Motivation to Endure

*The sermon manuscript below was generated from the recording by AI…

Enduring to the End: A Vision from Revelation 14–15

If you have the Bible with you, I would invite you to turn with me to the Book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 14, as we continue working our way through the book. Revelation chapter 14, and we’re gonna read through to chapter 15, verse 4.

So that was Revelation 14, picking up at verse 1.

“Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. And they were singing a new song before the throne and before the 4 living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, and tribe, and language, and people. And he said with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give Him glory because the hour of His judgment has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.’

Another angel, a second, followed, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.’

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night,’ these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.’

Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, ‘Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.’ So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, ‘Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.’ So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle for 1,600 stadia.

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, 7 angels with 7 plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire, and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

‘Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God, The Almighty, just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations shall come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.’

Amen.

Let’s pray.

Father in heaven, we thank you for your holy and inerrant Word, and we pray as we, as we consider it now, as we sit under the preaching of your Word, that, Lord, you would build us up, that you would grant us to hear the words of Christ anew, that, Lord, though we listen to the words of a mere man, we would hear the accent of Christ, the lilt of Christ upon every word we hear. Holy Spirit, attend this time please, for there will be no fruit unless you do. Glorify our great God in the preaching of your Word. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Last week, we considered the dragon and the beasts, didn’t we? We considered what I called the Unholy Trinity, this trinity that was set up in opposition to the one true God. And so we saw the dragon acting like the Father, we saw the first beast acting like the Son of God, and we saw the last beast acting like the Holy Spirit. And all 3 were laboring in order to destroy, in order to deceive, and in order to defile the church of Jesus Christ and his saints.

And we saw a call to endurance, didn’t we? That as believers we must endure through the great trials that we face in this life. And brothers and sisters, as we see this reality playing out, it begins to raise a question, which is how can we endure? How can we endure? How can we remain motivated to endure while there’s these 3 terrifying creatures running around seeking to lead us away from God?

I mean, you just take for example 13:16-17. I mean, they’re famous passages which are talked about often and sometimes made far too much of, and yet there’s this picture of pressure. Have, have a read with me.

“Also the beast causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, so everyone, right? He causes all of them to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

Now, you imagine yourself in that situation where you can’t buy anything, you can’t sell anything unless you agree to take the mark of the beast upon your hand. How do you eat? How do you feed your family? How do you pay your mortgage? How do you live? You’re forced to, what? Scavenge, beg.

Now, there’s 2 reactions to these verses. One is to, to think that every single thing is this, everything, every time something happens. What do you hear? Ah, this is the moment, right? Whether it’s Stalin, whether it’s Putin, whether it’s Genghis Khan, here it is again. But the other reaction is to say it’s just a picture that has no truth to it.

Well, the reality is a little bit like the fact that there are little antichrists that pop up throughout history, and there is the antichrist to come. The same is true here.

And brothers and sisters, this is the exact situation that our brothers and sisters are starting to find themselves in China. You have a social credit system. Now, if you go to the lawful church, it’s fine. No one minds. But if you worship in a true church of Jesus Christ, your social credit system goes down, and when your social credit system goes down, you can’t get a job, and you can’t feed your family.

It’s what happened in Stalin’s Russia. If you were persecuted and in jail, you weren’t allowed to feed the family of a person, a martyr. If I’m in jail, it would be illegal for you to feed my family or to give them anything, and if you did, you would all go to prison.

It’s the exact situation we read here. And brothers and sisters, it’s the situation that’s starting to play out in the UK, where they’re putting facial recognition in on every corner, on every street, so that they can track you, so that they can limit your freedom.

Brothers and sisters, don’t be naive. The forces of the beast will gladly bring this into New Zealand too. This is not hypothetical. This is reality, remember? It’s a picture, a dragon and 2 beasts. It’s a picture of a reality that there is an enemy. There is an enemy of your soul. There is someone who hates you, and he wants to destroy you, and he wants to deceive you, and he wants to defile our worship.

So how will we endure? He’s more powerful than us. He’s smarter than us. He’s far more cunning than any of us are wise. How can we remain motivated when it’s so easy just to give up? Because if you give up, you see, you no longer face the difficulties that Christians face. You no longer have to lay down your life. You can live in peace with the world, and everyone will clap for you. Everyone will pat you on the back. You’ll have acclaim and fame and fortune and, and comfort and ease. Why not just give up? It would be so much easier. Your family who disagree with you will say, “Oh, you’ve finally woken up. You finally realize the truth,” you see.

