Morning Sermon

February 10, 2008

Will the Church Survive?

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The question is, will the church survive? As we've seen, the opposition is certainly fierce. That false trinity of the fiery red dragon with his two helper beasts from the sea and the from the land causes great affliction to the church.

Of the first beast, from the sea, we read, Rev. 13:7 "It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation."

Of the second, the beast from the earth, we read, Rev. 13:15 "He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed."

And we know the intent of the dragon. Rev. 12:13 "Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child."

Rev. 12:17 "And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

So there you have it! These enemies are relentless and ruthless. They will be satisfied with nothing less than the complete destruction of the church. And so the action in the book of Revelation stops, so to speak, so that John can record this great encouragement. Yes, the church will survive. In this great battle, the lamb wins. The lamb's army is victorious.

There is a great beast, but remember his number, 666. Failure upon failure upon failure. Six is the number of failure, for he comes up short, never in any way achieving that perfect 7. And so the picture before us in Revelation is reminiscent of the quandary faced by Elisha in,

2 Kings 6:15 "And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" 16 So he answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, "LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."

And so we have a description here of,

I. THE BLESSED LAMB AND HIS PEOPLE. v.1

Why is he standing on Mt. Zion? Because he is the king. Ps. 2:6 "Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion."

As one commentator puts it, "The Lamb standing on the Mountain is a symbol of Christ's victory over all His enemies, with His people restored to Eden and fellowship with God. The fact that the Mountain is Zion serves to highlight this victory, for Zion is the special "holy mountain" of Jerusalem, the symbol of God's presence with His people and His victorious reign over the earth, when all kingdoms are gathered together to serve Him in the New Covenant."

The king is not alone. His loyal subjects are with him, represented by that glorious symbolic number of fullness, 144,000. We've seen that group before.

Rev. 7:4 "And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed."

Those are believers, Christians, the great multitude described in,

Rev. 7:9 "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

Notice how they are identified, "having His Father's name written on their foreheads." Most people give all the emphasis in these chapters to the mark of the beast, but we ought to focus upon,

A. The mark of the lamb. Those marked with the name of God the Father. Written on their foreheads! Identified by God, claimed by him, testifying and representing his ownership. As opposed to those who are marked on their forehead with that terrible but futile mark of the beast. Ultimately, those are the two and only divisions among all mankind. All men are marked in one way or the other, identifying themselves ultimately as servants of God or servants of Satan.

John makes it clear who these people are,

v.4 "These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb."

We are purchased, from among all men, the choicest of all men and the treasured possession of God himself. James describes those who are redeemed with similar words,

James 1:18 "Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."

Notice then what those who are have the mark of the Lamb do. Notice their activity. They sing. John heard,

B. The song of worship. v.2-3

A new song, for it is the inauguration of a new covenant. A new song, singing to the praise of the lamb who was slain. And a new song sung only by the redeemed, only by Christians. "No one else could learn that song."

We have, of course, seen that song of worship before. It is the song of salvation sung by the recipients of that salvation,

Rev. 5:9 "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 blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth."

One more thing about this great body of the redeemed. They have a new life, a changed life. A transformed life. It is, C. The new life of the Christians. And it is characterized by law-keeping. Purity. Integrity. v.5 "They are without fault before the throne of God."

Not denying the continuing and abiding remnant of sin in all of our lives, still the sense here is not our own sinless perfection, which none of us possess. Nor is the emphasis upon the perfect righteousness of Christ which is imputed to us by faith. But rather upon the evidence of our salvation, namely our own faithfulness.

That's why the reference to virgins. Again, not requiring a strictly literal understanding, but symbolic of purity. Physical and sexual chastity and purity representing spiritual and moral faithfulness. v.4-5

We read similarly in, 2 Cor. 11:2 "For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."

It is striking that in describing those who belong to the lamb, those who are redeemed, are described in terms of the effect of the gospel upon their lives, the moral transformation that the gospel produced.

So we have a picture of the church, standing with the Lamb upon Mt. Zion. What a marvelously encouraging cross reference there is in,

Heb. 12:22 "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel."

You see, beloved, to come to Mt. Zion, you come to Jesus. Standing upon Mt. Zion means that you are standing with Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant. And that's where we are even now. That's where our church membership ultimately exists. As Christians, we are members of the church of the firstborn. Our names are registered in heaven.

In that context, let me ask again. Will the church survive? O yes. Praise God Almighty. We are standing upon Mt. Zion with the Lamb of God.

And we have work to do. The work of the gospel. The proclamation of the gospel. But notice the context of that proclamation. We see here,

II. THE GOSPEL IN THE LIGHT OF IMPENDING JUDGMENT. v.6-8

So what do we have there? First of all, what becomes evident is,

A. The content of the gospel. v.7 "Fear God and give glory to Him."

That's the call of the gospel. The focus isn't upon me or my needs. The appeal isn't based upon what I get out of it. The gospel proclaimed faithfully is simply the call to all the world, "Fear God." Fear in the sense of honor. Fear in the sense of a recognition of his authority. And fear in the sense of this overriding, consuming desire to give him the glory in all things.

That's the focus of the gospel. That's the goal of all our doctrinal understanding of the content of the gospel,

Rom. 11:33 "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! 34 "For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?" 35 "Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?" 36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen."

Beloved, that's Christianity, "that in all things [Christ] may have the preeminence."

Jude 25 "To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever."

