Heaven will have more joy for us. then God has told us. God has restrained himself. From saying, boy, you can't wait to see the size of cherries when you get to heaven. They're going to be like watermelons, no seeds in them.
I'm making that up, there's no biblical basis for that. That is hope. Anyway. Heaven is going to be better than anything. We could ever imagine.
And so, God is almost, you know, it'd be a crime to try to tell you what's coming because you have no way of knowing. Um This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Ricky is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the last book of the Bible, Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Revelation chapter 14 with this edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Who are these guys? That's what we're gonna consider. The ballad of the redeemed. You could have said the ballad of the saved, but the redeemed is more poetic.
Don't you agree? Anyway thank you. Anyway, it it is just that, and it comes out of chapter five and verse nine. This is the song. that these 144,000 are learning.
And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your own blood, out of every tribe and tongue, and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. That's the song. That they're getting. But all this ties in. None of this is random.
Uh the Revelation speaks to people, of course, far beyond John's day. We've figured that out. But imagine how it must have been when he published this How many questions did he have to deal with? John, who's this guy with the seven heads? I mean, it just must have been a lot.
He likely didn't live very long after he published the Revelation. And I should add this important thing. You are saved by grace. not of your own works. No one can earn their salvation.
No one will have an eye owe you on God. It is the gift of God. And if you've not gotten that far, To where you have received his salvation, because salvation cannot be earned by us. We can receive it. Then The benefit of having the Holy Spirit excite you about the things of God is not going to be available.
So we come by faith. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them. But it is for the spiritual, and we can be every bit of spiritual, otherwise it would not have been offered to us.
So If you have not come to that realization that it is by grace that you are saved, Do you have some work to do? Having witnessed, back to this now, this in Revelation fourteen. John witnessed the evil coming out of the sea and emerging from emerging from the earth. In chapter thirteen, and all under the power of the dragon, which is Satan.
Now, God is showing John the victorious Lamb of God. This 14th chapter happens at the end of the Great Tribulation period when Christ comes back. That's why they're standing on Mount Zion with him. Chronologically, this vision anticipates. The victory of God, the triumph.
when he will set up his government among men here on earth, which has not yet happened.
Now, it's also important to remember These 144,000 Jewish men that are witnessing on the earth are in contrast. to the millions, if not billions, that will survive the great tribulation. When Christ comes back, it's not an empty planet. It's not a planet of people saved only. In fact, most of them are not.
for various reasons. And this is what Matthew twenty five tells us, that when he comes back he will separate the sheep from the goat. There will be a judgment on earth.
Well, these 145 servants of God transition. They don't get raptured, they don't die, they transition. Into the millennial kingdom. And this is what we're getting. God is circling back.
He said, remember the 144,000 I talked to you about in chapter 7?
Well, now I'm talking to you about them in what we know as chapter 14.
So it flashes forward to events. At the beginning of the millennial kingdom of Christ, at the end. of the world's worst tribulation it has ever known.
So now we look at verse 1. Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him one hundred and forty four thousand, having his father's name written on their foreheads.
Well, I will be saying one hundred and forty four thousand quite a few times in this these short five verses that we're going to look over. Continuing the parentheses.
So if you're a student of the book of Revelation, and you come to it there's parts where Christ is talking or showing John about the Church. Then there's parts about the wrath on earth. Then there's a pause called a parentheses, and then he gets back to well, this is what's happening with the believers and the righteous, and then he goes back to this is the wrath. And then he stops again with three of those. At least.
So here we're still in a parentheses that started in chapter ten. And it will continue.
Well, next chapter, we get back to. The wrath of God. On Christ hating mankind. Where he pours out The seven bowls of the seventh trumpet. That comes in chapter fifteen.
But now, concerning the righteous. And What John sees is the return of Christ. And what happens to these servants that are alive when he returns? The Lamb, of course, is Christ. We're taught that in chapter 5.
The meanings to the symbols, they're not random. But they're not natural either. You have to learn them. They're in the book.
So the Lamb is Christ. And he is accompanied by These 144 And this event takes place after Armageddon. Armageddon takes place when Christ returns. And then it's gonna be a period of clean up and judgments. and getting things in order.
