The Mark Of The Lamb, Mark Of Victory

Would you take your Bibles this morning and turn to Revelation chapter 14. Let's bow now together and ask God to open His Word to us. As we look in this chapter this morning. God of heaven, our Savior, the Lord Jesus, came to earth and transformed everything by His incarnation. And so I pray today that as we look into your word, which speaks of your Christ, that you would transform us.

Father, we are not here for an exercise merely in learning. We are here to serve our Lord. and in order to do that we need to be always being transformed by your spirit and so I would ask you today to take what is preached and that your spirit would transform us all as we come to grips and understand more of the victory of the Lamb grant that we pray for the glory of our Savior's name Amen. My dad was a veteran of World War II, serving in the 100th Bomb Group of the Army Air Force in England.

And I can still see a photograph of him as a young man in his uniform at his duty station at Thorpe Abbots Airfield. those old photographs of veterans serving their country usually bring to our hearts feelings of nostalgia and even gratitude for their service and sacrifice for their country and before us this morning is a photograph of the veterans who fought in a holy war against Satan and his beasts It a photograph of those veterans with their commander But there's something odd, something strange about this photograph. It comes from the future, not the past. That's what we find in Revelation 14, verses 1 through 5.

A photograph from the future of the veterans of a holy war. Let's look at it together. 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. 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, and they were singing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and before the elders.

No one can learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 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. And in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. Now we have heard and experienced the rage of Satan.

We read of his beasts rising from the sea and rising from the earth. And these pictures frighten us. we wonder if we will have the endurance the faith and the wisdom to withstand the onslaught we fear the brutal persecution and the subtle deception of satan and his instruments and so god comes along at this point and gives us this picture not of the past but of the future A picture of victorious veterans. A picture which is intended to give us hope so that we can face the onslaught of Satan and his two beasts.

Now if we look carefully at the remaining visions in chapter 14 and verses 2 through 4 in chapter 15 Quickly remember that beginning in 12 and going through chapter 15 verse 4 we have seven visions that John has in this hinge point of the book, in this middle of the book. And we have seen a couple or three of those visions already. the vision of the dragon trying to destroy Messiah and the Messianic community and failing, and so his rage is unleashed on the earth. We have seen that he uses two instruments.

The first beast, which is any government or any entity that seeks to gain our allegiance, above our allegiance to our King Christ. We have seen that he employs a false prophet who seeks to deceive us into serving the first beast. And now we come to this fourth vision, which is intended to give us hope after we have seen the horrific war that we're in against Satan and these two beasts. now that these visions beginning in chapter 14 begin at Mount Zion with the lamb and his fighting force and it is a vision of victory so gain hope this morning gain hope this morning with this picture of the future first of all gain hope by seeing a victorious fighting force Now remember that this is a fighting force.

144,000. When you read that in the book of Revelation, the first thing in your mind ought to be God's holy warriors. That's what he's talking about here. You remember that we've already been introduced to the 144,000 in chapter 7. Turn back there really quickly. Revelation chapter 7.

Look at verses 3 and 4. Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. And you remember then we are giving 12 from the tribe of Judah 12 from the tribe of Reuben and so forth Now remember as we saw this in chapter 7 that just like in the Old Testament this is a census of God people for the purpose of forming a military force.

It's couched in terminology and brings back the pictures that we read in the Old Testament where several times in the Old Testament you see so many from this tribe, so many from this tribe, so many from this tribe, as they took a census in order to form their fighting force. So this is an army formed by God to wage holy war in this age. That's the first thing that will come to your mind.

The second thing is that you must also remember that this number symbolizes the church throughout this age. It is a symbolic number. It's not to be taken literally as 144,000 that are going to be saved, as the Jehovah's Witnesses believe. Or as some Christians believe, 144,000 Jews who sometime in the future are going to stand with Jesus on Mount Zion.

