The King of Zion

Revelation 14

Immanuel – 6/5/22

As we have been journeying through Revelation, we have been looking at it in three distinct parts.

Part 1 (Chapters 1-3): Jesus appears and delivers messages to the church.

Part 2 (Chapters 4-11): Christ is victorious as He establishes the new covenant.

Part 3 (Chapters 12-22): The Church is victorious as she is united to Christ.

As we approach Revelation from the Postmillennial perspective, we see that parts 2 and 3 have different emphases, but they regard the same earthly events: the painful birth of the church and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. One age was ending, and another was beginning. The old covenant was passing away and the new covenant was growing, like a mustard seed that would grow to fill the whole garden.

And even though parts 2 and 3 are distinct visions, elements of part 2 find their way into part 3. They are different visions, but there is continuity between them. Today, we will see many elements from the last vision in chapter 14.

Purpose

Explain the meaning behind symbols.

I want your faith to be strengthened through warnings and hopes.

Read Revelation 14

As part 3 of Revelation began, John beheld an unholy trinity: the dragon, the beast/antichrist, and the false prophet. I identified these as Satan, Rome – embodied in Nero, and the Jewish religious establishment. These are the counterfeits. And together, these make war on the Bride of Christ, the Church. At the end of chapter 13 you are left wondering, “Will the church survive such fearsome enemies?”

Today, we see that all the might of the unholy trinity is no match for the Lion and the Lamb. With power infinitely greater than the forces of hell, Christ protects His Bride. The Church is secure.

Such is the scene as chapter 14 opens.

Read vs 1

Mount Zion

We have not seen Jesus appear as the Lamb since Revelation 8:1 – since the visions of part 2 – when He opened the seventh seal. When Jesus opened the seventh seal, Jerusalem was destroyed and the new covenant was entirely unfurled. It finished with the opening of the heavenly temple and kingdom of the world becoming the kingdom of Christ (Revelation 11:15,19).

Here in chapter 14, Christ stands on Zion as the true and rightful King of kings and Lord of lords. The feeble ragings of Satan, Rome, and the Jewish religious leaders have done nothing to remove Christ from the throne.

Revelation 14 bursts with the prophesies of Psalm 2.

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed…He who sits in heaven laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then He will speak to them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury, saying, “As for me, I have set me King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”…Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are those who take refuge in Him.

-Psalm 2:1-2,4-7,12

God has set His Anointed upon Zion’s throne, and though He appears as a lamb, His mighty wrath has been kindled. But blessed are those who take refuge in Him.

And, of course, the blessed are the 144,000. For their foreheads bear the mark of God and they surround the Lamb in holy worship. The 144,000 stand in stark contrast to those that have worshipped the beast and took his wicked mark upon their foreheads and hands. Their mark and their worship were corrupted and counterfeit.

The scene is set. The antichrist rises from the sea, surrounded by the twisted worship of his people. Christ stands risen upon Zion, surrounded by the blessed multitude and their worship.

But let us take a moment to remember the identity of these 144,000. Like so much of Revelation, especially when numbers are used, the 144,000 are a symbol.

Back in chapter 7, Jesus seals the servants of God with the Holy Spirit, and then He places His symbolic mark upon their foreheads. Just after this divine sealing, John writes:

I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel…After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. -Revelation 7:4,9

John hears of the sealed as a perfect number. Biblically, 12 is the number for the people of God. This is the people of God numbered 12x12x1000. It is not a literal number, but a number symbolic for the fullness of the chosen of God. And this fullness of people is mustered like an army.

John hears this accounting, but when he looks, he does not see a perfectly numbered and ordered crowd; but a vast multitude of people from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

The 144,000 and the innumerable multitude are two symbols for the same set of people: the elect, God’s chosen people, the Church. And another indicator is that the 144,000 surround the Lamb here in chapter 14, but back in chapter 7 it was the multitude that surrounded and worshipped the Lamb.

And does that not fit with what we read at the end of verse 4; that these are redeemed from mankind, not just redeemed from Israel?

Notice something else: in chapter 7, the 144,000 had been arrayed like an army. 13:7 says that the beast made war with the elect, and was even allowed to conquer some; but it was only an apparent conquering. For now, in chapter 14, despite all the ferocity of the unholy trinity, not one of the 144,000 has been lost. God has caused His elect to persevere. Here stands every one of them, victorious in their unity with the Lamb, immersed in heavenly worship.

Read vs 2-3

What sounds mingle in worship! The roar of many waters, the loud thunder: Scripture gives both of these descriptions to the voice of God. But mixed with these roarings, is the sound of music. The voice also sounds like the elect, playing their instruments and singing.

How truly Christ is unified to His Church and Bride. The voice that John hears is one voice, but it appears to come from both the Lamb and the 144,000. For just as the elect worship, the Lamb exalts over His beloved.

