Revelation 14:12
A Cryptic Message
I will connect the dots in the sermon, but let’s start off by
noticing the first point in the sermon.
I. A Cryptic Message
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints:
here are they that keep the commandments of God,
and the faith of Jesus.
A. It has been awhile since I spoke of God’s cryptic messages.
B. All of the Bible is God’s message and all of Revelation is
God’s cryptic book, but there is a cryptic message inside
the cryptic book. for those living in the time period of
their fulfillment, to encourage and help them.
1. In the letters to the seven churches, God’s clue words to
identify the cryptic message was, "Let him that an ear,
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches…"
\\#Rev 2L7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 11, 13, 22\\
2. There are a couple of variations of that directed to the
saints living under the anti-Christ \\#Rev 13:9, 18\\.
3. But the primary identifier for cryptic messages to those
living under the anti-Christ is the word, "here."
\\#Rev 13:10,18, 14:12, 17:9\\
C. In this verse, God is telling the people what they will have
to do.
1. They will have to patience.
2. They will have to keep believing.
3. And they will have to keep obeying.
D. There is not much else to tell them for their options are
going to be very, very limited. Either they are patient,
continue to believe and obey, or they walk away from the
faith.
E. Let’s remind ourselves what is happening.
1. By chapter 14. I believe we are into the last half of the
tribulation. It is the time that Jesus referred to as the
Great Tribulation \\#Matt 24:21\\ and that Jeremiah
referred to as "the time of Jacob’s trouble"
\\#Jer 30:7\\.
2. The anti-Christ, I believe…
a. …has been filled either with the devil or one of his
high demons.
b. …has control of the world political system.
c. and has instituted a one-world economy and created a
tagging system so that people cannot buy or sell or
work without having his mark, his name, or the number
of his name somehow placed on their right hand or
forehead \\#Rev 13:16-18\\.
3. The false or unholy trinity is set and has deceived the
world into worshiping the beast (anti-Christ), thinking
he is god. Those who do not are the enemies of the state
and are being hunted for death \\#Rev 13:1-15\\.
4. Although the book of Revelation does not reveal it to us,
by this time the anti-Christ has already been rejected by
the Jews, and they have turned to Jesus as their Messiah
and King, making both the Jews and the Christians the
anti-Christ’s greatest enemies.
5. Now, the blood will flow.
a. The anti-Christ may have put up some front, some
facade, some veneer for the first 3 1/2 years, but he
has the False Prophet and the living image to help
and so the gloves come off.
b. Chapter 14 pictures people being slaughtered as crops
being harvested in the field.
F. This chapter, I believe, divides itself in two ways.
1. By time….
a. \\#Rev 14:1-5\\ Describes the then present time.
b. \\#Rev 14:6-20\\ Are prophetic, describing what will
happen from that moment until the end of the
tribulation.
2. By events….
a. \\#Rev 14:1-5, 13-20\\ Describe three major harvests.
By harvest, I mean three major slaughters or
killings.
(1) \\#1-5\\ The first harvest - 144,000
(2) \\#13-16\\ The second harvest - Righteous
(3) \\#17-20\\ The third harvest - Wicked
b. \\#Rev 14:6-12\\ Describe three angelic messages.
(1) \\#6-7\\ The first message - God is saving souls.
(2) \\#8\\ The second message - God is dismantling
Satan’s system
(3) \\#9-12\\ The third message - God will damn the
wicked
G. This morning, I want to consider the first major harvests or
the slaughter which will take place soon after the middle of
the tribulation. Hold on. Things are going to get very bloody.
II. \\#Rev 14:1-5\\ The First Harvest (Slaughter) Is of the Witnesses
Rev 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on
the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and
four thousand, having his Father’s name written
in their foreheads.
A. \\#Rev 7:1-8\\ described the calling of the 144,000 Jews.
1. We call them witnesses not because the text tells us so
but because \\#Rev 7:9-17\\ describe a great host of
souls standing before God which we supposed to be the
results of their ministry.
2. If so, their ministry 0f the 144,000 will be responsible
for winning an uncountable host to Jesus!
B. Some believe, I think falsely so, that the 144,000 will be
indestructible.
1. I do not see that from the Bible.
2. In fact, from chapter 14, I would say that they are killed
by the time we to this point in the last half of the
Tribulation, for this is their welcome home.
C. Notice some facts about the 144,000.
1. \\#14:1\\ They are on the spiritual Mount Zion.
a. They are all there—all 144,000.
b. Where is there?
(1) On "Mount Zion."
(2) On the earth, Zion is one of the hills that the
city of Jerusalem is built, but these are not on
the earth.
(3) Notice that the Lamb is standing with them.
(a) By now, I hope that you are in agreement
that the Lamb is Jesus.
(b) Jesus will not be on the earth but in
heaven.
(c) So this Mount Zion is not on the earth but
in heaven.
