Endurance and Reward: Revelation 14:1-13 | Hope in Christ Amidst a World That’s Falling Apart

🔎 What happens when everything the world trusts in collapses? Revelation 14 presents a striking contrast between those who stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion and those who cling to Babylon, the city of rebellion destined for destruction. This passage reminds us that the world’s power and security are fleeting, but the victory of Christ is eternal.

In this sermon, we explore:
✅ The victorious people of God who endure in faith
✅ The certain fall of the wicked and the judgment to come
✅ The blessed rest promised to those who remain faithful

Transcript:

Imagine that you're living in a great and important city. From a distance, you can see towers stretching to the sky. But when you get close, you can see the streets are filled with people showing the significance and influence of the city. And the economic prosperity is on display with not just all the people commuting to and from their jobs, but by the people coming and going from the businesses that line the streets. To the untrained eye, this city seems indestructible.

It's prosperous. It's secure. It's full of promise.

But beneath the surface...we hear that the foundations are crumbling.

Engineers have issued substantial warnings. The buildings are unstable, the infrastructure is failing, and there is impending disaster on the horizon.

Now people hear these reports and they dismiss them.

The attitude is that this city has been here for generations past,

And look at it.

It's going to be here for generations to come.

Day after day, people ignore this.

They just continue in their routines.

But cracks form in walls.

There are tremors beneath their feet.

And these are just a few of the clues that let them know that destruction and devastation are on the way.

Well, then one night, all of the warnings and the signs proved to be true.

The foundations of the great city give way and towers collapse like sandcastles in a storm.

Streets that just hours before were filled with music and laughter, they're now filled with cries of despair.

And the people had many opportunities to escape.

The warnings were there.

but they chose to remain.

They chose to trust in a city that was doomed to fall.

Now, as we land in this first part of Revelation chapter 14 today, we see that this is what the fate of Babylon is like.

The world promises security, success, prosperity,

but the foundations of those things are weak and its end is certain.

And we find in these verses in Revelation 14 today, a strong warning to us.

We are not to place our hope in the city of man.

Instead, we are to trust in the kingdom of God.

So as we approach this passage,

we're going to see two contrasting groups.

We're going to see those who stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion, and we're going to see those who cling to Babylon, the city that is destined for destruction.

And one of these groups, they sing a new song of victory while the other group meets its demise and perishes under the weight of their sinful rebellion.

One group finds eternal rest, but the other faces eternal judgment.

So the question that I want us to think on as we work through these verses is this.

Where do I stand?

Am I on the mountain with the lamb or standing in Babylon?

Are we building our foundation on the unshakableness of Christ?

Or are we clinging to a world that is already falling apart?

And as the people of God in Christ Jesus,

we're called to see the doomed city for what it is.

And we are called to endure in faith with a confidence in the truth that only those who stand with the Lamb will remain.

And so our journey through this passage today is going to have us first looking at the victorious people of God as we look at verses 1 through 5.

And then we're going to consider the certain fall of the wicked, looking at verses 6 through 11.

And then finally, we're going to see the rest of the redeemed as we look at verses 12 and 13 and close up what we've read this morning.

So as we come to this passage...

we're making a somewhat harsh transition again in the progression of the book of Revelation.

Because remember back to last week, we had the dragon, we had those two beasts, and we emphasized that that chapter was about resisting false worship.

Because the temptation for the seven churches that this book is addressed to would be to offer devotion to the imperial cult.

That was the pressure on them.

That was the threat.

But instead, they are called to remain faithful to the Lamb.

And remember, the persecution that we saw in the previous chapter was so severe that you could only buy and sell if you had the mark of the beast.

And just a reminder, this was about forcing compliance.

to cause people to turn and worship at the imperial cult because they needed to feed their families.

That was the level of pressure on them to give in to this counterfeit worship.

But the call of God to his people is to stay devoted to him.

Why is that?

Because the eternal victory given by the Lamb...

is greater than the tribulation that his people will face in this world.

So now as we arrive in this passage, we read this morning that our gaze is directed from the dragon and the beasts and the persecution that those creatures are inflicting on the people of God to Mount Zion.

It's kind of a harsh change of view.

And this abrupt change in this vision is clear in the fact that the dragon and the beast, they had our focus on earth, right?

The tribulation, the persecution that was taking place there.

But what happens here?

The vision that John is receiving now suddenly has us looking to heaven again.

That's where the scene is.

The Mount Zion here is the heavenly Zion, where we saw the vision of the heavenly temple just a few weeks ago.

