The Followers of the Lamb

The Followers of the Lamb

(No. 2324)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1893.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
AUGUST 4, 1889.

"These are they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were
redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the
Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault
before the Throne of God." Revelation 14:4,5.

WHATEVER the saints are in Heaven, they began to be on earth. There is,
no doubt, a perfection of character in the world to come, but the
character must be formed here. In the next world there will be no real
change–where the tree falls, there it will lie. He that is filthy will
be filthy, still. He that is holy will be holy, still. I am going to
talk to you, tonight, about those who surround the Lamb and are with
Him in the blaze of His Glory, singing to His honor. I say that what
they are in Heaven they were, in a measure, on earth. The life of Glory
is the life of Grace. That life which men have in Heaven comes to them
in regeneration on earth. When they are born again, they are born for
Heaven–then it is that they receive the life which lives on throughout
the eternal ages. If you do not have that life, here, you will never
have it. If you die dead in sin, there is nothing for you, forever, but
the abode of the dead, "where their worm dies not and their fire is not
quenched." Today is the only time which we have for forming our
character. Earth is the great place for making instruments of
music–here they are tuned and prepared. Up there, they play them! But
they will never play them, there, unless they have had them made and
tuned here.

The subject of my discourse will be, first, a survey of the outline of
character of those who are to be with Christ hereafter. And then,
secondly, a contemplation of the perfect picture of the saints with
Christ in Glory, where I trust we, too, shall be, in the Lord's good
time.

I do not know whether these verses describe all the saints in Heaven.
If they do, then you must be like they, or you can never be among them.
If, however, they describe the elect of the elect, the innermost circle
of Heaven. If they describe the bodyguard of Christ, the immortals that
perpetually surround Him, nearest to His Person, the most divinely like
He. If they describe a kind of aristocracy of the skies, the nobility
of Heaven–and it seems to me that they do, for they are the first
fruits and the rest of the righteous may be regarded as the harvest
afterwards reaped. If these words describe some special saints, then we
should seek to be like they. I would cultivate a holy ambition to be
among the brightest stars of God! Why should we not reach to the
highest prize of our high calling? If there is any specialty among the
redeemed above, should it not be our earnest desire to attain to that
standard?

I. So, first, here is AN OUTLINE OF THE CHARACTER OF THOSE BLESSED ONES
WHILE THEY ARE

HERE.

And, first, notice their adherence to the Doctrine of Sacrifice while
they are here–"These are they which follow the Lamb." There are some
professing Christians who talk much about the example of Christ, but
deny the efficacy of His atoning blood–they are not of those who will
be in Heaven. There are some who magnify the philosophy of Christ–all
His ethical teaching is greatly to their taste–but, as to His being a
Substitute offered up as a Sacrifice on account of human guilt, they
cannot agree with it. Very well–they cannot enter Heaven, for, "these
are they which follow the Lamb." Not Christ, only, mark you, but Christ
as the Lamb of God's Passover! Christ as the Lamb of God slain before
the foundation of the world, Christ as the Lamb of God which takes away
the sin of the world. You cannot be of that blessed number if you
reject Christ as a Sacrifice.

As for me, and I trust for you, also, "God forbid that I should glory,
save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!" Christianity without the
blood of Christ is a dead Christianity–it has nothing to give life to
it–"for the blood is the life thereof." If you take away the Doctrine
of Sacrifice, you have taken away the core, the heart, the pith, the
marrow of all Christianity. You have left bones for dogs, but you have
not left food for immortal spirits. Whoever will be saved, before all
things, it is necessary that he should believe in Jesus Christ, the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! "For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son: that whoever believes in
Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." Look, look, look
unto Him and be you saved, all you ends of the earth, for He is God,
even the bleeding Savior! He is God and beside Him there is none else.
May it be said of you all, dear Friends, that you followed the Lamb by
your adherence to His atoning Sacrifice!