Remember, this is a book full of symbols. And 144,000 is a symbol of completeness. All right. Now, notice well that the mark of the lamb and his father is a seal, according to chapter seven. All right. In chapter 14, we see that this 144,000 have the name on their foreheads, the name of the Father and of the Lamb.

In distinction to the mark of the beast, God's people have the mark of the Lamb and of his Father on them. All right. So, again, the mark of the beast is not literally a mark that's put on people's hands and foreheads. because it's in contrast to the mark of the Lamb and of the Father. Those who are believers in Jesus have that mark. Well, how do we know that?

Because that's what the text in Revelation tells us. Turn back, for example, to chapter 3, verse 12. Chapter 3, verse 12. You remember as we were here, we came across this. To the church in Philadelphia, one of the faithful churches. Verse 12.

The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. So here we see that these are what? These are the servants of God who have this name written on them, which we see in chapter 7 and chapter 14 is the mark of the Lamb and the mark of the Father.

Okay? Now look at chapter 22, verses 3 and 4. no longer will there be anything accursed but the throne of god and of the lamb will be in it and note here's that term his servants same term used in chapter 3 verse 12 his servants will worship him they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads this clearly says that those who have the name of jesus and the father the lamb and the father on their foreheads are all the believers in the new heaven and the new earth. So therefore, the 144,000 symbolizes the church as a fighting force in this age who fights against Satan.

And so if you are a believer, you have the mark of the Lamb, you have the mark of his Father, and you are part of the 144,000. Okay? So here is God's fighting force. those who have fought the holy war against Satan, the beast, and the false prophet. Now what we need to see here is simply this. This is a victorious fighting force. This snapshot from the future is telling us we win.

That's the whole point of this first vision of chapter 14. This is a victorious fighting force. How so? Well, this is a victorious fighting force because not one warrior is lost. Not one warrior in this fighting force is ever lost to the enemy. Why?

Well, there are no losses because this is a redeemed fighting force. Look at verse 3. These are those who have been redeemed from the earth. Now, again, this is why I think the 144,000 is symbolic of the entire church. Because they are those who have been redeemed from the earth. and already in chapter 5, what have we seen? All the believers are those who have been redeemed from every tribe and language and people And then remember chapter 5 they around the throne of the Lamb praising Him for His great redemptive work Okay so this force is a redeemed force from the earth And then verse 4, these have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits.

There are no losses because this force is a redeemed force. Redeemed, remember that? Remember what redeemed means. Redeemed means purchased or ransomed. It's used throughout the New Testament. to speak of the fact that Jesus has redeemed a people for God. And here we see they have been redeemed from the earth, and they have been redeemed for God and for the Lamb.

Consider the fact. Now consider this fact. God composes this fighting force by ransoming them from the enemy forces. Do you ever think of that? You are part of the opposing forces to Christ. Do you know what he did?

He redeemed you. Jesus redeemed his people at the cross. He purchased them. He ransomed them at the cross. He bought a people for God and for himself. And he did this by freeing them at the cross from their bondage to Satan and their bondage to sin and their slavery to themselves. now I'm going to say this again and I'm going to get labeled as one of those crazy Calvinists if you want to use that term but I'm saying to you right now the Bible is consistent and it says that Jesus did not make salvation possible by dying on the cross he did not make salvation possible He actually guaranteed the salvation of His people when He died.

When He died, He guaranteed that all those who are gods would be one and would never be lost. That is how powerful His death is. His death is not such that it just says, okay, now you can be saved. His death actually accomplished our salvation. and that is why none of his warriors will ever be lost to the other side imagine this at the point of his humiliating death at the point when jesus appeared to be defeated in the eyes of the world what He actually won the greatest victory in all of world history At that point, he purchased a people for God.

This is a powerful death. We do not serve a Christ who is this powerless beggar. He is a Savior who accomplishes our salvation by His death. And thus no warrior will ever be lost who is purchased by Him. And because He remained faithful to the Father, even unto death, He guarantees your faithfulness. He's guaranteed your faithfulness to His Father as well. and so none of his army will ever be lost to the opposing forces.