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty One who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing. -Zephaniah 3:17

And the 144,000 sing a new song, a song only they know. It is the song of the redeemed. Only they know, truly know, what it means to be washed in the immeasurable kindness of God’s grace. Back in chapter 5 the 24 elders, another symbol for the church, played their harps and sang a new song.

Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.

-Revelation 5:9-10

Read vs 4-5

Literalistic interpreters of Revelation say that the 144,000 are Jewish men that are also virgins. But I don’t think John is making statements about bloodlines nor sexual abstinence. Listen to the other words also describing the 144,000 elect from these two verses: not defiled, mouths that do not lie, blameless.

John is talking about fidelity to Jesus – devotion to Jesus – rather than the idolatry of those who have taken the beast’s mark. Idolatry and promiscuity have a long and symbolic link in Scripture.

“What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?…Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods?…For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, ‘I will not serve.’ Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore.” -Jeremiah 2:4,11,20

Despite the solicitations and threats of the unholy trinity, the elect have remained pure. The Bride of Christ is arrayed in white; not giving her heart, nor her body, to other gods.

As Paul writes,

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. -2 Corinthians 11:2

Paul is talking about the church symbolically: the Bride of Christ. John is talking about the church symbolically: 144,000 virgins. All of these symbols have to do with the church’s whole-hearted devotion to Christ.

Those who have worshipped the beast, and have been twisted into the image of the beast, are given the dragon’s breath: they breathe lies. But not the 144,000. As verse 5 says, no lie is found in their mouth.

For they do not follow these false gods up every hill or under every green tree. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes, and He has gone to Mount Zion. And from His throne He will not let even one of His elect to perish.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” -John 10:27-30

Those who followed Jesus in the first century, and faced the terrible tribulations of that day, were the first fruits of the church – the first followers of Jesus. This revelation, with its promises of perseverance – that not one of all God’s elect will be lost – was a strong encouragement to all those who lived and died in the apostolic age, when this unholy trinity made war with the saints.

They were the first fruits, but we are the fruits that follow. And this whole scene is not one for heaven alone. No, John is describing a future reality and a present reality. For heaven has come to earth in the hearts of men, and everyone who comes to Jesus in faith ascend Mount Zion to join the worship of the elect.

You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.

-Hebrews 12:22-24

Do you hear it in these words? This is a present reality!

They in the first century were the firstfruits – or firstborn – but together we are all the elect enrolled in heaven. Every time we worship, every time we ascend to God in prayer, every time we assemble as a church, we come to Jesus. Even now, brothers and sisters, we stand on Mount Zion, in the holiest of places.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

-Hebrews 10:19,22-23

Read vs 6-7

Salvation and Judgement

The last angel we saw flying through the air was back in chapter 8, declaring woes upon those who dwell in the land of Israel. Here is a second angel come to make a proclamation of an altogether different sort: not an announcement of judgement, but one of salvation. It proclaims the eternal gospel.

(Parenthesis)

And this eternal gospel is to be proclaimed to all those who dwell on the earth. So far, every time we have come to the Greek word “ge,” translated as earth, I have said that it should be translated as land; because the land is a symbol for Israel. But here it is different. In verse 6 I think earth is the right translation for “ge,” because it is immediately followed by every nation and tribe and language.

(Close Parenthesis)

Notice how the eternal gospel is proclaimed to the whole earth, and then verse 7 says that the hour of judgement has come. This perfectly follows the prophecy of Christ.

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” -Matthew 24:14

Neither the angel in Revelation 14 nor Jesus in Matthew 24 are talking about places in Australia or Canada or Fiji. They are talking about the known civilized world, the Roman world. It was the world through which the Jews has scattered. And indeed, before the end of Jerusalem and the Old Covenant came – in those last days – the gospel was proclaimed in the whole known world.

Paul testifies to this in numerous places; but here are two in Colossians.

Of this [hope] you have heard before in the word of truth, the gospel, which has come to you, and indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing.

-Colossians 1:5-6

Continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven.

-Colossians 1:23

Yes, from Jesus’ mouth to 70 AD, the gospel produced fruit in the whole known world. The dragon, the beast, and the false prophet were powerless to stop the God who has made heaven, earth, the sea, and the springs of water – as verse 7 says. His gospel did go forth, and will continue to go forth, until He is glorified in all creation – until the knowledge of His glory covers the earth as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14).

Read vs 8

For the first time in Revelation, Babylon, the great harlot, is introduced. Even though she is not being formally introduced here, I’ll tell you who she is. In part 2 of Revelation, Babylon was given different names.

