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Music Now, Revelation, chapter 14, verse number 1, the Bible reads, Now, we should expect to see the 144,000 here, because as I explained in other sermons, the book of Revelation goes in chronological order from chapters 1 through 11, then the chronology starts over in chapter 12 with the birth of Christ, and then we see the whole story play out over again. Well, in the first half of the book of Revelation, we saw the story play out as the tribulation, then after the tribulation, the sun and moon are darkened, then there was mention of the 144,000 being sealed, then we had the rapture where the great multitude appears in heaven in chapter 7, and then we have God pour out his wrath. Well, in the second half of Revelation, we see the same sequence of events. We see the events of the tribulation, and that's where we were in chapter 13, at the time of the abomination of desolation, great tribulation and persecution and people being killed for the cause of Christ, therefore we should expect the next thing to be mentioned as the 144,000, because it goes in the first half, tribulation, 144,000, rapture, and then God pouring out his wrath. Same exact order in the second half, and so here, right on time, we've got the 144,000 once again. As I looked in the little lampstone on the outside, and with him, and 144,000 having his father's name written in their foreheads. Now let's compare this with chapter 7. Keep your finger in chapter 14 as we go back to chapter 7. Let's go back and forth between these two chapters, because when it talks about the father's name being written in their foreheads, that's actually mentioned in chapter 7 what that is. It says in verse 1 of chapter 7, and after these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. So the father's name written in their foreheads in Revelation 14 is here known as being sealed in their foreheads in chapter 7. It says, I heard the number of them which were sealed, and there were sealed 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel, and then he gets very specific and mentions that there are 12,000 from each tribe, and he lists those tribes, that the tribe of Judah were sealed 12,000, Reuben, Gad, Asher, on and on. Nothing except the tribe of Dan, which is not mentioned. Now, let me point out a couple things quickly about Revelation 7 here. First of all, isn't it clear from verses 2 and 3 that God has not begun to pour out his wrath on this earth yet at this time? Because he says that they're not going to hurt the earth, they're not going to hurt the trees. Well look, when God starts pouring out his wrath with the trumpets and vials, he's definitely hurting the trees. The first trumpet. He says that one third of the trees are burnt up. So this is clearly, this sealing is clearly taking place before that time. So it's after the tribulation when the sun and moon are darkened, but it's before God pours out his wrath. Before he pours out the wrath, he's going to seal the 144,000. That's what we see here in chapter 7. After the listing of all the different tribes, it says in verse 9, after this I beheld and lo, a great multitude which no man can number of all nations. So this great multitude appears in heaven right after the 144,000 are sealed. He says this group came out of great tribulation, they've washed their robes, they've made the white and the blood of the lamb. And I'm not going to re-preach my sermon from Revelation 7. You know, I already covered that in Revelation 7. But we see from chapter 7 that these people are sealed in their foreheads after the sun and moon are darkened with the opening of the sixth seal, which Jesus in Matthew 24 said is after the tribulation, but it's before God begins to pour out his wrath and destroy the earth, okay? Go back if you would to Revelation 14. And in Revelation 14 it says, and I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters. So where's the voice coming from? From heaven. That's significant. It says, and as the voice of a great thunder, and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps, and they sung, so the harpers are singing, and it says, 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 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth. So what we see here with the 144,000 is that they are singing a song that no one else can learn and that when they sing that song, they also play harps, and when they sing that song the Bible says that it's coming from heaven because the voice of the song, it says ye are coming from heaven. Where are the 144,000? Well it says they stood on the Mount Zion with the lamb. Of course the lamb is Jesus Christ. Well if we go to Hebrews 1222, but ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven. So what we see is that the Bible is telling us very clearly that the 144,000 are located not on the earth but in heaven. The 144,000 are in heaven playing on harps and singing a song that only they can sing. Now he says that the sound of the singing sounds like the voice of many waters. Look, if you're listening to 144,000 men sing, that's going to be pretty loud. That's going to be like the voice of many waters. It's going to sound like a great thunder when that many people are singing. It says they're on Mount Zion. Hebrews 12 tells us that the Mount Zion is talking about in the heavenly Jerusalem. The voice of their singing is coming from heaven and they're with the lamb who of course is in heaven. So it's very obvious that they're in heaven. You say, what's the significance of the fact that the 144,000 are in heaven at this time? Here's the significance. Remember in Revelation 7, the 144,000 were sealed before the rapture or before the great multitude appears in heaven because when the multitude appears in heaven, he very carefully tells us, after this I saw a great multitude and it's clear that they just got there. And again, I'm not going to re-preach my Revelation 7 sermon. But if Revelation 14 is giving us the same events of chapter 7 in the same order, then we would expect the rapture to be signified right after the mention of the 144,000. Because if the first half gave us tribulation, 144,000, rapture, then God pours out the wrath, the second half is going to follow the same order. Well look, later in chapter 14 we do see the rapture. Look down, if you would, at verse number 14 of chapter 14. It says, And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man. Well look, the Son of Man is something that Jesus called himself, I believe, 86 times. So it says that the one that's on the cloud is like the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. So what we see in chapter 14 here, verses 14 through 16, is Jesus Christ coming in the clouds and reaping the earth. Now some people will try to say, well this reaping is a reaping of the tares, you know, of the bad, the children of the wicked one, of bad people to face God's wrath. No, no, no, because right after Jesus reaps in the clouds, right after that it says in verse 17, and another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle, and