Can you imagine going into war? Can you imagine going into battle knowing that none of your fighting force would ever be lost? That's victory, folks. That's victory. And not one is lost, not only because he's redeemed, not one warrior is lost because he is sealed. He is sealed.

Now recall from chapter 7 that the name and the father and the lamb on the forehead, remember from chapter 7, it's called a seal. And so we see that seal here because again we're reminded that we have the name of the lamb and his father's name on our foreheads. We have been sealed. And those whom God has sealed are protected. They are protected. Now, I remember, as we saw in chapter 7, this ceiling, this idea, comes out of, is an allusion to Ezekiel chapter 9.

So turn to Ezekiel. Turn back to Ezekiel. Now, you may not remember this. I realize that I remember more of my sermons than you do because I've labored over them and I preach them. So I remember these things. So just to remind you let turn back to Ezekiel chapter 9 and remember that this ceiling in the book of Revelation is an allusion to Ezekiel 9 escalating it to another level In Ezekiel 9 it says this now here the background Jerusalem and the people of God have proved completely unfaithful to God and so his glory is being removed from the temple and the forces of God in the Babylonians are coming in to utterly destroy Jerusalem and wipe out the nation of God.

All right. And in Ezekiel 9, verse 1, it says, Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand. And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand. And with them was a man clothed in linen with a writing case at his waist.

And they went in and stood besides the bronze altar. Now again, you need to remember, Ezekiel is also an apocalyptic book. And so there's not really six guys here. This is six men who symbolize destructive forces. And then there's another man, a seventh man, who has a writing case. Now let's read on.

Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing case at his waist. And the Lord said to him, Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.

Mark on the forehead those who hate the sin that they see and the abominations that are being committed. And to the others, he said in my hearing, that is to the other six men, pass through the city after him and strike. Your eyes shall not spare and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women. But touch no one on whom is the mark.

And begin at my sanctuary. So they began with the elders who were before the house. Now what's he saying there? Those who had the mark were sealed and thus were saved from the judgment of God. And so the book of Revelation picks that up. and says those who are sealed then are protected from destruction from being counted among the enemies of God subject to his wrath now that does not mean that you are delivered from death or physical suffering we've seen that from the book of Revelation chapter 2 verse 10 says what do not fear what you're about to suffer behold the devil is about to some of you into prison and you may be tested for 10 days and you will have tribulation.

Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. So we are going to experience death and we already read in chapter 12 verse 11 that marvelous verse where it says, and they have conquered him, they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they love not their lives even unto death. They've conquered Satan because they died faithful to God.

So this seal, the name on the forehead, is the protection from deception and the resulting judgment of God. It is the protection from persecution and the failure to remain faithful to Christ. Those who are sealed will always remain faithful. Those who are sealed will never experience the judgment of God. Now, do you see the difference between these two opposing armies?

Those who oppose our king, we saw last week in verse 17 of the last chapter. Those who oppose our king, Jesus, bear the mark of the beast, which is what? The name of the beast. Now look at this verse. Verse 1 of chapter 14. We bear the name of the Lamb and of his Father.

We bear their names. They bear the name of the beast. We bear the name of the Lamb and the Father. And you can have confidence in this war because you are part of a victorious army, redeemed and sealed by the Lamb. As you read through these passages and you say, this is horrible. Will I remain faithful?

Will I be deceived? And God says, no, you're going to be in the victorious army because you've been redeemed and sealed. No harm will come to you. You see, it's a victory because this army celebrates in the city of victory. Verse 1, where are they celebrating? They're celebrating on Mount Zion.

Now, Zion is another name for Jerusalem. and Zion was used in the Old Testament because there's a mount in Jerusalem that was called Zion it became the name for Jerusalem as well but when you read the Old Testament Zion the word Zion is often used if not always as the place of God presence and God rule All right? That's the way it's used in the Old Testament. On Zion is where God made his presence known.