That's the gospel. It is the call to be worshipers of God. And that gospel shall be proclaimed to all the nations of the world. John describes,

B. The universal proclamation of the gospel. v.6

The clearly corresponds to the great commission Jesus gave to his church in,

Mat. 28:18 "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

That was the great difference with the coming of the new covenant, for now as that covenant is inaugurated, no longer is the nation of God's people identified with the one nation of Israel. But rather the church is the holy nation, a people belonging to God. A people from every nation and tribe.

In one sense, in its initial stage, that is accomplished with the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of Christians among all the nations. Turn with me to,

Mat. 24:1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down." 3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"

He gives many answers, but note the question. The question is, when will the temple be destroyed? That is the context for,

Mat. 24:34 "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place."

And in that great Olivet discourse, Jesus proclaims,

Mat. 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

So the whole world becomes the recipient of the gospel proclamation. And yet, with that, comes,

C. The doom of the apostate. The doom of Babylon. v.8

We'll see Babylon again in chapters 17 and 18, and if you believe that the book was written decades after the fall of Jerusalem, then Babylon can't represent Jerusalem or the Old Testament church of the Jews. It would have to be either Rome specifically, or a symbol of all the anti-Christian nations of the world.

But I believe it is more natural in the context of this whole book to understand Babylon not as Rome but as Jerusalem. And more specifically, apostate Israel as a nation.

Jesus himself laments for Jerusalem with such anguish.

Luke 13:34 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! 35 "See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! And then,

Rev. 18:2 "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!...16 'Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! 17 'For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.' Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance 18 "and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, 'What is like this great city?' 19 "They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, 'Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.'"

And what replaces her? Why, the new Jerusalem! The holy city which comes down out of heaven from God.

Peter uses an interesting allusion to Babylon as well, in, 1 Peter 5:13 "She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son."

Peter lived and carried out his ministry in Jerusalem, and both Mark and Silas, whose greetings Peter passes along in his letter, also lived in Jerusalem.

So John's readers would have been familiar with this reference. Babylon, the city which was the epitome of evil immorality, becomes the symbol of the Old Testament city of God. And so that city is doomed to destruction. v.8

Remember from chapter 12, how that second beast, from the earth, represented the religious opposition to the Kingdom of Jesus, joined together with the civil and political opposition found in the governments of this world. The city of God, Jerusalem, has become a harlot. Doomed to destruction.

Which leads to a further description of that doom. v.9-11 Yet in that doom, in that judgment, as we have seen before in this book, comes the blessing of the hope of the gospel. And so here again is are joined together,

III. DOOM AND BLESSING. First, doom.

A. The nature of eternal judgment. I just read that to you. Those marked by the beast, those claimed by him, those identifying themselves in his service as belonging to him, shall be condemned.

v.10 "...he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. 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 ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name." And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."

Pretty dire expectation, isn't it? Fire and brimstone. Tormented with fire, fire that is never quenched. The wine of the wrath of God poured out full strength. The cup of his indignation. Not exactly the popular explanation of the gospel today, is it?

But this is real. And true. And righteous. The wrath of God is poured out upon those who reject him and rebel against him. And yet, that judgment upon the wicked unbelievers, the pronouncement of that curse of the covenant, is also the occasion of encouragement to believers. It is the encouragement of our perseverance. B. The perseverance of the saints. v.12

Here, here in this declaration of judgment, is our encouragement. You see, the wicked oppressors of the church will perish under God's judgment. The evil and wicked false trinity of the serpent and the two beasts shall be judged. So even if now, for a short time, they bring persecution, they will be judged. And there, there is our encouragement.

The NKJV translates it patience, but I believe "endurance" would better express the meaning of the Greek word. Or perseverance.

This is the "P" in TULIP, t-u-l-i-p, the five points of Calvinism. "They, whom God has accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved."

Phil. 1:6 "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Rom. 8:30 "Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."

Therefore, Rom. 8:38 "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

And notice how those who persevere are described, as "those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." They are law-keepers. God has made them so.

And therefore, with this great hope of perseverance, we come to,

C. The blessing of death. This is when the curse is finally removed, the curse of death. This is the last enemy to be destroyed. And so have this encouragement today even as the people suffering under the persecution of Caesar Nero had it. Death is a blessing. v.13

Of course, the blessing is only to those who die in the Lord. But blessing it is! They "rest from their labors." Their labor and toil is done. Every day is a day of sabbath, a sabbath rest. Every day is a day of refreshment in the Lord.

And your works follow you. You are judged according to those works, and rewarded.

Death has already been conquered by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And now it can be mocked.

1 Cor. 15:51 "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-- 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55 "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Paul's encouragement is at the end of that great chapter is perfectly consistent with John's encouragement here in Revelation 14.

1 Cor. 15:58 "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

So will the church survive? Oh, yes it will. And not only survive, it shall triumph. Jesus shall see to that. Whether we enjoy the blessing of death before Jesus returns, or delight in his glory upon his return, the victory is ours in Christ. We have already been raised with Christ. We are already seated with Christ in the heavenly realms.

And the judgment will come. And here, in that hope, is our confidence of perseverance. Here, in this pronouncement of judgment, is our confidence that even death is an enemy destroyed.

So take heart. You who have lost dear loved ones in the Lord to death, take heart. You who feel both the infirmities of this life and the struggles of this life. "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." Because Jesus is alive. The lamb who takes away the sin of the world stands as king upon Mt. Zion, and with him are all those who belong to him.

There is our hope and our encouragement.

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