Time of ultimate trouble shall come to this world. The Dragon targets God’s people. The Lord makes the Way of escape. His Chosen are kept and protected. A deliverance song is taught. Take heed to the Word. (Revelation 14; Matthew 24)

Speaker: Thomas Schaller, Gary Groenewold
Date: 2026-09-27
Time: Sun 11:00 am
Sermon #13212

P. Schaller –

Thank you. Thank you. Great. Let’s have a prayer today. Let’s pray. (Prayer). We are in Revelation 14. I’d like you to turn there with me. We will bounce around a little bit today, looking at our text and I have a message. I think if I have my iPad, that would help. Also, cuz you know how I can’t – like an Italian, I can’t talk without my hands. And I can’t preach without my iPad. Not really, but. Thanks for coming out, of course. What a privilege to look at the Word today. 

Revelation 14:1. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, one of the Hebrew scholars that I’m studying as we teach this, says that this event is happening in the future. It’s a vision that John has when he’s in heaven. You know, when John is in heaven, he sees different things. And one of them is this one and it actually isn’t yet happening when he sees it. It’s a vision about the future, that the Lamb of God, the Messiah is standing on Mt. Sion, and he says it is on the earth. Mt. Sion is Jerusalem on the earth with the 144,000 who were sealed earlier. 

We can draw it as a sketch here, timewise. Tribulation Period. Rapture happens. We go up. Where do we meet Christ? In the air. Where is that? 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. Where do we go when we meet Christ in the air? Christ comes in the air and meets us, and we go back with him to where? We go to heaven. 

In heaven, we are watching what is happening on the earth. And our dear brother, P. Scibelli, has gone to be with Christ and he was one of God’s generals on the earth. He had a great ministry, impact with thousands of people in Africa. A saint of God who loved God. If any man love God, the same is known of him, 1 Corinthians 8:3. And that’s one thing I know about him was the love that he had and his wife, also and family. 

Now when we are raptured and the Antichrist comes on the scene and he makes a covenant with Israel at the beginning of the Tribulation period. That’s here. The beginning and this is the end of the seven-year period. This is seven years. What happens at the end of the Tribulation? Christ comes with us to the earth. He comes back to the earth and the Millennial reign of Christ begins. 

In this text, John is here basically in the middle of the Tribulation because we have Revelation 12 and 13. These key chapters that are kind of an interlude for the sequence of events. The events are happening. The seals are broken. The trumpets are blown and then there’s an interlude or a pause where you can see more deeply behind what is actually happening in this period of time. It is an evil time. It’s called the time of Jacob’s trouble. It’s called the Great Tribulation. 

The evil of it is really kicked off in the middle. I mean, it’s severely targeting the annihilation of the Jewish nation. The Antichrist wants the Jews to be exterminated, and the way he does it is in chapter 13 by the Antichrist, who is energized by the dragon which is another word for the serpent. The word for the dragon, the serpent, the devil, Satan. 

And the Antichrist is a governmental structure but it’s also a person. And the Antichrist is empowered by the dragon and he has his side kick, the false prophet that is spoken of in chapter 13. And he makes an image of the Antichrist. He’s a human being who is fierce but he has human eyes. 

He’s like a combination of three savage animals. They are lion, bear, and leopard. That’s a description of the Antichrist. These three animals plus human eyes. Like human intelligence. Extraordinarily exceptional person. No one has ever been like him. That Satan will give him intelligence, intuition, understanding, ability, governing and he is also ruthless. 

And his target now because the dragon has been thrown out of heaven in Revelation 12. He lost his key card to heaven. He’ll never go there again. He will not be there again, and he knows he has a short time to deceive the whole world and annihilate the Jewish nation. That’s his target. 

The false prophet makes an image, and makes the image animated. How he does that we don’t know, but we know we are living in an age of incredible technology. And that the things that are appearing to be real may not be real. 