On Zion is where his rule extended out to the people of God. But then it came to represent the presence of God and the rule of God in the end times. In the end times, it says, Mount Zion will be the place of God's presence and rule. In fact, the city from which God's anointed is going to rule. Okay? We saw that in Psalm 2.

That was read in the Old Testament reading. Where is God? And he's installed his king where? On Zion, this holy mountain. And it is there that his anointed one, God looks at derision on all those nations and says, ha, you fools. I've established my Messiah, my anointed one on this holy hill.

And what does it say about him? It says he's going to come and dash them to pieces like pieces of pottery with an iron rod. Right. So Psalm 2 is looking to the future, to this end time. All right, look at Micah. Micah chapter 4.

Do you remember where Micah is? Can you rip off the Minor Prophets real quick? Micah chapter 4, verse 5. Some of you are still on the table of contents, I can tell. Micah chapter 4, verse 5. in that day declares the Lord I will assemble the lame and gather those who've been driven away and those whom I have afflicted and the lame I will make the remnant and those who were cast off a strong nation and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore and you O tower of the flock hill of the daughter of Zion to you shall it come and former dominion shall come kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

There's this end time view of Zion as being the place where those who were once afflicted are now going to be gathered together under the rule and the presence of God forevermore you see Well as we saw in our New Testament reading this morning from Hebrews 12 I hope you caught that. When we assemble for worship, where are we coming to? We're coming to Mount Zion.

God began the fulfillment of this Zion, the place of God's presence and rule. He began the fulfillment of that in the church. we are beginning to see the fulfillment of that. This is Zion. This is where God is present. Not this building, but this people. This is where God rules.

We are Mount Zion. But it will be fully known and revealed when Jesus appears in judgment and God's universal presence and uncontested rule spreads over the entire earth which will be the final and ultimate, the fulfillment of everything that is Mount Zion. So what are we saying here? We have a picture here then of that final glorious Mount Zion where God's rule is uncontested and his presence is universal.

But you notice something there? The Lamb is there. Don't miss this. The Lamb is there. You know why? Because he's the only claimant to the throne of Mount Zion.

Do you remember what we just read in the second psalm? As for me, I have what? Set my king on Zion, my holy hill. There he is, the lamb. You have every reason for hope as you see the veterans, including you, celebrating on Mount Zion. Here's another reason why I think this is a victorious fighting force.

Because they sing a victory song. They're singing a victory song. In this vision, John hears the singing of this veterans reunion reverberating through the streets of Mount Zion. And the choir is so great. It is so large. And their song is so powerful that it sounds like thunder.

It sounds like a thunderstorm at the same time you at Niagara Falls It is that loud And that is because this choir of 144 is really the great multitude that no one was able to count from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue. Those whom God in Christ have purchased. It's a victory song that is overwhelmingly powerful. It's a victory song because it's a new song.

Again, in the Old Testament, you often read this, and they sang a new song. And that usually comes after a great victory that God has won. That little term, new song, is often used in the Old Testament to talk about a song that the people sang after God accomplished a great victory. For example, Psalm 144, verses 9 through 11. I will sing a new song to you, O God, upon a ten-stringed harp.

There's the harp. Okay? Upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you, who gives victory to kings, who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword. Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. A new song is a victory song. And it's a victory song that is overwhelmingly joyful.

Harps are good time instruments. I don't know if you knew that. They're like, I don't know, what are your good time instruments? Banjos? Or electric guitars? Or mandolins?

Or whatever. It's the good time instruments. That's why he's talking about harps here. He's saying, he's hearing a victory song and they're playing with the instruments. You don't play with an organ when you're having a party, right? When you're having a party, no one's playing the organ.

That's not a party instrument. So they're playing the party instruments, the victory instruments, the ones that always accomplish a foot stomp in good time. That's what he's talking about. This is a song of victory. And notice, do you notice this? It's a song that only the redeemed know.

