Collision With Prophecy
Collision With Prophecy #17:
Jesus and the Last-Generation
Introduction
Our previous sixteen meetings have explored what the mark of the beast is. Tonight we need to explore why it is. Why does God allow it to happen, why does He "seal" His people, and who are they? We saw in our last meeting that the mark of the beast is to accept the state's requirement to worship God on Sunday when to do so is enforced by a law decreeing what our conscience can and cannot hold.
Tonight we are going to do three things: (1) Identify the 144,000, (2) share our understanding of the number 666, and (3) Take a hard look at the implications of what we've been learning.
Jesus and the 144 K: People of Conscience
Perhaps conscience is a good starting point. Let's turn to Revelation 14:1-5. Consider the idea of conscience with me.
Conscience, says the dictionary, means "the awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct." It comes originally from a Latin word meaning "to be conscious of." We are talking about knowing the difference between right and wrong, and acting in concert with that knowing. That is, if one is concerned about doing what is right, he will act in harmony with what he understands to be right. If one does not care, his inclination will be to do whatever he wants. Whatever he thinks is right for him is what he will do. This is the thinking of modern relativism. It is very subjective, but let's not miss this--it is subjective for the very reason that its basis for making decisions is that it strips away definitive moral boundaries. It opens the door to getting whatever we want. It is a mask for the pure indulgence of selfishness.
Perhaps a person wants to do what is wrong, but is afraid of being caught. Because the odds of getting caught are too high, one who otherwise would do wrong, might be all smiles and sweetness--on the outside. On the inside however, they may not be having ethically good thoughts.
Someone put it like this once. While you are around the house, your dog or cat (if it is an indoors privileged dog or cat) may be very obedient. It may stay off the kitchen counters or off of the couch. But when you are not present, does it still obey? You can't make ethical arguments with your dog or cat. They might understand that something pleases or displeases you. But you are not going to get them to understand why it is right or wrong. A dog or a cat is made in the image of a dog or a cat. They have consciousness, but they don't reason morally. Man alone is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Only the highest orders of being (people and angels and God) so far as we know, both are self-aware and capable of choosing to act in harmony with moral measures. The holy Spirit illuminates our minds. God speaks to us. We react. We do right or we do wrong. But our heart is always somewhere.
Where are the hearts of God's followers in the end-time? Revelation 14:1-5 says this of them:
And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
These are ethical people. Moral people. Consider their description. Their Father's name is written in their foreheads. They sing a new song unique to their condition of purity and renewal. They are redeemed from the earth, which means they had sinned but been saved. God has changed them. They are followers of Jesus, completely on His side, completely mobilized to be with Jesus. They follow Him it says, wherever He goes.
Wherever He goes.
Where did He go? What did He do? Where is He going?
The Lamb on Tour
He descended from heaven to save miserable, hard-to-love people, naturally inclined (after the fall of the race) to evil. What did it cost Him--what did He do, in order to bring these people from sin to His side, from evil to purity? The cost was high. Turn to Philippians 2:5-11 with me. Let's read:
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
It says He "took the form of a servant." Literally, He "emptied Himself." The Bible translators were too scandalized by the thought that God would empty Himself, and they rendered it that He "made Himself if no reputation." Yet although He was/is God, He laid aside His divinity and came to live here in the guise of a mere man. More than God in costume, yet taking on the humanity of fallen man, Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). To accomplish this, He came without His divine accessories. He came into this world and to the very limitations that we have. Look with me for a moment at this startling text in the book of Romans 8:3-4:
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Because of man's fallen nature, the law could only condemn us. It was weak through the flesh. But God sent Jesus, not in the unlikeness, but in the very likeness of sinful flesh. He came in our flesh to do battle in our flesh. He had to if He was going to solve the sin problem. So He came "in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin." And in doing that, the Bible says that He "condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3). It was the only way.
