Worship Message No. 32 / April 12: Revelation Chapter 14
【Introduction】
Hello, everyone.
Out of nowhere — have you ever had an experience like this?
Stuck in traffic, regretting, "I should have taken the other road."
After job hunting, thinking, "I should have chosen that company instead."
Life is a continuous series of choices, isn't it?
And in many cases, we only understand the meaning of a choice after we have made it.
Revelation chapter 14 is a chapter written about exactly that.
But the scale is different.
It is not a personal story — it is about the moment when it becomes clear which road all of humanity chose.
To those of you thinking, "This is just going to be a religious talk" — wait just a moment.
This chapter contains a scene that even a movie couldn't depict: three angels flying through the sky making announcements to all of humanity.
Today I will explain its contents as clearly as I can.
By the end, you will begin to see "why the Bible would write something like this."
Today's structure has four parts:
【Part One: The 144,000】
【Part Two: The Announcements of the Three Angels】
【Part Three: Perseverance and Faith】
【Part Four: The Two Harvests】
Let's begin with the first.
【Part One: The 144,000】（vv. 1–5）
First, what appears at the very beginning of this chapter is "a group of 144,000."
They are standing on Mount Zion — that is, where God is — together with the Lamb (meaning Jesus Christ).
The Bible describes them this way:
"And they sang a new song before the throne… No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth." (Revelation 14:3, NIV)
"A new song" — this is interesting.
Music carries emotions that only those who have experienced something can understand.
Someone who has had their heart broken weeps at a heartbreak song because they know that pain.
Someone who has lived through war is moved deeply by a song of peace because they have lived that contrast.
The "new song" sung by these 144,000 is a song that only those who were kept by God and maintained their faith through every era can sing.
Now look at verse 4.
About these people, the Bible continues:
"These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb." (Revelation 14:4, NIV)
The moment you read that, some of you may have felt, "Wait — is this putting women down?" That's a sharp reaction.
But this is actually a metaphor.
Throughout the entire Bible, words like "adultery" and "prostitution" are repeatedly used as metaphors for spiritual idolatry.
In the Old Testament books of Hosea and Ezekiel, Israel abandoning God to follow other gods was expressed as "a wife betraying her husband."
And in the context of Revelation we are in now, "Babylon the great prostitute" appeared just before this passage.
That Babylon was not a literal woman — she was a symbol of a corrupt world system.
In other words, "did not defile themselves with women" means:
people who did not sell their souls to the idols of this world — power, money, pleasure, public opinion.
In contemporary terms, it refers to those who, in the midst of pressure telling them “It’s smart to read the room and go along with the current," still refused to bend the axis of their faith.
People who, during job hunting, did not think, "I'll compromise my convictions if it means getting into this company."
People who, when everyone around them was facing the same direction, were able to say, "But I can't believe that's right."
That is the kind of image this evokes.
Next, the part that says "they follow the Lamb wherever he goes."
Sheep distinguish their shepherd's voice.
They do not respond to other voices. Even in a noisy environment, they follow only the voice of their own shepherd.
"Follow wherever he goes" does not mean blind obedience.
Think of mountain climbing.
When you walk behind a mountain guide, you don't fully understand why the guide stops at a certain place.
But if you trust the guide, your feet keep moving.
That is it.
It means placing the standard for life's decisions not in the trends of the world or in others' evaluations, but in the word of God — continuously.
Finally, the part about being "purchased… as firstfruits."
In Old Testament Israel, there was a custom of offering to God the first of the harvest — the firstfruits.
The firstfruits had two meanings.
One was the meaning of offering the very best to God.
The other was the assurance that by offering the firstfruits, the entire subsequent harvest would be blessed.
In other words, these 144,000 are the forerunners gathered before the final "great harvest."
Their very existence becomes the divine "guarantee" of the salvation of the many who follow after them.
And the word "purchased." This refers to a slave being set free by a price being paid.
It means they are not beings who came to God by their own power, but beings who were set free because a price was paid on their behalf.
To summarize verse 4:
"Did not defile themselves with women" → Did not surrender their souls to the corrupt systems of this world
"Remained virgins" → Continued to guard the integrity of their faith
"Follow the Lamb" → Used God's word, not the voice of the world, as their compass
"Purchased as firstfruits" → Forerunners rescued by God, not by their own strength
And the Bible adds:
"No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless."
This does not mean they were perfect human beings.
It means people who, no matter how many times they fell, kept returning to God.
【Part Two: The Announcements of the Three Angels】（vv. 6–11）
Now, this is where we reach the climactic portion of this chapter.