Right? It's a new song. No one can learn that song except the 144,000 who have been redeemed from the earth. Only those who've experienced the redemption of Christ can learn and sing this song. They're the only one. They're the only ones who can learn it, the only ones who can sing it, because they know the redemption of Jesus.

And you know, does this strike you as odd? Like when you're at Arby's, okay? Just pick Arby's. You're sitting there at Arby's and you're eating and they're playing Christmas music and you hear a celebrity singer come on singing, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and you hear him sing, God and sinners reconciled. This happened when Levi and I were at Arby's the other day.

And I remember Levi saying to me, isn't that weird? Do you think they have any idea what they're saying? They don't have a clue. It's just a traditional Christmas carol. But we, when we sing that song, we know what it means to be reconciled to God. That's the song that only the redeemed know.

They're the only ones who can sing that song with any kind of meaning. You can have hope now as you already hear and sing the strains of this future chorus of redemption. You see, we have every reason to hope in this holy war. And folks, I don't know what's going to happen in this country. It may happen in this country like our brothers and sisters across the rest of the world who are suffering for Christ in ways that we cannot even imagine.

It may happen that way. And you may remember these sermons then. Or even now in this country as what I think is particularly powerful is that second beast, that false prophet, that allures us away from Christ with all the consumerism of this day and all the slick lies that would lead us away from allegiance to Christ. and you may be saying, I don't know if I have what it takes.

You have real hope now. You know why? Because you've got a picture of a victory party where you are. Promise of God that you'll be there. There's hope in that. There's hope.

But he also goes on in the last two verses verses 4 and 5 to give us hope by seeing the character of the fighting force There are four things that are true of this fighting force What it like How is it that they could win the battle Certainly they're sealed, they're redeemed, they're singing the song of victory. All that is true. How did they get there?

How did they get there? There are four qualities that you see here in this fighting force. The first is this, they're faithful to the Lamb. They are faithful to the Lamb. Verse 4. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins.

Now, if you do not believe that this book communicates truth by symbols, you are in big trouble now. That means all you guys who are married out there, you are polluted men. That's what it means. You know what? Does the Bible teach that women are inherently corrupt so that they defile every man who has sexual relations with them? Is that what it's saying?

That's not what the Bible teaches about sexual relations, is it? No. Well, then what is he driving at by saying this? Okay. It's symbol. And it's symbolism that comes from the Old Testament.

Again, the Old Testament comes into play. When you read the Old Testament, how does God depict his people? How does God talk about Israel in many places? He talks about Israel as betrothed to him, as a virgin. For example, in 2 Kings 19, verse 21, We see this phrase used and we could look in several places in Jeremiah, places in Isaiah, Hosea. Several of the prophets talk about, use this imagery of God's people.

Second Kings 1921, Israel or Isaiah is talking to the king and they're in trouble. Sennacherib's coming. Sennacherib is threatening to overthrow Jerusalem. Hezekiah is scared to death. Isaiah shows up who's this right hand man has a guy is this court prophet named Isaiah Isaiah comes and he says this to him she it says this is what this is what God people are going to say to you here what it says She despises you she scorns you the virgin daughter of Zion She wags her head behind you the daughter of Jerusalem Now several places in the Old Testament, God calls his people, this betrothed wife, this virgin who is pure to him.

But guess what else he says? What does he call Israel when she proves unfaithful to him? turn to Ezekiel 23. All right, not hesitate to go here. Ezekiel 23 is one of the most graphic chapters in all of the Bible. And so I'm going to read a few verses. Okay, Ezekiel 23.

Now notice what God says to his people who have become idolaters. Okay? Ezekiel 23, verse 1. The word of the Lord came to me, son of man. There were two women, the daughters of one mother. They played the whore in Egypt.

They played the whore in their youth. There their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms handled. Ahola was the name of the elder, and Aholaba the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Ahola is Samaria, the northern kingdom. and Aholibah is Jerusalem, the southern kingdom. Ahola played the whore while she was mine and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians, warriors clothed in purple, governors and commanders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding horses.