And if you can think of Nazi Germany and how effective they were deceiving a whole nation without the technology that we have today. They had radio and they had TV, but nothing like what we have today. And the coming challenges that we have in our society with the big monster A.I., which I mean that only in terms of the unknown. I don’t know enough about it. I don’t know. But I know the top names: Sam Altman and Elon Musk and others are saying it has the potential of being a monster. And how it will affect our society. So, that’s a good question.

But theologically here as we look at our Bible and understand that this will actually be happening, that there will be world-wide deception. And so, the 144,000 that are marked at the beginning of the Tribulation are the same group that will be at the end, standing on Mt. Sion and they will be Jewish people. They’ll be many others as well that will have been saved during the Tribulation period.

Now, salvation that happens in the Tribulation period is important for us, because it’s a reflection of the nature of God. When God sends trouble, he also sends a way of escape. When God sends a trial, he also has a way for us to get out in 1 Corinthians 10:13. 

When he judged the world with water, there was an ark. And whether I get on the ark or not is my decision. And when we are talking about the trouble that is coming in this world without us here. It heightens the importance of people’s decision making. When the house is on fire, you better get out of the house or call 911. When the train is leaving, you better make a decision cuz it will leave without you. 

This is decision. Decision. We are in the valley of decision. That’s for the future. But I want to make a point about these 144,000, that they had been sealed by God and God had protected them. And now they are with the Messiah on Mt. Sion worshipping God and singing a song that nobody can sing except them. That’s written there in chapter 14:2-4. 

Vs. 2. I love the amplified sounds in heaven. I think of Niagara Falls when I think of many waters. Like a rumbling, thunderous sound in the background. I like to read about the trumpets in the book of Revelation. The trumpets that are talking even. I like to read about the angels. I like to read about the dynamic, the thundering that is happening. I like it because for our senses on the earth which are relatively dull, especially as we get older. What? What? What? 

Heaven has a message. And this is what they are saying to John. There are harpers. Vs. 2-3. What is the meaning of that? I’ll suggest something. They’re sealed here. They go through the Tribulation and now they have a song to sing. But they are learning a song in heaven, but even the people that are there teaching them the song, the harpers with the music are teaching them a song that nobody can learn it except them.

Why can they learn it? Cuz they went through it. Cuz their song is about how they were delivered for seven years in the Tribulation period. Like we are singing a song because we went through it. But others can’t sing it like we can. And in a sense, all of us have a song of redemption because we were lost and now we are found. Or maybe a trial, a tremendous trial that you went through and God was with you in the trial and you have a song. 

I think it parallels that teaching in Revelation 2 about Pergamos, that he that overcomes in Pergamos, he will eat hidden manna. He will eat manna that other people don’t see it, but he’s got hidden manna. He has something that came from God in his trial.

He’s got something in this earth. That’s what you want in your life. Hidden manna. You know what manna is, right? It fell on the ground in the wilderness. And they ate it, but this is food and it tasted like oil and it was like a wafer and they found it in the morning and that’s how they were sustained in the wilderness. 

And then it’s used in the book of Revelation for us, the church. That the church has manna also and it’s hidden. Not everybody sees it. But in your trial, you may find the way out and eat that. And it says to the church at Pergamos, he that overcomes will eat of hidden manna and will be given a white stone and on the stone a name written that nobody knows except him that receives it. Like you have a name. When you go to heaven, you will have a name that nobody will know your name except you that received it.

I don’t mean you don’t have a name. I just mean the name means like deeply who you are. Your story. What happened in your life. And everyone of us have a different story. All of us have made different decisions. Many of us have received great grace. All of us actually. And we have made good decisions and bad decisions, and we been through this trial and somebody hasn’t been in that trial but they’ve been in this one. They have a name. 

Like when Jesus met Peter, he said, Simon. Your name will be Peter. Like God gives you – he knows your real identity in heaven. And in the same way, these 144,000 can sing a song that only they can sing. And actually, when the Jews went through the Red Sea, it says Miriam sang a song on the other side of the Red Sea. We could say they were the only ones that could sing that song cuz they went through it. 

