Book of Revelation Chapter 14 Mt Zion and Jubilee With The 144,000

Good morning and welcome to All Things Field. It is a pleasure to be here with you once again. Good to see you Eric and Stephen. You're the early birds always and to Rod as well. We're going to continue in our study. I had planned to talk about the Hour of Judgment this morning but didn't get to that just yet so we're going to postpone that and look at that on next week. So here we're going to talk about Mount Zion and Jubilee which is another point of view to look at Revelation chapter 14. Welcome Alan as well. So we've been talking about the and discussing Revelation 14 and the 144,000 of course standing on Mount Zion and this chapter being loaded with so many rich themes that if we continue to develop it I think we could you know stretch this content out for quite some time but of course that's not our point just to kind of hit some highlights and then move forward on it. But we've indicated the harvest festivals that are mentioned here and as we said when we get into this lesson on the Hour of Judgment we will emphasize that a little bit more in talking about the final harvests that are indicated here. But we've also seen several of the feast days indicated when we looked at this from the beginning and of course as we start out looking at Christ standing on Mount Zion as the reigning priest and king and as the Lamb of course that recalls to us the Passover as we've indicated before from like John 1 29. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and then 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7 or even Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. But also we see the Lamb of course now reigning and then this concept of standing on Mount Zion would also indicate his position as king because everything is now under his feet and this is one of the concepts and one of the ideas that's expressed here. It's similar to the statement found in Zechariah chapter 14 with Christ standing on the Mount of Olives. It says that he would stand on the Mount of Olives and a lot of people look at that and they're saying well this is proof that Christ hasn't come because he's supposed to stand on the Mount of Olives. They'll quote another text from Job 19 I think it's around verse 25 that talks about Christ standing on the earth in the latter days if I have the right text indicated but I know it's one of the passages in Job and they bring that up a lot to talk about you know Christ standing on the Mount of Olives and but this idea of Christ standing on Mount Zion is just from my understanding it's an indication of the fact that Christ is now reigning that he has put all things under his feet because what we're looking at here is a time of victory for Christ and that's the same symbolism that we see in the text of Zechariah chapter 14 and so it's not a text that refers to a literal standing on Mount Zion for his return that is a statement that indicates that after the battle that was indicated in chapter 14 of Zechariah that everything has been put under his feet another text that would be similar to that would be in Micah chapter 1 and verse 3 where it says for behold the Lord is coming out of his place and and will come down and tread on the places of the earth and so the idea of his treading I would you know would indicate in terms of his feet once again and that would indicate his victory over all of his enemies so that's how we should see that it's sort of a parallel with first Corinthians 15 25 through 28 in addition to Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 8 Ephesians chapter 1 so that's what's involved in that particular text let's see Stephen asked anyone in the chat know of any good preterist treatments of Deuteronomy 30 okay well that was asked to the chat and I can't think of any at this point but I may have some references for you a little bit later on that Stephen if nobody offers you any suggestions for that but after the message sometime I'll take a look at that all right and so in the old covenant you know sin and death reign and reigned in the Mount of Olives if you please and and in Jerusalem because you know that was the nature of the old covenant and so as Romans chapter 5 verse 14 indicates nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses and of course death caused by sin based on Romans 5 and verse 12 and so that is just indicative of the statement in Romans chapter 5 that Christ would reign over sin and death and so his those things stand under his feet that's the ultimate indication of that and in connection with Zechariah 14 and the reign of Christ that's the day in which his reign would be won he would be one in all the earth and then what follows there was this coming to Jerusalem every year to keep the feast of tabernacles and that is also in harmony with what's taking place in Revelation chapter 14 as we mentioned before when we talked about Revelation 7 and verse 9 with 144,000 having been sealed the reference to the palm branches and the white robes etc was indicative of the feast of tabernacles and so that's the idea of both Revelation 14 and also Zechariah chapter 14 in addition we have the statement in terms of his reigning on Mount Zion the defeat over his enemies and of course this is kind of foundational leading up to the hour of judgment but in psalm the second the second psalm why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves together or set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed let us break their bonds in peace and cast away their cords from us he who sits in the heaven shall the Lord shall hold them in derision and then he shall speak to them in his wrath so again this is the time of wrath that's being spoken of here and distress them in his deep displeasure yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion psalm 2 and verse 6 I will declare the decree the Lord has today I have begotten you as ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession you should break them with the rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel so the Lord reigning in Mount Zion is indicative of his reign over all his enemies this would be psalm 2 it's indicated in psalm 110 as well when David says the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool the Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion rule in the midst of your enemies your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power and the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning you have the dew of your youth the Lord