Many have thus followed the Lamb in spite of fierce persecution.
Remember that brave woman, Ann Askew? When they had racked her and
pulled every limb out of its place, so that she ached all over in her
exquisitely delicate frame, yet she sat on the stone floor of her cell
and still defended the Sacrifice of Christ. When she had an opportunity
to write her thoughts, she penned that quaint verse–

"I am not she that list,

My anchor to let fall,

For every drizzling mist

My ship's substantial."

She thought that being vexed by Popish priests and torn to pieces on
the rack was only a drizzling mist, for which it was not worth while to
cast her anchor! She was more than a match for 50 priests. God raise us
up a race of such men and women! The devil seems to have taken the
backbone out of most people. May we begin to know what we know and to
believe what we believe, and to put our foot down and say, "God helping
me, I will not forsake my God, nor turn away from His Truth." You
remember how Martin Luther, when he stood at the Diet of Worms, closed
what he had to say when they bade him recant, and he would not? He
said, "Here I stand; I can do no other, so help me God," and thus,
invoking the help of his Divine Lord, he committed his body to the
flames, if need be, sooner than he would renounce a single Word of the
Most High, or sin against the Light of God which he had received!

And, next, it is clear of these people that they followed the Lamb by
practically imitating Christ's example, for it is written, "These are
they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes." They so believed in Him
that–

"They marked the footsteps that He trod,

His zeal inspired their breast,

And following their Incarnate God,

Possess the promised rest."

You cannot be with Christ unless you are like Christ. If you have
really trusted in Jesus, He will transform you, He will take away from
you those evil tendencies and vile propensities which are contrary to
holiness. He will work in you to will and to do of His own good
pleasure. And the highest holiness for you is to be like Christ! The
very noblest character to which you could ever reach is to follow the
Lamb wherever He goes, in obedience to God, in love to man, in
self-sacrifice, in humility, in gentleness, in love! You must follow
Him wherever He goes and do what He did, so far as your position makes
it fit for you to do it. I mean that you cannot do as He did as God,
but you can do what He did as Man. Try to put your feet down in the
footprints that He has left you. Aim at complete conformity to Christ
and wherein you fail to reach it, mark that you come so far short of
what you ought to be. To be like Christ is that which God intends for
you and unless you have some measure of it now, you will never be with
Him, for all they who are with Christ above are the people who were
made like to Christ here below. Note that very distinctly, "These are
they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes."

Will you, dear Friends, labor to take Christ for your pattern? Do not
come and take His name and then dishonor His Character. There are among
you some who are very much like your Master–you are the joy of the
Church. There are among all the Churches some who bear Christ's name
but are not like He. My venerable predecessor, Dr. Rippon, used to say
of His Church, that he had in it some of the best people in
England–and then he used to add in a low voice, "and some of the
worst." I am afraid that I have to say the same, but I am very sorry
that I should have to say it. The worst people in the world are those
who profess most and do least. Do not be among that unhappy number, but
do, I pray you,

by the blessing of God, and the help of His Spirit, be among those who
at least endeavor to "follow the Lamb wherever He goes."

Now, notice in the sketch of these people, that they recognized a
special redemption–"These were redeemed from among men." Christ had
done something for them that He had not done for others. They were not
redeemed, "among men," but, "from among men." They recognized the
specialty of Christ's Sacrifice. They could read, for instance, a
passage like this and understand its meaning, "Christ loved the church,
and gave Himself for it," for His Church, for His body. "These were
redeemed from among men." Come, Beloved, do you belong to this company
of persons who have been fetched out from the rest of mankind by the
power of the Spirit of God, and also by the merit of the precious
blood? Do you feel that you are marked with the blood as others are
not? Do you belong to a people who are not of the world, even as He
that bought them was not of the world? Are you henceforth not of the
common multitude, but one who has been bought and paid for by that
redemptive price which was found in the veins and the heart of the
Redeemer? And are you so redeemed as no longer to be one of the great
mass of mankind, but fetched out, called out, chosen, "not your own,
but bought with a price"? These are they that will be with Christ
hereafter, as specially redeemed ones.