And again, I'm just loving the contrast and the message that that sends to us here.

A dragon and beasts, they seem to be in control in the world.

They're running the show.

But what happens here with this vision, we're reminded that the lamb is the victor.

The anthem of heaven, worthy is the lamb who was slain.

It comes to mind for us immediately here.

And this contrast is strong, not only because it's a lamb against a dragon and beasts, but

But the contrast is also strong because we are automatically reminded that this lamb was slain.

That the victory that this lamb has came through weakness.

It came through suffering and death.

But the Lamb's victory over death gives him all the honor, glory, dominion, and praise.

And so as a display of this power and victory, we see 144,000 with the Lamb's name and the Father's name on their foreheads.

So recall back to this number of people, this 144,000.

In an earlier vision in Revelation, they were sealed as servants of God on their forehead.

And here they are again.

And what we're meant to understand here is that they have overcome.

These are servants of God who have prevailed by the blood of the Lamb.

While the dragon is making war, while the beasts are persecuting the people of God, there's victory on Mount Zion.

These people are marked.

They are sealed.

And despite what is taking place on earth, there is a visible guarantee of victory in heaven.

This mass of people is reminding us that the Lamb has victory.

And then in the midst of all of this, in verses 2 and 3, there is praise in heaven.

A voice is heard and it's like the roar of waters and the sound of thunder.

In other words, it's all-encompassing.

Think about thunder.

It's loud.

Think about the roar of water.

It covers everything.

When you're at a waterfall, how loud do you have to talk to be heard?

That's the idea here, that this is an all-encompassing sound.

But what does it sound like?

It sounds like beautiful music.

And it's being sung before the throne and before the elders.

God is being praised by this large choir here.

And it's interesting that only these 144,000 are able to learn this song.

So what's going on with that?

Why isn't this a song everybody sings?

Well, the idea is that this is a select company who have experienced trials and tribulations similar to what those reading this book may experience.

Who the book was addressed to, these churches in Asia.

And they have a particular praise to God as a result of their endurance in the faith and the salvation that was given to them.

The idea is that this is a particular song for them who have endured.

And so you also can endure.

You are also one of these who have come through this situation.

And we learn about their perseverance and their endurance as we move on to verses 4 and 5.

And these verses require us to take a look at the language that's being used here today.

This big group is said to not have defiled themselves with women and that they are virgins.

Now, this is figurative language here.

They aren't in heaven because of their chastity.

That's not what's being expressed here, that these people took a vow of chastity, and so that was their ticket to heaven.

That's not it.

So in order to keep up with what is happening here, we need to think back to the Old Testament again, continually.

Throughout prophetic books, the idea of fornication and the idea of adultery, they are used to express the unfaithfulness of Israel.

Essentially, that their idolatry, with an I, idolatry, is adultery against the one who married himself to them, the God of Israel.

They are unfaithful to the one who loves them, who married them, who brought them into a covenant relationship with them.

Again, their idolatry is adultery.

That's the idea here.

And so also, think back to the previous chapter with the temptation to give in to the pressure of counterfeit worship.

These have not defiled themselves with false worship.

They have not gone to this idolatry.

They have remained faithful to the one who bought them.

Instead of chasing after another idol,

someone who promises them love and devotion.

Instead, they have only followed the Lamb.

They are faithful to the one who has been faithful to them.

Essentially, they have not been contaminated by idolatry and false worship.

And so the vision given here is to encourage those who are facing temptation of defiling themselves with counterfeit worship.

It's telling them to endure.

Because it's worth it.

It's worth it to remain faithful to the one who is faithful to you.

And as we have seen, the victorious people of God are those who have remained faithful to the Lamb.

They are marked by him.

They are sealed in his name.

And their faithfulness is reflected in their worship.

Their perseverance is not in vain because they stand with Christ in glory.

But what about those who don't remain faithful?

What about those who give into the idolatry that is adultery against the God who loves them?

What happens to those who put their trust in the doomed city?

Those who put their trust in the fleeting promises of the world?

So in the next part of this passage, our focus is shifting.

After the vision of these redeemed standing with the Lamb, we hear the proclamation of three angels.

And their messages make one thing unmistakably clear.

The fall of Babylon, the world's rebellious system, is certain.

No matter how secure the world seems, its destruction is inevitable.

It is coming.

So this forces us to ask,

Where is our allegiance?

Are we standing with the Lamb?

Are we enduring in faith?

Are we clinging to a world that is passing away?

The fall of the wicked is not just a warning for some distant future.