They had something that – when you go to heaven, then you will be given a name and the Lord will say this is who you are. And you will have a sense in your heart that’s my story. That’s true. That’s what you did for me. You gave me great grace. You forgave me again and again and again. And also, you used me and I trusted you.

And when we meet him, we will be before him and take our crown off and throw it at his feet. I’m not sure about this, but I like to think of taking the crown off. I think it’s perfect tense. I understand it that way. It’s like continually. He wants you to have the crown. If he gives you the crown, he wants you to have the crown, and then there’s that thing in you where you’re constantly giving it back to him, cuz you know that you don’t have it. It’s not you. It’s what he did that made you who you are. Isn’t that true? All right.

So, now, when John saw this up on the screen, it was at this time in Revelation 14 when has the vision. He goes, oh, they will not be annihilated. They will not be wiped off the map. We know that the Nazi’s tried to do that 80 years ago or whenever it was in Germany. And this will be worldwide and the devil will not succeed. Because he’s promised them and actually that the kingdom will be coming. 

But before the kingdom comes, the world is going to have its way. And I want to talk about that. This is a time of serious deception. So, turn with me to Matthew 24:15. This is Jesus speaking at the Mt. of Olives. In vs. 3, he sat upon the Mt. of Olives. It’s called the Olivette discourse. Vs. 15. That’s in Daniel 9:24-27, if you’re taking notes. 

And when you see this Antichrist stand in the holy place, vs. 15-18. What is this? This is a severe, serious move by the Antichrist to go after the woman who gave birth to the child who was caught up to heaven. That’s the Messiah. And Satan comes down. He’s thrown out of heaven. He comes down after the woman to destroy her. She runs into the wilderness. It’s the same time frame as what Christ is prophesying here. And he’s saying you can’t go back to your house. You don’t go back after your clothes. Vs. 18. 

Vs. 19. Another problem. If you are pregnant, not good cuz you can’t run very well. You can’t travel very well. Vs. 19. Another problem. Vs. 20. You pray your flight is not in the winter time. That will slow you down. Neither on the sabbath day, cuz you can’t travel far on the sabbath day. 

Vs. 21-22. There are different categories of people that will be saved during this time. The 144,000 are Jewish evangelist that are very powerfully effective in this time leading people to Christ. But those people coming to Christ may be beheaded, may be murdered by the government. By the Antichrist government and also the religious direction of the era. 

There’s a lot of religiosity in the Tribulation period. There is Islam very much empowered and as you know against believing in Christ in many cases. But it will be severe, serious, empowered, and the government will be in charge. 

But this also brings to surface the whole issue about people making decisions. Not being deceived. But deception is a good characterization of the time that we are living today. And we should know about it. I’ll say something about it in a minute.

Look at chapter 24:23-24. Okay. This is, this is a time of deception. So, let’s look at that for a moment. An individual with a heart and he has a hole in the heart. And he has many gods and things to put in there. 

You can put your girlfriend in your heart. Your money. Your religion. Many things that go in the human heart, but we have learned from our Bible that I can’t trust my heart, Proverbs 28:26. Can you put that on the screen for me? Don’t follow your heart, trust your heart, the heart of man. Vs. 26. Wow. I think everybody trusts their heart. I think people live by their heart. There’s a lot of proverbs on it. 

I have a few of them here. Psalm 53:1, Proverbs 18:2, put that one up for me, please. Proverbs 18:2. I want to discover my heart. No, you don’t. I can tell, God can tell you what your heart is. Jeremiah 17:9, heart is deceitful, desperately wicked. Who can know it? 

In human relationships, ever had anyone say I love you. I’ll never leave you. Never. I love you so much. But then you have to say, you have to say in your heart when you hear those words, I don’t know if you know your own heart. Should I trust you when the Bible says the heart is deceitful, desperately wicked. Who can know it?