And as they recognized a special redemption, you will observe that they
made a full surrender of themselves to God and to the Lamb–"These were
redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the
Lamb." On a certain day, when the harvest was getting ripe, a man went
down to the fields and plucked an ear here, a handful there, and
another handful further on. And he passed along the field and gathered
ears here and ears there. And when he had collected enough for sheaves,
he tied them up and took them to the Temple of God and presented them
to the Lord as an offering, to signify that he owed all the harvest to
God–and he brought Him the first ripe ears as a sacrifice to Him.

Now, Beloved, has the Grace of God plucked you out from among the rest
of mankind and do you feel that you now belong to Christ, that you
belong to God, that you are not to be gathered with the mass of men for
the great condemnation, but that you are presented unto God and belong
to Him altogether? It is a very easy thing for me to talk about this,
but, believe me, it is by no means an easy thing to carry it out. I see
numbers of people who profess to belong to God, but they live as much
for making money as anybody else! They live quite as much for
self-seeking as the world does and it would be difficult, even if you
had microscopes on both your eyes, to see any difference between them
and worldlings. This will never do. "Come out from among them, and be
you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing." If you
are the first fruits unto God, be so. If you belong to yourself, serve
yourself. But if, by the redemption of Christ, you are not your own,
but bought with a price, then live as those who are the King's own, who
must serve God, and cannot be content unless their every action shall
tend to the Divine Glory, and to the magnifying of Christ Jesus. Now
this is what all of us who are truly the Lord's have in outline. Oh,
that the sketch might be properly filled up, that we might become more
and more the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb!

I must take you a little further. These people who are to be with
Christ, the nearest to Him, are a people free from falsehood. "In their
mouth was found no guile." Brothers and Sisters, if we profess to be
Christians, we must have done with all craft, policy, double-dealing
and the like. The Christian man should be a plain man who says what he
means and means what he says. I know of no worse suspicion against any
man who professes to be a Christian than the suspicion of not being
transparent. It were better for us to be simple as fools than to be
cunning as hypocrites, even though our cunning should place us in the
front rank of the governors of mankind! The Christian man should scorn
to tell a lie! Exaggeration and equivocation should be strangers to his
lips. "In their mouth was found no guile." The Lord Jesus Christ was a
great Speaker of the plain Truth of God and those whom He chooses to be
near Him, to be His personal attendants in Heaven, must also be free
from guile. With many a mistake, with many a weakness, yet, Beloved,
the saints are free from falsehood! They are true, whatever may be
their mistakes. Look to yourselves and see whether it is so. As I would
look to my own soul, I charge you to look to yours.

And then, once more, it is said that they are free from blemish. "They
are without fault before the Throne of God." "Oh," says one, "I am not
without fault!" No, but there is the outline of that character in you
if you are, indeed, one of the Lord's people. You have already got rid
of many faults and you are getting rid of more. You grieve over what
remains and you will never rest till every sin is conquered. Is it not
so, Beloved? Saints are not only men of honor, but men of holiness! We
would not tolerate any known sin in ourselves. Whenever we are carried
into a fault by temptation or by inbred sin, we feel unhappy. We bow
low in the dust and we cry to God for Grace, that we may not commit the
same sin

again. But God's people are a blameless people, after all. If you are
to find pure and right characters, where will you find them but among
the followers of the Lamb? You know and I know many believers in Christ
whose lives are blameless– we would not say that they are absolutely
without fault, but still, the Grace of God so works in them that we may
safely take them for examples and do as they have done.

It was so in the olden time and it is so now! And unless your character
is such that your children may safely imitate it, and your servants may
tread in your footsteps, and your neighbors may act as you do without
going wrong, how can you hope to be where Jesus is? Jesus Christ
receives sinners, but He makes them saints! The Gospel opens a great
hospital, not for sick men to lie in it and remain sick, but that there
they may recover health and may be made strong! He that believes in
Christ is saved–saved in this sense among others, that He is saved
from the power of sin, and turned from an unholy and godless life into
a life of purity, honesty, and uprightness! "Be not deceived," any of
you, tonight, "God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows that shall he
also reap." If there is not about you a likeness to Christ. If there is
not at least the sketch which I have tried to depict, then, surely, you
are not among those who will be forever where Jesus is!