It's a call to evaluate our own hearts today.

Today is the day to consider these things.

Are we worshiping God?

Are we faithful to the one who is faithful to us?

Or are we trusting in something that will ultimately collapse?

So as we move to focusing on verses 6 through 11, we find that the wicked are nothing like those who stand secure on Mount Zion.

So the first angel that we see is proclaiming an eternal gospel.

Now remember, the word gospel literally means good news.

And so this is a message of salvation.

And notice that we see something important repeated for us again.

Who is this message for?

It's to those who dwell on earth.

And it isn't just a message to one particular people group in one particular tract of land in the Middle East.

We read here it's a message to all nations, all tribes, all languages and people.

And so the good news of salvation and the call to repentance is not just a Jewish thing.

It is for everyone.

And this is stressed several times in the book of Revelation.

And we can understand why as we think back to the beginning of the book of Revelation.

Why is this continually brought up?

Every tribe, tongue, nation and people.

Well, who is the book to?

It's to the seven churches in Asia.

Now remember, back to the beginning of the book of Acts, Pentecost.

There the message went from Jerusalem out into the nations.

These Jewish people who had come for the Feast of Pentecost heard the gospel in their own language, and they went back from whence they came and spread the good news.

And so these churches throughout Asia, throughout the entire world at this time, they would have consisted of Jewish folk and many other ethnicities and people groups.

That's who these churches would be.

Because in the gospel, all are called to salvation and all are called to faithfulness.

It isn't just Jewish Christians who are to forsake the imperial cult and the false worship.

This is a call to everybody to come to repentance and trust and faith in Christ.

All who are given the gift of faith, trust in the Lamb who was slain.

All who have that gift, they are called to endure.

Not just one group of people, all people are called to endure.

And it's with this message that we also see some urgency here.

Look at what it says.

The hour of judgment has come.

Worship God.

It's time to reject the counterfeit worship because judgment is at hand.

Don't offer worship to Caesar or any other idol.

Instead, worship the one who made all things.

That's who we should direct our worship toward.

You see, false worship directs worship towards the creation instead of the creator.

And so we see this statement, fear God and give him glory, the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.

That's what's being expressed here.

Stop worshiping the things that have been made and worship the one who made them.

Because he's the one who is going to judge.

False gods do not hold the power to judge.

Only the one who made all things has this power.

And so we come to verse 8 and we see a second angel.

And again, we have this idea of sexual immorality illustrating to us the unfaithfulness of idolaters.

But it's important that we look at the first part of this statement as well.

Fallen is Babylon the Great.

Now remember, this is apocalyptic language.

And much of this language is figurative.

The angel here is not speaking of an actual city named Babylon when this statement is being made.

Or Babylon the Empire.

It's used here, this word, Babylon, is used to make a point about the nature of this judgment that is coming.

So think back to past references in the book of Revelation where we talked about other empires and cities from the Old Testament.

We've seen the city of Sodom and essentially the empire, for lack of a better word, of Egypt drawn out for us before.

Because in the Old Testament, Babylon is an oppressor and persecutor of the people of God.

That's why before we had Sodom and their sin, Egypt and the judgment on them and the sin that they committed.

Well, now we have Babylon used to describe what's going on.

Again, because of the nature of their rebellion.

They are proud oppressors.

They are persecutors of the people of God.

And so here in Revelation...

This expresses to us the depth of idolatry, the depth of unfaithfulness that is occurring here.

That there is rebellion against God.

Now, a while back, we saw Jerusalem referred to as Sodom.

And when we saw that, I drew out how harsh and heartbreaking that really is to read.

The city where the temple is, is now called Sodom.

Well here, the vision that John is receiving, the words that he is hearing, it's doing the same thing.

Because Babylon here is Jerusalem.

The oppressors of the people of God, Babylon, that name has now been given to the city of Jerusalem.

That's heartbreaking.

But we can understand why.

The Messiah has been rejected.

And there are those in that city who persecute the church.

There are those there who oppose the gospel.

There are those there who are giving in to what the empire wants.

They've sold themselves out to the world.

And by opposing the church...

The message that we're receiving here is that Jerusalem is no different than the oppressors of the people of God in the Old Testament.

And once again, that is heartbreaking.

Jerusalem has become Babylon.

They are unfaithful.

And we read that they have caused others to drink wine of the passion of the immorality.

And I think the best way that I can say this to make it understandable is that in turning to idolatry, they have caused others to be drunk on it as well.

Their failure to be faithful

in their becoming Babylon, is increasing the judgment.