The only way to do what? To carve out an exit path for His people from the jungle of sin. As He went before them in the pillar of cloud by day and the fire by night back in the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan, so He came to the wilderness of our sin-ravaged world and entered our race. He walked in the pathway we had so abused. "He knew what was in man" says
And that's why Romans 8:3 alone doesn't complete the thought. It is followed by Romans 8:4, which says that He did this so, "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." He came, took our nature, lived in the furnace of our nature, overcame by His Father's strength, died on the Cross, walked out of the grave, rose to heaven, and now ministers in our behalf. He is working.
To produce His 144,000.
He became as human as we are so that we could become as obedient as He is. He condemned sin in our flesh so that we could live righteously now in this present world in our flesh. (Titus 2:12). He crushed the serpent as prophesied bruising His heel (Genesis 3:15), so that we might crush the serpent under our feet and bring glory to the name that is above all names (Romans 16:20).
He emptied Himself and went to the Cross to die in our place. The Bible says that He became sin for us, "that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:20). The Bible ever hastens to add that Jesus never sinned. 2 Corinthians 5:20 says that He "knew no sin." Hebrews 7:26 says that He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." Hebrews 4:15 said that He was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Don't forget our careful and comprehensive journey through the Bible's teaching on what sin is in our third meeting, Axe of the Ages. There we plainly saw that sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4), whether inwardly or outwardly. To sin is to disobey. Jesus never disobeyed. He always obeyed, although He "emptied Himself" coming "in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin" and then "condemning sin in the flesh." All this so that sin might be condemned in our flesh.
He lived in the presence of pure evil and endured the assaults of all wickedness. He voluntarily suffered the tasting of the second death in our behalf. The depth of His sacrifice we will never know, but we do know that becoming as human as we are, He voluntarily and eternally limited Himself by entering His creation alongside His finite creatures. The Creator stepped into His creation and redeemed it. The project was expensive beyond measure.
On finishing His mission here, the plan of redemption was not yet complete. The benefits of His atonement must be transmitted to His needy people. He went back to heaven to serve as our great high Priest, to apply divine power to our needed repairs as we co-operate with Him. He ministers for us now in the sanctuary in heaven. He is finishing the atonement. He is repairing us. He is creating the 144 K. His 144 K. When He stands upon Mount Zion with His people, He'll look back to everything that's happened, to all His suffering in Gethsemane and on the Cross. He'll "see the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied" (Isaiah 53:11). He'll see what it all meant and what was achieved. The universe will be new again. Sin will never be repeated.
The Lamb on Display
Which brings us to us. Jesus came here. He lived without sinning in our flesh and died on the Cross to buy back our race. He went back to heaven to prepare a place for us. He will return again to take us unto Himself, that where He is, we may be. (John 14:1-3). But we have a part in the process. No, we earn ourselves no credit or merit toward our own salvation--Jesus saves. But the passage in Philippians had two more verses we didn't read. Let's go back there and catch them in Philippians 2:12-13, now in connection with Jesus' incarnation.
Philippians 2:5 commanded us to have the mind of Christ. Then Christ is portrayed in His descent to help us, laying aside His divine power. He dies on the Cross never having taken it up in 33 years, never having tapped it to do even one miracle. All His miracles were done through the Father's power (John 5:30). Christendom today is permeated with the idea that we have nothing to do in the salvation process. That if we did
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
He speaks to all of God's people, for here he says "you" and "your own" salvation, and in the Greek those are plurals. He means "you believers," more than "you individuals." Heaven is preparing a group. A group who have worked out their own salvation. Not having been saved on their own, but who have worked out their salvation with God, for the text says that the working out of their own salvation is God working in them, to will and to do of His good pleasure. Bluntly put, if we don't do our work in choosing to submit, He can't do His work of helping us submit. If we don't let Him repair us, He doesn't. He respects our choices. He gave us a conscience, not to be overruled or gone around, but to be ourselves. We get to choose. He graciously provides the power. He lovingly sends even the grace that enables us to respond to Him. But the choice remains with us.
