Trending
A man once asked a little boy what his father did.
"He watches," he said.
"You mean he's a night watchman?" the man inquired.
"Oh, no," the little boy exclaimed, "He just watches."
"Well, what does he watch?" the man said.
"I don't know if I can tell you everything," the boy continued, "but I can name a few things."
"Well, tell me," The now curious man replied.
"He watches TV, he watches Mom do the housework, he watches for the paper boy, he watches the weather, and I think he watches girls, too," he said with an impish grin on his face. "He watches the stock market, football games, all the sports, he watches Mother spank us, and he watches us do our homework. He watches us leave to go to church and PTA and shopping. He watches Mom write letters and me play with my dog. He watches Mom pay the bills. But mainly, he said with a touch of sadness, he just watches."
How about your father? Does he watch a lot, too? How about your wife or husband or children? What about you? There's a lot to look at. Watching what is going on takes up a big part of our lives, doesn't it? Watching is important. There's a positive side to watching. The apostle John was privileged to watch some amazing miracles and visions in his lifetime, but he also watched somethings that broke his heart. Like the vision God gave him of the horrible onslaught of evil Satan and his helpers would bring on the world (Rev. 13), John's dark vision, however, shifts suddenly into another glorious vision in Rev. 14. What John sees there must have taken his breath away for he tells us he looked and saw the gentle, humble, Lamb of God, the very symbol of sacrificial love, standing on a heavenly Mount Zion with 144,000 enjoying the company of His redeemed people in stark contrast to the tyrannical, hateful, authoritative rule of the beast and the lamblike demeanor of the second beast in Rev. 13. The hearts of Messianic Jews must leap at this picture, for every Jew in history has looked forward to the time when the Messiah will return and rule from Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
Who are these 144,000 standing in God's presence? John tells us they have the Lamb's name and his Father's name on their foreheads. They are those who belong to him. In the ancient world a mark stood for ownership, loyalty, security, dependence, or safety and in each of these there is some truth concerning the followers of the Lamb. Yet, in this context the mark seems primarily a symbol of allegiance. Those who commit themselves to the Lamb and to the path of self-sacrificing love are symbolized as bearing this mark. They are the overcomers upon whom the risen Christ has written his own name. They are those who were brought from earth, who lived without compromise, and are spiritually pure before God. They're free from involvement with the depraved worship system of the beast. They're true believers whose robes have been washed and made white in Christ's blood (7:14) through his