She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria, all of them. and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. Jump down to verse 11. Her sister Aholibah saw this and she became more corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. And he goes on and talks about how she whored after the Assyrians and then after the Babylonians and was unfaithful to God and just became a prostitute.

You see? that's the Old Testament view and that terminology that imagery is taken over into the New Testament for example one of the most familiar passages to us Ephesians chapter 5 what is the church called The bride of Christ right We are God's people, we are his bride. The apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Folks, this is a pastor's heart, by the way.

This is a pastor's heart. This is my heart. This is a verse that goes through my mind often. I feel a divine jealousy for you for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. That's Paul's pastoral heart. He says, I'm working hard for you because I don't want you to be unfaithful to your Savior.

I betrothed you to Christ and I'm going to work hard to make sure you're a pure virgin when the marriage comes. See? We see it even in this book, Revelation 21, verse 2. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And of course, do you remember what James says? In James chapter 4, he picks up the imagery too.

What does he say in James 4 as he writes the church? You, what? Adulterous people. James chapter 4. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? He's warning us.

Whenever we're unfaithful, whenever we sin, we're moving towards adultery, spiritual adultery. but here he says the church appears with the lamb as a faithful and pure army as opposed to the beasts defiled and deluded troops faithful to the lamb despite persecution faithful to the lamb despite the persecution of the beast faithful to the lamb despite the deceptions of the false prophet. Not swayed from our allegiance to Christ. This is what he means when he uses this terminology.

So this army is a pure and faithful one. This army identifies with the Lamb. It is those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Now, he's not drawing a picture here of a three-year-old running after his mom, all over the house saying, Mom, I'm hungry. Mom, I'm hungry. Mom, I'm hungry!

He's not talking about chasing somebody around. He's using the language of discipleship here. Alright? Right. When when Jesus said to his when Jesus came to Andrew and Peter and James and John, and he said to them, follow me. And the gospel say they dropped their nets and they went after him.

Now, I imagine when you were a kid, as I was, I looked at and say, that's weird. Someone came up to me and said, follow me. I want to drop everything and walk around behind him for three and a half years. Well, Jesus wasn't saying that. He was using discipleship language. When you followed someone, when you followed a teacher, what you were doing was doing this.

I am committed to learn from you. I am committed to serve you. I am committed to become just like you. And so when Jesus said, come follow me, he was doing something radical. Typically you would go to the rabbi and say, I want to follow you. Will you take me?

This rabbi went around and picked his guys. He said, you, come and follow me. They understood him to be saying, I want you to come and become my disciple. I want you to follow me, to serve me, to become like me, to learn from me. And that's the language that's used here. These are those who follow Jesus no matter what.

They follow him even to death, if that's what it requires. They will follow him anywhere. They will serve him as his disciples. they will imitate his faithfulness in the midst of persecution and suffering they will be faithful like him they follow him wherever he goes that's us you know as we've had baptism here the last several weeks that's what's happening here I am saying to you I will follow Jesus no matter where he takes me if it's death I will follow him there if it's persecution I will remain faithful I will not I will not be unfaithful to Jesus I will follow him So this army identifies with the Lamb This army is the firstfruits of the Lamb See that in verse 4?

These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb. What are firstfruits? This again, from the Old Testament. The firstfruits were the first of the harvest that was offered to God at the sanctuary to show that those crops especially belonged to God and that he was sovereign over all. Typically, you know, when you go out to your garden and you start bringing in stuff, you say, oh, here's the first stuff off my garden.

I'm just going to give it away. I mean, no, it's like maybe this is all we're going to get. We better make sure we get this. This is good stuff. In the Old Testament, it was the first stuff that came, you gave it to God. You were saying to God, this belongs to you and I'm going to trust you for the rest.

But it was the very first of the harvest that went to God. Now, this again was applied to God's people in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah chapter 2, you read this phrase. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest. Now, what did that mean? It mean that in the Exodus, Israel became the first fruits of all mankind.

