Following the Lamb Wherever He Goes!

Ezekiel promises that in the last days the Jewish people will be brought back into their homeland in unbelief. In fact, if you go to Israel today, many Jews there today will tell you that they don't believe in God. How is that? Their argument is "Where was God during the Holocaust? So their argument isn't that they don't believe in God, they just don't agree with how He is running things. That's a convoluted declaration of faith in God. However the Holocaust was defined in Deuteronomy 28 where God told Israel what would happen if they disobeyed and it happened exactly as prophesied.

The People of the Vision - The Evangelists of God are the 144,000.

Revelation 14:1 ~ "Then I looked, and thee before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads."

Let us look at who the 144,000 are NOT.

If you have heard of the holiness movements or holiness groups, a group of special highly evolved people of God, super saints if you will, who live a life dedicated to God, and if you're lucky they'll let you fellowship with their group or meeting to see if you're worthy enough. This is a legalistic self righteous group of 3-10 people who are not the 144,000 spoken of in the Bible.

They are not the 7th Day Adventists who believe that if Jesus comes back on a Saturday, this will be the group he comes for, because they only worship God on Saturday. If you worship God on any other day of the week, you have received the mark of the beast and you're a devil worshiper. Only those who are found worshiping on Saturday will be selected to be the 144.000.

They are NOT Jehovah's Witnesses. This is a watch tower society that believed that each of them were part of the 144,000 until the numbers grew too large. When that happened, they believed that Jesus has come back already. Next time you see one, ask them what tribe they are from.

Revelation 7 and Revelation 14 tells us exactly who these people are. There will be 12,000 from each of the tribes of Israel listed in Revelation 7. They have not defiled themselves with women, so they are virgins. They are men only. They have been sealed by God. They are Jewish men who speak Hebrew and their hearts are pure for God.

This being sealed, means that God has sealed us as Christians if you're saved and born again.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 ~ "And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."

Every believer of Christ, has been sealed by God. Born again, sealed by the Holy Spirit. Your belief has lead you to faith in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:13-14 ~ "In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory!"

This means the Holy Spirit lives in the believer of Jesus Christ. We are guaranteed a home in heaven! You can't lose your salvation! You can't be a zip-lock baggy Christian. Sealed one day, unsealed the next. You can't be unborn again! Sheep can't turn into goats. You just need to rest in your assurance that if you are truly saved and your faith is in Jesus Christ, rest in your salvation as a sealed believer. Stop second guessing yourself everytime there is an altar call. If you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit working in your life when you're about to do something you know you shouldn't. You're a believer in Christ. Just start paying attention more and become obedient to what He is asking you to do.

The Practice - The Worshiper of God.

Revelation 14:2-5 ~ "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 could 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." 

It is easy to spot an unhealthy Christian.
Worship is not a priority in their life. They haven't sang the Lord a song in a long time. They don't have a balanced spiritual diet.

They were godly men = ones who were not defiled with women.
They were set apart to God = for they are virgins.
They were uniquely born-again Jews = being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
They were holy people = and in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.

These verses deal with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ who will come back to sit on the throne of David on Mount Zion after the Tribulation.

These 144,000 men were holy. To follow the Lamb wherever He goes. What does being holy mean?

They were willing to follow the Lamb wherever He goes. To say with certainty that you have had a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ.

Holiness means: the way you conduct yourself around your neighbors, the way you treat your kids is the way Jesus would treat them; the way you conduct business is the way Jesus would conduct it; that you can hear an internal voice that is not your own, leading you.

We are in the time of the quickening, just before a woman gives birth, there are signs the labor is progressing and that is where we are at today in the world.

There are more frequent earthquakes happening all around the world.
There is a breakdown of lawlessness in the world.
There is growing antisemitism
There is a growing hatred towards the nation of Israel.
Jerusalem is the hot spot on the world.
There is a rise in persecution of Christians around the world
There are beheadings happening.

You can't deny the facts, the time is growing short.

Light Begins to Dawn

As we open our study today into Chapter 14, we need to come to an understanding before reading this so it does not confuse you when you read it. This is going to be a sneak peek into heaven. Our spiritual life should be dominating our life that it impacts our physical world. To walk in the Spirit, we will not satisfy the flesh. To walk in the Spirit is to obey God. Stand up against the darkness of the world.