(4) I believe it will surprise us all when we get to
heaven and see how many beings, places, and
things that are on earth which have parallels in
heaven.
(5) Whether they will all be things first created for
heaven and adapted for the earth or not, I do
not know; but I am sure that is the case with
many of them.
2. \\#1\\ Notice they have the name of the Father written on
their foreheads.
a. This was done to seal them in \\#Rev 7:3\\. An angel
holds back the winds of the earth…
Rev 7:3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the
sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the
servants of our God in their foreheads.
b. Remember what God creates, Satan counterfeits.
c. \\#Rev 13:16\\ The False Prophet had a mark placed on
the right hand of the FOREHEAD of those who
worshipped the beast.
(1) Where did he get that idea?
(2) From God.
d. Regardless of whether we are speaking of the sealing
of God’s servants or of Satan’s, the mark means the
same thing.
(1) It is the mark of ownership.
(a) God marked the 144,000 to tell the devil
that they were His, and the devil marks the
world’s host for the same reason.
(b) Concerning the Mark of the Beast, God
acknowledges the devil’s ownership of any
who take it and God has sent an angel to
warn the world of that.
Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them,
saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the
beast and his image, and receive his mark in his
forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath
of God, which is poured out without mixture into
the cup of his indignation; and he shall be
tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels, and in the presence of the
Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up
for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor
night, who worship the beast and his image, and
whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
(2) People on our earth are claiming to be disgusted
with the thought of slavery and people being
treated as property.
(a) I say claiming because if they really were,
they would be doing something to stop the
existing slavery instead of complaining
about a slavery that ended 150 years ago.
(b) It is estimated that 10s of millions are
living in some form of slavery today.
i. 50% are involved in slave labor.
ii. 12.5% in sex slavery - Apparently
this is a known and protected
industry among the rich and powerful
elites of Hollywood and Washington.
iii. 37.5% in forced marriages
iv. 25% are children
https://www.freetheslaves.net/our-model-for-freedom/slavery-today/?
gclid=CjwKCAjwmrn5BRB2EiwAZgL9ovdMizHdWfX2O31y8O7u7w0x5BXegHpsjSQBDp
-2tMALci1q8Xy8vBoCO2kQAvD_BwE
(c) Yet, these same people might be the ones who
will line up and beg to be the slaves of
the devil.
3. \\#14:2\\ God will give them a welcome home speech. We do
not what He will say, but no one says it like Him.
Rev 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the
voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great
thunder….
4. \\#14:2-3\\ They are singing their own song, a song that
only they could sing.
Rev 14:2 …and I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps:
3 And they sung as it were a new song before
the throne, and before the four beasts, and the
elders: and no man could learn that song but the
hundred and forty and four thousand, which were
redeemed from the earth.
a. \\#Rev 5:9\\ We, the redeemed, will have a song that
is for us to sing.
b. These 144,000 will be united by a….
(1) common salvation
(2) common time period
(3) common calling
(4) common service
(5) common death
(6) and so they will have common song.
5. \\#14:5\\ They did not defile themselves but remain as
virgins.
Rev 14:5 And in their mouth was found no guile:
for they are without fault before the throne of
God.
a. I do not know that means sexually but rather that they
will not compromise or quit on Jesus!
b. They will pay the price of their lives!
6. \\#14:4\\ They are the first fruits of the harvest.
Rev 14:4 …These were redeemed from among men,
being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
a. Every field has three harvests, including Israel.
(1) The first fruit - These 144,000 are the first.
(2) The main harvest - We will read of this harvest
later in this chapter.
(3) The remnant harvest - I am not sure when Israel’s
remnant harvest will take place, perhaps after
the millennium when the devil is loosed for a
season.
b. The 144,000 is Israel’s first harvest.
III. \\#Rev 14:6-7\\ The First Message - God is saving souls.
Rev 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the
midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel
to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue,
and people,
7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and
give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment
is come: and worship him that made heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
A. It seems to me that the first message goes with the first
harvest.
B. So all of the 144,000 are killed.
1. Does that mean that God is left without a witness?
2. No. Why?
a. God called two men who are actually called witnesses
\\#Rev 11:3\\.
(1) They started near the middle of the Tribulation
and will continue to near the end of the
Tribulation.
(2) Those two are called witnesses and they will be
invincible until their ministry is completed.
(3) These two will be powerful witnesses for God.
b. The people getting saved will be witnessing for God.
(1) When caught, it will cost them their lives, but
God’s people will still be faithful to tell
others about God’s love for them.
(2) Why would people give their lives to witness to
those who would kill them? Because it means
that much to God.
(3) There is a lesson I have yet to learn: Life is
not given to us for longevity but for God’s
service, not to see how long we can make our
candle burn but how brightly.
In all of this, what can the saints do? Verse 12 again. They must
be patient, keep the faith, and obey God. It will cost most of them
their lives, but it will be worth.
<Outline
Index> <Close Window>