And that is also in the prophets.
So John knows who this is. This is the Lamb standing on Mount Zion. The Lamb is now depicted as the conqueror because he is. Mount Zion Is Jerusalem? It is not.
Zion in heaven, even though Paul in a different context takes it that way briefly. It is Mount Zion as Isaiah taught. For any of you that. want to button up the meanings of places. along with the verses That uh teach us what we know and what we believe.
Anyway, this is where Christ will come. to Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives, which is in Jerusalem, right across from the Temple Mount. And that from there he will rule the world. We're talking about his second coming in this 14th.
The first paragraph of the 14th chapter, which we are in this morning.
Now, Jerusalem was captured by King David from the Jebusites. And he made it. the capital of his kingdom. Psalm one thirty two. Because you know, the scripture has a special place As places go, For Jerusalem.
For Yahweh has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his dwelling place.
Well, again, maybe you're not a Bible student and you don't understand the value of connecting the verses to the comments. I'm not giving you my opinion when I give you the verse and say, well, this is where this teaching comes from. You have to make disciples, students. That's what we're commanded to do. Teaching them to observe all things he's commanded, not just to admire, but to act on.
That's what Bible teaching is supposed to do: bring results. It's not a philosophy class. Not a psychology class, so you just make up answers and st get away with it.
So, if you say, well, you know, where did you get that from?
Well, there it is. That's one place of many.
Now John is living in the days of the Roman Empire. He sees the victory, what we know over 2,000 years so far. He doesn't know that. He just knows what he's been shown. And the idea is that when the Great Tribulation is done and the dust settles on earth, These 144 witnesses, as promised, will be standing.
They will have survived. they will not have been martyred to death as the people they preach to. That's what they had to live with. I'm going to share Christ with you. And if you accept him, you're going to get killed for it, but I'm not.
That's what they lived with, and that's why that will come out as we move forward. In the saw in the Chapter The the human element of what is going on here. And with him, one hundred and forty four thousand. Again, the same ones from chapter seven ethnic Jews who become Christians, And They do not marry. And that's important as we get to the end of that.
They survive, having his father's name written on their foreheads.
Well, the name of God. Name is nature in in Scripture. When it doesn't match, there's usually a problem. If you have a righteous name, but you have an unrighteous life. there is a discrepancy there.
Uh on it the onus is on the one guilty. But this is Christ's likeness, is what is being said. Jesus said in answer to the question, the question was. Show us the Father. And we'll be satisfied.
And Jesus said. Philip, have you not known me? He who has seen me has seen the Father.
Well, the likeness of the Father rests on Christ. He is the Son, the only begotten of the Father. That's where he came from. The resemblance is exact. The mark and the likeness of the Father on the hundred and forty four thousand It's invisible to man, not to God.
And this is in contrast to those who receive the mark and worship the beast. Again, back to Matthew 25. These are the survivors of the Great Tribulation period. Many of them enter into the millennial kingdom of Christ. They got the mark.
Yet they're allowed to live. because they didn't worship the beast also.
Well, there will be those. Who during when when Christ returned also got the mark. And didn't worship the beast, but they're going to be judged. The difference is, they put skin in the game, the ones that were saved. They looked out for the believers.
That's what Matthew 25 is telling us. They visited them in prison. They gave them clothing when they needed it because the Christians are going to be Persecuted to death during this period that is going to come to the earth. It's not here yet. But it can happen at any time.
There is no prophetic moment remaining. That delays the removal of the true church. which leaves the apostate church behind, and the beginning of this seven year period on earth. 2 Timothy 2, speaking of God knowing who is his. We already have the mark on us by faith, nevertheless.
The solid foundation of God stands. having this seal. The Lord knows those who are His. And let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Well, action is expected. It's not enough to just say, I'm saved, I confessed my faith. Yeah, then now what? Not enough to march, you got to learn how to. Yeah.
And whoever Refuses the mark. This contrast between those who are marked by Christ versus those who are marked by Antichrist and receive and worship Him freely, there's the contrast. I wouldn't confuse you on that. I'll say it again. The mark on the righteous.