How do we press on? Well, this vision we’ve read in chapter fourteen and the beginning of chapter 15 lay before us 3 pictures, 3 scenes that motivate us. 3 things that will help us keep on keeping on, enduring to the end.

Do you remember those words from the writer of the Hebrews, where he says, “You have not yet endured to the point of blood.” Keep on going. Strengthen your weak knees. Lift up your weak hands. Get to work. Don’t give up. And that’s our message today.

And so scene one, picture one: the first thing that I want you to see today, that you will be motivated by understanding who you are in Christ. You will be motivated to endure by seeing who you are in Christ. And we see this in chapter 14, verses one through 5.

Makes a great, makes a great deal of difference how you think about yourself, doesn’t it? Psychologists know this. In fact, psychologists will say that a person, a person will not change their behavior until they begin to view themselves differently. And so I remember reading an article about a, a big research project done on cigarette smokers who were trying to give up. And, and what psychologists discovered as they worked with people was it was not until the point where the person no longer viewed themselves as a smoker that they actually gave up. As long as the person considered themselves to be a cigarette smoker trying to give up, they continued to struggle. But the day they broke the habit was the day they realized they’re not a smoker anymore.

And the same thing applies to people with obesity. The same thing applies to drug addicts, to alcoholics. How we view ourselves greatly impacts our behavior and the way we act.

And what we need to see here is that we ought to view ourselves in Christ. And so we get a series of things. 5 different truths come to us.

Firstly, we get this picture of a hundred and 44 thousand people. Now, the question, of course, is, is this literal? That it’s just a picture of a particular group of 144,000, or is it metaphorical? And you, you remember the rule for understanding the Book of Revelation, right? What’s the rule? It’s metaphorical unless you have very good reason to think it’s literal. Now, everything in this chapter is metaphorical, right? It’s all picture. It’s all picture helping us understand real truth. So it’s clearly a picture of the same 144,000 that we saw in chapter six and seven. It’s a picture of the church. It’s a picture of the invisible Church of Jesus Christ throughout all ages, 144,000 of them, and it’s a picture of the fact that there is a set number of elect that God has chosen, and that’s the first truth he wants you to know.

How are you going to keep on being motivated in endurance? To remember that if you are in Christ, you are a chosen one of God. You are one of the 144,000. You are not one of the beast. You are not one of the world. You have been elected from before the foundation of the world.

The second truth he wants you to know about being in Christ is that you have a name upon you. We see this picture of the Father’s name upon their foreheads, and Christ’s name, the Lamb’s name upon them. Why is this significant? Well, as we saw in 13 verse 16 and 17, what happens to the people of the world? They have the mark of the beast upon them, right? They have this mark upon their foreheads, upon their hands, and all of a sudden we’re immediately confronted with the 144,000 with the name of their Father upon them, with the name of the Lamb upon them. So they’re not just elected, but they’re sealed, and they’re baptized, and they receive the name of their God. They have a new family name. They’re no longer of the world.

You see, all of our names used to be what? Logan of the world. Logan worldly wise man, to use Pilgrim’s. Logan sinner. Logan of the beast. Logan of the dragon. But what has happened? We’ve been elected. We’ve been chosen. We’ve had the Spirit put inside of us. We’ve been sealed by the spirit of adoption. We’ve been brought into the family of God. And now what? Well, we’ve been baptized into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and so we’ve received a new name. And so now we are known by this name. So we have nothing to do with the old family. We belong to a new family.

But then the next picture we see is this song being sung. It’s a triumphant song. It’s a loud song. Striking, isn’t it? John says, “I heard a voice from heaven.” Now, almost every other time you hear that in the Book of Revelation, whose voice is it? God’s. I heard a voice from heaven, and then Jesus erupts with something, or God erupts with something, or some special heavenly angel erupts with something. But that’s not what happens here.

Have a look at the text. Verse 2: I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters. It even sounds like God. The sound of loud thunder, again, like the voice of God, and who is it? The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne. It’s the 144,000. It’s the people of God in worship and praise.

That’s a striking picture, isn’t it? Why? Well, the Church of Jesus Christ is, you might say, defiantly singing a song to the Lamb that overflows to the earth in contrast with the song of the beast. Because in our last chapter, what was the beast doing? He was seeking to draw worshipers to the image and draw worshipers to the other beast, right? But in contrast, as the earth is squeaking its little mouse cries of songs, the thunder of heaven is the song of God’s people erupting, and you and I are part of that song. Are we not?