· Angel 1: The Eternal Gospel
The first angel flies in midair and cries out:
"Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water."
At first glance this looks like a frightening message.
But think of it this way: A major corporation has been covering up a scandal, and one day it is all suddenly exposed.
A familiar story.
But conversely — the employee who has been working honestly and with integrity, what do they feel in that moment?
Wouldn't it be relief — "Finally, things will be evaluated correctly"?
This angel's announcement is not a message of fear that "judgment has come."
It is a declaration that the justice which has long been trampled upon is at last being restored.
· Angel 2: The Fall of Babylon
The next angel says:
"Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great."
"Babylon" refers to: the media that manipulates information and steers people, the economic structure sustained by exploiting the vulnerable, the politics that prioritizes profit over justice.
It is the entire arrogant edifice that humanity has built up while ignoring God.
At the time of the 2008 Lehman shock, financial institutions said to be "too big to fail" collapsed one after another. Something believed to be absolutely safe crumbles in a single day — the fall of Babylon is the ultimate version of that.
· Angel 3: The Final Warning
The third angel's message is the most intense in this chapter.
"If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God's fury."
"The mark of the beast" is often used in science fiction and conspiracy theories, but what does it mean in the biblical context?
Here, two locations appear: the "forehead" and the "hand."
Forehead ＝ thought, belief, what one believes
Hand ＝ action, what one does
In other words, "receiving the mark" means completely surrendering both heart and actions to the power systems of this world — rather than to God.
This stands in exact contrast to "those who did not defile themselves" seen in verse 4.
Those people continuously kept the axis of their souls anchored in God. These people completely entrusted both their hearts and their actions to the forces of the world.
The Bible keeps asking, throughout: "Which will you choose?"
【Part Three: Perseverance and Faith】（vv. 12–13）
After the angels' announcements, the Bible continues:
"This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus."
The Greek word used here is "ὑπομονή (hypomonē)."
In Japanese it is translated as "忍耐 (nintai — endurance / patience)," but this is not simply a matter of gritting one's teeth.
Breaking down the word: "ὑπό (hypo) = under a weight" ＋ "μένω (menō) = to remain, to stay"
So, translated directly: "to choose to remain, even while bearing a heavy burden."
Whereas the Japanese word "我慢 (gaman)" is passive, hypomonē is a word of active will.
And there is one more important thing.
This word is never used in comfortable circumstances.
It is a word that presupposes the presence of a heavy burden — being in the midst of a storm.
A tree does not remain standing in a storm because it is desperately bracing itself, but because its roots are sunk deep into the earth.
Hypomonē is those roots.
No matter what wind blows, not being uprooted from God as the foundation.
In marathon terms: past the 30-kilometer mark, the body is at its limit, screaming "stop now."
And yet the feet keep moving — not because of sheer willpower alone, but because one believes the finish line exists.
The strength that "those who continued to follow the Lamb" in verse 4 possessed — that is precisely this hypomonē.
【Part Four: The Two Harvests】（vv. 14–20）
At the end of this chapter, two harvest scenes appear.
The first harvest: One "like a son of man," seated on a white cloud, swings his sickle and reaps the earth. This is the harvest of salvation — a symbol of the people being gathered to God.
The second harvest: Another angel "gathered the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath." This is the harvest of judgment.
Think of it in terms of farming.
During the autumn harvest season, the farmer gathers the ripe fruit and at the same time removes what cannot be used.
Not because the farmer is "being cruel." It is work that is necessary in order to fulfill the field's original purpose.
And "those purchased as firstfruits" seen in verse 4 were the forerunners of this great harvest.
Their very existence was God's promise to the entire harvest that would follow.
【Conclusion / Closing】
Today we have looked through Revelation chapter 14 together.
The angels' announcements, the fall of Babylon, the two harvests — and at the center of it all, the words of verse 4 and the root-strength called hypomonē.
There is only one question this chapter is asking:
"What is the axis around which you are living today?"
The people of verse 4 did not have any special talent.
They simply did not fall, in the midst of the storm.
Their roots were simply deep.
You do not need to think, "I'm not perfect, so this has nothing to do with me.
" What is being asked is not how many times you have fallen — only which direction your face turned each time you fell.
"If I have money, I'll be fine. If I have status, I'll be okay. If I go along with those around me, there won't be any problems."
Living with that belief — and then at a certain moment feeling, "Wait, was this really all right?" — Hasn't that happened to you at least once?
Do not throw away that sense of unease.
The Bible has been saying, since long ago, that that very unease is the voice of your honest self.
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