Makes a distinction. between those who have the mark of the beast, and worship him also. There that's the way it's going to be.
Well, coming back to the CHAPTER now VERSE two And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound. Of harpists playing their harps.
Well, we gotta clean some of that up because there's a lot of misconceptions about that. Anyway, he hears this raw. But it's a choir. It's not out of control. It's not frightening.
In fact, it's he's assured by the presence of the harps. It's sort of like Niagara Falls put to music, I suppose. But we're dealing with symbolisms. And it's vital that we understand the symbol makes a point. It is not the point.
It makes the point. Maybe now is a good time to illustrate that. When God gave a vision to Paul, Now a vision the difference between a vision and a dream is in a dream you're sleeping and in a vision you're awake. And Paul gets this vision of a Macedonian man. Inviting him to come help them in Macedonia.
But Paul is in Asia Minor at the time.
Well, Paul understands what the meaning is. He's got to go to Macedonia and preach the gospel.
So he crosses the sea. He arrives in Philippi, which is in Macedonia, And there's no synagogue there to for him to begin. sharing the gospel. But he he hears, to have a synagogue, you have to have ten Jewish men. But they didn't have that.
But the women they met down by the river. And Paul found that out, and he and his entourage met them there when they went to worship. And there's Lydia. From Thyatira.
Well, wait a minute. The vision was a man from Macedonia. Here's a woman from Thyatira. See, the point is what God was after, not all the insignificant details. And that is true.
With emblems and symbols in the Revelation. What is the point God is making?
So let's put that into our time. Suppose I have a dream by God, a vision. By God. That there's someone in a red shirt drowning in two days, and you need to be at this place and throw them a lifeline, life ring. And I go there.
and the guy's in a blue shirt drowning. Yeah. Tough luck, buddy. You're supposed to be in red. This is a you.
If I missed the point, then I get literal like that and stupid. But if I understand And God treats us as though we've got brains. If we understand what's going on, now we begin to learn, and when we learn, there's less guessing. And when you're guessing, you're not very confident. It's better to be assured by, I know how this goes and I know what to do here.
So coming back now to our Second verse And all the imagery that's circling and swarming around this, The voice impresses him, the voices that he hears, of course, they impress him, and it turns out to be a heavenly chorus. We'll get that in the next verse. The redeemed, the one hundred and forty four thousand, They're gonna learn the ballad. They're gonna learn the lyrics. That I read from chapter five at the very beginning.
Though the rest of the survivors from the Great Tribulation period, they're not going to learn it. They're not part of the redeemed.
So he says, I heard the sound, verse 2, of a harpist playing their harps. This is a victory celebration. You have music and song together. Heaven Heaven will have more joy for us Then God has told us. God has restrained himself.
From saying, boy, you can't wait to see the size of cherries when you get to heaven. They're going to be like watermelons, no seeds in them. I'm making that up, there's no biblical basis for that. That is hope. Anyway.
Heaven is going to be better than anything. We could ever imagine. And so, God is almost, you know, it would be a crime to try to tell you what's coming because you have no way of knowing. It would be like God saying, I'm going to tell you about a new color that you've never seen before. How would you do that?
Yeah, he could impart it, but he's opted not to. not only peace and health and safety, Love But deep an encompassing joy As never before. That's what's coming.
Now ridiculers They have tried to picture heaven as a place. of silly creatures endlessly sitting on clouds, strumming on harps. Everybody knows a cloud can't support someone sitting there with a harp. That's not what's going to happen. Oh, don't forget the halos.
The harps speak of joy in the Scripture. this sort of a gentler approach than trumpets and drums, which are also in Scripture but the harps they speak of joy. And we know that for one place, there are others, but this one is in the Psalms, in Psalm 137, it talks about the Jews being taken out of their promised land as captives, slaves. and being taken to Babylon. And the Babylonian troops, they understood that the these Jews they had some really nice music and they wanted them to play.
And so in Psalm 137, the psalmist writes about that moment. And just taking one of the verses, We hung our harps upon the willows and in the midst of it. And he goes on to say, Our hearts were broken, we had no song to sing.