another angel came out from the altar which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe, and the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God, and the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even under the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. So what we see there is two reaping, don't we? First we see Jesus Christ reaping the earth, coming in a cloud, then after that we see another angel who gathers the clusters of the vine of the earth, and casts them into the winepress of the wrath of God. That's the negative reaping. Now you say, wait a minute, Pastor Anderson, I remember a parable in Matthew chapter 13 that talked about the tares being gathered, and also the wheat being harvested, and you know, the wheat were the children of the kingdom of God, and the tares were the children of the wicked one, and the Bible says, therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall be in the end of the world. And if you remember, in that scripture it said, gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. And you say, Pastor Anderson, this appears to be in the opposite order. Because in Matthew chapter 13 it said, gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. Seems different order, but wait a minute. He didn't say that the tares were going to be burned before the wheat's gathered into the barn. He just said, gather together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them. Here we see that the unsaved are pictured as clusters of grapes. Now can you see a similarity between a cluster and a bundle? They're both a group. They're both something of a smaller unit that's joined together. And here's the thing, what we see happen before the wheat is gathered into the barn, before the children of the kingdom of God, the saved, the elect, before they're gathered and taken to heaven, we see the wicked bound into bundles or clustering together. We see them uniting. Remember Psalm 2? The kings of the earth are gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. And what we see is that the unbelievers and the unsaved all unite. The religions unite, the governments unite, the world, the unsaved world unites and rallies around the antichrist, and they even receive the mark of the antichrist, the mark of the beast in their forehead or in their head. They're being marked and identified for judgment. They're being gathered and bound into bundles to be burned, to be destroyed. Then the wheat is gathered into the barn, then the clusters or bundles are cast into the fire or the wine press of the wrath of God, whichever metaphor you're looking at. So what we see here is that Jesus Christ comes in the cloud to reap the wheat or to reap the saved, to gather the elect. Look why else is Jesus coming in a cloud in Revelation 14? When he comes in a cloud, it's to sound the trumpet and to gather the elect. He's reaping the earth. He's harvesting in the good crop of the saved in Revelation 14. But here's what's interesting. If Revelation 14 verses 14 through 16 is referring to the rapture, which I believe it clearly is, it's following the same exact chronology as Matthew 24 and as Revelation 7, if that's referring to the rapture, think about this, how did the 144,000 end up in heaven before the rapture? Did you notice that? Because at the beginning of chapter 14, the 144,000 are already in heaven and they already have the seal in their foreheads before the rapture. Now that's consistent with Revelation 7 because the 144,000 are sealed right before the rapture in Revelation 7. Here it's the same order. Here's a question though. How do you get to heaven without being raptured? Dying, right? I mean how do you get to heaven without being raptured? I mean look, when I die, I'm going to heaven, right? When you die, if you're saved, you're going to heaven. How long do we wait to get there? It's instant. The moment that you die, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and the moment I breathe my last breath physically, I'm going straight to heaven. So look, if the 144,000 are in heaven before Christ has come in the clouds, before the dead in Christ are raised to meet Christ in the clouds, before it's even said, hey, the time's come, look, that already happened first, that proves that the 144,000 have died. That's how they got to heaven. They've died physically. Now here's the proof that they've died physically because the Bible clearly told us in Revelation 7 that the 144,000 were of the 12 tribes of Israel, right? Now a lot of people will misquote this and this is what they'll say, oh the 144,000 Jews. Have you heard people say 144,000 Jews? Now did the Bible say 144,000 Jews? No it said 144,000 of the 12 tribes of Israel and it clearly stated which tribes they were from and 12,000 from each tribe. You say, wait a minute Pastor Anderson, the Jews are the tribes of Israel, wrong. Go to 2 Kings chapter 16 because you see the term Jew, God never used it in the Bible to refer to all 12 tribes, never. In fact, the word Jew is never used in the Bible until 2 Kings 16, 2 Kings 16 is the first time that the word Jew is ever used in the Bible. Now let me explain some to you. When you're studying the Bible and you've got a word and you want to know what that word means, usually if you go back to the first time that word's mentioned, God will define it for you to make it easy to understand. Look at Genesis chapter 1, how God's defining everything. He defines day, He defines night, He defines seas, He defines earth, He defines all these things because, you know, if you look up words the first time they're used, look up the first time tongues is used, look up the first time reprobate is used, look up the first time, you know, most words are used, hell, look up the first time hell is used, it talks about fire, you know. God usually defines things the first time they're mentioned. If we go to the first mention of the word Jew in the Bible, it becomes very clear that the term Jew is not synonymous with the 12 tribes of the children of Israel as people have tried to say, oh these 144,000 are the, you know, Jews in the last days believing on Christ. Look at 2 Kings 16, 5. Read this very carefully. It says then, reason king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war. So who's fighting against Jerusalem? Syria and Israel. And it says that they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him. Now Ahaz is the king of Judah in Jerusalem. At that time reason king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria and drave the Jews from Elath and the Syrians came to Elath and dwelt there unto this day. And you can keep reading the whole chapter, it tells the story. The first time the Jews are ever mentioned in the Bible, who's fighting against the Jews? Israel. Syria and Israel unite to fight against the Jews. You say, well I'm confused pastor Anderson. Okay, let me explain it to you. When the children of Israel first became a nation, they were under the system of the judges, right? And for about the space of 400 