Louie Giglio - The Fulcrum of Heaven
Revelation 14 opens with this key phrase, «And then, I looked,» and that’s obviously the posture that I wanna be in. I wanna keep looking. I wanna be attentive. I wanna be awake. I wanna be leaned in to what God is saying, and more importantly, in this text what He’s showing me for my life. «'And there before me, ' John said, 'Was the Lamb.'»
Now, I wanna just keep coming back to this because, it’s interesting, he sees Jesus. And when He sees Jesus, he doesn’t say he sees The Lion, he doesn’t say he sees The King, he doesn’t say he sees The Risen One. He says he sees The Lamb again. Why? Because I believe that the grace of God is the fulcrum of the revelation. And we’re gonna see that all through this text today. «I saw The Lamb,» not a lamb, but The Lamb. The singular lamb, the unique lamb, the one and only Lamb. «And the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion».
Now, what does that mean? Mount Zion is the mountain of God, the holy place of God, the might of God with His people. «And with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from Heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpist playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the Earth. These are those,» he goes on to describe their lifestyle and behavior.
What does it say about these believers in Christ? Well, it says, «They have His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads». They are clearly identified as His. And I love it because they don’t have the name of a denomination on their forehead. They don’t have the name of a particular church on their forehead, some Christian leader on their forehead, they have Jesus' name and His Father’s name on their head. They are marked as God’s. «And I heard a sound,» Heaven has a sound, «Like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder». Can you just say, «loud»? Loud peal of thunder.
Now, interestingly, that sound, that loud sound was that of harpists playing their harps. Now, I know when I think about harpists playing their harps, I’m might usually take out earplugs. But the Heavenly harpists, remember the ones with the golden bowl and the harps that are before the Lord? Their harps are loud like rushing waters. And I just underscored that because I want us to make sure we’re prepared for Heaven. Heaven is loud. That’s not an argument for amplifiers, and guitars, and drums. It’s just a footnote, Heaven’s loud. The celebration of life forever is loud. The anthem of the one who redeemed us is loud.
«And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn this song expect the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the Earth». Let me just get rid of my little going through it line. «Except those who had been redeemed». This is the song not of the angels. This is the song of the redeemed. Why? Because grace is the fulcrum of Heaven. You’re like, «What is a fulcrum? You keep saying that». A fulcrum definition is the thing that plays a central or essential role in an activity, event, or situation. So, Jesus is the essential center of Heaven, but His grace is the fulcrum. It’s the thing on which all of Heaven rests.
So, this new song, this new song of praise to God being sung by all those in the church who are a part of faith in Christ, is a song of the redeemed. And these not only are singing 'cause that is a part of worship, but also a part of worship is living. And so, now he talks about how they lived. «These are those who did not defile themselves with women». A lot of people are not 100% sure what all this connotation means. Let’s just keep it on the what we can see part of what it means. «They have kept themselves pure. They didn’t defile themselves with the dragon and the beast, and the anti-Christ. They followed The Lamb, and they followed Him wherever He goes. They were purchased from among men».
Grace is the fulcrum of Heaven and the revelation. «From among men and offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths, and they are blameless». This connotation is not that they’re perfect, it’s that they have kept themselves for God. They’ve kept themselves for Christ. This was more than, «Oh, I sing a song». It’s more than, «Oh, I got saved». This is, «And thus as the redeemed I live like this, and my life and my song were my worship». «And then, another angel flying in midair, he had he eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the Earth».
Now, why is it that he has the eternal gospel? Because… please, somebody. Because grace is the fulcrum of revelation. We’ve got a Lamb. We have redeemed. We have purchased. We have a gospel because, there’s some judgment coming in this text, but all in it is the gospel. And now, we’ve got an angel who’s flying in midair and proclaiming to those who live on the Earth. Where? Every nation, every tribe, every language, and people. Now, some people ask, «Is this a real angel or is the angel symbolic of human instruments that are proclaiming the gospel»?
