THE REVEALING OF THE SONS OF GOD
AT A TIME WHEN MUCH OF THE CHURCH HAS BEEN seduced by a doctrine of cheap and easy grace, one must ask whether holiness still matters. In these last days, it certainly does. But what does it mean? What is required? Let me begin by saying that holiness never begins with outward behavior working to bring inner change. Rather, it begins with a change of heart and character working to determine behavior. It can never be performed, only imparted, received, and expressed, but never achieved by performance. We act in holiness because we’ve been made holy by the One who is holy.
ROMANS 8:19: THE REVEALING OF THE SONS OF GOD
For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
Jewish people living in the Middle East, whose first language was most often Aramaic (a form of Hebrew), wrote our New Testament in Greek. They did so because Greek had become the common language of the Roman Empire, much as English in our own day has become so commonly spoken and understood around the world. They wanted to reach as many people as possible. Under Aramaic influence, Hebrew forms of expression made their way into the manner in which the writers expressed the Greek, especially when it came to descriptions of people. For instance, when the Gospel of Mark referred to James and John, the description in Mark 3:17 was “sons of thunder.” This identified them as thunderous men whose personalities were probably loud and strong. Similarly, in Ephesians 2:2 those whose lives are characterized by sin are called “sons of disobedience.”
The Hebrew expression “sons of God” therefore describes those whose natures have been visibly “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29). The apostle wrote of a generation of believers, both men and women, to emerge in the last days whose character could be said to have been substantially transformed and conformed to the image of Jesus. I call it holiness. The world would come to know who Jesus truly is simply by coming to know this generation of believers in their love, their mercy, their integrity, and the sense of the presence of God upon them. In spite of the popularity and impact of the hyper-grace message that seems too often to lower the bar for morality and behavior, holiness still matters, especially in these last days and in light of our appointed victory. I believe this end-time generation is about to emerge, not as an elite cadre of super-Christians, but as a generation, perhaps a remnant, who truly understand and walk in the heart of the Father.
I believe that Paul wrote of an emerging group of people who refuse compromise and who diligently seek holiness and wholeness, not for selfish reasons, personal happiness, or prosperity, but for the sake of loving the Lord and people more purely, restfully, and with greater effect. Who they are and how they live will reveal to the world what our God is truly like. Having been substantially changed to conform to the image of Jesus, they radiate a heart of love to think, feel, and act as Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit and through character that has been refined and cleansed by embracing His cross and His blood. Galatians 2:20 rings true for them: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Where victory for this generation is concerned, godly character prevails and shines in a dark and lawless world to manifest the nature of our God. Even from the most hardened unbelievers, character garners respect. With respect comes credibility and favor, just as it did for Joseph under Pharaoh and for Daniel as he served Nebuchadnezzar. Under different names and in various ways, this same group shows up more than once in Scripture.
REVELATION 14: THE 144,000 (AGAIN)
The fourteenth chapter of Revelation contrasts the destinies of two disparate groups of people. This differentiation existed in the Roman Empire in John’s day and it manifests now with a quality of end-time urgency. In keeping with prophetic perspective, the first century saw this contrast foreshadowed, but I believe it will soon manifest in fullness in our day. This calls for decision on the part of every person who believes in the name of Jesus. Where will you stand? With which group will you identify? Will you settle for less, or press forward for the fullness of what our Lord has to offer? That fullness enriches every aspect of life from family and personal relationships to an overall sense of purpose. Love in its purest expression changes everything.
Remember that Revelation is apocalyptic literature employing fluid symbolism like that found in dreams. Much as you and I might have dreams filled with symbolism, John saw prophetic visions, pregnant with meaning but full of symbolism needing interpretation. This applies to the 144,000 of whom John wrote.
Revelation 14:1 says, “Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.” As has already been pointed out, we find the whole composition of the body of Christ represented in the number 144,000—Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus, twelve patriarchs times twelve apostles. The number 1,000 is simply a way of saying “a great many.”
