Will you please turn to the book of Revelation? Revelation 14. We will read from Revelation 14:1-5.
And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing upon Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having His name, and the name of His Father, written on their foreheads.
And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpists harping with their harps:
And they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no man could learn the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand, even they that had been purchased out of the earth.
These are they that were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were purchased from among men, to be the first fruits unto God and unto the Lamb.
And in their mouth was found no lie: they are without blemish.
I think verse 5 is enough. Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank Thee that it is Thy mercy and grace that has brought us to this last full day of the conference. We thank Thee for the past, and we look forward to the now.
We do pray, Lord, that if Thou hast something to say to us, if there is still something in us that needs to be dealt with, O dear Lord, this is Your time. We just commit this time into Your hands and pray that Thou wilt open our hearts to Thyself.
Search us, O Lord, and know our hearts. We do pray that Thou wilt remove every hindrance that may still be in us. Claim us, O Lord, for Thyself, that we may truly be the link that Thou art able to use to bring in that imminent return.
O Lord, how we long to see Thee face to face. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Every time I try to sing the song that we have just sung, I hardly finish it. It was written by Brother Watchman during the first two years of Communist rule in China. He tried to express his innermost feeling, and this is the result of the song.
Thank God, there is always a very deep longing in the hearts of the saints through every century. We do not know how many prayers have ascended through the centuries—the cry of the church, waiting, looking, expecting the Lord’s return—because He is our only hope.
For years after years, century after century, it seems as if the Lord is delaying His return. Yet we all know our Lord Jesus is more anxious than any one of us to return and claim us for His bride.
I think, again, we have to confess that it is because of us that He could not come back to marry a bride that has not grown up, that cannot be a companion for life for Him. He is looking for His likeness in His church, and still waiting.
I believe, brothers and sisters, from all the indications, the time should be here. He is looking for that link that will prepare His way for His return.
I believe, brothers and sisters, it is the desire of our hearts—I believe in every one of us who are His—that we long to be that link which, by the grace of God, can speed up His coming.
I often feel that we are waiting for Him, but quite contrary, He is waiting for us. Are we prepared to offer ourselves to Him as a link that He is waiting for?
Hopefully, brothers and sisters, even within our lifetime, He will return. I really feel that way. But the problem is not just expectation. The real problem is: is there the link? Are we ready to pave the way for His glorious return? So this is the burden of our hearts.
As we said in the very beginning, whenever God is going to do something, He always has His own way, His principle.
As we find in Psalm 103:7, God “made known His ways unto Moses, His doings unto the children of Israel.”
The children of Israel had to wait until God had done something. Then they saw, and they glorified the Lord. But it was Moses who knew the way of the Lord. Knowing the way, he prepared the way of the Lord.
That is what we are looking to the Lord, by His grace, to make each and every one of us here: to be that way that God can use to bring back our dear Lord.
Now, this morning, we would like to look into another vision that we find in Revelation 14.
As you know, the whole book of Revelation can be roughly divided into two parts. From chapter 1 to chapter 10 is one, and from chapter 11 to chapter 22 is another.
In the first part, we have the prophecy of how it is that the Lord is coming, and it is governed by Revelation 4:2:
Immediately I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and One sitting upon the throne.
In other words, the first part of Revelation is governed by the throne. Everything proceeds from the throne of God. It represents His power—how by His own power He is to bring to pass all these events for the coming of the Lord.
Then, in Revelation 11:19:
And the temple of God that is in heaven was opened; and there was seen in His temple the ark of His covenant; and there followed lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.
In other words, when you come to the second part, it is governed by the temple, by the ark. By that it means more than the power of God; it means the glory of God. God Himself is working out His purpose for His glory.
The reason why we believe there are these two parts is because, in Revelation 10:11, it was said to John:
Thou must prophesy again over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.
In other words, in the first ten chapters, we already have prophecies concerning peoples, nations, tongues, and many kings. There we find a chronological order. We have the seven seals, seven trumpets, and one succeeds another.
But then, from chapter 11 forward, it seems as if it does not follow chronological order. God is taking out something that is deep in His heart, that He is going to do, and emphasizing these special events.