I have seen an artist make his crayon drawing. He takes a piece of
charcoal and marks out what he is going to draw. I am afraid that is
about all that is done with us, here. There is an outline made with the
charcoal–all the lines of beauty and all the glory of character are
yet to be laid on as we grow in Grace and in likeness to Christ. But,
at least, there must be that sketch. If you have not that, come humbly
to the feet of Jesus and pray that He would begin in you His good work
which He will carry on and perfect in the day of His appearing.

Thus much upon the outline of the character of saints while they are
upon the earth.

II. Now indulge me for just a few minutes while I try to give you A
GLIMPSE OF THE PERFECT PICTURE IN

HEAVEN. I cannot really show you the picture–that is in the upper
gallery in Glory and you must go up there to see it. I can only tell
you my idea of what that picture is like when it is finished.

Well, first, those who are with Christ enjoy perfect fellowship with
Him. Up there they "follow the Lamb wherever He goes." They are always
with Him. There were certain young princes chosen in certain courts to
attend upon the king. Wherever the king went, they went. Where the
court was, there was their abode. Their one business was to behold the
king's face and to abide near him. That is the business of the
glorified ones of whom I am speaking. When will the day arrive that you
and I shall enjoy this perfect fellowship with our glorious King, never
absent from Him, never doubting His love, never cold in our affection
towards Him, but being–

"Forever with the Lord"?

Shall I go on with the verse?

"Amen! So let it be!

Life from the dead is in that word,

'Tis immortality!"

Some of you have dear children who have outstripped their mother and
are enjoying this felicity even now. Others of us have mothers,
brothers, friends who were very dear to us, who follow the Lamb in
Glory. How many who once sat among us, here, are now up there,
following the Lamb, and He leads them unto living fountains of waters
and all tears are wiped away from their eyes! Oh, to think that
wherever my Lord shall go I shall go! When He shall descend from Heaven
with a shout, we shall come with Him! When He shall sit upon His Throne
to judge the world, His saints shall sit with Him! When He shall reign
gloriously among His ancients for a thousand years, we shall reign with
Him on the earth! When He shall return to the Father's Throne–

"All His work and warfare done," we shall partake of His triumph,
following the Lamb wherever He goes. I vote to cast in my lot with my
Lord in life and in death. What say you? My Master, where You dwell, I
will dwell. If men put You to shame, I will be put to shame with You.
If You die, I will die with You, that I may forever live with You in
Your Glory above. Say you not the same, Beloved? Say it deep down in
your heart, tonight!

Well, now, notice in this complete picture, next, that up there they
are perfectly accepted with God–"These were redeemed from among men,
being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb." God always accepts
them. He always looks upon them as His first fruits, bought with His
Son's blood, and brought by His Son into His heavenly Temple, to be His
forever! Sometimes, here, we mar our service, but they never mar it
there! Our songs get out of tune, but theirs never know a discord. We
praise the Lord and yet groan, being burdened. But in Heaven there
are–

"No groans to mingle with the songs Which warble from immortal
tongues."

We doubt. We fear. We grieve the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we get very
sadly out of gear with God. It is never so there– fully redeemed from
sin–they are accepted in the Beloved and to the very top of their bent
they know it, and enjoy it. Happy day, happy day, when you and I shall
be of them and among them!