I think it’s an angel somehow with the capacity to proclaim on the Earth the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ. Angel means messenger. There’s a messenger now to the Earth, and as he’s proclaiming the gospel this is his conclusion to the gospel. «He said in a loud voice, 'Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgement has come.'» There’s an angel who’s warning people, «Judgment’s coming». So, what should you do? Fear God and give Him glory. Judgement’s coming, so where should you be? Fear God and give Him glory. He goes on to say, «Worship Him who made the Heavens, the Earth, the sea and the springs of water. Come with true worship to the one true God 'cause judgment is coming».
But I’ve got a gospel message to proclaim, it’s a story of grace. You can be, because of The Lamb, one of the redeemed purchased by God. Come and worship Him who made the Heavens, the Earth, the sea, the springs of water. And then, a second angel followed and said, «Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the great which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries». We saw this in chapter 13, but now the angel’s proclaiming the beast and the way of the world, the system and the antichrist, all that’s coming down, all of that is crashing to the ground. Fallen is Babylon. So, we’ve got two angels, the gospel of grace, fear God and worship Him. The system that looks so great? It’s fallen.
So, we got grace and revelation of what’s what in the world. «And then, a third angel followed them and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receive his mark on their foreheads or on their hand, he too will drink of the wine of God’s fury.'» God’s fury’s coming on the beast. But if anyone joins with the beast, he’s also gonna drink the wine of God’s fury, «Which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath». Remember, Jesus in Gethsemane saying, «Father, if it’s possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done».
What will is the cup? The cup had the full strength of the fury of God in it. And so, Jesus says yes to the cup, He takes on His life the full strength of the fury of the wrath of God on the cross, so that everyone who joins into His death, into His burial, into His resurrection gets the byproduct of being saved from what came onto Him on the cross. But whoever does not join with Christ, does not have a shield and a hope when the wrath and the fury of God are poured out on all sin. «That person will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of The Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name».
So, in this text, we see interestingly that those who join with the beast and take the mark of the beast, who identify with the antichrist system of the world, who identify with the anti-Messiah leader of the antichrist system of the world, all who go their way and join with them end up in an eternal state. It’s important for us to realize today, we are all operating on an eternal continuum. Every human being is an eternal being. So, there is no thinking in accordance with God’s word that says, when we die, we just sort of, are done. No, when we die, we still are. We are moving along on some kind of eternal, spiritual continuum.
And what this text is showing us is, that those who have taken on the system of the world, the mark of the system of the world, have aligned themselves with the system of the world, the antichrists system of this earth, they are eternally now in a place that is very much conscious and aware. That they are disconnected from the very best that there is. And somehow, they’re aware of the angels and they’re aware of The Lamb. They’re not now in some eternal state going, «Yeah, we’re still with the beast and we’re still doing it our way, and we’re still antichrist».
They are now in some eternal state where they are aware of the triumph of The Lamb, and this is the torment night and day. I say it this way, this is just Louie. That if you’re with them, the dragon, the state and the anti-Messiah, if you’re with them, you get what you wanted. You will for all time be without Christ. But not in an eternal state of your choosing, absent from God, rather in a state of eternal suffering aware that you are devoid of the highest beauty and greatest love. The punishment and suffering are the recompense for sin, which led to a denial of the one true God, which resulted in an eternity of awareness that you now and forever don’t have God.
And I think that when people ask the question, «How can a good God send anyone to an eternity like that»? It says right in the text, «An angel is in the Earth proclaiming the gospel». An angel is in the Earth declaring, «Babylon has fallen»! So, the question isn’t, «How can a good God allow people to end up in an eternity like that»? The answer is, He’s The Lamb. He’s The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Yes, He’s a good God. The Lamb slain before the foundation of the world with an angel, a messenger in the Earth proclaiming the gospel to every people, every nation, every language, every tribe. And the messenger’s saying, «Babylon ain’t it»! And people going, «I’m still with Babylon. I’m still with Babylon».
Is this a harsh reality? It’s the most harsh reality of all. Does it make God a bad God? He’s The Lamb. But it should have an impact on us. «This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commands and remain faithful to Jesus. Then I heard a voice from Heaven say, right, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'» In other words, things are tough and there’s a conflict of cosmic proportions going on. There’s an antichrist force happening, but there is a Lamb in the midst of it all, and anyone who has the privilege of giving their life for Christ in this season, blessed are those who die in the Lord from now.