Where do God's people go? They go to the mind of Christ. Whereas He emptied Himself of divinity, they empty themselves of humanity fallen. He becomes sin for us. We are made the righteousness of God in Him. Its all God's plan--not ours. Its so much bigger than we had ever dreamt of. It is the outworking of the true gospel. It is the extinguishing of sin from the universe. It is the end of the groaning of all creation. It is the revealing of the sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:19-21; John 1:12). It is the culmination of the journey of the universe. It is the end. It is the beginning. It is heaven's omega to Satan's alpha. Lucifer began the fight, lived out the mystery of sin to its bitter fullness, and God ends the fight, working out the mystery of righteousness in His people. His righteousness is revealed in His people (Romans 1:17).
At the end of the battle, Jesus will stand on Mount Zion with His 144,000. They have Christ in them "the hope of glory," at that point fully realized. But along the way they also lived out this hope and knew the inward working of God day by day. (Colossians 1:27-29). That's what they did. They lived in this world without being of this world. They lived in connection with Jesus.
Where are they going? They are not stopping here. Earth is but a waymark on our journey, friends. We are going to heaven. We are going "to ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
So what will we do? We'll descend from tour tiny, provincial sin-filled "heavens," and surrender our indulgences in the pleasures of sin for a season. We'll repent. We'll battle thoroughly with self and plead thoroughly with God to change us. We'll hold still while He does the surgery with no anesthesia. We'll descend from what appear to be more luxurious destinies to bend down to the lowly and needy. We'll know where we are going. Our eternal destiny is on our mind. We'll forge our destiny by a constant communion with the Holy Spirit. We'll hand over to God our corrupted value system and embrace His value system through His Word. We'll become agents of His truth, representatives of His kingdom, standard bearers in the midst of apostasy, targets in the war of Satan.
And that will be O.K.
God Vindicated
God's character will be vindicated through us. Did you ever consider how He is on trial? You see, the final demonstration of what the gospel can do in and for humanity is still in the future. The 144,000 will make that demonstration in the power of God. Jesus forged the path and showed us how and empowers us to live for Him now. Our mission is simply to show that what God did in Christ He can do in us. This is the demonstration that the world has been waiting for. When it is accomplished, the end will come.
The last generation of people living on the earth will be those in whom God successfully makes this demonstration. Satan says that no one can keep God's law. God says, yes they can. But it will not be through two or three unusual people, super-saints sprinkled through the ages of the Bible, that He makes this demonstration. Satan could say, "Oh, those are exceptions." God will, in the last generation, demonstrate en masse what His gospel does in the lives of those who let Him remove sin.
All heaven is watching for this mighty demonstration. And they havenıt seen it yet. Yes, in a life here and a life there, they've seen the hints. But something very different is going to happen in the last generation of Jesus-followers. That's where God has placed us on the map. At the end.
The Bible says that these are things that "angels desire to look into" (1 Peter 1:12). It says that when God is judged He will be vindicated (Romans 3:4). And it says that in the end, Christ stands victoriously on Mount Zion with His 144,000 (Revelation 14:1-5). See, each of our lives is a vote. In the end, when each life is evaluated in the judgment, the analysis will show who we voted for. Our life is a vote.
Who has your end-time vote?
That's what this showdown between Christ and Satan, the seal of God and the mark of the beast, is all about; who has your vote? Some of us will vote for Jesus and God's government and our lives will show it. Some of us will vote for Satan and his government and our lives will show it. Two groups are being developed. Which brings us to the number of the beast . . .
The Number of the Beast
You may have noticed that up until now we haven't worked out the meaning of this number. The passage is found in the last verses of Revelation 13:16-18:
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Many things have been said about this over many years. But tonight I think we can tie it into this idea of Jesus and the 144,000. See, we've focused not on how many there are, whether it is a literal number or figurative, and those questions. We've focused on what these people are like. We found them to be striving to replicate in their own lives a likeness to Christ. They never become Christ. But they seek to become like Him. In this holy endeavor they reach the pinnacle of what humanity can be. All by and through only the power of God. There is not a particle of credit for them to take in the matter. God repairs them.