So, when you are reading Revelation 14, it is very hard, as it were, to pinpoint the time, even though we do have some hints about it. To me, I feel Revelation 14 stands out by itself. It shows us God’s ideas, God’s principles, what is in the mind of God, and what He is going to fulfil.
Now the vision says, “And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing upon Mount Zion.”
As we have repeatedly mentioned, in the book of Revelation, it is the Lamb who is in the foreground. Our Lord Jesus, He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
Even though He was not slain and crucified until He was on earth and had lived for thirty-three and a half years, yet in eternity past, in the thought of God, God had already made Him that Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
In God’s eyes, only the Lamb. As you read the book of Revelation, even when you go back to chapter 1, on the Lord’s Day John was in the Spirit. He heard a voice behind him, looked back, and saw seven golden lampstands. But this is only the background.
The foreground is the Lamb, the One who is like unto a son of man, standing among the seven churches. So it is wrong for us—some of us—to consider the church more important even than the Lord Himself.
We find that the church, however loved by God, is only the background. The foreground is always the Lamb, the Christ. God wants us to centre our attention upon Him.
So here in Revelation 14, it is the Lamb standing upon Mount Zion. In Revelation 5, we are told that the Lamb, newly slain, is standing before the throne. There He received from the One who sits on the throne the scroll, the scroll which is the title deed of the earth.
Even though Satan seems to be temporarily, seemingly, the prince of this world, yet we know God has never given up His property. The title deed is still in His hand.
You remember in Revelation 5 how the proclamation goes to the whole universe: who is able to open the scroll? That is to say, who is able to bring the earth back to God? It is the Lamb, newly slain, standing because He is resurrected. He is worthy to receive the scroll, and there you find He begins to open the seals.
But here you find it is the Lamb standing upon Mount Zion. Zion, as we know, is where the King rules. Here our Lord Jesus has accomplished everything that God has entrusted to Him. He has fulfilled all the purposes of God.
He is now standing upon Mount Zion. He is the victorious One. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the possessor of the universe.
But thank God, we find He is not there alone. We find that standing with Him are a hundred and forty-four thousand.
Maybe you are familiar with the number 144,000 because that number has been used in the book of Revelation before. But you can see the difference, because when you turn to Revelation 7, you find 144,000 of the Jewish nation who will be sealed.
Among each tribe, some will be sealed. That is to say, God claims them, God protects them, God keeps them. These 144,000 will be those of the Jewish nation who will be kept through the great tribulation—that is Jacob’s trouble.
One day Jacob’s trouble will come. It is simultaneous with the great tribulation of three and a half years. So far as the Jews are concerned, it is Jacob’s trouble. So far as the church is concerned, it is the great tribulation.
But during the great tribulation, during Jacob’s trouble, 144,000 of the faithful will be kept by the Lord through it. Yet here you find again 144,000, but this is a different 144,000.
You find they have upon their forehead the name of the Lamb and of the Father. Now, brothers and sisters, 144,000 is a full number. It does not mean that there are only 144,000 and no more. It is the multiple of twelve, so it tells us a full number.
In other words, God will have His full number of overcomers through the ages.
You know, it is very funny, because to Jehovah’s Witnesses, they tell us that 144,000 has already been fulfilled, and if you join Jehovah’s Witnesses today, you are a second-class citizen. But we know this is not an exact number; it simply means a full number. God will have His overcomers throughout the centuries.
These 144,000 have His name and the name of His Father written upon their foreheads. To me, I feel it may mean two things.
One is that it proves they belong to the Father and to the Lamb. Another meaning is that it is on their forehead: they are not afraid to confess the name of the Lord.
You remember our Lord Jesus said, “If you confess Me, one day I will confess you.”
So these 144,000, that full number of the overcomers, are those who are wholly the Lord’s, and they are those who publicly confess the Lord. They are not so-called hidden Christians. They are open to witness, to testify, to the name of the Lord.
So, to me, I feel probably this vision of the 144,000 is a vision, a picture, of the overcomers through the ages. What will happen to them? You find they are standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion.
In other words, they are with the Overcomer. They are considered as having overcome Satan, the world, sin, and their own self.
Then, “I heard a voice out of heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as a voice of great thunder: and the voice that I heard was as of harpists harping with their harps.”