I hope you realize that it’s not just us singing here this morning today. We join with a great host of captives. We join with invisible church. Every time the church praises, we join ourselves by faith to heaven and sing with her. It’s not just us singing. Don’t be tempted to think to yourself, “We make such a squeaky wheel noise.” The singing of God’s people is like the thundering of heaven, silencing those that shout against us.

But then fourthly, in verse three and four, we see something really striking. We’re told that these are redeemed. They are the redeemed from the earth, and then we’re told these have been redeemed from the mankind. Now, you can’t see the connection here in English, but you know what’s really amazing? That word “redeemed” is the exact same word that in the previous chapter said they cannot buy or sell. It’s the same word. Is the connection being made here? You do not get to buy, but God has bought you. You may not get to buy at the supermarket under the tyranny of the devil, yet God has bought you, not with silver or gold, right, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. You are a bought one, even if you don’t get to buy anything and you starve to death because of it.

What’s this picture we’re being given? It’s the picture of the redeemed, purchased ones of God, who no matter what happens to them, they are owned. They are possessed by one who loves them. That though this world may reject you, He has bought you at a great cost.

There’s one more thing to see, and that’s this wonderful picture of pure virgins following the lamb. And so we’re told at the end there, in verse 4, “They are virgins. It is these who follow the lamb wherever he goes.” And in verse 5, “In their mouth, no lie was found for they are blameless.”

Now, don’t get yourself confused thinking the only way you get to be a part of this crowd is if you’re a virgin, that it’s all the virgins who get this. It’s a picture. What is virginity a picture of? It’s a picture of purity, right? It’s a picture of cleanness, of blamelessness, of withholding a certain action for the sake of another. I mean, that’s what we do, right? Instead of consummating a relationship ahead of marriage, we withhold, we hold on, we withstand the temptation, and we remain pure in order to enter into the joy of marriage.

And it’s a picture, right? It’s a picture of a truth that the people of God are pure, they’re blameless. Now, it’s not saying they’re perfect, it’s saying that they strive to keep themselves for the lamb alone. They devote themselves to the lamb and not to the things of this world. They set aside the lusts of their flesh, the pride of life, wicked eyes, haughtiness. They set those things aside out of love for their husband, because the church is what? Is a bride, right? As she’s waiting the day of her wedding, she’s waiting the day of the marriage supper of the lamb, which we’re gonna get to in chapter 19.

And what’s all of this a picture of? What’s John seeing? He’s seeing a picture of, of you and I, isn’t he? He’s seeing a picture of what it means to be a child of God, what it means to belong to Christ, to be a part of the invisible church of Christ, a hundred and 44 thousand, to have a name upon them, to be singing a, a life of worship, to be purchased by the blood of the lamb, and to be a pure disciple, a follower of Jesus as we go about in our lives.

Why is that important? Because if you don’t lay hold of that, you’re very quickly gonna get led astray, aren’t you? I mean, why bother continuing if I’m just the same as everybody else? But when you come to realize that this is not your home, when you come to realize that you’re a pilgrim on a journey to another land, that you’re just a traveling through, that you’re a sojourner, you’re gonna live very differently, aren’t you?

When you go on holiday, now hypothetically, you go on holiday overseas. Some of you have never done this, but pretend you have. You go to South Africa on holiday. Maybe not the best choice, but you go there. You go to South Africa on holiday. Now, you don’t buy a house, do you? Well, why not? Well, because you’re just there temporarily. You don’t get a job, do you? No, because you’re just there temporarily. What do you do? You travel around. You don’t worry about learning the language because you’re not gonna be there long enough to need it. You’re just briefly passing through over the face at time of a month. And so you go place to place and home to home and hotel to hotel, and, and you enjoy your time, and then you leave, and you have memories, and you have joys, and there were difficulties, like the time your taxi broke down and you got mugged by someone. But through it all, you got home again.

Well, brothers and sisters, this is a picture of our life, isn’t it? This is not our home. This is not where our family is. Our true home is in heaven. We’re citizens of heaven. That’s where our citizenship is. That’s where our Father is. That’s where our elder brother is. That’s where our fellow brothers and sisters are gathered, waiting for us.

And so let me ask you the question: Does your life reflect, as a Christian, does your life reflect someone who doesn’t belong here, as an alien, a stranger, a sojourner? Or are we so enraptured with the world that we look no different than the followers of the beast?