Notice now, a group is developed with Christ-like traits. They are called the 144,000. Did you notice that this group is shown right after the number of the beast is shown? That's right. Now think about this.
We already know that there are two groups forming up in the end of time. One group has the Father's name in their foreheads, the other the mark of the beast in their foreheads. One group obey God's law. The other group observes a counterfeit law. One group is sealed. The other group is unsealed. One group worships in spirit and truth on the seventh day Sabbath. The other group is forced by the state to worship the Papacy on the day of the Sun. One group follows the Lamb wherever He goes. The other group follows Satan wherever he goes. One group are, in the end, without fault before the throne of God. The other group is full of fault before the throne of God.
One group is not sinning. One group is sinning. Jesus is coming back for people who have stopped sinning. Study carefully the group mentioned in Revelation 7:9-17. They are described the same as those mentioned in Revelation 14:1-5. The one difference is that in Revelation 14 they are shown in heaven and in Revelation seven they are shown having come out of the earth. In seven they go through tribulation, in fourteen they have gone through and stand without fault. Seven speaks of their sealing and testing. Fourteen speaks of the end product. They are one and the same group, spoken of at different points in the conflict.
One group--those having the mark--are aligned with the state when it enforces the Sunday law and tries to overrule the consciences of Christ's followers. The other group are following Christ, and go through persecution. Thus, one group inflicts persecution, the other experiences persecution. There are two very, very, very distinct groups.
Six-Hundred and Sixty-Six
Notice this also. The Scripture does not say here 666 as in six-six-six, but 666 as in six-hundred and sixty six. There is a difference. Six is said by many to be the number of a man. So six triplicated is the number of a man three times over. But 666 as a number would signify a group--some grouping of an actual number of people. Now we are told in Revelation 20:8 that those attacking the New Jerusalem after it descends to the earth at the very end will be a number so vast as to be described "as the sand of the sea" in number. All the lost who have ever lived will be resurrected to that final Armageddon showdown. But At the time of the enforcing of the mark of the beast chapter thirteen tells us that everyone will receive that mark except those following Jesus. There are two final, clear-cut, finite grouping in the end.
Will there be exactly 144,000 who follow Jesus during this terrible time? It seems like this must be a literal number. Exactly 12,000 out of every tribe sounds arbitrary if it is literal.
Besides. I'm not sure that there will be as many as 144,000 who follow Jesus in the end. Therefore I understand this number to be a symbolic number representing a group. A group who follow Jesus all the way. So. What then of the number 666?
Which beast does the 666 number apply to? Not the first one. It applies to the second beast--the image beast which enforces the worship of the first beast. It applies to the form of apostate Protestantism that will use the illegitimate church-state connection to force the passage of a law to keep Sunday. Sunday is man's day to worship God on man's terms.
It Is the Number of the Second Beast
The 666 applies to the second beast. It is the number of a man. As God's seal counters Satan's mark, His 144,000 counter Satan's 666. 144,000 have Jesus' Father's name in their foreheads. The 666 have the number of a man in their foreheads. The 144,000 are keeping the Sabbath, they have the seal of God, while Satan's 666 group are keeping Sunday and are unsealed. They are puppets to Satan's whims. Their minds have all the doors open and Satan has full control in them.
A popular science fiction show introduced a space-faring, fictional race of nasty's called the "Borg." They are a race of drones, all individuality lost and under the control of a central hive-mind. Surely the producers never meant to portray this, but this idea is very similar to what Satan's final "drones" will be like. It is the number of a man (singular). While we might want to apply this to the Pope, letıs hold on. Remember, if these verses come in a description of the second beast in parallel to the description of the first beast, then they apply to the second beast--not the first.