Now, brothers and sisters, we read in Psalm 29 that the voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The voice of the Lord is like mighty waters. But here you find the same quality, as it were, of that voice: a great voice of many waters and as a voice of thunders. What a testimony that must be.
They are harpists, harping with their harps, and sing a new song before the throne. We all know that harp music is heart music. It is music that comes from the very depths of the heart. The singing here is singing with the heart.
I always feel there are two different kinds of singing. One kind of singing is singing without a heart, and the other kind of singing is singing with the heart.
In other words, singing is not just music. Singing is something that comes from the very depths of the heart. It represents what is in the heart, and it is just like harp singing. It is beautiful. It is not just noise, but there are depths in it.
You find these 144,000, when they sing, are harpists. They sing out of the very depths of their heart. The Bible tells us no one can learn this song. Only these can sing this song.
Of course, when we think of singing songs, we can learn whatever song it may be, and we can sing it even without our heart. But this singing is different. You have to learn it in your life. Nobody can imitate it. Only those who have gone through can sing it.
You remember David. He is called the sweet singer of Israel. His songs came from his heart. His songs came from his life experience. He had gone through so much—persecution, misunderstanding, everything.
Out of his life experience sprang forth these wonderful songs that we read in the book of Psalms. This is harp singing. So these brothers and sisters, the overcomers of the ages, learn the song through their living.
Thank God, brothers and sisters, sometimes we murmur and say, “Lord, before we believed in the Lord Jesus, we found life on earth was difficult—many problems. And now we have believed in the Lord Jesus, so unconsciously we expect that from now on our life will be smooth and prosperous.”
But after you really believe in the Lord Jesus and begin to live as Christians, you discover that this is not true. Probably you will even be surprised that your life becomes more difficult than it was before. Even the difficulties are different.
Now why is it so? Oftentimes we begin to murmur and wonder, “If the Lord loves us, if He loves us, why does He allow all these things to happen to us?”
But thank God, in the book of Hebrews we are told that because He is our Father, and He loves His sons, He will discipline His sons so that we may grow up to be partakers of His divine nature.
So here you find these Christians: they learn through experience.
Brothers and sisters, I am afraid it is a great temptation to those Christians who are intellectually knowledgeable. Because of that, we think we know everything, and we think that we have everything. But that is not true.
Even if we may know everything in our mind, it does not mean that we have really experienced this in our lives.
So I feel in myself, as well as when I travel and meet brothers and sisters, sometimes you find those who may not be as intelligent, and yet somehow you feel they really know the Lord. But other times, when you meet believers, they seem to know everything, and yet there is very little in their real life.
So I encourage myself and my brothers and sisters: seek to know the Lord by life rather than by mind.
Now, who are these people? The Bible tells us, “These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins.”
I believe this is not to be applied literally. I believe this is to be applied spiritually, because we remember how, in 2 Corinthians 11, the apostle Paul said, “I have espoused you as a chaste virgin.”
The Bible never calls people in the world virgins because, in the sight of God, they are adulterers and adulteresses. Only those who are cleansed by the precious blood of the Lamb are virgins in the sight of God.
So, brothers and sisters, we are virgins. We have been cleansed by the blood. Not only virgins, but we are espoused to Christ.
A chaste virgin, even before her marriage, has her life given to her future husband. Whatever she does, whatever she puts on, she will ask the question, “Will it please my future husband?” Her heart is already there.
These are chaste virgins. But, of course, when you read Corinthians, you find these Corinthian believers were virgins, and yet they were not chaste virgins, because they had been enticed by the world.
Again, you find who these people are: “These are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.”
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, He not only sought and saved the lost, but He called those who believed in Him to come and follow Him. Wherever He goes, they go.
When our Lord was on earth, in the very beginning of His ministry, many followed Him. But you remember in John 6, when our Lord Jesus began to make it clear that they followed Him not for Him, but for the food, the bread that He provided for them.
When our Lord Jesus said, “I am the One whom you should eat and drink. My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed,” they could not understand that it is by faith. Then many of His disciples left Him.
So the Lord turned to His disciples and said, “Do you also want to go?” You are free to do whatever you want to do. But thank God for Simon Peter. He said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. We have believed.”
So, brothers and sisters, these are God’s disciples who follow the Lord whithersoever He goes. In other words, you do not choose your way. The Lord is your way. He chooses the way.