Observe, also, that they have perfect truth, there, in heart and
soul–"In their mouth was found no guile." "No lie," says the Revised
Version. Here, dear Friends, we inadvertently fall into error and,
sometimes, I fear, negligently. We say, not knowingly, more than the
Truth of God. How often we say much less than the Truth and almost
necessarily so when we speak of Divine things–but up there they are
not only free from willful guile and deceit, but they are free from all
error and mistake. Happy day! Happy day! Do you not long to be there to
be rid of every false doctrine, every wrong opinion, every error, every
mistake, so that in your mouth there shall never again be guile? This
is what they are above– made perfect. He who washed their hearts,
here, has washed their tongues, there! As they loved the Truth of God,
here, they know the Truth there! As they sought it here, they have
found it there! As they were willing to die for it here, they live in
the enjoyment of it there and shall do so forever!

One more feature of that perfect picture is this, they enjoy perfect
sinlessness before God–"They are without fault before the Throne of
God." That text brings back to my recollection the second sermon I
preached to this Church, one Sabbath evening, when we were but
few–"They are without fault before the Throne of God." I had great
joy, as a youth, in expatiating upon the perfect blessing of being
altogether, "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." If there
were any fault in them, there, they are where it would be seen, for
they are before the Throne of the all-seeing God! But even there, in
that matchless place of light in which there is no darkness at all,
they are declared to be without fault, without blemish. Can you think
that you will be of that happy number one day? I had to put it very
mildly just now when I spoke of saints being without blame, here, but
you may put it as strongly as you please when you speak of their being
without sin there!

They were once, perhaps, before conversion, the very chief of sinners,
but in Heaven there shall be no trace of their sin. They will bless the
Grace that came to them when they were up to their neck in the filth of
sin, but there will be no trace of their filthiness left. There is no
blood stain on Manasseh, there is no brand of blasphemy on Saul of
Tarsus, now–they have washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb. Some of these men were by nature and by practice,
too, so depraved that it looked as if they could never escape from
their evil habits. We might have said of them, "Can the Ethiopian
change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may these men, who are
accustomed to do evil, learn to do well." Yet so has the Grace of God
changed them that there is no trace of any evil tendency, no propensity
to lust, or lewdness, or blasphemy, or any kind of fault!

What a wonderful change it will be for those who were once great
sinners to be found without fault–not only without great crime, not
only without gross vice, but without fault and that, too, as I have
said, before the Throne of God, where, if there were a fault, it would
be seen! They are cleansed from all the guilt of sin and from all the
depravity which the addiction of sin brings to men. "They are without
fault before the Throne of God." Truly, if you had never heard this
before, it might make you laugh for joy to think that it should ever be
possible that the very chief of sinners, through faith in Christ, might
be made so clean as one day to be without fault before the Throne of
God! I think that when we get there, part of the joy of Heaven will be
a long surprise, an endless wonder–and if we are permitted to remember
what we used to be, some of you will recall a night of sin, and say,
"And yet I am here!" You will recall, perhaps, some dreadful passion,
some atrocious outburst of foul language, or some terrible occasion of
sin and you will say, "Yet here I am, clean as the driven snow, washed
in the blood of Jesus and renewed by the Spirit of God."

Although they always praise God, I think that they must, every now and
then, have a fresh outburst of hallelujahs when they begin to review
the past. One says, "I, even after conversion, was a poor, limping
Christian. And I was thrown back once or twice with terrible
backslidings. My Christian friends despaired of my ever holding on–and
yet here I am, by God's Grace, without fault before the Throne of God.
Hallelujah!" Will not a man be obliged to break out like that and do
you not think that all the saints around Him will take up the
Hallelujah, too, till it goes in swelling chorus all round the choirs
of Heaven, "Hallelujah to God and the Lamb"? And another one will say,
"And I, after I had long known the Lord, fell, oh, so sadly, so
grievously! But He would not give me up! He followed me and, by His
mighty

Grace, I was restored, my broken bones were set again and I was made to
sing of Free Grace and forgiving love. He created in me a new heart and
renewed a right spirit within me! And now I, even I, am here without
fault, without a single fault." You can hardly imagine it, can you? You
begin to think, "Well, surely that cannot be," for, if you look within,
you see so many faults over which you groan, but you will look without
and look within, when you once get there, and neither without nor
within, in any respect whatever, will you have any kind of fault, for,
"they are without blemish before the Throne of God."

