Revelation 14: Jesus Leads the Victory Parade

The victory parade is coming, and Jesus is leading it. Revelation 14 delivers a powerful message about ultimate allegiance in a world of competing loyalties.

Pastor Brandon walks us through this richly symbolic chapter that offered profound hope to persecuted first-century Christians. Against the backdrop of emperor worship and religious persecution, John's vision reveals the Lamb standing victorious on Mount Zion surrounded by faithful followers who bear God's name on their foreheads—a direct contrast to those marked by the beast.

The chapter presents a fascinating revelation: those redeemed by Christ sing a unique song no one else can learn. Your redemption story carries a melody that even angels cannot replicate! Meanwhile, three angelic messengers proclaim warnings about coming judgment on "Babylon" (a clear reference to Rome) and all who align with evil systems.

Most striking is the chapter's reminder about our role during times of opposition. "Remember your job is not to try to fix the world," Pastor Brandon explains. "Your job is to obey and persevere in persecution." While we spread the gospel faithfully, God handles what we cannot—changing hearts and bringing ultimate justice.

In today's polarized culture where various groups demand our allegiance, this ancient message speaks with fresh relevance: choose your king wisely. Political movements, cultural ideologies, and even church traditions must be evaluated against scripture. "We don't want to align with church doctrine unless it lines up with God's word," Brandon emphasizes. "We want to know God's word so we know when we agree and when we disagree."

Join our growing community as we journey through the Bible one chapter at a time. Subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and connect with fellow listeners in our Bible Breakdown Discussion group on Facebook where we continue exploring these timeless truths together.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Chapters

• 0:48 Jesus Leads the Victory Parade
• 1:58 The Lamb and the 144,000
• 6:59 God's Judgment on Babylon
• 9:35 The Final Harvest
• 12:07 Choose Allegiance Wisely
• 13:31 Prayer and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today Revelation, chapter 14. And today's title is Jesus Leads the Victory Parade. Jesus Leads the Victory Parade and as we continue to walk through the book of Revelation, remember Jesus is the victor and he is leading the victory parade in all things. And so, if you have your Bibles, open up with me to Revelation, chapter 14. While you're doing that, as always, if you're new around here, take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure to leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help and I see so many of you doing that. Please continue to do that, because it helps us get the word out that we are walking through the Bible one chapter at a time, and it's good and it's valuable for all of us. And make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. That is the rallying point for all of us, where we come together and continue to dig deeper into God's Word, and there's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job. And, as always, the more we dig, the more we find. Well, once again, if you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to Revelation, chapter 14, remember and we're probably going to do this every day, we're giving a disclaimer, just saying that the book of Revelation has got all kinds of different things that it's all about. There's a lot of things happening, there's a lot of people who have a lot of different opinions about the book of Revelation and they're a wonderful podcast that really go and dive deep into how the book of Revelation can talk about future events that haven't happened yet. There's a theological phrase on eschatology, the end times, called the already but not yet doctrine, and that's wonderful.

Speaker 1: 2:08

But for this particular podcast, our hope and our focus is to focus on the idea that Jesus wins. Primarily, the book of Revelation was written to the first century church. It was written to them, but it was written also for us, so it can't mean to us what it didn't mean to them. And so, while it can mean all of this futuristic stuff that is very wonderful and fun to look at, primarily in this podcast we are looking at what it would have meant to the original audience. And to the original audience, which was a persecuted church, it would have reminded them that Jesus wins. Jesus is ultimately victorious over the Roman Empire and over any battles we face.

Speaker 1: 2:52

Because, as we've been talking about, we have to remember that, because it was written to these seven churches that were in the Asia Minor area. They were receiving all of this persecution from Rome Because during the time, during the reign of Emperor Domitian, this idea of emperor worship was really at its peak, where there were these groups of people that thought that if you weren't worshiping the emperor, you were doing it wrong and they were going to kill you. Then you had the people of Jerusalem, who were coming against the Christians because they were looking at more of a Judaizer point of view, where you had to be Jewish in order to be Christian. I think you just had just all the other stuff that was going on. And John is writing to these seven churches and he's saying man, while I was in prison for the gospel, I received this wonderful revelation of God and that it is at the end of all of this, jesus wins. And so it was intended to really kind of encourage a persecuted church and we're continuing this story.

Speaker 1: 3:53

Remember, in the first two or three chapters it talks about who Jesus is, how he speaks directly to these churches and then how he is encouraging them that he is winning. And if you remember, over the few chapters, it was talking about how he unsealed this scroll. If you remember, over the few chapters, it was talking about how he unsealed this scroll, which was a symbol of him taking back the earth and taking back all of the things. And remember so much of this goes back to the Old Testament 68% of the book of Revelation is directly from the Old Testament, and in this chapter chapter 14, we're looking at the lamb and the 144,000 that we talked about in previous chapters, which was a symbol about how God was going to take care of his people. And this chapter is a vivid picture of Jesus and how he walks with us in victory. And even when evil rises, jesus stands firm. And so let's read this together and just celebrate, as the early persecuted church would, that, no matter what happens, jesus leads the victory parade. So here we go.

Speaker 1: 4:53

Chapter 14, verse 1, says this I saw the Lamb, remember the Lamb representing Jesus on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads. Now pause. Now pause. Remember before it was talking about how the beast, a symbol of the spirit of Antichrist, how he had people who were following after him, but it was saying God also had people who were following after him. And a symbol on a forehead would be a symbol of allegiance Verse 2. Would be a symbol of allegiance, verse two.