It’s a challenge, isn’t it? Do the people of the world see me and recognize I am different to them, that I have a different name? I’ve got a funny accent, so that they come to me and say to me, “Hey, where are you from?” And you say, “I’m not from around these parts.” They say, “Where are you from?” And you say, “Oh, I’ve got the accent of my older brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the accent you hear.” And they say, “Oh, you’re one of them.”

This is how we should look, shouldn’t we? We belong to a different world. I think this motivates us not to trade with the devil, not to trade with the beasts, not to trade with the world, but to deal with righteousness.

You remember that picture in second Corinthians, where the Apostle Paul asks that question: What part does Christ have with Belial? And he uses it to apply it to marriage and to say you should not be unequally yoked. You can’t marry an unbeliever. Well, the same is true in our life, isn’t it? We can’t be married to a sinful, fallen world. It’s either Christ or Belial. It’s not both/and. “You cannot serve both God and money,” Jesus said. “You will hate one and love the other.” And so it is in our Christian faith, so we must focus on who we are in Christ.

The second thing we must focus on is the present verdict of God, the present verdict of God. You know, a judge’s ruling can make all the difference in the world, can’t it? I remember when I was falsely accused, ended up in a big legal battle in my workplace, and eventually got vindicated after 6 to 8 weeks or something, and I remember the day that the, the judge made the decision and declared me to be innocent and vindicated. What a relief. I walked out of that place in exactly the same situation. I still wasn’t back at work yet. There was still a bunch of stuff to sort out at the workplace because of the people that falsely accused me. All of the difficulties were still there, and yet I walked out like a new man. Everything had changed because the judge had simply said innocent. That’s it. Just one word, right? And yet all of a sudden my entire perspective of life has changed. I’m free.

Brothers and sisters, we must see God’s judgment, God’s verdict right now. Not future judgment, today’s verdict, today’s judgment on the reality of the world that we live in. You see, if we can see God’s present verdict on the world and on the church, it will drastically change how we live our lives. It’s the reality of a here, not yet situation. Here today, God’s verdict is declared and announced. The judge has made a decree. It’s final. It’s finished, but we’re waiting to see it realized.

So what is this verdict? Well, it begins with this picture. It starts in verse six and goes to the end of verse 13. It starts with these 3 angels. Out of nowhere, this angel arises who’s flying over the top of John and everything that’s happening, and he’s proclaiming a gospel. Proclaiming a gospel doesn’t mean proclaiming the gospel. It can. Same word used for both. The gospel can be both positive and negative, right? If the gospel hardens your heart, is it a good, is it a lovely thing? It brings judgment. The gospel cuts both ways.

And so here we’re seeing a picture of the gospel in its negative action, in its judgmental capacity. The gospel is coming and being declared over the top of the evil nation who refuses to come to Christ. And so this angel declares, “Fear God. Give Him glory.” But what do they do? They don’t, because they give glory to the beast. And then he says, “Because the hour of his judgment has come present. Worship Him who has made heaven and earth, the sea, and the springs of water.” But they don’t, do they? Who do they worship? Who does the world worship, brothers and sisters? The devil, the beast, themselves, anything, the creature rather than the Creator.

And so this gospel warning of judgment sounds out over the earth, a present judgment against the nations.

But then the second angel turns up, and the second angel just cries out, “Babylon, Babylon, it’s fallen. Fallen is Babylon.” You think, “Where did Babylon come from?” It’s the first reference to Babylon in the book. It’s actually a very important reference. It, it’s acting like a little hinge connector. You know, like, like the little piece of Lego that you need to build the set that you always lose. It’s this connector that transitions us from beast picture to city metaphor that’s coming. He says, “Babylon’s fallen.” And you look around yourself, and you say to yourself what? “It doesn’t look very fallen.” But you remember it’s a present judgment of a future reality to come. It’s a present declaration, present verdict. Babylon is fallen. Babylon is destroyed. The one who caused everyone to flee into sin, she’s overthrown.

And then the third angel arises and says in a loud voice some of the most stark imagery in the Book of Revelation, “Everyone who worships the beast, he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image and everyone, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

I had someone over at my house the other day, and they asked me the question, “Is it appropriate to preach hellfire and sulfur?” You know, you think of the, a reference to types of preaching where they would preach about the torments of hell. Brothers and sisters, here is hellfire and brimstone. Here is the biblical metaphor for the reality of the judgment of God against evildoers, and he declares it to be a present reality because though the final day of judgment has not come, all worshipers of the beast suffer without rest after their death. There is no rest for them. I know the world says, “Rest in peace,” but they do not.

