The triumph of the Lamb.
"And I looked and lo a lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with him one hundred and forty four thousand, having his father's name written on their foreheads." Revelation 14v1
We remind ourselves that the whole point of scripture is to reveal Christ. Jesus said to the Jews who challenged him "Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me that ye might have life." John 5v39-40,In other words if the study of scripture does not leads us to Christ, it is all in vain. In Luke 24v44 he described the whole of the Old Testament scriptures thus "all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me." In all study we must bear in mind this key interpretation, and nowhere is this more evident than in the book of Revelation, which is indeed His own revelation of Himself as given by His Father. With this in mind, we understand that this book is not about Satan or men described as beasts or the rise and fall of kingdoms; it is at its heart a revelation of Jesus Christ. There are two aspects of His glorious being revealed in this chapter.
- In verse 1 - He is the Lamb standing on Mount Zion. This is Christ in His role as the sacrifice for the world, but now glorified. Twenty seven times in this book is there reference to Christ as the Lamb. In this we see a perfect sacrifice, because the Lamb for the redemption of Israel must be without blemish. Also the Lamb must be slain and the blood applied if the angel of death would pass over the homes of the Israelites in Egypt. The lesson way back in history is that only the shed blood of the Lamb would avert the wrath of the avenging angel. It is true for the whole world today(John 1v29). The message of the book of the Revelation is that the only shield of defence against the wrath of Almighty God will be the shed blood of Christ applied to my life. The Lamb speaks of a perfect sacrifice in the redemption of His people.
- In verse 14 - He is described as the Son of Man having on his head a golden crown and in His hand a sharp sickle. This is in sharp contrast to the Lamb of Calvary and portrays another aspect of the same person. What are we to understand by the expression "the Son of Man?" Almost eighty times in the four gospels Jesus is referred to as the Son of Man and four times in the rest of the New Testament so it is an important title. It is used in connection with Jesus's earthly life (Mark 2v10; Mark 2v28; Matthew 8v20; Luke 19v10). It is used in connection with His sufferings (Mark 8v31 & Hebrews 2v10). It is further used in connection with his future exaltation and rule (Matthew 25v1; Matthew 26v24; Matthew 26v64). The most obvious reference in connection with Revelation 14 is Daniel chapter 7v13 "And I saw in the night visions and behold one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him, and there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people and nations and languages should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." d solemn Daniel 7v13-14. The expression Son of Man proclaims that He is human; that He would experience sufferings in common with every other man and that as a man He would establish God's kingdom on earth. He is God's ideal man, He is the perfect man and through Him alone humanity will achieve its stated goal.
There is a very sharp and solemn contrast here. As the Lamb He is the perfect sacrifice in redemption. As the Son of Man He is the perfect man in retribution. This will mean blessing for some and judgment for others. As the Lamb of Calvary He took upon Himself the judgment of God against sin for believers; as the Son of Man He will pour out the judgment of God on unbelievers The sight of t;he Son of Man with the sickle in His hand ready to reap the harvest of the earth is indeed ominous. He has already harvested souls in blessing, He will ultimately harvest souls for damnation, because as the perfect man He must rid God's world of all evil.
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