years they were under the system of the judges. Well after about 400 years of the judges, you remember when they said we want to have a king so we can be like all the nations. What was the name of that first king? Saul. So they were under king Saul, right? He reigned for 40 years. Then they had another king, David. He reigned for how long? Forty years again. Then they had a third king, Solomon. How long did he reign for? Forty years. So Saul, David, and Solomon each reigned for 40 years and they reigned over all the 12 tribes of Israel, right? Did Solomon's son reign over all 12 tribes? No he did not. Because if you remember, because of Solomon's sins, the kingdom was taken away from his son but to keep his promise to David, he left a remnant with Solomon. He left him two tribes and the other 10 tribes broke off and formed a separate nation in the north under king Jeroboam. So Solomon's son, Rehoboam, did not reign over the 12 tribes. He only reigned over the two tribes. Because remember when Ahijah the Shilonite came and preached to Jeroboam, he had a garment in his hand and he tore it into 12 pieces and he said to him, take 10 of them, representing the 10 tribes that would follow Jeroboam. So after King Solomon, we don't have a united kingdom of Israel, instead we have two kingdoms. The northern kingdom which became known as Israel and the southern kingdom which became known as Judah. Now here's where some people get confused. When you try to tell them that Jews are people who live in Judah, which is what they are, which is why the first time we see Jew mentioned is after that split has taken place and it talks about Syria and Israel fighting against Judah. He calls the people in Judah Jews and for the whole rest of the Bible, when he uses the term Jews, he's talking about people from Judah. Before that, they were called Israelites, you know, when it was all the 12 tribes or the Hebrews and even in the New Testament, when he talks about all 12 tribes, he refers to them as Israelites, when he's talking about all 12 tribes, okay? But when he's talking about people from the southern kingdom of Judah, he calls them the Jews. Now here's what some people will mischaracterize when I'm saying. They'll say, well you're saying only people of the tribe of Judah are Jews. No that's not what I said. I said people from the southern kingdom of Judah are Jews and that is not just the tribe of Judah because if you remember, that also included the Benjamites because the two tribes, remember 10 and 2, okay, two of the tribes, Judah and Benjamin were part of that southern kingdom. Also, many of the Levites came down and were part of that southern kingdom because of the fact that the northern kingdom went into apostasy and worshiped false gods. So a lot of the Levites stayed in the northern kingdom, a lot of them came down and joined the southern kingdom. So what we have in the southern kingdom of Judah are the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and a lot of the Levites. That's primarily what made up the southern kingdom. Now because the northern kingdom became so wicked and apostate, many of the individuals from some of the northern tribes, you know, they came down and immigrated into Judah just because they didn't want to live in the heathen northern kingdom, especially in the days of Hezekiah, they went out and invited a lot of those northern tribes, you know, to come down into Judah. So of course there were some people from some of the northern tribes coming down into Judah, but primarily 90-some percent of the people living in Judah are of the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin and also the Levites. You know, those three tribes, Judah, Benjamin and Levi are going to represent most of the Jews or people of Judah. That's why when you get into the New Testament, when it talks about people being from a specific tribe, you got a lot of people from Judah, you got people from Benjamin mentioned, Apostle Paul says I'm a Benjamin, makes perfect sense because he's part of that southern kingdom. You only have one person in the whole New Testament mentioned, you know, as being a part of one of the other tribes and that's the prophetess Anna, she was of the tribe of Asher. But the exception proves the rule, my friend. Most of the people that were in Judea in Jesus' day that were called the Jews are of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. Okay, you say well what happened to the other ten tribes? What happened to them? Well the ten tribes, the northern kingdom of Israel, was taken captive by the Assyrians. Because remember how the Jews were taken captive by the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar? And you know that's Daniel, that's his friends. That's Ezekiel, okay, and then remember the Jews come back from Babylon and we read about that in Ezra and Nehemiah, that's the southern kingdom. What happened to the northern kingdom? They were taken captive not by the Babylonians, they were taken captive earlier by the Assyrians and when the Assyrians took them captive, what they did is they took all the people that were educated and wealthy and had anything going for them, they took them captive to their land and they left the poor of the land to stay in the northern kingdom of Israel to till the land. All the poor people of the ten tribes stayed in Israel, okay? Then they brought in all their heathens to intermarry with the ten tribes that were left behind in that northern kingdom of Israel and those people became known as the Samaritans because the capital of Judah was Jerusalem but the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel was Samaria. Now originally it was Tirzah, later it became Samaria. Omri bought the hill of Samaria, he built his capital there, his son Ahab kept it there and they kept it in Samaria and pretty soon God started to sometimes refer to the whole northern kingdom as Samaria because the capital was Samaria. So what we see is that the Assyrians took the ten tribes captive, then brought in a bunch of heathen that intermarried with the ten tribes that were left behind. Not only that, they began to have a religion that was a mixture of the biblical worship of the Lord mixing in heathen practices and heathen tradition because you remember when the heathen first came in, lions came and there were a lot of bad things happening and basically the priests of the northern kingdom, they started to create a mixed religion. You read about this in the book of 2 Kings where they said they worshiped the Lord and they worshiped all these other gods, they worshiped both. So they had a mixed religion. Those people in the New Testament are referred to as the Samaritans. Now remember how the Jews hated the Samaritans? The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. The reason why is because they looked at the Samaritans as being totally polluted, totally mixed with the heathen, both ethnically and spiritually. Because remember God had told the Israelites not to mingle with the heathen, not to marry the heathen. And that has nothing