The present verdict of God against this world is guilty. Guilty as charged and worthy of eternal damnation.

But notice in contrast, and this is where we see the motivation for us to endure, well, I don’t want that. And so God says in verse 13, “Write this.” “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”

A contrast’s being made, right? 3 declarations, proclamations of judgment upon this world. One simple statement in contrast with all of the anguish and suffering and restlessness of those under the judgment of God, the people of God, their death is a blessing. Their death is a blessing. Gloria wasn’t cursed, brothers and sisters, when she died. She was set free.

This is a glorious motivation for us, isn’t it? Because if it’s true of death, which is the final and greatest enemy for us to face, then it’s true of every tribulation we face. It’s all a blessing. And it’s a reminder for us to keep on enduring. Why? Because you’ve only got 2 options. You have peace and rest today in the world, and you suffer for eternity, or you have trial and tribulation today, and you have rest and blessing for eternity. There’s no third path.

So I guess the question is, which proclamation are you under? Are you under the proclamation of the angels, or are you under the proclamation of the blessing of God?

You see, because Jesus Christ came to suffer a guilty verdict, didn’t he? The innocent was declared guilty so that the guilty might be declared innocent. It’s the most striking thing that comes up in the gospel accounts. The gospel writers are at pains to show you the innocence and the righteousness of Christ. Everyone says it. Herod can’t find dirt on him. The Pharisees can’t find dirt on him, so they have to get false witnesses. Pilate declares him to be righteous. The thief on the cross declares him to be a good man. The soldier at the foot of the cross declares him to be righteous. And everybody else in the picture is what? Guilty. And yet we get set free. We get declared innocent. We get declared righteous, and he goes away guilty, and he dies.

And so the question is, which proclamation are you under? Have you been declared innocent because Jesus Christ has been declared guilty in your place? Or do you labor under your guilt while Christ freely offers you reconciliation with God?

And then there’s a third picture, brothers and sisters. It’s a picture of future recompense and reward. Knowing your destination makes a great difference, doesn’t it? We talked about this at the funeral. Knowing your destination makes all the difference in the world. You can endure a lot of things with a proper destination in mind.

You know, if you think about it, it’s crazy. People go through surgeries just to make themselves look a little bit prettier. It’s kind of bonkers, we know that, but they endure swollen faces and swollen body parts with pain and discomfort because they have their eyes set on a particular destination, human beauty. Now, that’s folly, we know that, but it is a striking illustration of a truth, isn’t it? That if you have your eyes set on a proper destination, you will be able to endure untold numbers of things.

We don’t have time to unpack it all, but let me just very briefly today show you the future recompense and reward of God. We get this twofold vision that runs from verse 14 to the end of the chapter. It, it’s Christ being called by an angel to finally bring his judgment. The angel says, “It’s time. It’s time. Put in the sickle.” And none of this is positive imagery. None of this is the harvest of the gospel. It’s not the harvest of the gospel, brothers and sisters, that’s finished. We’re talking about the harvest of the judgment day, and so Jesus comes forth with his sickle, and he swipes it over the earth, and he harvests the wicked, and he gathers them together.

And the picture is almost overwhelming. He gathers the grapes, which are the wicked, and he puts them in a wine press, and he trods them, and he trods them, and he trods them until the blood overflows up to the bridle of a horse in depth for 184 miles all around. The picture’s overwhelming, isn’t it? It’s the wrath of the Lamb poured out upon the nations. There’s no dragon, is there? There’s no beasts. They’ve been destroyed, as we’ll see in later chapters. They’re gone. It’s just the image-bearers of God who refuse to worship the Lamb, who refuse to take his offer of mercy and peace, who refuse to come in God’s grace, but instead stubbornly worshiped themselves and the beast. And they are destroyed under the wine press of God’s wrath.

Yes, Jesus is meek and mild, isn’t he today? He is gentle and lowly today. But a day is coming when his mercy shall no longer be offered forth, and his patience with wicked doers will come to an end. This is the recompense of God on those who refuse.

But consider the reward. Oh, by the way, the vision’s repeated twice because it’s sure. Remember the vision of Pharaoh? He has the vision of the cows and the vision of the ears of corn, and Joseph says, “God showed it to you twice to confirm that it’s definitely happening.” And so we see the same thing here. There is no doubt. Don’t sit here and say to yourself quietly and smugly, “It’ll be okay,” because it’s not gonna happen. It’s all just a fanciful dream. It’s sure.