And then, the spirit says, not to mean places we’ve seen the spirit jumping into the conversation, but the spirit now says yes. «They will rest from their labor for their deeds will follow them». If you’ve ever seen, I’m sure you have. If you’ve ever seen, everyone sees that when someone dies everyone says… Rest in peace, brother. Comes right out of this text right here in the Bible if you didn’t know where that came from. And it’s close, it’s close. Not quite there, but close. «Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them».
So, when we’re saying, «Rest in peace» to people, we really need to know that they can rest in peace. And how can you rest in peace? When you know that your deeds are gonna follow you at the end and you’re happy about that. What he’s saying in this text is, you can rest in peace because your faithfulness and your patient endurance, and the way that you remain true to Jesus and were a light for Him, all that’s coming with you. «I looked and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a Son of man with a crown of gold on His head».
Now, this is decidedly Jesus here. In fact, I’ve heard a song that says something like this. Anybody get it? No. That’s why it is sung, by the way, he who is to come, I believe it’s so anointed and powerful. It’s just excerpting the word of God and putting it to melody, so we’re singing the word of God.
«Before me was a white cloud. Seated on the cloud was one like a Son of Man with a crown of gold on His head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to Him who was sitting on the cloud,» to Jesus, «Take your sickle and reap because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the Earth is ripe. So, He who is seated on the clouds sung His sickle over the Earth and the Earth was harvested».
Now, I got some Hunger Games vibes when I was first starting to read this and I, I hope you’re not. But what is happening is that Jesus is calling out of the Earth all those who belong to Him, just like that. In one swing of the sickle blade, He’s calling out of the Earth all of those who belong to Him. «Another angel came out of the temple in Heaven,» now, there’s a second sickle coming, «And he too had a sharp sickle».
Now, some theologians that I respect highly believed that this is calling out the followers of Jesus, and this as well, and I’ll show you why they make the argument. I tend to believe that this is the believers, and this is the unbelievers. It seems more clear to me in the text. «He too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, 'Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the Earth’s vine because its grapes are ripe.'»
Now, people who are believing this is a second gathering of believers would take that imagery of the grapes and the vine, and Jesus the vine, and the branches. «And the angel swung his sickle on the Earth and gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia,» or 180 miles.
Some see this as a picture of Jesus outside the city being crucified under the wrath of God, what we talked about earlier, and His blood flowing, the length of Israel if you will. 180 miles, that’s how far it is from the top tip of Israel to the bottom tip of Israel. That His blood symbolically covered all the sins of all the people who would put their faith and trust in Him. But there’s also a view to this, that this is speaking of that final judgment of God. That picture of Armageddon where the blood fills the valley for 180 miles as high as the bridle of a horse.
That final conflict of conflicts, nations against nations, and the world coming to an end, if you will, in this place under the wrath of God. This is where that battle hymn of the republic comes from. The text is right in the scripture, «Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He has loosed the faithful lightning of His terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. At the end of it all, His wrath poured out».
God’s wrath poured out, 180 miles worth. Again, if you didn’t know, and you just were coming through town. Maybe you had some days off and you heard a friend say, «Let’s go to Passion City, you’ll love this church». So, what is the takeaway? For me, the takeaway resides here in the midst in verse 7, when the angel said, who’s proclaiming the gospel, «Fear God, and give Him glory».
I don’t think it could be more simpler than that. Worship the one who created the Earth. Trade in every idol, trade in every little trinket, trade in every other thing that has received your affection, and your adoration, and your attention. Trade them in for the one who created it all. The gospel is grace and Babylon has fallen, and judgment is coming.
One swing of the sickle of the Lord Himself, and all of His people are caught up to Him. Another swing of the sickle of an angel in Heaven and all the ungodly are trampled in the winepress of the fury of God. Fear God and give Him glory. «Can you give us three practical steps»? No. Fear God and give Him glory. Put Him back in His rightful place in your life, and bow to Him in surrender. He is The Lamb.