Speaker 1: 5:28

I heard a sound from heaven, like the roar of mighty ocean waves or the rolling of loud thunder, as it was like the sound of many harpists playing together. This great crowd sang a wonderful new song. In front of the throne of God and before the four living beings and the 24 elders, no one could learn this song, except for the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. In other words, this scripture is talking about how those who followed after God were unique in that they had a song they could sing that no other created thing could sing. And that's wonderful for us to realize that no other thing in creation not angels, not animals, nothing else have the song that we can sing, because we know what it is to be born into sin but yet redeemed by the Lamb Verse 6,.

Speaker 1: 6:35

Then I saw another angel flying through the sky carrying the eternal good news to proclaim to the people who belong to this world, to every nation, tribe, language and people. Fear God, he shouted Give glory to him, for the time has come when we, or when he will sit as judge, worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and all the springs of water. Then another angel followed him through the sky, shouting Babylon is fallen, the great city is fallen Because she made all the nations of the world drink the wine of her passionate immorality. Then the third angel following them shouted Anyone who worships the beast and his statue and who accepts his mark on his forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God's anger, and it must be poured in full strength into God's cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the lamb. The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name. This means that God's holy people must endure persecution, patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus.

Speaker 1: 7:55

Now pause. Now, once again, this is to the early church, who was experiencing persecution, and what God is saying is is that God is going to pour out wrath on Babylon. Now. They would have understood Babylon as being an illustration or an illusion to Rome. And so, instead of saying Rome, john is saying Babylon. But they know that he's talking about Rome. And so he's saying God is going to pour out all of this wrath and justice on Rome. But your job, holy people of God, is to endure the persecution, knowing that while you're enduring it, god is doing the things that we can't do.

Speaker 1: 8:31

Verse 13,. I heard a voice from heaven saying write this down Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit. Verse 14, and he had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came from the temple and shouted to the one sitting on the cloud Swing the sickle, for the time of harvest has come. The crop on earth is ripe. So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth and the whole earth was harvested. After that, another angel came from the temple in heaven and he also had a sharp sickle. The whole earth was harvested. After that, another angel came from the temple in heaven and he also had a sharp sickle. And another angel who had power to destroy with fire, came from the altar and he shouted to the angel with a sharp sickle swing your sickle now to gather the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are ripe for judgment. So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and loaded it, loaded with grapes, into the great wine press of God's wrath. The grapes were trampled in the wine press outside the city and blood flowed from the wine press and stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse's bridle. Wow, that's disgusting, the idea of there being enough blood to be up to a horse's bridle. We're talking about four feet maybe, or more. That's a lot of blood. Obviously, the idea here is once again an illusion and a metaphor to talking about the fact that when God's judgment comes, he cleans house. And so what can we take away from this chapter? I think the takeaway we can have is in the time you were supposed to be absolutely terrified of the emperor, because under the emperor's rule, just at mention of his will, you could be slaughtered, could be killed and all your family could be killed, and so you were supposed to honor and obey and fear the emperor, whereas in chapter 14, god is reminding the people of Israel really, you serve the true king. You serve the king that really reigns over all, and so choose your allegiance wisely. Remember your job is not to try to fix the world. Your job is to obey and persevere in persecution. Now, yes, jesus said go into all the world and make disciples Absolutely. However, what I'm trying to say is is we are not in charge of changing the world, god is. Our job is to be faithful and to endure persecution and to spread the gospel. God's job is the one who adds the increase and does the impossible things. We can't change anybody's heart. However, we can do what God's called us to do and trust him to do the rest. And in chapter 14, he's telling this early church I'm going to bring judgment on all of these nations, all of these ones who have persecuted you and have done this. Your job is to not give up. Your job is to stay patient and to stay loyal and to give your allegiance to the right place. Can I tell you, if there's ever been a message that we need to hear in today's culture, it's to choose your allegiance wisely. We live in a culture right now that if we're not careful, it will tell you who you should be allegiant to, and some people would say that you should be allegiant to a certain political party or a certain cultural ideology, or even with inside the church it's you should agree with this group of people or that group of people or whatever. And that is one of the reasons why we are taking our time to go through the Bible one chapter at a time, because we don't want to align with a church doctrine unless it lines up with God's word. And so we want to know God's word, so we know when we agree and when we disagree. Because we got to choose our allegiance wisely. And if this church doctrine lines up with God's word, then absolutely we should do that. But we've got to know it first. And what God says is line up with me, choose your allegiance and follow after me, get around other people that follow after me, and when you do that, don't worry, I'll take care of the things you can't take care of. You follow me and watch what happens. So today our lesson is choose our allegiances wisely. Let's pray together right now, god. Thank you so much. Yes, we live in a world that sometimes wants to challenge us to choose to align with this group or that group or whatever. But, lord, I'm so thankful that we can choose to align with you and that your word teaches us what is true and what we should line up with and what we should stay away from, and all those different things. But we trust you, lord. We trust that you are leading us more than we realize. And as we come to know you by knowing your word, I pray you will lead us into all truth. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen and amen. Well, god's word says in Revelation 1, verse 7, it says look, he is coming in the clouds of heaven and everyone will see him on that day. My prayer is that we study God's word. We will see him more clearly every single day. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Revelation, chapter 15.