“Honest. With all my heart, with all my heart.” How many promises have we heard? How many have been broken? And I’m not saying it as a – I’m saying it from the Word of God that the Bible is saying that you might say like Peter did. I’ll die with you! And Jesus knows better. He knows what is in man, John 2:24. 

The beginning of understanding this whole thing called the world and the heart of man is to know how wrong I can be if I trust myself. I need help. I need God. I want to trust God, not my heart, because my heart can tell me many things. My heart tells me many things.

There’s another one here. Let’s see. Matthew Henry said, “The character of a fool he trusts to his own heart, to his own wisdom and counsels; his own strength and sufficiency, his own merit and righteousness. And the good opinion he has of himself. He that does so is a fool for he trusts that not only which is deceitful above all things but which has often deceived him.”

 He has been deceived by his own heart. I have. We should be able to say that. So you might say, then what’s the answer? And that is Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” As much as in me is, Paul said, Romans 1:15. I am ready to preach the Gospel to you also in Rome. As much as in me is. 

Okay. What is in me? A new heart and a new spirit and if we walk with Christ by faith, he will fill us with the Spirit and renew our mind. And that we will know him and walk with God and be sanctified by God and not be deceived. 

Now, this is what happens by society. This man with his heart and he has a friend and another friend and a family and he has people around him and they all talk from their hearts and they have a lot of connections. It’s called a community. 

Can a whole community be deceived by what is in our hearts? Cuz in Nazi Germany they were taught by the propaganda that the Jews were the problem in the country. And they are talking like this and thinking like this in arrogance and in pride. Not all of them. There was Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Muller and other German leaders were saying, no. We’re not part of that. And the Gestapo came and arrested them. Muller survived. Bonhoeffer didn’t survive. 

But the point is, a person and then a nation. And a nation in the book of Daniel is described not like as a person. The nation is described as an animal. The nation is a lion. The nation is a bear. And the nation is a leopard. What are those animals? They are carnivores that are aggressive. They are not moral. They are not giving mercy. They are not forgiving you. The nation is like a monster.

And the nation is made up of individuals. And individuals, like we have a responsibility to pray for our nation and also for the church that is the salt and the light, so that the lies are not dominating our culture. But that we want to live in truth and not be afraid. The fear of man is a snare. That we are not called to live in this world to be cowering to the culture. We are to be leading and guiding people regarding family life. Morality, conviction, honesty, humility, trust. And that’s one of the things we love about our fellowship. We are called by the Holy Spirit to be in fellowship with who is between us. Two or three are gathered in his name, there I am in your midst. 

Jesus is here. And we have sweet fellowship with Christ. Are we following our hearts in the flesh? No, we are following God in doctrine and truth and spiritual impartation to my heart, and that I am saying amen in my heart to the truth. And the truth is able to build us up. 

Jesus said it this way in John 8, “You will know the truth and the truth will? Set you free and you will be free indeed.” It’s like another category of freedom. Not freedom of politics or freedom of not being in a prison or freedom from the nursing home or freedom from something that – no. It’s another quality of freedom. It’s a deep fellowship with God. Freedom from sin. Freedom from hatred. Freedom from judging people. Freedom from unbelief. Freedom. Spiritual freedom.

So, let’s write down a couple things. The nation can be, is like, the nations are like animals. But the church is like a person. The church has a tenderness. Has care. The church has forgiveness. The church has worship. These animals are not worshipping God. They don’t know God. 

They just have appetite and they’re ferocious and aggressive in the metaphor. You follow that with me. The Antichrist is like an animal. And he’s lying and deceiving the world. We will not be on the earth during that period of time, but we are on the earth now. And we can see how it works. If you have enough people with their own hearts following their hearts, they will be believing a lie. 

And one example would be you got a pig that you’re bringing to the slaughter, and the owner of it is dropping acorns for the pig and the pig is following. Eating the acorns to the slaughter house and there he dies. And that’s what my heart will do to me. My heart will follow the acorns. I’ll be making decisions that I want, my way, to live my life, and I will die and that’s that. 