But see also the reward for God’s people. We get this transition verse in chapter 15, verse one that leads us into the next series of visions, and that’s how it works every time. By the way, there’s this overlapping, this interlinking together of the cloth that we’ve talked about. But here, here we see the glory of God’s people gathered together in the presence of God, verse 2 through 4. Gathered together, the wicked are gone, the beast is gone. Those who conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, in other words, those that endured, are gathered together.

And notice what they sing. It’s just a glorious Captain Obvious song. You know what I mean by Captain Obvious, when someone just says something really, really plain and obvious? This is a Captain Obvious song, and it’s majestically so. They say, “Who will not fear, O Lord? Who will not fear? Who will not glorify your name?” You know the answer to that question? No one, because all the wicked are gone. It’s just the people of God. The answer is everyone is going to. Even the wicked doers will be forced to give glory to God on the day of their judgment. All will glorify Him.

But I want you to just notice something, and here’s our motivation. Whose song do they sing? They sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. Why? Why is it the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb? Well, if you read—we won’t turn to it now, but if you read the book of Hebrews later, Hebrews 11 and 12, you remember the Hall of Faith? It says of Moses—that he set aside all the riches of Egypt and, and he endured the suffering and the reproach of Christ. He embraced the reproach of Christ rather than all the riches of Egypt. In other words, he endured all of the difficulties of wilderness wandering, pain, agony, rather than being a spoilt prince of Pharaoh, because he loved Jesus Christ. It’s a picture of endurance, isn’t it?

And so they sing the song of those who endure, and they sing the song of the Lamb. Why? Because Hebrews 12 tells us that Jesus Christ endured the shame and suffering of the cross. Remember, he sweat blood as he thought about the prospect of being under the wrath of God, and yet he endured it all. And so he was highly exalted, Philippians 2. And so he’s the paradigm for us, greater Moses. He’s the paradigm for us of what? Of all who should endure.

And so we look, and we see Christ, and we see Moses, and we sing their song. Why? Because we too want to endure to the end. And as we sing, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations,” we spur ourselves on to fight the fight of the faith. This is the outcome. So why wouldn’t you endure? You’d be a fool not to, wouldn’t you?

I mean, what would you say? What would you say, brothers and sisters, of the man who gets a phone call? He gets a phone call, and it’s a lawyer, and the lawyer says, “Your great-auntie has died, and she left a million dollar inheritance to you. But you must travel to the Himalayans to receive it.” What would you say of the man if he got to the bottom of the Himalayans and said, “Oh, it’s just too much work. I’m going home”? Or if he never even set out because he said, “It sounds like too much work.” Would you not call him a fool? Would you not shake your head and say, “I’ll take it. I’ll go do it. For a million dollars? I mean, one flight there, one flight back—that’s a bargain, right? A little bit of blood, sweat, and tears to get up the mountains, the Himalayans, in order to get it. I’m on board with that.”

But aren’t we tempted to do the same? Are we not tempted to say, “It’s just too much work. It’s just too hard. The world is just too loud. The enemy is just too strong. Let me just be a little bit like the world. It’s too difficult to endure.”

Brothers and sisters, press on. Press on. Press on.

As I was writing this sermon, an old movie came to mind where the commander of an army is standing before his troops, and he asks them the question. They’ve got an enormous army opposing them. And he asks his troops the question, “Will you fight? Will you fight?” and someone cries out from the crowd, “No. Nay. We will run, and we will live.” And the commander of the army says, “Fight, and you may die.” It’s true. Fight, and you may die. Run, and you will live, at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for just one chance, just one chance to come back and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom?

And is that not the opportunity that sits before us today? Is the temptation not for us, brothers and sisters, to say, “Nay, we’ll run, and so we’ll live. We’ll have comfort.” And our captain calls to us and says to us, “Fight, and you may die, and yet you’ll live. But if you run, if you love this world, you will gain your life, but you will lose it,” right? In fact, he says, “You may gain the whole world and lose your soul.”

Brothers and sisters, the devil is a fierce enemy. The devil is smarter and more cunning than you and I, and he will gladly kill you. That’s a reality. And yet, far better to lay down our lives and yet keep our souls, right?

So let us endure to the end, and may God grant us a divine perspective so that we may press on to the upward call of Christ for His glory. Amen.

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