has sworn and will not relent you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek and thus he would execute kings in the day of his wrath judge among the nations and fill the places with dead bodies he shall execute the heads of many countries and so we have to see in Revelation chapter 14 with this scene of the Lord standing on Mount Zion this victory over his enemies the fact that along with the 144,000 this is a scene a picture of victory we talked a little bit about the seal of God in their foreheads and this was a contrast between the mark of the beast that was seen in chapter 13 but from this perspective it indicates that they have been transformed into the royal priesthood and thus taking a scene out of Exodus chapter 28 with the garments of the high priest the scripture talks about they would make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it like the engraving of a signet holiness to the Lord and they would put it on this blue cord that it may be on the turbans and it shall be on the front of the turbans so it shall be on Aaron's forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel howl in their holy gifts and it shall always be on his forehead that he may be accepted of the Lord or that they may be accepted that is Israel would be accepted on the Lord so a part of this was to indicate the fact that they are the royal priesthood along with Christ as we see in first Peter chapter 2 9 and 10 first Peter chapter 2 also 5 and 6 and of course any of the passages that are referring to the church as a temple is also referring to them as the priests of God and this sealing was also for their protection to appease the wrath of God from them as we see in Ezekiel chapter 9 verses 4 through 6 where Ezekiel at the time that the temple was about to be destroyed and this again shows these correlations between the two when the temple was about to be destroyed the Lord spoke of sealing them before that destruction in the sixth century BC where he says go through the midst of the city through the midst of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it to the others he said in my hearing go after them through the city and kill do not let your eyes spare nor have any pity utterly slay old and young men maidens and little children and women but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark and he says and began at my sanctuary so they began with the elders who were before the temple so this again indicates the preservation of those who had the mark those who had been protected from the mark of the beast who had not succumbed to it and who resisted that rebellion of the ones who gave their allegiance over to the beast and so these are sealed for holiness they're sealed for righteousness they are sealed for protection against the wrath of God and therefore they're it that's indicated in the mark and in the sealing of which they have now the manner or in which they were sealed just as was indicated with Christ in Matthew chapter 3 Mark 1 Luke chapter 3 and even as indicated in Acts chapter 10 the Bible demonstrates that Jesus was anointed at his baptism and so when he was baptized the Bible says the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a dove and that was a mark or a sealing of Christ but we also have a similar thing with the church in terms of their sealing both from Acts chapter 2 and verse 38 when the scripture points out as they cried out on the day of Pentecost men and brethren what shall we do Peter said to them along with the apostles repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and so after they were baptized they too received that sealing that's also Mark chapter 16 where when the scripture spoke of the preaching of the gospel and he says go into all the world preach the gospel to all the creation he who believes and is baptized shall be saved he who does not believe shall be condemned and he says and these signs shall follow those who believe and so through the laying on of the apostles hands those signs were given but the scripture talks about those as a seal and so when we look in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 13 and 14 Paul talked about those after they had received the word of truth and you can also see this in in Acts chapter 17 after they had been baptized following the baptism of John which they had received those those disciples that Paul found in Ephesus the scripture talks about after they were baptized Paul laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit and again in Ephesians 1 13 and 14 he says this sealing was the earnest of the inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession so that is how they were marked for the protection and for their protection against the wrath of God it was through their faith through their obedience and through the sealing of the Holy Spirit so in Ephesians 4 and verse 30 which also refers to this text he says and do not grieve the Holy Spirit whereby you are sealed for or even into the day of redemption and of course that ties back into Luke 21 and verse 28 where their redemption drew nigh in connection with the fall of the temple so all of these things are uh rounded out or or sort of dovetailed into uh the time that we're looking at here in um excuse me in Revelation chapter 14 let's see um 144 000 to 12 000 out of the 12 tribes of Israel anointed one sadly understand that you are there's a lot people understand about this in Revelation 2 9 and 3 9 for your information is not a reference to any so-called Khazarian Jews living today that was a reference to disobedient Jews out of Israel just like John 8 44 says when Jesus told them they were of their father the devil these are the Judaizers who had been following um Paul and the apostles around uh rejecting Christ and so it's a misuse to take that text it's historically inaccurate to take Revelation 2 9 and 3 9 to refer to Khazarian Jews uh even though we know uh from uh the perspective of uh if you were to look at that history uh these are some people who converted to uh Judaism very late in history as opposed to the New Testament but uh there are no um physical uh descendants of Israel in terms of any covenantal recognition of them at this point the Bible speaks about those who are Jews in terms of obedience to the gospel uh and that is not a Jew in his flesh and so check out John 1 12 I'm sure you're familiar with that John 1 12 and 13 uh Romans 9 6 through 9 relations chapter 3 26 through 29 etc so you know it saddens me to see how many people misuse uh Revelation 2 9 and Revelation 3 9 