THE FAITH OF JESUS
Lesson 20
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Review and
introduction
Revelation 12
introduced us to Satan and his final
war on the remnant. The first
part of chapter 13 explains the rise
of Babylon – a global
confederation of seven religious and
ten political systems. The
lamb-like beast of chapter 13
explains the work and deception of
Satan during the time of the
trumpets. God has revealed
Satan’s coming masquerade so
that everyone can avoid being
deceived!
Revelation 14 is made
up of three parts. The first
part contains information about the
144,000; the second part of the
chapter contains the message that the
144,000 will deliver to the world and
the last part of the chapter explains
how probation closes. We will
look at the close of probation in our
next lesson.
144,000 apostles
From lesson 16 we
learned that the 144,000 are
specially chosen people (like the
first apostles) to whom the
responsibility is given to proclaim
the everlasting gospel. These
people are extraordinary in many
ways. They are God’s
representatives upon earth. Notice:
“Then I looked, and there before
me was the Lamb, standing on Mount
Zion, and with him 144,000 who had
his name and his Father’s name
written on their foreheads.
And they sang a new
song before the throne and before the
four living creatures and the elders.
No one could learn the song except
the 144,000 who had been redeemed
from the earth. These are those
who did not defile themselves with
women, for they kept themselves pure.
They follow the Lamb wherever he
goes. They were purchased from
among men and offered as first fruits
to God and the Lamb. No lie was
found in their mouths; they are
blameless.” Revelation
14:1-5
Two points about the
144,000
First, these have a
unique experience. No one else
can sing their song of experience,
for upon these people Jesus placed
the great responsibility of teaching
the everlasting gospel. They
speak truth – no lie was found
in their mouth. They are pure
in heart; they are not defiled with
immoral behavior.
These suffer for the
cause of Jesus in ways most people
don’t understand! For
comparison, consider the difference
between parents and children of World
War II. Children suffered for
the moment while parents suffered
from a larger knowledge.
Parents worried about the outcome of
the war, about their children and the
future. Parents having greater
knowledge suffered in proportion to
that knowledge. They simply had
more to worry about!
In a similar way, the
call to be an apostle, prophet,
teacher or evangelist of the
everlasting gospel is the most
encompassing responsibility ever put
upon a human being. The
accountability that goes with the
calling and selection is beyond the
scope of most people’s
understanding. Jesus understood
this responsibility. He said,
“The Spirit of the Lord is on
me, because he has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom
for the prisoners and recovery of the
sight for the blind.”
Luke 4:18 In a similar way, the
apostle Paul said, “Yet when I
preach the gospel, I cannot boast,
for I am compelled to preach.
Woe to me if I do not preach the
gospel!” I Corinthians 9:16
The 144,000, like
Jesus, have the Spirit of the Lord
upon them and like Paul, are
compelled to preach the everlasting
gospel contained in the Scriptures.
They are pure in heart and truthful
in their speech. The power of
the Two Witnesses (the Bible and Holy
Spirit) resting upon the 144,000
demonstrates their calling!
The second point is
that the 144,000 are first fruits of
the harvest at the end of the world.
Remember, the Feast of Tabernacles?
At this joyful feast, the first
fruits of the harvest were given to
the high priest. In the same
fashion, the 144,000 are God’s
finest people at the time of the
harvest. This does not imply he
loves others less; rather, like a
proud father at graduation, He beams
to see 12,000 people from each tribe
who reached the same spiritual
maturity that He had when upon earth.
These overcame sin just as He
overcame sin!
The redeemed will not
feel that Jesus is unfairly partial
to this group of people. In
fact, those living at the time of the
great tribulation will recognize
their indebtedness to one or more of
the 144,000, for they heard or
learned of the gospel through their
efforts! Everyone will rejoice
that the terrible struggle is over.
Everyone will cry for joy
unspeakable. The reward Jesus
gives each person far exceeds any
suffering endured for Christ’s
sake. John saw the 144,000 sing
a new song that caused heaven’s
arches to ring with happiness
inexpressible.