The great city that is symbolically called Sodom and Egypt, where the Lord was crucified. -Revelation 11:8

Babylon is none other than Jerusalem. Let’s be sure we ground ourselves in the context of this chapter. As we have seen earlier, as virginity is symbolic of faithfulness, so promiscuity symbolizes idolatry.

Babylon is passing around the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality (vs 8). This is exactly what Jerusalem was doing. Jerusalem had the temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the Scriptures. Jerusalem was the place on earth that worship of Yahweh was to be most pure; and that worship was to spill out upon the nations. Israel was to be a kingdom of priests, leading the nations in the worship of the true and living God.

But Jerusalem had forsaken her first love and ran to the bed of other lovers. She had turned worship of God into worship of abominable idols – idols of self-righteousness and self-justification. When the nations looked to her for instruction, they ended up drunk on her blasphemies as she passed around the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.

And in her own drunken stupor, she led the nations in crucifying the Messiah and persecuting the saints. As we read in chapter 17:

On her forehead was written a mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman drunk, with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. -Revelation 17:5-6

Jerusalem was defiled with idolatry and the spilling of the blood of the saints. Jerusalem had become like Sodom and Egypt. Jerusalem had become like her most abhorrent historical enemy: Babylon.

As Babylon destroyed Jerusalem’s first temple in 586 BC, Jerusalem’s apostasy has now brought destruction upon their own rebuilt temple. Jerusalem has become Babylon.

The second angel declares that Babylon is fallen. It is a promise. As it is declared here in chapter 14, so it will come to pass in chapter 18. And notice once more, the end of Jerusalem comes after the gospel is proclaimed to the nations. God is merciful to offer salvation to the nations hung over on the idolatrous wine of Babylon.

But if any person refuses to repent and turn to Christ, instead insisting on their idolatries, then comes judgement.

Read vs 9-11

Last week we took a close look at the mark of the beast, and saw that it is not to be taken literally. It is a symbolic counterfeit to the Shema – to loving God with all the heart, mind, and soul. Anyone who instead loves the beast with undivided heart, will face eternal damnation.

In the first century, they worshipped the beast: a whole empire devoted themselves to worship of Caesar, and joyfully proclaimed him to be the king of kings and son of god. But our generation has its own idols: self-love, self-care, influence, fashion, reputation, entertainment, ease, sex, self-identity. To these idols we offer our bodies, our resources, our time, our unborn children. Whoever worships these beasts, and takes their mark, will likewise face eternal damnation.

And we are given passages like this one, because God wants us to stand at a distance and behold how terrible this damnation: that we might turn from it and run safely to Mount Zion.

So let us behold.

Not one condemned soul will be annihilated upon death; there is no unconscious nothingness. To be damned is to drink the full strength of the wrath of God. More powerful than anything you have known is God’s unrestrained anger. Tornadoes that shred buildings, hurricanes that destroy cities, earthquakes that obliterate mountains; these are nothing compared to hell’s devastations. The drink of God’s wrath is uncut, undiluted, entirely absent of all hopes and common graces.

Verse 11 says that the torments of hell never abate. No escape, no rest can be found. Everyone there will be woefully aware of every moment, and every awful moment is followed by infinitely more.

And all of this terror happens in the presence of the Lamb, as verse 10 says. As the damned are forever conscious of their suffering, so is Jesus forever conscious of their suffering. To the elect, Jesus is gentle and king. To the damned, He is a consuming fire and an unrelenting fury of vengeance. How fearful it is to fall, condemned, into the hands of an angry God.

Famously, Johnathan Edwards preached a sermon called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Here is an excerpt:

It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity: there will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery: when you look forward, you shall see a long forever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all; you will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wresting and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have done so, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point in what remains. So that our punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble faint representation of it; ‘tis inexpressible and inconceivable: for who knows the power of God’s anger?

From that horrific vantage point, looking over the edge into unending death, we are warned to step away, and run to Zion. For there, in union with Jesus – though our sins deserve hell’s fury – we find refuge in the gracious love and kindness and favor of Christ.

Read vs 12-13

Again we see stark contrasts: the blessed versus the cursed, those who have found rest in Christ, versus those who receive no rest from their torments.

The horrors of hell are terrifying. And yet these horrors help the saints to endure. They are like the railings at the edge of a cliff, the arms of a father pulling back their child from the busy street. The fears of hell should repel all of us from worshipping any idol or serving any beast. They should remind us of the gravity of life. How vital to bind our lives to Jesus with the cords of faith and spend our moments in obedience to God.

Yet there is a motivation even great than fear of hell: the blessed presence of Christ. How blessed are those who die in the Lord! They too will forever be in the presence of Christ.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. -Psalm 16:9-11

Yes, far greater than fear, the pleasure of the presence of Jesus holds us fast in His arms. Love of Jesus is enough to carry us through all the toils and tribulations of life. Even death is a happy price to be in the presence of Christ!