because they don't understand the history uh and don't understand the chronology uh of uh the New Testament and they continue to abuse those passages and try to apply them to people living today and they just don't refer to people who are living uh today and um so that's uh that's all that we'll say about that but it it is just it's just sad uh because of misunderstandings of Deuteronomy 28 and trying to apply that to the trans transatlantic slave trade um Stephen says read Deuteronomy 28 sit back and think how those curses fit black America because of disobedience going way back um Deuteronomy 28 doesn't refer to the transatlantic slave trade that is people coming out of Egypt and going down into Egypt and you know read um Deuteronomy 17 but I've and I've even written a book on it but those those curses have nothing to do with people living today and it's sad to see people claiming that they're under a curse as a result of it but anyway let's move on and um and we were talking about the wrath and so as priests they too were um along with Christ were appeasing the wrath of God and this was part of the work of the uh of the priest in the scriptures uh particularly when we look in Numbers chapter 16 where the people complained against the priesthood of Aaron and Moses and uh in their um uh claim and on this particular occasion after uh God had destroyed some of them some of the people uh complained saying they had killed the people of the Lord and this angered God and so he began to destroy some of the people of Israel and so God told Moses said to Aaron take a censer put fire in it from the altar put incense on it and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them for uh wrath has gone out from the Lord the flag has begun so God had begun to destroy them but then Aaron took it as Moses commanded ran into the midst of the assembly and already the flag had begun among the people so he put in the incense and made atonement for the people so there was one occasion where uh they appeased the wrath of God another one is seen in Numbers chapter 25 when uh Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest uh saw what was taking place with their interactions with the people of Moab and their harlotry that was going on in uh worship these idols and when he found this man and woman it says that he uh went into the tent thrust both of them through the man of Israel and the woman through her body so the among the children of Israel and again um I think it was about 14 000 who died in the situation number 16 23 000 died or 24 000 died here in numbers 25 so uh at that point God appeased the wrath and so when we look at the uh priests who are sealed uh when we look at 144 000 uh they are appealing appeasing excuse me the wrath of God and so that's uh an important concept then we see the day of atonement that's indicated here uh okay Steve I get you uh I understood that he was saying that about black people and uh that um that was James yeah I looked at that at first I saw it um from the perspective of when I saw your name but then I recognized that that was uh this James Bassey guy who was saying that so I I get it very clearly uh the next thing that we want to look at in the um text is the jubilee that is referred to in uh Zechariah chapter I mean in Revelation chapter 14 and so he says and you shall count uh according to Leviticus 25 verse 8 you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself seven times seven years and the time of seven sabbaths of years shall be to you 49 years then you shall cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month on the day of atonement you shall make the trumpet sound throughout your land and you shall consecrate the 50th year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants it shall be a jubilee for you and each of you shall return to his possession and each of you shall return to his family the 50th year shall be a jubilee to you in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord nor gather the grapes of your uh intended vine for it is the jubilee it shall be holy to you you shall eat produce from the field and um in this year each of you shall return to his possession this is indicated through the gathering of the 144 000 on mount zion we've seen several times in the new testament where the people of israel were being gathered in the first century in the text speaks about his gathering together his elect from the four winds at the time of the coming of christ in the clouds this was in the first century generation because the text in verse 34 says assuredly i say to you this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place and so the gathering of the elect was then taking place well this is the gathering that we are looking at in revelation chapter 14 uh to mount zion you also have the text in uh second thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 1 now concerning the coming or the parisia of our lord jesus christ and our gathering together to him so this gathering was already taking place and by the way paul wrote and so he's speaking about the gathering of israel in this text and thus the gathering of ourselves or the gathering of israel together and along with that of course gentiles were included but nevertheless this is the focus of the gathering and what is that pointing to that's pointing to the time of jubilee when people would be uh returned to their lands when they would uh their sins would be forgiven now throughout israel's history the jubilee was focused on releasing people from their debts it was focused on releasing uh them from uh prison freeing them etc and returning them back to their lands this is largely why or some of the reasons why people think that the goal of eschatology today was to bring people back to the physical land of israel and so they think that christ is going to go back set up his throne in jerusalem and people are going to be gathered back to that land and rain well that is not what the scripture is speaking of this was a gathering that was already taking place in the first century and this is long before the um anything that had to do with the transatlantic slave trade or anything this was the gathering of the people to christ in ephesians chapter 1 and verse 11 the scripture says that he might gather together in one in all things in christ and that was in the fullness of the time now remember jesus announced the fullness of the time when he began his ministry uh after john had been put in prison in mark chapter 1 and the scripture says uh he quotes from daniel