to do with interracial marriage because I don't believe that interracial marriage is a sin. But what the Bible does teach is that marrying unbelievers or heathens is a sin. Now what happened in the Old Testament is that if a person wanted to become a Jew or join the nation of Israel, they would have to be circumcised and then they could join the nation and then they could marry them. So it's not a racial thing. But we see that the Samaritans had completely mingled with the heathen, they'd completely lost their identity as Israelites, lost their identity of what tribe they were from. They didn't have a genealogy to show where they were from. And they became mingled with the heathen both physically and spiritually, therefore the Jews despised them and rejected them. Now the ten tribes who were carried captive, they never came back. They got just mingled and assimilated in with the countries to whom they were brought. And then the ones who were left behind, they were all mingled and mixed in. That is why today those ten tribes are lost. Now you can look this up, you can get any kind of history book you want, you can get an encyclopedia and look up the tribe of Reuben. Look up the tribe of Gad. Look up the tribe of Asher. And you know what it's going to tell you about the tribe of Reuben? Any encyclopedia, any book will tell you this. It's gone. Did you hear me? It's gone. Because look, they got mingled with the heathen, hundreds of years go by, they don't know what tribe they're of, they're just mixed in with the heathen, they get completely mixed in with other cultures and so forth. That's why today the people who you run into who call themselves Jews, if they can trace their lineage at all, they're tracing it back to Judah, Benjamin, or Levi 99% of the time. Because that's who they came from, Judah. Whereas a lot of those northern tribes were lost. Now some of those tribes you can say, okay well no there's this group over there that descends from the tribe of, you know, Isaacar or whatever. But some of the tribes for sure have been lost. I mean you're not going to find, let me put it to you this way, you're not going to find 144,000 people on this earth who say I'm of the tribe of Reuben. In fact you're not even going to find 144 people of the tribe of Reuben. In fact you know you probably can't find anybody who can prove to you that they're from the tribe of Reuben. And not only that but they've been totally mingled with the heathen. So the people that we think of as the Jews today, you know what? That's not going to make up the 144,000 because that would only be a couple of tribes. That would only make up, you know, tribe of Judah, tribe of Levi, you know that'd be 36,000. But here's the thing. Let's pretend for a minute that these people who say, oh the 144,000 Jews, that's Jews in the last days that are all going to get saved and turn to Christ. Well wait a minute. How are you going to find 144,000 that are males and that are virgins and that are believers in Jesus Christ? Look down at your Bible there in Revelation 14 because that's the bill that they have to fit. It says in Revelation 14, these are they which were not defiled with women for they are virgins. So they're men that were not defiled with women. They are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb and their mouth was found no guile for they are without fault before the throne of God. Now look, they're believers, they're males, and they're virgins. Are you going to tell me that you're going to find 144,000 Jews today that fit that bill? Let alone 12,000 from Reuben, 12,000 from Gad that are going to fit that bill. What some people believe gets even weirder, they'll say this, oh these people are going to get saved after the rapture. Okay so now you're telling me you've got 144,000 male Jews that have kept their virginity even though they weren't saved. They just stayed virgin, okay, and you know they're just going to get saved and just become these great Christians right away just following the Lamb wherever, no, come on, it's far-fetched. No, it's not far-fetched, it's impossible. You can't, I challenge you to even find 144,000 saved Jews, let alone whether they're male, female, virgin, or been married three times, okay. You're not going to find it my friend. And so what I'm trying to say is that to believe that these 144,000 of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel are Jews that are going to get saved in the last time is taking a very loose interpretation of the passage. I don't take a loose interpretation of the passage, I'm taking it literally. And when I say I'm taking it literally, you know what I mean by that? I'm saying that these are 12,000 men from the tribe of Reuben. And let me tell you something, that means they came from back when the tribe of Reuben existed. The tribe of Reuben does not exist today. Even at the time of Christ, the tribe of Reuben had been all but decimated. The tribe of Reuben, and you can say, well, it's people who are from Reuben and don't even know it. That's far-fetched. But now think about this, I said earlier, how did they get to heaven before the rapture? By dying, okay. So think about this now, what if we just take the passage literally at face value for what chapter 7 and chapter 14 are actually saying? And what if we say this, okay, they're already in heaven because they've already died because they're Old Testament saints. Now could we go out today and find 12,000 male virgins that are believers in Christ from the tribe of Reuben to fit this bill? No. But what if we looked at the history of the children of Israel spanning thousands of years, right? All the ones who were saved and in heaven right now, could we find 12,000 saved Reubenites that were male virgins who died that are up in heaven? I'm sure we could easily find that looking over the centuries of history. Do you understand what I'm saying? So basically these are Old Testament believers, these are Old Testament saints of these literal tribes that are up in heaven and they get this special privilege of being able to be sealed and basically come back to this earth to preach the gospel, okay? Now it makes perfect sense, you say, well, why would they, how could they come back to earth after they've died? News flash, we're all coming back because after the rapture we go up to heaven, right? But then don't we come back to this earth on white horses in Revelation 19 to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years? So we're all coming back. These guys are just coming back a few years early. They're going to be here during the plagues. That's why the Bible says they have to get that seal in their forehead to make them immune from the plagues. That's why when the fifth trumpet sounds and the locusts from hell come, they stay away from the 144,000. It says that they torment everybody who doesn't have the seal of God in their foreheads. So they're tormenting everybody except these 144,000. And look, remember in Revelation 11 we talked about how the two witnesses are Moses and Elijah come back? So it