Three messages
When the trumpets
begin, the people of earth will be
awakened to the sinfulness of their
course. Into this bedlam, God
sends 144,000 people especially
endowed with the knowledge of
Scripture and the power of the Holy
Spirit. They have a message
from God. The giving of this
message was represented to John as an
angel flying above the earth in
midair. John says, “Then I
saw another angel flying in midair,
and he had the eternal gospel to
proclaim to those who live on the
earth – to every nation, tribe,
language and people. He said in
a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give
him glory, because the hour of his
judgment has come. Worship him
who made the heavens, the earth, the
sea and the springs of
water.’” Revelation
14:6,7 We learn five important things
from these verses:
- The Greek word
for angel also means
messenger. In other
words, John saw the
everlasting gospel go to
everyone that lives upon the
earth.
- The
everlasting gospel was
represented to John, as being
“loud” for every
person on earth must hear it!
- People will be
told to fear God because His
judgment-hour has come.
(This message will go
throughout the earth when the
trumpets begin and people are
fearful. The point
here is that they are to fear
Jesus and not Babylon!)
- People are
told to worship the Creator
of heaven, earth, sea and the
springs of water. (This
message is directly opposed
to the laws of men mandating
false worship to appease
God.)
- The first four
trumpets affect the earth,
the sea, the fountain of
waters and the heavens –
the very items mentioned in
this message. The
people of earth will be told
to worship God, the Creator,
for He has brought these
events to pass that all may
know who Jesus really is.
The call to worship God will
be in direct opposition to
the laws of Babylon that
demands false worship.
The John saw another
message for earth. He says,
“A second angel followed and
said, ‘Fallen!’
‘Fallen is Babylon the Great,
which made all the nations drink the
maddening wine of her
adulteries’” Revelation
14:8 The 144,000 tell the world that
Babylon the Great is fallen or
brought down. The term fallen
doesn’t mean broken down or
impotent. It means exposed as
false. The confederation
between religion and politics is
inspired by Satan and does not
appease God. In fact, it is
called “adultery” in
Revelation 17 because spiritual
things belong to God and civil things
belong to governments. The
second angel’s message warns
that even though Babylon’s
influence is popular, imposing and
all powerful, the premise behind the
development of a global church/state
is false and exposed for what it
really is: The handiwork of
Satan.
As you already know,
the eternal gospel goes throughout
the earth during the seven trumpets.
People will be stirred and aroused to
hear what the judgments are about.
The eternal gospel will be presented
so loudly that everyone, far and near
will hear. With the trumpets in
one ear and the everlasting gospel in
the other, how can any miss the
meaning of the moment?
People will be told
that the great Day of Judgment has
come, for Jesus is concluding His
work in the heavenly sanctuary and
mercy is about to end. Great
multitudes will be told that the
trumpets are designed to warn the
world of Christ’s return and if
they wish to receive salvation, they
must now worship the Creator of
heaven, earth, the sea and the
springs of water. The word
worship means to submit or render
obedience.
The irony of the
matter is that people will be told
that they must worship the Creator at
the time when Babylon is saying
almost the same thing. Remember,
clerics of all faiths in different
lands will be saying that God has
sent these judgments and He must be
appeased before they can stop. Babylon
will legislate a number of ways to
render obedience to God. The
Moslem will look to the Koran for
information on worship. The
Jews will review the Talmud, the
Mishna and the Torah. Catholics
will inquire of the Pope for
instruction on worship. But
what authority will Protestants
appeal for information on worship?
Tradition or the Bible?
A great mystery
Jesus has clearly
expressed in the Bible how His
subjects are to worship Him. This
is not a matter left to human design.
The problem that Babylon faces is
that each religious system will be
enacting laws to worship the same God
in different ways! For example,
Moslems regard Friday as a holy day,
the Jews regard Saturday and
Christians regard Sunday! Remember,
Revelation 13:8 says, “All
inhabitants of the earth will worship
the beast (Babylon, which has seven
heads and ten horns) – all whose
names have not been written in the
book of life belonging to the Lamb
that was slain.” Are
there a right way and a wrong way to
worship God? Yes.
