1Then I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of mighty ocean waves or the rolling of loud thunder. It was like the sound of many harpists playing together. 3This great choir sang a wonderful new song in front of the throne of God and before the four living beings and the twenty-four elders. No one could learn this song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4They have kept themselves as pure as virgins, following the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among the people on the earth as a special offering to God and to the Lamb. 5They have told no lies; they are without blame.
Revelation 14:1-5
This is such a fascinating passage, premised on what went before it. I am sure you have seen along with me the connections in this passage to the previous chapter. Don’t forget the foundations John laid for us in the previous chapter. The parody of the unholy trinity flows over into this fourteenth chapter of the vision John saw. It all fits together to the point where we now have a new mark and a new song; both are of major importance. The choir are the martyrs singing to the throne, that is to the Lamb and to God the Father and to the four living creatures and the twenty four elders. His name and His Father’s name are what is written on their foreheads. Notice the order has been reversed. How appropriate that it’s the choir of martyrs singing the new song to the Lamb and His Father. The martyrs are the ones who can sing the new song because they are recipients of salvation; angels haven’t experienced salvation.
It seemed highly appropriate to me that I name this Gem as I have, seeing it is the first Gem of the New Year. Newness all round: a New Mark and a New Song for a New Year. I will now draw out the significance of the new mark and the new song but not necessarily the New Year. I will leave you to do that with the LORD. Suffice to say, I give this New Year into the hands of the LORD who loves you more than you can ask or imagine and pray He will lead and guide you into every spiritual blessing He has in store for you this year.
Now let’s investigate the New Mark and the New Song.
A New Mark
What is the mark of the beast? We are told 666 is the number of his name; the number which represents his name. We have delved into what the significance of that number is enough already (Gems 2311 and 2312). In essence, allowing that number to be put on you is tantamount to having his name, the name of the antichrist and the dragon on you. If the number represents the name then it is the equivalent to having his name on you. You are symbolically the property of satan and the antichrist. Even more so if you accept the mark of ownership willingly and bow down in worship to the beast or any of the unholy trinity. John makes that clear with these repeated warnings in Revelation 12 to 14.
- Revelation 12:11
- Revelation 12:17
- Revelation 13:8-10
- Revelation 13:15-16
- Revelation 14:9-11
- Revelation 14:12-13
- Revelation 20:4-6
Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.
Revelation 13:18
What is so important about the mark? Don’t you see? Satan counterfeits everything related to God, so in the same way, it is true of the mark too. Why is the mark put on the forehead or the hand? Why these two places? The mark is part of the parody, or part of satan’s plot to counterfeit everything that is God’s.
And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:5-9
This is why the Jewish people tied phylacteries to their foreheads or hands (wrists). This symbolised the fact that they were tied to the Lord’s commandments. They were sons and daughters of the commandments; people of the book. [Bar mitzpah = ‘a son of the commandments’] and [Bat mitzpah = ‘a daughter of the commandments’]. After the young children had learned the Torah off by heart they then became a person of the book, the TANAKH (the Law, the Prophets and the Writings). Are you getting the picture? Do you see now the significance of the one who bows to the devil and is willing to take the mark of the beast on either the forehead or the hand?
I trust I have made it clearer for you. Wisdom is needed to rightly interpret the meaning or significance of the mark. Satan is just as intent on the mark as anything else. It is all part of the parody between the Holy Trinity and the unholy trinity. The three entities of the unholy trinity are replicated just as the miracles are counterfeited, so too the antichrist ‘rising from the dead’ by deception and in the end the followers are asked to worship and bow down. Does it all seem familiar now?
Did you take note of the fact that the Mark has changed in this latest vision? The new mark is now the Name of the Lamb and the name of the Father of the Lamb. Dear Reader, this new mark is clearly the sign of ownership of The Lamb of God and Father God Himself, Adonai or YHWH. Wake up to the reality of the symbolism of this mark. In the first instance this was a present day reality for all Christians living under the rule of the Roman Empire. All Roman emperors demanded to be called Lord and Divine. No wonder the fellow believers in John’s time were conflicted when asked to bow in honour of the Emperor and proclaim him Lord. Also too they were expected to worship the deity associated with the guilds of artisans and traders which demanded allegiance to the deities associated with each trade or industry. The whole of life was designed around the worship of the Roman deities. If you didn’t comply you were not allowed to trade. Look back at the background to the seven churches of the Roman province of Asia, The Letter to the Seven Churches or simply search the Revelation Gems for the word guild(s) .
Now let’s look into the new song
A New Song
Revelation is filled with songs. A search of the internet will tell you there are 28 songs listed in the book of Revelation. I don’t agree that all are songs and certainly they are not complete songs. Some of the ‘songs’ included in the 28 are actually shouts of praise and many of the ‘songs’ are snippets or one liners. In other cases the songs are complete songs and often a song is on-going and cumulative, gathering singers as it progresses. But I will let you find that out for yourself. It is a good exercise to do. Many of our worship songs, old and modern, come from the book of Revelation. The songs of Revelation are the Church’s song book. When you think about it in that context as I have been doing, it is quite revealing. What is noteworthy about the songs of Revelation is the fact that they are sung at all, in the midst of horrible circumstances. Many of you have commented on this Gem series on Revelation that “it’s getting you down, with all this death and bloodshed and horror”.
