Revelation 14:1-20 asks the question,
is it worth it to endure as a Christian? Does it pay to be a Christian?
Is it worth it to be a Christian if your family faces discrimination, if
your children are threatened with death? Does it pay to be a Christian
for fourteen Khmu familes in Laos, whose homes and church buildings have
been destroyed more than once? In 2003 fourteen Khum families were
evicted from their homes. And now they are being forced to move again.
The roof of their church has been torn off by unbelievers over and over.
But the Khum are staying strong in the faith. They continue to worship
together three times a week. What keeps them going? What is their
secret? And what will keep us going so that we trust Jesus until the
end?
Revelation 13 focuses on the
persecution of God’s people, but chapter 14 teaches us how we can endure
persecution. Is it worth it to be a Christian? Is the cost and
sacrifice too great? Let’s look at the first five verses in chapter 14.
Children of God
The 144,000 are with the Lamb on Mt.
Zion. Who are the 144,000? I argued in Revelation 7 that the 144,000
represented the church of Jesus Christ—all Christians. I am not going to
review those arguments again here. If that is right, these verses
represent our story. John is talking about our lives, our destiny. This
isn’t the story of Christians who live in another galaxy far, far away.
This is our story. This is about uncle Jim who is a Christian and your
mother and father, and your sons and daughters who know Christ.
Where are these
Christians? They are on Mt. Zion. And where is that? Mt Zion stands for
heaven. The heavenly Jerusalem. So, even though John is talking about
Christians, he takes us to the future. He transports us to heaven
itself. And why does he do this here? We immediately see after the
persecution of Revelation 13 one reason why Christians should endure
persecution. They are promised a heavenly reward. They will be with Lamb
on Mt. Zion forever. They have the name of the Lamb and the name of the
Father on their foreheads. This language is obviously symbolic. It
means that they belong to God. They are his children.
Christian, who are you? You are a child
of God. You are part of his family. Do you ever feel like you are a
nobody? Do you feel that no one cares for you? We all have moments like
that. You may feel like even fellow-believers in the church don’t love
you. But we are reminded here that you belong to God. God loves you and
you are his child. You are precious to him. Maybe you even feel like
your husband or wife doesn’t love you. But God loves you. And his love
should motivate you to obey him and to keep his commandments. Continue at Thomas Schreiner
No comments:
Post a Comment