Cain and Abel
demonstrate the difference. Both
worshiped. Abel worshiped God
by bringing a lamb to the alter and
sacrificing it according to
God’s instruction. Cain,
on the other hand, worshiped God but
on his own terms. He
didn’t follow God’s
instruction. Cain didn’t
raise sheep. He didn’t
like the idea of killing animals.
So he brought fruit from his garden.
God was displeased with Cain and
refused his worship but Abel offering
was received. See Genesis
4:1-16. Cain became angry and
slew his brother. Why?
John warns, “Do not be like
Cain, who belonged to the evil one
and murdered his brother. And
why did he murder his brother? Because
his own actions were evil and his
brother’s were righteous. Do
not be surprised, my brothers, if the
world hates you.” I John
3:12,13 John says Cain’s act of
worship was evil! Indeed, it
was blasphemous. Cain took the
prerogative of God. He decided
how he would worship God!
The crux of the matter
is this. God accepts our
worship if we worship him in spirit
and truth; that is, if we worship God
according to all that we know to be
true. The eternal gospel that
goes to every nation, kindred, tongue
and people contains information about
the worship of the true God that will
be new to most people. The
first angel’s message of
Revelation 14:7 says loudly,
“Fear God, Worship the
Creator.” The reason the
first message begins in this manner
is that most of the world does
neither correctly! God knows
about our darkness. This is why
the light of the everlasting gospel
will remove the darkness that Satan
has placed around the subject of
worship. Those honest in heart,
who worship God according to all the
truth they have, will rejoice to
learn the full truth about worship!
Worship the Creator
How are we to worship
the Creator? As said earlier,
the worship of God has not been left
to human invention. Jesus
clearly explains in the Ten
Commandments, How He is to be
worshiped. Carefully review the
first four commandments. They
are found in Exodus 20:3-11:
1.
“You shall have no other gods
before (other than) me.”
2.
“You shall not make for yourself
an idol in the form of anything in
heaven above or on the earth beneath
or in the water below. You
shall not bow down to them or worship
them; for I, the Lord your God, am a
jealous God, punishing the children
for the sin of the fathers to the
third and fourth generation of those
who hate me, but showing love to
thousands who love me and keep my
commandments.”
3.
“You shall not misuse the name
of the Lord your God, for the Lord
will not hold anyone guiltless who
misuses his name.”
4.
“Remember the Sabbath day by
keeping it holy. Six days you shall
labor and do all your work, but the
seventh day is the Sabbath to the
Lord your God. On it you shall
you shall not do any work, neither
you, nor you’re son or daughter,
nor your manservant or maidservant,
nor your animals, nor the alien
within your gates. For in six
days the Lord made the heavens and
the earth, the sea, and all that is
in them, but he rested on the seventh
day. Therefore the Lord blessed
the Sabbath day and made it
holy.”
The first four
commandments are the basis of true
worship. They clearly explain
the reverence and respect due our
Creator, Jesus. We are not to
worship any other god. We are
not to create an idol and bow down
before it. We are not to use
the name of God in a careless way. And
we are to keep the seventh day holy
as a memorial to our creator and His
creation.
The Ten Commandments
are divided into two groups. The
first four commandments deal with
man’s relationship to God and
the last six commandments deal with
man’s relationship to his
neighbor. Actually, the Ten
Commandments define the two basic
laws of life. Jesus said,
“love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind. This is the
first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: Love
your neighbor as yourself. All
the Law and the Prophets (the
scriptures) hang on these two
commandments.” Matthew
22:37-40
Love is the basis of
salvation. The two commandments
Jesus spoke of in Matthew 22 are
clearly spelled out in the Ten
Commandments. The meaning of love is
not left to human definition. In
fact, the word “love” today
commonly means sex, lust or passion.
What a perversion! Jesus came
to earth to correct human
misunderstanding on this point.
According to Jesus, true love
produces obedience! “Whoever
has my commands and obeys them, he is
the one who loves me. My Father
will love him who loves me, and I too
will love him and show myself to him.
If anyone loves me, he will obey my
teaching. He who does not love
me will not obey my teaching. John
14:21-24
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