We are going to learn more about the 144,000 sealed men of God, think of 144,000 Billy Grahams or Paul the Apostles. In fact if you circle Chapter 14 from verses 1-5, this is another parenthetical pauses from God in the action of what we have just been reading. We left off with the Antichrist and the False Prophet in Chapter 13 and the receiving of the mark and now arrive at Chapter 14. It is not the chronological events in the order as they happen from verses 1-5. It is a highlight chapter or an insert to provide some detail from God on the events as they are on pause. These verses will deal the things that follow the Great Tribulation Period in verses 1-5.

We will come across 6 angels as we move forward in Chapter 14.

In verse 6, we come across another angel # 1.
In verse 8, we come across another angel # 2
In verse 9, we come across another angel # 3.
Then we have a break with the mention of Jesus Christ.
In verse 15, we come across another angel # 4.
In verse 17, we come across another angel # 5.
In verse 18, we come across another angel # 6.

There are three types of believers in the world when it comes to Bible Prophecy. You have the Pre-millennialists, A-millennialists or the Post-millennialists.

Pre-millennialists believe that Jesus Christ must return in the Second Coming before the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ can begin because He has never sat on the throne of David which the Bible says He must do.

A-millennialists fall into a lot of what the Catholics believe which is the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ is symbolic and it is not real. Christ will not return to the earth.

Post-millennialists - are of the dominion now theology and that Jesus won't come back until the church prepares the earth for His Coming. He needs to the church to get the world ready.

I'm a firm pre-millennialist because you really have to twist scripture any other way into order to get it to fit the logic of what they believe.

4 Things are apparent in this parenthetical pause in chapter 14. The first is the person of the vision - the Lamb of God.

Revelation 14:1 ~ "Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads."

In this chapter, God reveals how you want to be marked by Him. The 144,000 are marked with the name of God. "the Lamb" is Jesus Christ.

In verses 1-5, deal with John seeing those things that will happen after the Antichrist is defeated, after the false prophet is judged, and when the millennium age is about to begin just after the Tribulation.

Revelation 5:6 ~ "Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it has been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders." 

Revelation 5:8 ~ "And when he had taken it, the four-living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

Revelation 5:12-13 ~ "In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealthy and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!"

Revelation 6:1 ~ "I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!:

Revelation 7:9-10 ~ "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb."

Revelation 7:14 ~ "I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

The Lamb, mentioned in all of these verses and in Chapter 14 is Jesus Christ! The person is Jesus!

The second thing we need to consider is the place of the vision. The Mountain of God in verse 1. Where is Mount Zion? If you said Heaven, you are correct. If you said, on earth. You are also correct, because one day the two will be in the same place as heaven and earth come together. Remember again this is a future vision or parenthetical pause.

A Lamb is Standing on Mount Zion.

Jesus is standing. There are only two times that Jesus stands in the Bible and we will look at that.....


...tomorrow!!!

The Lion and The Lamb, Seven Eyes and Seven Horns?

You will never understand the Book of Revelation unless you view it through the Old Testament Scriptures. Where does a Lamb appear in Scripture? Old Testament. Where does a lion appear in Scripture? The Old Testament. What do horns mean in the Old Testament? All of these things speak of the ministry and the person and the authority of Jesus Christ. It's absolutely thrilling. He is the Lion from the Tribe of Judah. He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. How can Jesus be both a lion and a lamb you might ask? Because He represents all of these things! He is both a King and Priest but also the sacrificial offering, and when we talk about the horns throughout Scripture, both Old and New Testament speak of kingship and authority.

Some people might argue that John was seeing some sort of mutation in heaven, when he describes what is written in Revelation 5, what he is seeing is a prophetic, apocalyptic manifestation of Jesus Christ, regarding past, present and future because he is in heaven viewing what was, what is and what is about to happen, meaning the Second Coming, wrath of God. He sees all of this stuff that to a Jewish mind, and remember that John was a Jew, we need to view these things through his eyes and see things historically that way he sees this. Imagine, he's thinking, this is the King, He's the sacrifice, He's the Priest, He's the Authority. The average Jew in that day would understand these things better than we would.

When someone tells you not the read the New Testament, you should. If your Rabbi tells you not to, trust me, there is something there he does not want you to know. Because if a Jew was to read the New Testament, everything talked about in the Old Testament is answered in the New.  When a Jew reads the New Testament, because he knows the Old, during the Tribulation Period, the Jews are going to open the New Testament. They are going to read it and know, that Jesus is the Lamb of God, He is the Lion, He is the King, He's everything and it's all there. He is the One and their eyes are going to be opened.

Jesus has met all the requirements by being obedient to the death on the cross.

Revelation 5:6-7 ~ " Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne."

