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The Revelation of Jesus Christ
blessed scenes to relieve the darkness. Yet even in promising these blessings, God has been faithful in warning of judg ment to come. Accordingly, we see in chapter fourteen a num ber of divinely inspired pictures, showing the outcome of the great struggle that will take place in the coming day, between the forces of heaven and the forces of hell. And, as already intimated, some of these pictures tell of blessing to come; others warn men to flee from God's righteous judgment.
THE PRESERVATION OF THE 144,000 JEWS A MILLENNIAL PICTURE 14:1
"And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sien, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads'' (verse 1). Whenever you find reference in the Bible to Mount Zion, a certain mountain by that name, in the city of Jerusalem, is designated. No other earthly place is called by this name, al though there is "the heavenly Jerusalem," sometimes called "Mount Sion" (Heb. 12:22). However, Rev. 14: 1 presents a millennial scene. The "Lamb" standing on Mount Zion is a beautiful picture of the Son of God having returned to the earth to rule and to reign. In other words, we have here, in miniature, a view of the millennial rule of our Lord. The 141,000, who are shown here with Christ, will, of course, be the same body of people as that mentioned in the seventh chapter of Revelation. You will remember that in con nection with the opening of the seals, 144,000 Jews were sealed, 12,000 from each tribe. These are to be God's wit nesses during the reign of the Antichrist. They are to preach the Gospel of the kingdom: " Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." They will he·rald the fact of a coming King, and will present His claims over against the claims of the Antichrist. Through their ministry, "a great multitude, which no man could number" will come out of the great tribu lation. (See chapter 7:8-17. ) It is against this witnessing body, these Jews who are to be sealed after the translation of the church, that the "man of sin" will launJ:h his fury. Every conceivable means of silencing their testimony and destroying
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