I do not feel inclined to preach any more, but just to shout,
"Hallelujah," again and again, at the very thought that I shall be
there! Oh, it is hard to go to Heaven from such a place as that which I
occupy! Your eyes sometimes startle me in my dreams, these thousands of
eyes fixed upon one poor mortal man, who has to try to lead you to
Christ and lead you to Heaven. Your eyes, at times, seem to pierce me
like so many daggers. I think, sometimes, "What if I am not faithful,
if I do not preach plainly, if I do not warn them, if I do not invite
them earnestly, if I do not, with all my heart cry, 'Come to Christ'?
What shall I do in eternity if 6,000 pairs of eyes are forever seeming
to stick, like daggers, into my heart?" Oh, but it will not be so! I
believe in Him that justifies the ungodly and I have fully preached Him
to you, and all my great congregation!

My hope is in the precious blood that cleanses from all sin and I have
pointed all my hearers to that precious blood! And the day will come
when I, with all who believe in Jesus, shall be without fault before
the Throne of God! The very thought of it makes me cry, "Hallelujah!"
And with that I finish. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Say "Hallelujah," all
of you! ["Hallelujah" from the congregation.] Hallelujah! Hallelujah to
God and the Lamb! The Lord bless you, for Christ's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON. REVELATION 14.

Verse 1. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb–John always writes of Jesus as
the "Lamb." His Lord is to him in His sacrificial Character, always,
"the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world" by the shedding
of His blood. "I looked, and, lo, a Lamb"–

1. Stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four
thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads. The
Revised Version has it, "having His name, and the name of His Father,
written on their foreheads." Now they are known to be the Lord's–on
earth that fact was questioned, but His name is now written on their
foreheads. Sometimes they, themselves, had to question it, but now it
is apparent to all, the distinguishing mark is stamped upon their
brow–"having His Father's name written on their foreheads."

2. And I heard a voice from Heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as
the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping
with their harps. It was very loud, but very sweet. It is not easy, in
earthly music, to blend the two, but in Heaven, all the energies of
living men shall be thrown into the song and yet it shall be sweet as
the touch of a minstrel when he lays his fingers gently among the
strings of the harp.

3. And they sung, as it were, a new song before the Throne. They could
not sing any old song there. The songs of earth, sweet as some of them
are, are not good enough to be sung in Heaven. With a new experience,
new delights and a clearer vision of their Lord, they must have a new
song.

3. And before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn
that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were
redeemed from the earth. Heaven is not the place to learn that song–it
must be learned on the earth. You must learn, here, the notes of Free
Grace and dying love. And when you have mastered their melody, you will
be able to offer to the Lord the tribute of a grateful heart, even in
Heaven, and blend it with the eternal harmonies. Suppose, for a moment,
that you could go there and that you were unprepared to sing the new
song? You would have to say, "I cannot join in the chorus, for I do not
know the tune." You must learn the song, now, the new song of praise
unto our God, or you cannot be admitted there. I would not expect, if I
went down to the Handel Festival, for the conductor to permit me to
take a place in the choir. He would ask me, "Can you sing? Have you
ever rehearsed the matchless music of Handel?" And when I answered,
"No," he would tell me to stand aside! So you must learn the music of
Calvary, you must learn the music of the name of Jesus, or you cannot
sing in Heaven. No man could learn the song but the redeemed from

the earth–not redeemed, you see, by a general redemption, of which
some so loudly talk–but redeemed from among men by a special
redemption which took them out from the rest of mankind, by a price
paid for them, so that they were bought as others were not bought, by
the precious blood of Jesus, as of a Lamb without blemish and without
spot.

4. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are
virgins. They were pure and chaste in the sight of

God.

4. These are they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes. His choice
attendants, His bodyguard.

4, 5. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto
God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile. "No lie."
They were truthful, they were truth-speakers.

5. For they are without fault–Or, blemish.

5. Before the Throne of God. Like He with whom they associated, the
Lamb of God, they were without blemish and without spot.

