The preacher is to be a man of God—a man obsessed with the person of God and possessed by the Spirit of God. He is intent on proclaiming the Word of God and pursuing the will of God. Stephen and David Olford make this point, commenting on 1 Timothy 6:11, in chapter four of their excellent book, “Anointed Expository Preaching,” pp.43-44.
I think of the words of the old hymn that call us to faithfulness:
This anticipates the new song—the song of victory in glory mentioned in Revelation 14:2-3. This celestial chorus arises in consideration of the faithful witness of the 144,000 and anticipates their heroic welcome to heaven at the end of the age. When the Lamb returns to earth and establishes His reign, these 144,000 will stand with Him on Mount Zion (14:1).
Our purpose in this devotional is not prophetic, but practical. While I interpret these 144,000 to be Jewish evangelists during the seven years of tribulation—following the rapture of the church—there are principles that apply to every generation of Gospel preachers. The reality is that during the first century and down to our twenty-first century, there is a message for us in a call to readiness and faithfulness. So, let me share some of these timeless truths to those who proclaim the Gospel as a model for to follow.
Note THEIR SALVATION, “These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.” (Rev.14:4c). Now, one might assume that every man in the pulpit has been to Calvary, but that assumption would be inaccurate. Judas Iscariot was a preacher, but a fraud who is in hell today. Demas gave appearance of being a true disciple, but he departed from the faith (2 Tim.4:10). Others could be named. Every Gospel preacher must look at his spiritual birth certificate and make sure God is his Father!
It is good “to make your calling and election sure,” as Peter puts it (2 Pet.1:10). We should make regular trips to Calvary, even if assured of salvation. Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper as a regular reminder. Sadly, we can get to a place where we are so familiar with the Gospel that it becomes a presentation without a passion. You are convinced of your conversion? That is well and good. Does it still stir you? Are you still amazed at the price Jesus paid to purchase you?
Then, we see THEIR SANCTIFICATION, “These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins.” (Rev.14:4a). This cannot be used to promote celibacy among clergy as Rome’s false system does with its priesthood. It is likely that these 144,000 will be single, however, fully consumed with the work of witness in that future day. Yet, there are spiritual applications for us, whatever our marital status.
We are to be sanctified—set apart morally. These devoted disciples refused to hear the sensual Siren song of the age. May God keep us true and faithful, understanding that our culture is increasingly defiled. Many a preacher has stumbled here.
We are to be sanctified—set apart doctrinally. These 144,000 refused to bow to the Beast and be seduced by the deception of the False Prophet. They spoke the truth of the Word, “And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.” (Rev.14:5). In our days of doctrinal departure, may we abide in sound doctrine! We are going to be subjected to increasing pressure from the anti-Christian world system to bow and bend. Voices are rising in evangelicalism saying, “We need to be careful how the world perceives us. Let us not emphasize certain truths in order to reach people.” This is folly!
Further, observe THEIR SERVICE, “These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” (Rev. 14:4b). All God’s people have been called to follow Christ faithfully. God’s shepherds need to be out front showing the way and setting the standard. Wherever Christ leads us, we are to follow, and summon His lambs to do likewise. May we walk so close to Jesus, that others can walk in our steps and it be as following Christ! Paul said, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ,” (1 Cor.11:1).
Hear and heed the call to faithfulness as Gospel men. “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” (Rev.14:12). It may be at any moment Christ could summon His saints to glory, translated into heaven! We want to be doing His work should that be today. If that does not occur and we die, may we be as Paul, having fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith with a crown of righteousness awaiting all who loved His appearing. Here is the promise, “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Write: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.’” (Rev. 14:13).
“So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?’
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.
And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.” (Revelation 13:4, 11, 14 NKJV)
Satan is a counterfeit. He cannot duplicate the unequaled God, but he seeks to imitate Him. Our God is Triune—Father, Son, and Spirit. In the end times, a diabolical trinity of evil will arise: the dragon, who is the devil; the beast, who is the antichrist; and the second beast, who is the false prophet (Revelation 13). In this unholy trinity, the dragon is set over against the Father, the antichrist against the Son, and the false prophet against the Holy Spirit.