As Ignatius wrote before he was thrown to wild beasts in 107 AD.

I write to all the churches, and I bid all men know, that of my own free will I die for God…I am God’s wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread of Christ. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my [tomb] and may leave no part of my body behind, so that I may not, when I am fallen asleep, be burdensome to anyone. Then shall I be truly a disciples of Jesus Christ…Yet if I shall suffer, then am I a freed-man of Jesus Christ, and I shall rise free in Him. Now I am learning to put away every desire…Come fire and cross and grapplings with wild beasts, cuttings and manglings, wrenching of bones, hacking of limbs, crushings of my whole body, come cruel tortures of the devil to assail me. Only be it mine to attain unto Jesus Christ. -Ignatius, Epistle to the Romans

How blessed it is to die in the Lord! All the agonies and afflictions of earth cannot compare with the eternal weight of glory that will immediately flood us when these eyes close and our new eyes open.

And there we will rest. All of earth’s heavy burdens, all that we once toiled over, will pass into memory. And we will wear – like crowns – every effort to advance Christ’s kingdom, every obedience unto God, every cup of cold water taken to the thirsty. Satisfied from the day’s labors, we will rest.

But the rest has not yet come. We look forward to eternal Sabbath, but today we work. We set out hopes on the things to come while we firmly grip the plow and labor for the kingdom: for the harvest is ripe.

Read vs 14-16

Harvests

Always in Revelation, Jesus is the one who sits on the clouds, rides the clouds, is wrapped in the clouds. He is the Son of Man from Daniel 7 and the King who reaps the earth in Revelation 14. This is the reaping of the kingdom of God. This is the gathering of the elect.

“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

-Mark 4:26-29

Jesus has ascended in glory. He reaps the earth with the gospel. He swings that sickle with His hands, the Church. He commissions His church to reap the harvest.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” -Matthew 9:37-38

Again we are shown that the gospel goes out, reaping its harvest, before judgement and wrath come.

Read vs 17-20

Here is a harvest of an altogether different sort. Here is the reaping of the wicked. This is imagery drawn upon apocalyptic language scattered throughout the Old Testament.

“I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood splattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me. I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.” -Isaiah 63:3-6

The same imagery is seen in Revelation 14. The grapes of wrath are those that have taken the idolatrous mark. They are squeezed in God’s winepress of wrath and wine is made from their blood.

Revolting as it may be, it is their own blood that the unrepentant are forced to drink. Back in verses 9-10 we read, If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark…he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of God’s anger. Forever the wicked will drink their own death.

It is all awful apocalyptic and symbolic language. Thus, when we read about the flow of this blood, we should not think it suddenly literal. It says that from the winepress of the wrath of God, blood flowed as high as a horse’s bridle for 1,600 stadia.

Biblically, the number for testing and judgement is 40: 40 days of rain when God flooded the earth, 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, 40 days that Goliath reviled the Israelites, 40 lashes were the maximum Jews were to deliver to the convicted.

1,600 is 40x40. This is a symbolic number for the fullness of God’s judgment upon Jerusalem. And another layer to that symbolism is that 1,600 stadia is about 184 miles: nearly the length of the Promised Land from north to south. This number is a symbol, and all Israel will be judged because she has abandoned God for other lovers.

And even though these are symbols, God filled the winepress of Jerusalem with Apostate Jews. It overflowed with pilgrims during Passover. Then, He hemmed it in so none could escape as Rome surrounded the city. With Roman boots, God trod that city and squeezed out every drop of blood. The wine of the wrath of God, vintage: 70 AD.

That was their judgement for their unrepentance. If you have not repented, and turned to Christ for forgiveness and salvation, then there is a winepress for you, and another vintage you will have to drink. And you will never stop drinking it, for the smoke of your torment will go up forever and ever.

But you do not need to drink this wine. For the cup of wrath was passed to Christ, and in perfect obedience to the Father’s will, He drank every last drop. He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). His blood was spilled and yours need not be. Jesus took the Father’s wrath, so you could receive the Father’s favor.

Come to Mount Zion. Come to the Lamb who slain, yet behold, He lives. Come and drink from another cup.

[Jesus] took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to [the disciples], saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins.” -Matthew 26:27-28

Come to the King and join in the song of the Redeemed:

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! -Revelation 5:12

For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. -Revelation 5:9-10

Though we come to Mount Zion, and to Christ, He tells us to go. We must warn every one of the coming judgement. We must tell them how to be reconciled to God through Jesus. We are His ambassadors. We must proclaim the eternal gospel of the kingdom of God!

And everywhere we go, there is Mount Zion – may this mountain fill the whole earth! And every difficulty we may face, right there is Jesus Christ – the Lion and the Lamb, our refuge in time of need.