saying that the time is fulfilled the um kingdom of god is at hand repent and believe the gospel so he's telling you that the kingdom was at hand in the first century that they were to repent in view of that but he said the time is fulfilled and by the way uh that's the perfect tense uh that he uses there to indicate that the time had come that it was fulfilled and that it was um it stood as an existing result and so when you see ephesians chapter 1 and verse 10 when he says that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he would gather together in one all things which are in christ jesus both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him that is the reconciliation of heaven and earth that is the gathering of all things in christ into the one family of god in the fullness of the time now when does the bible speak of the fullness of the times in galatians 4 and verse 4 the scripture says but when the fullness of the time had come god sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to do what to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons and so uh he of course gave them the spirit which was the promise of joel that was poured out on the day of pentecost uh that continued into the last days and it was through his spirit that he was gathering them uh together that was the eschatological spirit poured out in the last days that only continued until the coming of christ in 70 ad and that's why it was the earnest of the inheritance and so uh that time frame of which he speaks was the um uh the consummation of which of course was the jubilee the bible spoke about 10 jubilee periods and that the end of all prophecy the end or the fulfillment of all things will occur within the 10th jubilee that's what daniel's prophecy is about daniel 70 weeks uh the 490 years are 10 jubilee periods and so when he said 70 weeks are for your people and for the holy city um to um uh make an end of sins the making of the end of sins and you know i would need a whole another 30 minutes to talk about this making an end of sins i have seen um and and to finish the transgression people uh in in their presentation trying to avoid the impact of 70 ad when the scripture has told us that god has cut out or determined 70 weeks and that means you can't go beyond the 70 weeks i see these guys who want to take this prophecy and say well jesus made an end of sins when he died on the cross and try to compress that all into a 30 ad or cross time frame or maybe stretch it at least to pentecost and they will quote texts like john chapter 19 and verse 30 that says uh you know he bowed his head and um oh it is finished but when he says you know it is finished and then he bowed his head and he gave up the ghost or the spirit but that scripture is speaking about the end of jesus's suffering once he died that was the end of his suffering and the bible always makes a distinction between the time of jesus suffering the time that he was in the grave the time that he rose from the dead and then the time of his coming where he consummates this putting away of sin as you can see in romans chapter 11 and um this is why it's focused on the time of jubilee and then the other point and i know we have to close here and um looks like i'm gonna have to continue this a little bit into next week because we need to talk about this this time of jubilee um when we look uh further it with the uh finishing the transgression i've even seen them argue that it's that the transgression was being finished by christ well that's really interesting no that's the transgression that daniel was praying about when he was saying in daniel chapter 9 that israel had sinned he was praying to god to forgive them for their sin of course they had been in babylonian captivity for 70 years but he admitted and acknowledged that they had not repented and so what god tells them is to uh that he was going to um that they had to finish the transgression and that is what jesus takes up in matthew chapter 23 when he says fill up the measure of your father's guilt he's talking about israel killing the prophets and he says he was going to send them wise men and scribes some of whom they would persecute from city to city and would beat in their synagogues etc which they did to him they uh crucified christ they persecuted and killed some of the apostles and saints as paul said in first thessalonians chapter 2 verses 14 through 16 saying to them because they had killed both the lord jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us forbidding us to speak to the gentiles they fill up the measure of their sins and the wrath of god comes upon them to the uttermost so those were the disobedient jews in the first century who had to uh finish the transgression and it is in the book of revelation where you see the mother of harlots filled with the martyrs of the blood of jesus and uh filled with this cup of iniquity and that was the filling up of or the um uh yes the finishing of the transgression from that particular uh perspective but that brings us all the way down to this time of judgment that we're looking at in revelation chapter 14 and the time of jubilee we're going to next week and start around uh isaiah 49 and continue uh this subject uh relative to jubilee and 144 000 uh comparing that with daniel chapter 9 so that we can see uh this correlation that's being um indicated in this text well that's about all the time that we have and um let's see i know we had a few others to uh to join us this morning uh good morning to you um let's see let's be beatrice uh carol gail uh richard tiffany uh james and who else do we have rudder his voice let's see jose and julie all right well good morning to all of you hope that you gained some insights into the lesson we will be back on next week for another study and um i hope that you can see all these tie-ins and these correlations with revelation 14 it's really a vast chapter uh deb we don't want to miss you either so good morning to you uh but it's really a fascinating chapter a lot more than than what meets the eye when we take a look at it and i hope that uh you got at least some points indicated from the mesh today until next week i want to encourage you i'll put the link in you know to continue to share the link to have people subscribe uh to our newsletter uh visit our website and if you have any questions or concerns leave them in the chat and i'll come back and look at them uh as we have time with that i'm going to say good morning to all of you we'll see you in the um in the broadcast on next week