Although the final manifestation of the unholy trinity will occur, as I believe, after the Bride of Christ has been caught up, there will be those who have never heard the Gospel who will come to faith even in those darkest of days, and the unholy trinity will “make war with the saints…to overcome them,” (Rev.13:7a).
Yet, in every age, and increasingly so as we speed toward the consummation of human history, Satan, government, and religion has warred against the people of God. It was true of John’s day as he was facing these same foes.
The pastor is strategically set to prepare the saints to stand in this spiritual war. Let us dress in the armor of God and rally our troops.
We anticipate TEMPTATION, from the Dragon, as the world is said to have, “worshiped the dragon,” (13:4a). Moral compromise is ever enticing. Many of God’s men have been brought down by it. The sensuality of this age is pervasive in our culture and the church members are assaulted by temptation daily. May God help us to stand!
We expect PERSECUTION, from the spirit of the Antichrist, even now a spirit at “war with the saints,” (13:7a). Legal compromise that leads people to bow to government idolatry is coming. While the church in the West has had an unrivaled period of freedom from government tyranny, we cannot expect it to last. Even now, the government is ramping up its plans to eradicate those who oppose their despotic agenda. How long before a “soft,” persecution becomes a “hard” reality? Pastor, are you prepared to pay the price, and are you equipping your flock?
We fight DECEPTION, from the false teachers, whose zenith will be the False Prophet of the last days. Doctrinal compromise has been a battlefield for the church throughout the ages, and remains so. The antidote to the poison of false teaching is proclamation of the Scriptures. We must make a clear clarion call with the trumpet of truth!
I realize there may be some who disagree with my interpretation of end times events. Yet, there should be agreement with the underlining spiritual principles. Even those, who like myself, expect Christ to remove His bride before He pours out His wrath on a godless world, dare not think that the church will be sailing along on a calm ocean and suddenly be in the harbor of heaven. Rather, the storm that is brewing will intensify. We face ever stronger headwinds. The waves of wickedness will mount higher. Ominous clouds will be darker and descend about us.
Are you ready for what is coming, and in many ways already is?
There is the cancer of COMPARISON. One of the first questions you will hear at a Monday ministers’ conference is, “How many did you have in attendance yesterday?” The temptation then is to pout that we did not have more or to pride that we did. We may brand ourselves a failure and want to quit because others seem to be advancing while we are declining. Then, if we have the higher statistics in how many bottoms we put in a pew and how many bucks are placed in the plate, we may be headed for a fall that pride produces. Let us just be who God made us to be—the best we can be—where He has called us.
Further we face the cancer of COMPETITION. This is where comparison becomes a passion to see others fail and a desire to see ourselves succeed. In competition, there are winners and losers. The winners are adding to their attendance and the losers are seeing subtraction from their flock. While it is important to be used to grow the church, it is God who gives the increase. Truly, He uses us, but only the Spirit of God can birth new believers. But, it may not be that we are seeking the lost sheep but stealing the sheep from others! In a competitive spirit, we may profit by transfer growth while others are made poor from it. A test for us is, “How do you react when another church is reaching lost souls?” Can you rejoice with them? So long as the Kingdom progresses, we should be glad for we are on the same team!
Comparison and competition are really the cancer of COVETOUSNESS. In the Mosaic code, expressing God’s fundamental laws, the sum of obedience to the other nine is in that of the spirit of tenth. Covetousness causes us to seek to supplant God with our own authority. We may covet our own ideas of worship that become idolatry. We want to promote our own name at the expense of bringing glory to His name. We covet the time for our own pleasure that should be devoted to the refreshment of worshipping God. You get the point. Preacher, do you speak against covetousness from the pulpit while harboring it in your heart? It is such a subtle thing, and therefore all the more deadly. It can lead a man to assassinate the character of another pastor, to open himself to immorality because of his egotism, to become a rustler of someone else’s sheep, to engage in slander of another brother. Let us repent of covetousness!