Don't let the horns and the eyes frighten you. It's symbolic language. It transcends all time and generations. The "having seven horns and seven eyes" is a great and wonderful thing. Seven is the number of completeness or completion, and the horns or horn represent an Authority or King in the Bible. Historically we know all about the lion of Judah in Israel's history.

2 Samuel 22:3 ~ "The God of my strength, in whom I trust, my shield and the horn (king or authority) of my salvation."

The seven horns speaks of absolute authority and now presides over all the kings and rulers over all the earth. 

"and seven eyes" this is the Lamb's perfect scope, vision and knowledge of earthly affairs. He is all seeing and all knowing. This verse means that Jesus Christ will be the Conductor over the events of the Great Tribulation. The vision is everywhere. When the Tribulation period begins, people everywhere will be reading the Bible. These seven seals will only be opened by God's authorized agent, Jesus Christ.

Revelation 6:16-17 ~ "They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

Why doesn't it say "from the wrath of the Lion?" Because He was rejected as King, but the Lamb came as a sacrifice. That is the issue today. If you are a Jew today, you welcome the Lion, but you will have nothing to do with the Lamb. You can't have the Lion without the Lamb. You can't have the position without paradise. This is none other than Jesus Christ, our Great God and Savior! These are the awesome and sober moments just preceding the opening of the Great Tribulation. As the Lamb, He is sacrificed, and as the Lion, He is King!

Revelation 5: Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne"

Notice now, that the direction in which the elders and the four living creatures fall down toward is in the middle of the throne. God had fulfilled His purpose! Isaac is with Abraham and they are going to worship God. Fire is the symbol of judgment, the knife represents that Jesus would be pierced.

Genesis 22:6-8 ~ "Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and the wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together."

There is no greater version than the Old King James version of this Scripture. It's called redemption. Isaac willingly laid on this structure and allowed himself to be bound without a word. Sound familiar? By the way, all this took place on Mount Moriah, the high point, today we would call this Golgotha, Mount Calvary. The place of the skull. The place of redemption. Thousands of years ago, we have a father willing to sacrifice his only son, willing to take a knife and plunge it into him, and be consumed by the fire, yet the Angel of the Lord comes and stops him. God knew that Abraham loved Him above all things, but Abraham didn't.

Then thousands of years later, a Father in Heaven puts wood on the back of His Son, and lives it out again, as He makes His way up to the mountaintop, there is the wood, there is the piercing, but where is the Lamb? Jesus never utters a word why? Because He was the Lamb. That is why He fulfilled the Scriptures in Isaiah that He uttered not a word like a sheep being led to the shearers. He did it.

 "as though it has been slain." meaning a mutilated lamb, beaten, torn, rejected, hated. This is exactly what we will see in Heaven when we arrive. Let see if you can identify who this is based on this passage of Scripture, written 743 years before Jesus was born, which for us today, makes it 2800 years old. If there is a skeptic here, let him figure it out.

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 ~ "But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard. See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him - his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness - so will he sprinkle many nations and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see and what they have not heard, they will understand. Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root of of dry ground. He had no beauty of majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgement he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, not was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life, and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors."

Every year when the lamb was offered up as a burnt offering, Dr. Eherdershiem, notes that the Leviticial practice was to take the sacrificial lamb and impale it through the rear and through the lower portion of the lower jaw.   The second stave would be used to pass through from left to right just below and behind the lamb's torso and front legs. It was then placed into the fires of sacrifice.

Professor Albert Barnes points out that if you would exalt or raise that lamb up vertically, you would see a lamb crucified on a perfect cross. That's what Jesus did for you and I!

Exodus 12:3-5 "Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats."

A Lamb: Today in your life, Jesus Christ is just a really great man, unless you know Him personally. , Buddha's doesn't have a lamb, Mohammad doesn't have a  Lamb, Joseph Smith doesn't have a lamb. whatever...they don't have a sacrificial lamb.

Until you consider The Lamb: He's the only Lamb! That's kind of tough to handle. You mean like He's the Lamb and all the others are chopped liver?

Your Lamb: Do you have a personalize Lamb? There is only One. He's the Lamb and if you don't have the Lamb, then you don't have a Lamb to trust in.

John 1:29-30 ~ "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, "A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me."

We are supposed be moved by the sacrificial lamb. It was supposed to mean something. The blood was supposed to have been spread upon the doorposts of the house so that the angel of the death would pass over those homes. It makes you wonder if there wasn't some Egyptian who believed in what Moses said about the Jews and believed in God, and he followed in the message he heard. He would have placed the blood on his doorposts as well and he is spared. Have you taken to yourself, Jesus Christ to be your Lamb? It's hell without Him. Jesus is the only One!