One key argument against taking this as a literal number is that in taking it literally, according to verse 4, these must all be men not “defiled with women”—sorry ladies! You’re excluded! More on that in a moment! For now, understand that this number includes Jew and Gentile, male and female, all those who have received Jesus as Lord, Messiah, and Savior and who have determined to follow Him fully. As already noted, this group appears first in Revelation 7:3-4 where they were sealed against the plagues to come.
To mark ownership, Romans often branded slaves on the forehead. Their foreheads bear the names of Jesus and the Father God. Symbolically represented in terms first-century Christians would understand, the 144,000 have given themselves as “slaves” of Jesus and the Father. Doesn’t that sound like the Romans 8:19 sons of God to be revealed in the last days, looking like Jesus, wholly owned and completely sold out to Him? These are neither the compromisers nor those who claim the name but fail to walk the walk. These “slaves” have surrendered their freedoms for the greater freedom to be found in Jesus. Slaves to Jesus know that full obedience to Him is the only true freedom and that everything else constitutes actual slavery.
“Standing on Mount Zion” the place where God chose to manifest His presence indicates that these live and move in the presence of God, that He has chosen to dwell in their midst, and that they love nothing more than His presence. There is no compelling reason to believe that John saw a literal 144,000, men only, all concentrated on the hill of Zion. Mount Zion in the Old Testament was the place where God chose to make His name to dwell. As the place of His presence, it therefore symbolizes His presence wherever He might choose to manifest it.
So, these 144,000 walk, stand, and live in God’s raw and imminent presence. As a focused and singular goal, they have sought intimacy with Him and have been changed by their experience of it. The tangible sense of God’s nearness has become their home wherever they go. In these last days, this is the destiny of all those who make the choice to follow Jesus without reservation, both men and women. In light of this, perhaps the important question is not when will Jesus return but rather are we being transformed into the image of our Lord in the Father’s heart? Have we been seeking to know when Jesus will return to take us away when we should have been hungering for His transforming presence to invade us here and now? Ask the wrong question and you will likely get the wrong answer.
PURCHASED FROM THE EARTH
Revelation 14:3 says the 144,000 have been “purchased from the earth.” No longer citizens of earth, bought by the blood of the Lamb, they have been marked on the forehead as belonging to Him. A slave is owned. Purchased. The price of the purchase was the blood of the Lamb. We are not our own. We have no rights except the right to become children of God (see John 1:12). This is the slavery whose true name is freedom.
Revelation 14:4-5 reads, “These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.”
Women are certainly not defiling and there is nothing defiling about sex within the confines of marital relationships. Jesus consistently treated women with honor and saw them as a source of blessing. In fact, in a time when women were not allowed to study the Torah and were kept apart from the men behind a veil in the synagogue, Jesus included women among the disciples who sat at His feet. This was revolutionary! Scripture calls for men to treat women with that same quality of respect. These verses are not therefore about women. We find here yet another reason not to view the 144,000 as a literal number or to regard the imagery as anything but symbolic of a spiritual reality. What then does this actually imply?
The answer can be found in Israel’s history of idolatry. “Defiled with women” is a biblical metaphor for compromised devotion to God. Jeremiah 3:8-9 reads, “And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.” As the prophets confronted Israel’s sins of idolatry, sexual immorality became a paradigm for Israel’s unfaithfulness to God through the worship of other gods.
Harlotry—a strong word! God labeled faithless Israel a bunch of whores engaged in betrayal of their Husband. A whore gets paid for her services. Similarly, the fertility gods Israel whored after offered payment for their services in the form of crops and flocks. Sin offers a reward, a payment, but it’s a lie. Compromise with sin brings defilement, destroying both glory and blessing in the same way as does sexual immorality. In sin, you join the culture around you and buy into its values and attitudes for the sake of a reward that’s actually delusion and defilement.
Jeremiah 5:7 makes a similar point: “Why should I pardon you? Your sons have forsaken Me and sworn by those who are not gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the harlot’s house.” God was saying, You experienced Me and my goodness but traded it for defilement and loss.