God was sovereign over all mankind, right? But they were his first fruits. They belonged especially to him. And by the way, that's exactly what's going on here. Because as you go through the rest of this chapter, guess what we find? Beginning in verse 14, we find a harvest going on.

A harvest is happening. Look in there. Chapter 14. Just go down the column a little bit. Verse 14, Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown in his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.

Drop down to verse 17. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven. He too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire. And he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth for its grapes are ripe So you see we have a harvest happening in this chapter and we are the firstfruits When Jesus comes to judge we the firstfruits of all mankind We belong to God in this great harvest that is coming.

Then the last thing. Here's the last quality of this fighting force, this victorious force you find in verse 5. And in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. this army is transformed into the image of the lamb now this phrase is supposed to remind you of someone it's supposed to remind you of the servant of the lord who we find in isaiah 53 now let's just turn there very quickly isaiah 53 we all know isaiah 53 it's the servant of the lord who comes and suffers right and in verses 7 through 9 we read this and he was oppressed he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent so he opened not his mouth by oppression and judgment he was taken away and as for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. All right? So what's he saying here? Like our king, the lamb, no lie will be found in our mouths. Now, he does not mean that we have this general commitment to truth. He's talking about the saints' integrity in witnessing to Jesus remains intact in the face of the beast and the false prophet.

We will not ever, ever stop saying Jesus is Lord. There's no compromise. Jesus is Lord, not the beast. Jesus gives us the truth to believe and we will not be deceived by the false prophet. No deceit will be found in our mouths. We will be faithful to Jesus.

And then it says that just like the lamb we blameless He not saying that we be perfect That not what he saying What he says here is when the world calls us guilty when the world accuses us of terrible things, which it always does, you bigots! You're bigoted people. Don't you know God is love? He accepts everybody. And you come along saying that sinners need to be reconciled to God.

When are you bigoted, small-minded people ever going to get with the program? God loves everybody. Right? You know what we hear all the time? Don't you dare call homosexuality a sin. Accept people for who they are, you bigots.

You're the scum of the earth. This is what he's saying here. We're blameless. The accusations are not true. just as the lamb was blameless with respect to the accusations leveled against him. He wants to lead the people astray. No, he doesn't.

He wants to lead them to God. So we're blameless. In the eyes of the world, we're guilty. But like the lamb, we will follow in his path and we will be blameless when it comes to the accusations of the world. You see, we have reason for hope in our war against the ever-present beast and the false prophet because of the character that the Lamb produces in us.

So, do you have hope today? Where's that hope anchored? Can I tell you something? Your hope is anchored in the future. Not now. Your hope is anchored in the future.

God graciously gives you a vision of that future of the victorious army of the Lamb celebrating its victory over the beast and the false prophet. And if you bear the seal of the Lamb and his Father today, that is a vision of your celebration. However, you may still be frightened. I'm not sure if I see myself in that photograph. You may be saying to yourself, I'm not sure if I see myself in that photograph.

Here's what I would say to you. You must see that it is the Lamb celebrating with his forces on Mount Zion that guarantees your participation. Not you, him. The redemption of this lamb, the redemption of this lamb, the death of this lamb that looked like defeat, powerfully defeats the forces of Satan. His defeat is his victory. It is a death that is powerful.

It is the triumph of the lamb that guarantees your place at the victory celebration. You have every reason to hope when your hope is in the Lamb. Father, when we look at what you've put out before us, we are frightened. We are afraid that if persecution comes, we'll run. we are afraid that we're not wise enough to pick up on deception remind us again that we are part of the victorious fighting force that has been redeemed and sealed by the lamb of god that his triumph is our triumph father we pray that we would not anchor our hope in this present age rather we'd anchor our hope in the triumph of the lamb yet to be fully revealed we thank you Lord for the perspective that heaven gives us we pray now Father give us each give us all hope help us to be in these times in this age people of hope do not let us Lord become those who are always frightened always anxious make us people of hope give us hope in the victory of the Lamb Amen