makes sense. If Moses and Elijah are coming back, it makes sense that the 144,000 are coming back and that they're from the literal tribes. It's the only way to take it literally. If you're going to spiritualize it and say, well, they're just kind of spiritually from the tribe of Reuben. Well, you know what? The only way to make them physically from the tribe of Reuben, from a literal tribe, would be that they'd have to be from the Old Testament, which makes sense. So these guys are, just like Moses and Elijah are coming back from the Old Testament, these guys are coming back from the Old Testament and they're going to be on this earth during the time that the plagues are poured out. So they're not people that are left behind in the rapture because no believer is going to be left behind during the rapture. They're people that are coming back, basically as we're going up, they're coming down. Basically they're taking our place. Because think about this. When the rapture takes place, all the saved are caught up to heaven, right? Who's going to be left behind to represent the gospel on this earth? Who's going to do the soul winning? Is God just going to leave this earth without any witness, without any hope, without any preaching of his word? You say, well Moses and Elijah will take care of that. Well two guys? You've got billions of people in the world, right? Two guys are going to do all that? See these 144,000, I believe, during the time when God's wrath is poured out, well we're up in heaven. I believe that on this earth, Moses and Elijah are obviously going to, or the two witnesses, whoever they are, we believe is Moses and Elijah. They're going to have a more public ministry because the Bible talks a lot about everybody in the world is hearing their preaching, everybody in the world hates them and wants them dead. And is happy when they die. I think the 144,000 will have a more local ministry because they can be scattered throughout the whole world. And just as the apostles in Acts 2, remember they were all Galileans but they spake with other tongues and they were able to give the gospel to people from all over the world. I think the 144,000 are going to come back to preach the gospel to all nations and languages and tongues. And they will be here, since we're going to be gone, they're going to come back. They're going to be immune from the plagues of God's wrath. They will not be tormented by the locusts and they will be here to preach the gospel. You say, well how do you know they're going to be preaching the gospel? Well look at the next verse, after the 144,000 are described, it says they are without fault before the throne of God. Look at verse 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 saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters. So what we see here is that right after we talk about the 144,000, the next verse talks about preaching the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. So that kind of gives some sense to why they're there. Because in Revelation 7, he didn't really tell us why they're there. Here we get an idea of why they're there, to preach the gospel. You say, well the angel's going to do that. Well he has the gospel to preach unto them, but I think that the 144,000 are going to be preaching that same gospel. Now a lot of people who have a false doctrine will point to Revelation 14, 6 to say, well there's different gospels. And these dispensationalists, or followers of the false teacher Peter Ruckman, will say there's actually seven different gospels. Well let me tell you something, if anybody preaches another gospel, let them be accursed. Because there is but one. And anybody who tells you there's another gospel, let them be accursed. And people come to you telling you, somebody said to me recently, you know Paul preached a different gospel than Jesus. Anybody who says that is a heretic and a false teacher. Because if Paul preached another gospel than Jesus, he's saying Jesus is accursed. He's saying anybody who preaches Jesus' gospel is accursed. Because he said, if anybody preaches another gospel than the one that I preached, let them be accursed. Are you saying that every follower of Christ is accursed? See that kind of garbage is believed by the simple and the ignorant, but let me tell you something, there's one gospel and if anyone preaches any other gospel than that which we've received, it says in Galatians 1, let that person be accursed. You say, well it's for different times. Well good night, so you just preach the right gospel at the wrong time and you're accursed. That doesn't make any sense, that's baloney. There is but one gospel of Jesus Christ. And they say, well this angel's preaching a different gospel. It doesn't say that he's preaching the gospel with what he says in verse 7. It just says he has the everlasting gospel to go preach and here's what he says. What he says is not the gospel. By the way, if it's only for a certain time period, why is it called the everlasting gospel? Sounds to me like it's going to last forever. And guess what? That gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the good news that Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures. And you know that's great news that he died for our sins because we have a lot of sins. And we need a savior. And thank God that Jesus Christ died for our sins. And listen, when he says according to the scriptures, is he talking about the Old Testament or the New Testament? The Old Testament, because in 1 Corinthians, a lot of the New Testament hadn't even been written yet. And in 1 Corinthians 15, he said he died for our sins according to the scriptures, talking about the Old Testament scriptures. And by the way, the Bible says, to him give all the prophets witness. You say the Old Testament's not about Jesus. Oh, it's all about Jesus. To him give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Even the Old Testament points to that. They didn't know that name in the Old Testament, but it pointed to the fact that whosoever believeth in him would receive remission of sins through his name. And here's the thing, that gospel is the same gospel that Jesus preached and it's the same gospel that Paul preached. See this is what people say, well Paul, these dispensationalists, these ruckmanites, here's what they'll teach. They'll say, well the gospel Paul preached was a gospel by grace through faith. And what they're teaching is that Jesus taught a work salvation. Do you believe that? Listen, anybody who's ever gone to heaven went by grace. Because you know what grace means? They didn't deserve it. You think Abel deserved to go to heaven? Do you think Noah deserved to go to heaven? The drunk that he was? I mean do you think Abraham deserved it? You think Isaac deserved it? You think Jacob deserved it? Look, there's none righteous, no not one. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That includes the Old Testament saints. David was not perfect. David had sin. David did not earn his way into heaven. Even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto God in puteth righteousness without works, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. That's what David preached, that it was without works. Abraham believed that it was without works. It's always been by grace through faith. And here's what's so silly. They say, well Paul preached that it was by grace through faith. He revealed that. Okay, so are you telling me Jesus didn't teach salvation by faith alone? How about this verse that Jesus taught? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Did Jesus teach that verse to Nicodemus? Did He teach John 3.18, he that believeth is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Did He teach the verse that said, verily verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life. He said that in John 5.24, that's Jesus preaching salvation by faith. He said in John 6.47, verily verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me has everlasting life. Is that salvation by faith? What about when Jesus said at the raising of Lazarus, I am the resurrection and the life? He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Is that salvation by faith? See how Jesus taught over and over again that salvation is by faith? That's why if somebody tells you that Jesus and Paul preach two different gospels, you can know that that person is a heretic, a false prophet, a false teacher, let them be accursed. They need to learn the true gospel of Jesus Christ which is the same one that Paul preached. It's an everlasting gospel. So don't let people try to point this to you, see verse 7 is a different gospel. No it isn't. That's not the gospel. It's just saying that the angel had the gospel and here's what the angel said. The angel's going to preach the gospel to the earth with a loud voice saying, fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of earth. That's not good news. Gospel means good news. Is it good news that God's about to pour out his wrath on you? The message is them that dwell on the earth. The good news is Jesus died for their sins. That's what they need to hear. The 144,000 are going to preach that message. Most people aren't going to listen. Moses and Elijah or the two witnesses will preach that message. Most people won't listen. Let's keep reading. It says in verse 8, they're following another angel. So there are three angels that just give these messages at this time. Right before God begins to pour out his wrath, they give these messages. Verse 8, here's the next message. They're following another angel saying Babylon has fallen, has fallen, that great city because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Verse 9, and the third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast in his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, 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. You know what blows my mind about this verse that people teach that hell is separation from God? Does that not say that they're going to be tormented in the presence of the lamb? Correct me if I'm wrong. Is the lamb God? Jesus Christ and the lamb. And the Bible also says if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. So here he says that they'll be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. Verse 11, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast in his image and whosoever receive it the mark of his name. Let me ask this, does that sound like hell is temporary? That says that the smoke of their torment has ended up forever and ever. And some people say well that's just the smoke going up forever and ever. The torment doesn't last forever, that's just the smoke going up forever. Look at the next words. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. The smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever and they have no rest day nor night. Does that sound like they're just burned up and it's over? No. It says they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast in his image and whosoever receive it the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. What's that saying in verse 12? It's saying look, the patience of the saints is that we know that when we see evil people prosper, when we see great persecution coming from the wicked, we know where they're going to end up. And therefore we patiently endure whatever trials and tribulations come our way. And you know sometimes it's easy to get angry and say why do you, God, why do you let these evil people get away with the things they do? Nobody's going to get away with it. But look at chapter 20. Let me just prove to you that hell is eternal because a lot of people teach that hell is an annihilation. You know they teach that you burn up and that's it. Well the Bible says they're going to be tormented day and night and the smoke of their torment has ended up forever and ever. But look at Revelation 20 verse 10. Now what's interesting is that at the end of chapter 19 the anti-Christ and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire. Then there's a thousand years of Christ's reign. So a thousand years after the beast and the false prophet have been cast into the lake of fire, look what the Bible says in verse 10. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet, what's the next word? Are. Does it say where they were? This is a thousand years after they got there. It says where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. So is the lake of fire a place where you just burn up and it's over? No. He said a thousand years, they're still there. And they shall be tormented forever and ever. And then look at Revelation 21.8, it says but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death. Look every single one of us has told a lie. Let me tell you something, we all deserve hell and without Jesus Christ as our savior this is where all liars will end up. This is where murderers will end up. This is where sorcerers will end up. It's where whoremongers will be in the lake of fire for eternity with the false prophet. And let me tell you something, the only way to escape this is by believing on Jesus Christ. The Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. And the Bible says that God, those of us that are saved, he separated us from our sins as far as the east is from the west. Say how's a liar like you going to make it in? How's a murderer like David going to make it in? How'd that whoremonger make it in? You know what? Through the blood of the lamb. East from our sins. Sins forgiven and forgotten as far as the east is from the west. That's salvation but to the unsaved, make no mistake, hell is eternal. Lake of fire is a place of eternal torment and punishment. The Bible says these shall go away into everlasting punishment. That's a punishment that lasts forever. But the righteous into life eternal. Go back to Revelation 14, it says in verse 13, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea set the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them. Why? He's saying, look, they're about to rest. Blessed are they that die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea set the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them. And I looked and behold a white cloud. Here's Jesus coming in the clouds. Upon the cloud one sat like the son of man. Some people will say, well, it's not the son of man, it's just like him. It's him. Okay. And he's got on his head a golden crown and a sharp sickle. And some people will say, well, why does he need this other angel to tell him it's time if he's the boss? Well of course he's the boss, but you remember when Jesus was on this earth and he talked about his coming, he said, of that day and hour knoweth no man. Know not the angels in heaven, but my Father only. And in Mark 13 he said, of that day and hour knoweth no man. He said, the angels don't know and he said, neither the Son. The Son doesn't know it, the Father only. That's why he is notified when the time comes. Okay. It's just symbolic here obviously. Obviously it's just part of the symbolism that the angel tells him. It's time for thee to reap. He reaps the earth. He gathers the elect. He gathers the believers. He gathers the wheat into his barn. And we already covered that earlier in the sermon. Then another angel comes and reaps the clusters of the vine of the earth to cast them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. Now let me ask you this. Is the wine press of the wrath of God a literal wine press? Obviously this isn't literal. Now you say, well Pastor Anderson, how do you know when things in the Bible are literal and when they're figurative? Here's a really easy rule of thumb for you. We should always assume that the Bible is literal unless it's obvious that it's not literal. Now you say, well, where do you base that on? Isn't that just how we talk to each other in real life? If I talk to you, if I say something to you, wouldn't you assume it's literal unless it's obvious that it's not? For example, think about my wife and I. My wife and I communicate on a daily basis, right? What if my wife just decided that everything I say is symbolic? Wouldn't that be annoying? And I think God gets pretty annoyed when everything he says, oh, that's symbolic, symbolic, it's all symbolic, everything's symbolic. Now look, if I'm being symbolic, it's going to be obvious that it's symbolic. For example, if my wife says to me, honey, would you please take out the trash? Should I take that literally or symbolic? When she says, honey, would you please take out the trash, and I say, maybe what she's really saying is that there's a lot of bad things in our relationship that she'd like to see removed. Maybe we should just take out the trash, she's talking about getting some bad things out of our relationship, you know, emotionally, spiritually. I mean, do you really think that that would make any sense, or would I just assume, you know, that she's saying, take out the trash? I mean, it makes sense, right? What if I said to her, I said, honey, I would like tacos for dinner, would you please make tacos? And she'd say, you know, maybe what he really means is that, you know, he wants us to start speaking Spanish more, you know, maybe he wants to take that vacation to Cancun. I mean, it's all figurative, it's all symbolic. Tacos represent, you know, no, I'm talking about a taco, that's what I want to eat. I want tacos. And, you know, what if I said, honey, would you fry the corn tortillas in oil? You know, she'd say, you know, maybe the oil represents the Holy Spirit there, you know. You know, I mean, how far are you going to take this? Okay, now, so usually when my wife and I communicate, usually what we say is literal. Shouldn't I just assume that what she says is literal unless it's obvious that it's not and vice versa? Okay, now what if I said to my wife, man, it's raining cats and dogs outside. Now, isn't it pretty clear that that's not literal? You know what I mean? She knows, okay, there aren't pets falling from the sky, it's just raining heavily, okay. Or if I say, honey, you look like a million dollars, you know, she's not going to take that literally, okay. But she's going to understand, okay, that's figurative. It's the same way in the Bible. It's obvious when it's figurative, folks. When God's talking about gathering the cluster of the vine of the earth and throwing it in the great wine press of the wrath of God and then blood coming out of the wine press up to the horse bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs, that's not literal because this is why it's not literal. Because you don't throw grapes into a wine press, now blood come out. Blood really comes out of a wine press when you put grapes in. Wine. Okay, so clearly not literal here. And look, God's not going to gather up human beings and put them in a literal wine press and smash humans until blood comes out like wine. That's not, that's clearly not a literal event, okay. But it is symbolic. What this is referring to is that mankind is about to enter the wine press of God's wrath, meaning that mankind is about to face the intense wrath of God. And that man's blood will be shed. And that if we were to take all the blood that's going to be shed of man and we were to put it all in one place, it would flow up to the horse bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. So this is clearly figurative. And what this is saying is that after the rapture, God's going to pour out his wrath on mankind. That's why we see the rapture in verses fourteen through sixteen and then in verses seventeen through twenty we see mankind, the unsaved that have been left behind, going into the wine press of God's wrath. Then in chapter fifteen, because you know sometimes we just stop at the chapter division. You need to keep reading. Because when chapter fourteen verse twenty tells about the wine press of God's wrath, look at the next verse. And I saw another sign in heaven great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues for in them is filled up the wrath of God. So you see how it's really clear here, when he talks about them going into the wine press of God's wrath, that is figurative. They're going into now the seven last plagues of God's wrath. That's the wine press of the wrath of God. It culminates in the battle of Armageddon in chapter number nineteen. It's discussed in chapter sixteen, it culminates in chapter nineteen, but really the whole period of God's wrath is signified by the wine press of the wrath of God. You get that when you read from fourteen twenty to fifteen one, it's clear, it's obvious. Now you say well how far is a furlong? Well believe it or not a furlong is a measurement that we use today, we just don't call it a furlong. You know what we call a furlong today? A block. A block is a furlong. And the reason I say that is because a furlong is exactly an eighth of a mile. In fact the furlong comes from the word furrow and the word long, the long furrow. This is how much a man would plow with one, I think it's like one man with one mule in one day, he's going to plow this furrow, something like that. He's going to plow an acre, right? And an acre