Yet again in Ezekiel 23:43-44, naming the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel, God said, “Then I said concerning her who was worn out by adulteries, ‘Will they now commit adultery with her when she is thus?’ But they went in to her as they would go in to a harlot. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women.” Compromise with the deceptions of the Baal spirit brings the strongest of condemnations. We are His bride. He expects fidelity and has every right to do so.
The 144,000, the faithful bride of Christ, refuse any form of compromise with the godless world system of religion and philosophy. Firmly committed to Jesus and to Jesus alone, they remain absolutely moral in every way there is to be moral. Their devotion is pure.
This end-time company of sons and daughters of God “follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” A symbolic way of speaking of absolute obedience, this willingness to follow defines a key element of their chastity, much like the first twelve disciples who left everything to follow Jesus without condition, not knowing where they were going. The obedient heart follows, even when it cannot see the road ahead.
FIRST FRUITS
John saw the 144,000 as “first fruits” purchased from among the people of the world. In agricultural terms, first fruits guarantee the full harvest to come. In the verses that follow, John wrote that the world will rush headlong into a time when every aspect of the ungodly world system will collapse. In the midst of this collapse, as people experientially discover that sin doesn’t work, and as pain and destruction drive people to despair, we will see a great end-time harvest of souls, even as the majority fail to repent. This end-time company of Jews and Gentiles devoted to Jesus is merely the vanguard of a great harvest of souls to come in the last days. Victory unfolds at every point.
A PEOPLE OF ABSOLUTE INTEGRITY
John wrote that this end-time company of sold-out believers would be a people of absolute integrity, “And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless” (Rev. 14:5). Aren’t you tired of reading and hearing reports of prominent Christian leaders fallen to sin and compromise? While in New Zealand speaking for a conference, I heard from my hosts eyewitness accounts of pastors from foreign countries attending the Lakeland Revival in Lakeland, Florida (circa 2008) who bought expensive items from stores where they talked the clerks into writing up false invoices so that they would not have to pay as much in duties upon leaving the country. Sadly, this kind of unrighteousness has been all too common. In these last days, holiness counts, perhaps as never before!
In the days to come, no level of compromise will do. Lapses of integrity and morality will disqualify us to be included among the revealed sons of God walking with the Lord in intimacy, glory, and victory. Such failures of holiness will prevent us entering into the depth of the new worship represented in the “new song” and will disqualify us to be included as among the first fruits. We are called as world-changers who walk in victory and authority, but we cannot do it from positions of compromise. In the days to come, holiness will be wedded with the power and authority of the kingdom of God manifest on earth. Power like we have never seen will be released. Know that I am not saying we must all be perfect. Not possible! I am, however, pointing out the necessity of desiring and pursuing deep godliness of character in these last days.
As a full-time pastor for forty-two years at this writing, I grieve as I have seen too many believers waiting until the last minute to put their lives in order. One might wonder—what level of delusion would lead us to believe that life in the world is worth delaying life in the glory? Do we not understand that to continue in ungodly ways without repentance means that we are storing up destruction for ourselves?
If you knew that you could collect a million dollars tomorrow if you simply gave up eating sugar, would you put off denying yourself those donuts until next month? Would you reach for a candy bar? Why wait? Sin kills. Light fades, for instance, from the eyes of fornicators when freedom and glory could be had now, today, by choosing righteousness. Refusal to forgive destroys love at every level of life, even for those we most want to love. In short, any transgression of any one of the basic Ten Commandments destroys something of our essential humanity, and yet sin continues to appeal. God calls the compromisers “whores” because the initial payment for illicit sin is the delusory and temporary pleasure we get from doing it, although the end is destruction and loss. We get to win, but we can only do it by growing in conformity to the image of Jesus.
Review once more Romans 8:19, “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God,” and Romans 8:29-30, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” Clearly Revelation 14 is John’s vision of the same group of people Paul foresaw in Romans 8.
In any case, all of this points to another aspect of the victory promised us as we approach the time of the end.