It is not for us to question His way, but it is for us to follow. If He goes straight to the cross, then to the cross we go. Brothers and sisters, these are the overcomers of the ages.
Then He says, “These have been purchased from among men as first fruits unto God and unto the Lamb.” So this is the description: the first fruits.
When you are planting a field, usually there will be the first fruits and the harvest. If there are no first fruits, then there will be no harvest.
What are the first fruits? First fruits are those plants that have received more sunlight, and because of this, they ripen earlier. But whenever you have the first fruits, you are assured that there will be the harvest.
So among God’s people, you also have the difference between the first fruits and the harvest. These overcomers represent the first fruits of the great redemption of our Lord Jesus.
“And in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.” In other words, the word of their testimony.
We are entrusted with the testimony of Jesus. But when we speak out, when we testify, will there be truth behind it? If we are testifying the testimony of Jesus, is the testimony of Jesus a reality in our life?
We testify that He is the Lord. Is He the Lord of our life? We testify that He is the first and the last. Is He the first in our life, or is someone else, something else, first in our life? He is the last—is He the goal of our life? Is He everything to us?
Our testimony has to be true, and then there will be power behind it.
You know, it is very funny when you read the book of Acts, I think it is chapter 19. You find how the seven sons of Sceva, the Jewish high priest, were exorcists. They were trying to cast out demons in people’s lives.
When they saw what Paul had done, how he was successful in casting out demons in the name of the Lord Jesus, they tried to use the same formula. You remember that funny story, how the sons tried to cast out demons in the name of Jesus whom Paul preached.
The demon said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” He jumped upon these men, and they fled away naked and wounded.
In other words, it is a lie. So there is no power, no strength.
Brothers and sisters, to be an overcomer, you have to have the life of an overcomer. Then you can have the testimony of an overcomer. You are able to speak out, and behind that speaking out there is a fact, a ground, that truly what you say is what you are.
They are blameless, not because they are perfect. They are blameless because they know the preciousness of the blood of the Lord Jesus.
Dear brothers and sisters, we will never come to a point when we are beyond the need of the blood. The more you live closer to God, the more you treasure the precious blood of the Lamb.
So these are the overcomers of the ages. I believe it is a picture that the Lord is trying to encourage us with. That is what the Lord is looking for. He will receive them. He will have them.
Then you find, after the first fruits, in the same chapter, you have the harvest. So when you come to Revelation 14:14:
And I saw, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud I saw One sitting like unto a son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.
And another angel came out from the temple, crying with a great voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Send forth Thy sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is over-ripe.
And He that sat on the cloud cast His sickle upon the earth; and the earth was reaped.
This is the harvest. Here you still see the order: first the first fruits, and then the harvest.
The harvest refers to all those believers who have died before the coming of the Lord, and also those who still remain upon the earth through the great tribulation. They will all be raptured up into the air to meet the Lord in the air.
As we have said before, there will be the judgment seat of Christ, a family judgment.
Then immediately following that, in Revelation 14:17:
And another angel came out from the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
And another angel came out from the altar, he that hath power over fire; and he called with a great voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
And the angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the winepress, the great winepress, of the wrath of God.
And the winepress was trodden without the city, and there came out blood from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
That is Armageddon. So, brothers and sisters, God has revealed to us what is going to happen, and He has also shown us who will be the link that will really bring in the King, to prepare us for the day that is coming.
So thank God, we are living in difficulties, but on the other hand, we are living in a most exciting time. Because, if the Lord wills, we who are here this morning have the chance of being raptured alive.
That should be our blessed hope. So may the Lord help us. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, our hearts do cry out, “How long? How long?” Thy people have been waiting, as it were, for Thee for centuries. Yet, Lord, it is not because of Thee; it is because of us.
We look to Thy mercy and grace. We confess that in ourselves there is no strength, but Thy grace is manifested in our weakness.
O Lord, we want to look to Thee to strengthen us, to enable us to be used of Thee, to be that link that will really prepare the way.
Lord, we do not want to expect without being prepared. So prepare, O Lord, that each and every one of us will offer ourselves to Thee and allow Thee to work out Thy purpose in bringing back the King.
Hear us, O Lord. We ask in Thy name. Amen.