When we work backwards from Revelation 13:18, we find that the antecedent (the reference coming just before that) to the beast in verse 17 is the beast in verse 15. That beast is the Catholic copy, an apostate Protestantism, exercising "all the power of the first beast before him" (Revelation 13:12), persecuting, and trying to enforce the violation of conscience. Apart from any other sure indicators, the antecedent is who this number should apply to. Therefore it applies to the second beast, not the first. The first beast was already described and fully identified in Revelation 13:1-10, therefore there is no need to come back now and identify it cryptically afresh. Based then on three arguments ([1.] Revelation 13:11-18 is a parallel structure to Revelation 13:1-10, [2.] The antecedent beast is apostate Protestantism in verse 15, and [3.] No purpose is served by going back and identifying the first beast again with the 666 number, for it was already identified in Revelation 13:1-10,) the number 666 must apply to the second beast.
But the outcome is all the same anyway. Consider the facts. Those having the beast's mark observe Sunday and violate Sabbath. Those having God's seal observe the Sabbath and do not submit to the Sunday law. Those going along with the beast have developed personal characters like the beasts (name in the Bible is synonymous with character. For example, Jesus' name means "salvation," while Satan's name means "adversary."). Those going along with Christ have developed the character's like Christ. If the 666 number represents a group, then those having "the number of his name" a those grouped with the Satanic mind. Those grouped as the 144,000 are grouped with the divine mind. That's why they will follow Jesus wherever He goes. They are His.
Both beasts, the first and the second, are acting in harmony with each other to promote Sunday observance by law, to produce people who keep on sinning, rebelling against God and thus having the same character as the beast, and are grouped together with the beast in opposition to the Lamb and His 144,000 group. Thus . . .
Mark, Name, and Number Summarized
- The "mark" of the beast is Sunday observance and Sabbath violation (See CWP#15 and CWP#16).
- The "name" of the beast is the character of the beast developed now in his followers.
- The "number" of his name is the final grouping of people who are developed having grouped themselves with the Satanic mind.
In the Greek, these three elements from Revelation 13:17 are connected by a word that is a correlative conjunction. That means that it connects together these three ideas. So it isnıt just the mark that we need be concerned with. We want to avoid far more than a literal mark on the forehead or the hand. We want to avoid the inward mark meaning the whole program of the devil. We don't want his Sunday mark, or his filthy character, or to be a part of his group of the lost.
Followers Without Fault
Which brings us finally to Revelation 14:5: "And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God." Jesus' people have become like Him. So like Him, that the Bible can say of them, there is no guile found in their mouth. They, by connection with Jesus, have placed themselves beyond lying, beyond telling untruth in any way. They have embraced He who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Not only their mouths, but their lives soundly represent Jesus and the kingdom of God to the onlooking universe.
Again, "they are without fault before the throne of God." No continuing sin can be found in their lives. They have voted for Christ. Completely. They are completely and unreservedly His. The command went out in their behalf, "he that is holy, let him be holy still" (Revelation 22:11). They have overcome--fully--by the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14). They made their robes white by the blood of the Lamb. They were changed, repaired by Jesus. Heaven rests its case.
God is vindicated.
That's why there is a great controversy friends. So that Jesus can help us to come unto the throne of grace and receive God's power (Hebrews 4:16; 10:19-20). How important--how infinitely important--that we take God up on His offer and become followers of Jesus here and now. The end is near. So very near.
Conclusion and Preview
Tonight we've sought to understand the meaning of the number of the beast and of the 144,000. More than that, we've looked again, if only fleetingly, at the price Jesus has paid to redeem us. And we are humbled and grateful for the undeserved love of Jesus. May we go from here purposing never to crucify Him afresh by sin. May we pray for strength to help in time of need--in every time of need. May our lives, each one of us, be votes for Jesus.
Tomorrow night is our last meeting. We are going to finish our event-line and bring everything down to our day. Please do be here 7:00pm for The Last Night on Earth. Let's pray.
Larry Kirkpatrick, Last modified 30 November 2000
Contact us at larry@collisionwithprophecy.org