So this is one way we know that the harp when mentioned as a symbol in Scripture, Uh it is Speaking of joy.
So the idea, the point. is joy in heaven. because the great tribulation is over. Satan is locked away. There are things to sing about now unlike ever before.
If we think we are rejoicing now from time to time amongst the righteous in heaven, there'll be no end to our joy. It won't be like you find something in so good you're afraid somebody's going to come and take it from you. those feelings will be gone.
So the harps and the hymns, they're also found in chapter 5 and chapter 15, always speaking of joy. At the great victory of Christ, his cross. His resurrection His return was and the future that he's laid out for us. He said this to his disciples before he was crucified. You now have sorrow.
But I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice. And your joy no one will take from you. Sign me up. He'd be a fool to say, cross me off that list. I kind of enjoy misery and aging and pain and all these things.
The 144,000 here that started out in chapter 1 have gone through hell on earth, and God knows it. That was their assignment. And now they're past that experience. Again, no more war. It's over for them, spiritual war and otherwise.
All the catastrophes that we're reading about in the Revelation that will resume in chapter 3. 15. They're going to witness. Countless multitudes, tens of thousands, dying in earthquakes and in wars and other. And the tsunami's other natural disasters.
Now they're rejoicing. The times of sorrow are replaced by Times of happiness. With no lingering traumatic stress. The horrors that they experience on earth. They'll have no flashbacks of those things.
That wouldn't be the joy that Christ promises. no lingering traumatic stress. For anybody. You won't get to heaven and say, Boy, you know, I sure miss this little cafe out you'll nothing that would be ridiculous. You'd be in the wrong place if you had that feeling.
Verse fourteen. And by that time there are no mulligans. After death there's no do overs. It's final. I don't know if you've ever played mulligan is a golf term, and if you've ever played with somebody who wants a mulligan, it's like, come on, it's not the PGA.
What are you doing? I'm going to hit it again. I don't care if you don't like it. Verse 3. They sang, as it were, a new song.
There's our Connection to chapter five before the throne. Before the four living creatures and the elders, And no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth.
Now, if you're not careful, you'll say, well, wait a minute, I'll be in heaven at this time. Won't I learn the song? No, God doesn't like you. Shut up. That that would be crazy.
That's not the case. We're the ones they're learning the song from. This if you keep if you read verses one two and three Carefully, that's where you're going to land. If you rush over it, You'll miss it.
so in that day they will learn the song in that day. At the end of the Great Tribulation period, it will be the ballad of the redeemed. It will be the song with feeling. and joy and poetry of what Christ has done and how we benefited from it. And so the distinct characters in this paragraph.
CHAPTER fourteen Of course, the 144 standing on Mount Zion with Christ at the end of Armageddon when Christ is back. They transition into the Tribulation period, and they stay with him. I'll come back to that, 'cause the scripture will in a minute. Then there are the voices At the throne of God. The redeemed in heaven.
And the representatives of the Old Testament and New Testament believers are there. And so are these extraordinary creatures that we've never seen, angelic creatures. They are there. And it is the throne room of God. But God is sort of grooving on the tune.
And that's how it's presented. But the rest of the people on earth, they're not part of this. Things will go differently for them.
Some, not so bad, but many, very bad.
So since This song is about redemption. It is about the victory of Christ, which is shared. with those who want to follow him. And only those already in heaven and the redeemed are allowed to learn this song at this point before the four living creatures and the elders Well, we've identified these in chapter 4. The elders are Old Testament, New Testament believers, representation of them.
Because John represents the New Testament believers, And it's only symbolic because he would have said, hey, there's me. I'm one of the 12 apostles that make up the 24, the 12 tribes of Israel and 12 apostles. But that's not the point. The point is. What is it saying?
What is God saying to us? Because this is not for those in heaven already. This is for us who haven't gotten there yet. Uh This has been Cross Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston. This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia.
Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand. Just visit us online at crossreference radio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings. While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube. There's also an interviews tab where you can learn more about Pastor Rick's heart for ministry.
Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Hello. I didn't run up to the bottom of the city.