6. And I saw–What wonderful sights John saw! I do not wonder that he
saw them. He had leaned his head on Christ's bosom and that qualified
him to see what you and I cannot see. Near communion to Christ is the
best qualification for a vision of mystery. Get into the very heart of
Christ and you shall see wonderful things–"I saw"–

6, 7. Another angel fly in the midst of Heaven, having the everlasting
Gospel to preach, unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice,
Fear God, and give glory to Him. Is this the Gospel? It is one version,
evidently, of the Everlasting Gospel. "The fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom." Truly, to worship Him as He reveals Himself, is true
godliness and in it lies all the Gospel–"Having the Everlasting Gospel
to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation, and
kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and
give glory to Him."

7, 8. For the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made
Heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there
followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen. This will
not happen till the Gospel is fully preached. Superstition does not
come down unless true religion is set up. One angel proclaims the
Everlasting Gospel–the next declares that the great system of error is
fallen–"Babylon is fallen."

8, That great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of
the wrath of her fornication. You know that gigantic system of error
which professes to come from God and to be the only true church–it
must fall.

9, 10. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If
any man worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his
forehead, or on his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath
of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His
indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the
presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. They
sometimes say that we talk very terribly about the world to come. Do we
say more than the Scripture says? Do we use more terrible emblems than
the Holy Spirit uses when He speaks after this fashion? This is a
generation that is not to be pleased, neither do we seek to please it!
God's wrath is terrible and our language cannot be too strong to
express the overwhelming power of it.

11. And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever: and
they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image,
and whoever receives the mark of his name. Keep true to Christ! Wear
His name on your forehead. Follow no system of error. Do not be deluded
either by Ritualism or Rationalism, by superstition or by unbelief.
Keep close to the Word of God and ask to be taught of the Spirit of
God.

12, 13. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the
Commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from
Heaven, saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth. Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from
their labors; and their works do follow them. Accursed were they who
carried the mark of the beast and went after falsehood. But blessed are
they who follow Christ, even though they die. Dying in the Lord, their
works survive them and they, themselves, live forever with Him.

14. And I looked, and behold a white cloud. One of these days, every
eye will look and see what is described here. A little time may elapse,
but it will soon be past. How quickly years fly away! Think where you
will be in the day when you, too, will say, "I looked and behold, a
white cloud."

14-16. And upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on
His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another
angel came out of the Temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat
on the cloud, Thrust in Your sickle, and reap: for the time is come for
You to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And He that sat on
the cloud

thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. This is
the gathering in of the godly, who are Christ's wheat. He Himself reaps
them! No angel, mark you, but Himself, with His own sharp sickle and
with His own dear hands. These are His sheaves. He sowed for wheat, He,
Himself, was that wheat which fell into the ground and died, and
brought forth much fruit. So He, into His own bosom, gathers His own
sheaves with His own hands. "May I be among them!" Make that your
prayer tonight. May I be one golden ear in Christ's great harvest!"

17. And another angel came out of the Temple which is in Heaven, he,
also, having a sharp sickle. Not this time the King, but an angel. Not
the Son of Man that sat on the cloud, but an angel, the servant of God,
deputized to execute vengeance.

18. 19. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over
fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle,
saying, Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the
vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust
in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth. This
is the gathering together of the ungodly, those wicked clusters that
ripen in sin, and that become red with iniquity. Christ does not gather
them, you see. That is left to an angel to do–he thrust in his sickle
and gathered the grapes of the earth.

19. And cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. Can you
see the clusters flung into the winepress? Will you be there? God grant
that neither you nor I may, in that terrible day, be among the clusters
of the wicked!

20. And the winepress was trod outside the city, and blood came out of
the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand
and six hundred furlongs. So terrible will be even the preliminary
destruction of the ungodly! Though they grow in clusters, yet shall
they perish. "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be
unpunished." "He that has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit
says" unto each one of us. Amen.