And then this is going to be seen in this imagery of wine and the fact that this judgment is poured out.

And so the third angel that we see here in verses 9 through 11 makes this clear.

False worship and aligning with the beast will bring with it the wine of wrath.

It will be poured out abundantly and in full strength, and it will show us the anger of God.

The allegiance to the beast is false worship, and it is idolatry, and it will be punished.

They will be tormented by fire and sulfur in this judgment.

The dragon and the beast torment the saints.

But God himself will torment those who are in rebellion against him.

And here in this, there's a strong reference to Psalm 75, verse 8.

For in the hand of the Lord, there is a cup with foaming wine well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

This is the wrath of God.

and to read that those being judged will drain the line of judgment all the way down to the dregs, that should invoke in us humility and fear.

If the passage from this verse in the Psalter doesn't do that for us, then the amplification of this idea in the book of Revelation will.

We are told,

that the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.

The wrath is eternal.

And it is what comes to those who reject the Lamb and participate in false worship.

The call then on the people reading Revelation in the first century and all the way up to our time is to endure in faithful worship to God because the kingdom of man is going to fall.

Babylon will be judged.

Reject the adultery of idolatry and stay faithful to the one who bought you, because the wrath for rebellion against him will be eternal and no one will endure.

And as the passage closes up, that call for endurance is spelled out clearly for the people of God.

Looking to Mount Zion and to the Lamb and hearing of the guaranteed fall of Babylon, we see that the people of God in Christ Jesus are to endure.

The dragon and the beast may come at them with the power to crush them with economic power or physical force.

But we read that those who endure are blessed.

And John hears a voice from heaven.

He is told to write down an important statement.

And this statement has been used in funeral liturgies at least since they were written in English.

Back to the Book of Common Prayer.

You will hear this probably at a graveside ceremony.

It says, And the idea being expressed in the words from now on is that from their death going forward into eternity forever and ever, they will be blessed.

To suffer and die in faithfulness to God comes with reward.

The powers of the world may try to crush you, but eternal rest.

follows endurance.

As the people of God, we press on, we endure, we reject false worship to a counterfeit God and worship the one true God.

We are to do this even if we pay the ultimate price.

And our passage for today closes telling us that the Spirit says that it is a blessing indeed.

Because when we labor and we endure for the Lord, we come to our rest.

And the message of Revelation 14 is clear.

The kingdoms of this world will fall, but the kingdom of God remains forever.

And so, how do we respond?

First, we must take seriously this call to endurance.

Faithfulness to Christ is not passive.

Faithfulness to Christ is a daily choice where we follow him, where we resist the pressures of the world and we trust in his victory.

Revelation was written to a church facing intense persecution.

but yet its message still applies to us today just as much as it applied to them.

We may not be asked to bow before the image of Caesar, but we are constantly tempted to give our devotion to lesser things, to money, to comfort, to human approval.

The world will always, the world will always offer us security at the price of compromise.

But true security is only found in Christ.

To be with the lamb with our feet surely planted on Mount Zion.

Second, we must live with an eternal perspective.

The world around us is constantly trying to convince us that what we see now is all there is.

But scripture reminds us that this life is not the end of the story.

The pain, the struggles, the sacrifices that we make for Christ, they are not in vain.

Those who die in the Lord are blessed because their rest is eternal.

Their deeds follow them, not as a way of earning salvation, but as a testimony to their faithfulness to our Lord.

And then finally, we must heed the warning.

Just as Babylon fell, so will every earthly power and system that opposes God.

The judgment described in this passage is not abstract.

If you are trusting in the things of this world, I plead with you, turn to Christ.

Do not put your hope in what is already collapsing.

Repent, believe, and follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

So this call to endure is for us.

May we be a people who endure, a people who remain faithful, a people who look beyond this world to the eternal kingdom of our Lord.

May we be a people standing firm on Mount Zion, singing the new song of the redeemed.

The city of man will fall.

but the kingdom of Christ will never be shaken.

Stand with him, stand with the lamb, and you will never be shaken.

Amen.

Let us pray.

Great and merciful God, we thank you for the gift of your word.

We thank you that we have this image of the 144,000 seated or standing with the lamb on Mount Zion.

And we know that when we are in Christ's

our foundation is secure.

So may we continually, may we daily be desiring to put our feet on that strong foundation, that we might live with ultimate confidence in your salvation.

May we hear the call for endurance from the book of Revelation.

And may your spirit build us up in endurance and faith, that we might have a confidence in your reward.

It's in the name of Jesus that we pray.

Amen.