DAY 357

MORE SEEING

Nahum and Revelation 14

“NAHUM: When Jonah preached repentance on the streets of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, the people responded and were spared. A century later, Nahum preached in a time when Nineveh would not repent, sometime between 663-612 b.c. Nineveh, which had destroyed Israel’s northern kingdom in 722, itself, fell to Babylon in 612—just a few years after Nahum’s warning. The Assyrians were notorious for the brutality of their treatment of other nations. Nahum declared, however, that God is sovereign: he punishes whom he will, and they are powerless to stop him. Much of Nahum’s prophecy was directed the people of Judah, who could rejoice at the good news of Nineveh’s impending fall.” (ESV Study Bible Introduction)

As we turn to Revelation 14 we read of three more visions. As a reminder we are in Scene 4 which offers us Seven Visions of cosmic conflict. Yesterday we studied two of them, and today we read of three more.

Revelation 14:1-5 provides us the third vision of the Lamb and his followers. We note that the Lamb is on his mountain, you might say the mountain of the Lord. This phrase the Mountain of the Lord is found in several spots in the Old Testament: Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 to name just two. Let us deal first with the number of people, the 144,000 – who are they and what does the number mean. The text tells us who they are, they are the ones who believe in the Lamb—the church—God’s people. The number 144,000 is not some limit, but rather (again) a figurative number. Maybe it is 12 times 12 times 1000 as if to say a large number of people as it draws on the symbolic significance of the number 12. That is just speculation. What is not speculation is the point that these are the ones who are sealed, God’s servants (see Revelation 4). And don’t get hung up and the virginity thing, this probably has to be more associated with figurative language communicating that the followers of the Lamb have not defiled themselves with evil. It is quite simply a vision of the followers of the Lamb gathered round him; there are many of them and they are fully committed to the Lamb.

Revelation 14:6-13 provides us a vision of angels of grace, doom, and warning. This fourth vision is fairly straightforward. Yes it is dramatic, but remember the “beasts,” these beasts are wielding power and seeking to draw people to themselves…and they have real power and influence. In contrast we have the vision of people gathered round the Lamb, and now a vision of three angels that spell out the consequence of following the beasts. The vision is to encourage the saints (you and me) to persevere.

Revelation 14:14-20 provides us a vision of a final reaping. Yes there is an end, and there is a judgment. Again the key is to not assign too much to the drama, but recognize the drama is trying to communicate how big a deal God’s message really is. I mean, think about it—is it not a big deal that the world will end and God will judge? I think it is and you probably cannot have a drama that overstates it.