Yes, that indeed is a feature of Revelation. It was written in the midst of an awful time for Christian believers under the yoke of Rome. John is warning fellow believers to hang in there. Cling to the LORD, the Lamb of God and hold to your faith, your trust in Him to bring you into the Life of the Age to Come. I have spent the last days on the songs of Revelation. I have worked my way through each of the songs listed and played them. I have found the songs magnificent inspiration to faith and trust in Him who loves me. There is a remarkable collection of songs on Spotify called Revelation Song: 11 Essential Worship Songs inspired by the book of Revelation. John’s letter was an encouragement to the believers under Roman oppression and the threat of death. That fact is amazing. My suggestion to you is to do as I have done and play through the Spotify list and bathe in worship. Or pick out your favourite rendition of each Revelation song and let it wash over your soul and spirit. It will refresh you, I guarantee! It did that for me.
What is even more amazing is that John includes so many songs in the midst of his letter to the churches. Songs to encourage them to hold fast to their allegiance to Christ in the midst of fearsome opposition. In Revelation 11, all of the people of the world are crying out for the blood of the two witnesses. ALL want to see them die. Remember you too are numbered among the two witnesses!
For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.
Matthew 18:20
Are you a fellow believer in Christ?
He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
John 1:10-12
I hope you too, dear reader, are included among those who trust and keep trusting in Him for your salvation. I hope too that likewise you are inspired and empowered by the songs of Revelation.
All of the world was against the two witnesses yet they were able with us to sing the songs of Revelation. It’s a matter of focus, keep your eyes on heaven not on earth.
Bob Kauflin
If you truly grasp God’s nature and what He has accomplished in Christ you will sing!
Dennis Johnson
We fail to see the GLORY of God in Christ. If we could catch just a glimpse of the wonder and awe of IT, we would exuberantly SING OUT LOUD.
Ian
The songs of Revelation aren’t vague 7/11 songs (seven words repeated 11 times). They express the majesty and the glory of God and the Risen Lamb. They are manly songs that seem to have a world-conquering power behind them.
Phillip Kayser
Now let me give you two statements or explanations for each of these new features of John’s 14th Chapter introduction. The fact that the name of the Lamb of God and the name of Father God are written on you is proof of the fact that His Mark is on you, ensuring nothing will harm you despite all appearances to the contrary.
On that day even the harness bells of the horses will be inscribed with these words: HOLY TO THE LORD. And the cooking pots in the Temple of the LORD will be as sacred as the basins used beside the altar. In fact, every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. All who come to worship will be free to use any of these pots to boil their sacrifices. And on that day there will no longer be traders in the Temple of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
Zechariah 14:20-21
If ‘Holy to the Lord’ could have been written on inanimate objects associated with war and worship making them Holy to the LORD, imagine what the significance of having the Name of the Lamb of God and His Father written on you holds for you. There will be no traders in the temple of LORD, only worshippers who worship in spirit and in truth. God called the Corinthian believers saints, that’s what bearing His Name makes you. (See Gem 136)
Secondly, have you noticed that there is one song missing from the song list of Revelation Songs. I know some of you have picked it up. It’s the New Song sung by the martyrs, the 144,000. Remember, that’s a symbolic number and will continue to be added to. The final number of the martyrs are not yet sealed. But note the fact that we haven’t been given the lyrics of the Song of the Martyrs. Revelation 14:3 doesn’t give us the lyrics to the song.
This great choir sang a wonderful new song in front of the throne of God and before the four living beings and the twenty-four elders. No one could learn this song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
Revelation 14:3
Of course not, only the martyrs can sing this song. I can tell you for a fact that Dominggus Kenjam and all others like him sing of the mercies of the LORD with a whole new perspective to sing it. He is one of the resurrected saints of God. Let me tell you, he has a different spirit much like Caleb and would sing the new song in ways others of us can’t. Domi won’t be quiet; he will tell what the LORD did for him at the drop of a hat. He can’t hold it in. He sings it OUT LOUD.
Yes I deliberately changed the order of the quotes and the final statements in order to highlight them. And yes I also have been holding back this Gem for the New Year. In part because I know many of you take a break over the holidays. I well remember the time in JPCC in Jakarta when we were in the midst of a sermon series on Levelling Up. Tania and I came back to New Zealand for a short furlough and returning to Jakarta we joined the Cell group again. The leader asked everyone in the group, “Have you all been levelling up?” All of the members before me said some variation of “No, I haven’t, I have been on holiday. I haven’t been at church and heard Jeffrey or Jose and others’ sermons.” Others repeated similar statements saying the same thing. The leader said to me “I don’t suppose you have been levelling up Ian because you have been in New Zealand with the family.” I said, “On the contrary, I have. I don’t level up to Jeffrey or Jose or anyone’s sermon, first and foremost I level up to God’s Word and to the Holy Spirit.”
My suggestion to all my readers for this New Year is: that you sing your way through the Songs of Revelation as I have been doing. You will see I have given you the link to the Spotify list above. But they might not be to your liking. Go find you favourite rendition of each song on the Revelation Song List. Go find them for yourself. Then sing them; it’s easy to find them these days. The internet is alive with links to these songs. Sing your way through them. It will bless you! Then some of the truth of the quotes I have included above will strike you too. If you have difficulty finding the songs of Revelation tell me and I will include a list.
I will not write the next Gem until the holiday period is over and people are back at work and in normal routine. That will give you enough time to follow the songs. Then you won’t tell me, “Oh I missed that Gem Ian because I was still on holiday and I haven’t caught up yet.”
Come on, level up.