May the Great Physician heal us from this cancer if it has invaded and strengthen our spiritual immune system with grace to prevent its incursion! I pray that the scalpel of Scripture will cut out this malignancy from me and all God’s servants!
The Word of God is our spiritual food. In Revelation 10, John is handed “the little book,” and told to eat it. Its contents will taste as sweet as honey to the lips, but sour to the stomach—bitter to digest. The message of Revelation is one that is a sweet word for it speaks to the end of sin and the victory of God, with the new creation. It is about heaven and the saints being in a place where there are no more tears! Yet, it also presents a sour word for it reveals the end of sinners and the wrath of God, with the end of the old creation. It is about hell and the sinners being in a place where there are endless tears!
This is the double-edged sword of the Word. John was told to proclaim it, and every preacher has this duty. In so doing, there will be those who respond to the sweetness of its promises and rejoice in it. But, others will react with bitterness to its rebuke of their sin. Yet, the preacher is called to faithfulness in expounding that little Book as it is, and let the chips fall where they may.
Before we ever step into the pulpit, however, we must apply the Word personally. The message must be digested by us, before it is declared by us. The truth is that Word will be often sour as it sinks into our flesh and takes us to the cross. Our carnal nature will not want to swallow such a bitter pill. Preacher, take your own medicine, for you will find it also so sweet, as the Lord cleanses and comforts, raising you up to walk in newness of life and be joy to your spiritual nature. It is the road that takes us to glory, and we are privileged to preach it, that we might take others with us! Yet, with a broken heart, we also realize there will be those who reject it, to their everlasting regret.
Surely these are some of the most horrible words we find in Scripture. To think that so many would experience such pain—judgment due to their sin—and yet refuse to repent, chills us to the bone.
How often we may have shared the Gospel as plainly and powerfully as God’s Spirit enables us, yet sinners have resisted the message and turned away. In that turning, judicial hardening comes. The stab of the Spirit’s sword in the conscience, oft resisted, tends to callous the soul and such sharp conviction is not felt in the same manner—perhaps ever again.
The preacher may feel a failure at such point. His yearning is for sinners to repent. While it may be true that a preacher does not always bring his “A” game to the pulpit, the Gospel never fails. It is the sinner who fails—they hear, but do not repent.
Let us pray for the Spirit’s conviction to painfully prick hearts. Let us preach with passion and plead for souls to surrender to Christ. Let us present Jesus as clearly and convincingly as we may, yet know that many will reject the message, harden their hearts, and go to a place where there is weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
Six seals of the scroll have been opened by the Lamb, and under each a judgment was revealed. Now, before the seventh is opened, a silence comes—a sacred pause—for opening the seventh seal will bring seven trumpet judgments. As each angel sounds a trumpet, intensified horrors will be unleashed on the sinners of earth.
That is the future God has decreed. But, for now we cannot be silent. The trumpet of truth needs to be placed in our mouths and its message urgently announced. We must warn the lost of the doom that is coming. Should they die before this fire falls from heaven, they will not evade a worse fire into which they will fall!
Paul commanded us to “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.” (2 Tim.4:2). Preach when people are responsive—in season—and when they reject it—out of season. The Word of God is in season even when some think it out of season. Stephen Olford described this as preaching where we, “take opportunities and make opportunities.” Find a way to preach the Gospel. It is imperative!
There will come a day when the Gospel will be out of season. A silence is coming. The trumpets that sound will not be an appeal to good news, but an announcement of bad news. This brings an urgency to our preaching. The witness you speak today or the sermon you share tomorrow might be the final opportunity for some soul to be saved. Their eternal destiny hangs in the balance!
