Study Bible about Revelation 14:12: Those who are to be crowned in heaven must bear the cross on earth. No cross, no crown. Many would (choose to) be saints if everybody would encourage them. But as soon as a hard word is spoken, they are offended. Those who are to sing Christ’s praise in heaven must first be willing to bear Christ’s shame below. They must be numbered with him in humiliation, or they cannot expect to be partakers with him in glory. God grants us grace to have the endurance of the saints – the endurance that courts no one’s smile and fears no one’s frown but can endure all things for Jesus’ sake.

Application Points from the Sermon

1. The new song about Jesus’ victory over sin and Satan is only for believers – sing it heartily
2. The implications of the current war between Jesus and Satan (and their followers) will resonate throughout eternity – live as though you understand this
3. In this war, Jesus fights your battles – be courageous as you endure the consequences of your decision to follow Jesus
4. The road to eternal joy is paved with suffering – accept it
5. You can rest at the end – follow the Lamb wherever he leads you

Scripture that is Associated with the Text

Psalm 2:1 Why do the nations rage

    and the peoples plot in vain?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves,

    and the rulers take counsel together,

    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,

3 “Let us burst their bonds apart

    and cast away their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;

    the Lord holds them in derision.

5 Then he will speak to them (the enemies of God and his people) in his wrath,

    and terrify them in his fury, saying,

6 “As for me, I have set my King

    on Zion, my holy hill.”

1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.

Deuteronomy 23:9 When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing. 10 If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, 11 but when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp.

Romans 5:9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” taken from Joel 2:32 where Mount Zion is referenced (see Revelation 14:1) as the place where God calls his redeemed people to live.

Daniel 4:28 All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. 29 At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30 and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”

Jeremiah 51:26 “I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the Lord.

25 “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,

declares the Lord,

    which destroys the whole earth;

I will stretch out my hand against you,

    and roll you down from the crags,

    and make you a burnt mountain.

26 No stone shall be taken from you for a corner

    and no stone for a foundation,

but you shall be a perpetual waste,

    declares the Lord.

Philippians 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Revelation 1:3: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

• This is the first of seven (of course!) beatitudes – or blessings – found in Revelation. The second is found in Revelation 14:13.