is a furlong by this many chains. Now I'm sorry I'm not a medieval farmer, I don't know, but anyway I do know this, a furlong is an eighth of a mile and it's the length of the long furrow which is part of an acre. Now the reason I say that a furlong is equivalent to a block is because for example in Phoenix the numbered streets are exactly an eighth of a mile apart. So for example we're on forty eighth street right now, if we were to go to fortieth street that's exactly one mile. If we were to go to thirty second street that's another mile because every eight blocks or every eight streets we have a mile. So therefore from forty eighth to forty seventh is an eighth of a mile, forty seventh to forty sixth, eighth of a mile, they're roughly an eighth of a mile apart. Therefore central avenue in Phoenix to forty eighth street is how many furlongs? Forty eight furlongs, right? Which is six miles. So forty eighth street to seventy fifth avenue, you can always do the math and figure out exactly how many furlongs it is but usually divide it by eight and I do this all the time. When I'm coming home from Los Angeles, I'm kind of anxious to get home, I've been on a long trip, I'll look at the avenue signs and say okay how far am I from home because I live right off forty eighth street near the church and so as I'm driving home I'll say okay, forty eighth street divided by eight, that's six miles, okay I'm on thirty fifth avenue, that's another four and some odd, okay I'm about, it just gives me roughly an idea of how far I have to go because a block is a furlong, an eighth of a mile. So when the Bible says by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs, if we divide that by eight, you're looking at two hundred miles. Now think about a horse bridle, think about a horse's mouth, you know it's about what this level right? Okay now think this deep of blood for two hundred miles, that's a pretty long river of blood isn't it? I mean that's a river of blood that's this deep you know and you know I guess it depends on the horse. We're not talking about these miniature ponies okay, you know but we're talking about a horse bridle, and we're talking about two hundred mile long river of blood this deep. We're talking about some serious wrath of God, that's the wine press of God's wrath. That's what mankind is going into, you know thank God for Christ coming in the clouds in verse fourteen, you know what I mean, to get us out of here before this takes place. But woe unto them that are upon the earth during that period of God's wrath. So chapter fourteen is a fascinating chapter, it's one of the more difficult chapters, it's one of the more cryptic chapters, but the key to understanding it is first of all get it in its proper chronology. And a lot of people will tell you well you know chapter fourteen is just totally outside the chronology of Revelation, but really it fits in perfectly. If you expect it to be like the first half of Revelation, tribulation, one hundred forty four thousand, rapture, and then God pours out his wrath. You know what, Revelation fourteen follows that sequence perfectly. And so it's a really interesting chapter, next sermon we'll get into the seven plagues of God's wrath, you know with chapters fifteen and sixteen where we'll delve into the carnage there, similar to the things we saw back in chapters eight through eleven. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father we thank you so much for your word and we thank you for Revelation chapter fourteen. Please help us to study to show ourselves approved unto God, workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth and understanding the difference between Old Testament and New Testament, dividing between Old Covenant and New Covenant, dividing between Jew and twelve tribes of Israel, not the same thing. And Father please just help us as we study the book of Revelation to learn as much as we can and thank you for the salvation that you've given us and that you've saved us from the wrath to come that we're going to see in the next few chapters. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. It's early this Tuesday morning, the eleventh of September, 2001. Al, it is such a pretty morning, isn't it? It is a perfect fall morning. On September eleventh, 2001, the world changed. The land of the free has now become the land of the enslaved. The people of our once glorious United States have traded their liberty for security, but has it all happened by design? December seventh, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked. Many questions linger about the events of that day, that day of infamy. One thing we know for certain, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor set in motion a course of events that would eventually lead us to a one-world government. Japan began this war in treachery. We shall end it in victory. In the aftermath of World War II, the United Nations was created and the path for a one-world government accelerated. Each war brings us one step closer to what the Bible calls the end of the world. Checkpoints are being set up everywhere. The police state is tightening its grip on the people of the United States, and to those who understand biblical prophecy, what comes next will not be a surprise. At some time in the future, the King James Bible states that everyone on the planet will be required to take a mark in order to buy or sell. As our current economic system collapses and as technology expands, cash is becoming a thing of the past. The reality of a cashless society is not far off. In fact, it's already being implemented. Despite denial by many religious leaders, evil men are working around the clock to bring in a new world order. We can see the end rapidly approaching and the stage being set for the emergence of the Antichrist. We can hear the voices of those who are subverting our U.S. Constitution and promoting this global government system. And with all this right around the corner, this film is more important than ever. Satan is working behind the scenes to set up a one-world government and a one-world religion in preparation for the Antichrist. He has also deceived modern Evangelical Christians into believing that they will be removed from this earth before the Great Tribulation takes place. This doctrine, known as the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, teaches that Christ may return at any moment and that there will be no signs of His coming. As a result of this deception, most Christians are completely unprepared for what the Bible has warned us is coming. Although the Scriptures clearly state in Matthew 24 and elsewhere that the Rapture will take place after the Tribulation, big-name preachers, Bible colleges, and popular films such as Left Behind have taught the masses to expect that the Rapture may occur at any moment. But Left Behind is a work of fiction. Christians today are not being warned about the events they will face in the Great Tribulation. To learn the truth about the Rapture, we must look within the pages of the Bible itself. You