But what if I have another way? And it says in the Bible order my steps according to your word. This is the key there, this life of the Word. Order my steps. How about the Word is a light under my path, a lamp unto my feet. My feet are saying I got light. I’ve got the light and I’m walking in the light. 

And Jesus said, Now you are clean. This is a good word here. “Now you are clean according to the Word I have spoken unto you.” John 15:3. “Sanctify them according to your Word, thy Word it truth.” John 17:17. “Create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51. “Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way?” How can I get away from the slaughterhouse? How can I get away from gross deception?

How can I get away – actually, I want that. I actually want the acorn. I actually want that. That’s what I’m lusting for. How can you change me? The Lord is saying come unto me and trust me. I mean it. God is saying I mean it. I’m not a small, little thing. I am God Almighty.  I will deliver you. I will save you. I am the way, the truth, the life. I am the answer for your life. Why are we saying this? Because we are living in an age of deception. And if we follow our own hearts, we’ll be deceived. But if we have more than my heart. 

Another thing is, you don’t follow your own conscience. For two reasons. One is the conscience doesn’t have a lot of intelligence. It doesn’t have spiritual intelligence. It doesn’t have – the conscience is only yelling when something is wrong. Like wrong! Wrong! Alarm! Bing! Bing! Bing! Some light goes on. Like it’s wrong from the cellar of your house. Wrong! Wrong! But you don’t know more. You only know there is an alarm going off. 

But another problem with the conscience is it’s seared. Like you have somebody’s been burned badly on their arm and it’s scar tissue and it’s tough. You can go like this and it doesn’t have the same feeling. You put a pin there and you don’t – it’s tough. The healed skin is seared. 

Same with conscience. I live in sin. It doesn’t bother me. My conscience doesn’t bother me. I can steal. I can fornicate. I can lie. I can do all of that. It doesn’t bother me at all. My conscience is seared. 

So, conscience can’t lead you. You can’t live by your conscience in that case. And the other case is your conscience is so sensitive that you live in guilt a lot. I am wrong. Or I didn’t do enough. That happened because of me. My conscience is always active. I can’t live the spiritual life by my conscience. I live the spiritual life by the Word of God. By surrender and trust and hearing from God who says to me trust me. Hide my Word in your heart.

“Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed unto your word.” Psalm 119:10. Paying attention to it. Hearing it like you’re doing today. God will speak to you. Not only will he speak to you like by you hearing what I am saying, but behind I am saying you are hearing something. God is speaking to you from the Word of God and you make those decisions.

What happens is you’re part of the fellowship and when you are out in society, and you’re with a community of people and somebody says something, you’re kind of like real nice. I don’t know I agree with that. I might be quiet. I don’t voice my disagreement, but I am realizing God is teaching me. I’m wanting to follow him, and I’m not in agreement with everything out there on the street. I’m not of that opinion on the street. I can be on the street, but I’m not in agreement with everything on the street. You are different. You have a calling. You’re not deceived. 

And by the way, there are a lot of people on the street that want to know if you got something else going on. Cuz if you got something, some of them are saying I want what you got. I want what you got. You got something that we don’t have it on the street, and we don’t have it at the university and we don’t have it at the public library and we don’t have it and where is it? We don’t have it in our family maybe. But you have it. And you can say in a word, I’m not following my heart. My heart will get me in a lot of trouble. I’ll be no different from everybody else out here. 

But I know that Jesus came so we could follow him. And then we will find his peace, his love, his life and a relationship with him in a personal way and that’s what you want. You might not know it, but that’s really what you want. And it’s what we all need. And we are for that. 

We want you to have a vibrant, passionate, living relationship with a living God. And that will keep me from deception that is already happening in the world. And help me be useful and communicate to others, like the 144,000 that were sealed at the beginning, made it through and are standing on Mt. Sion with Christ in Jerusalem and saying we survived. And we are singing a unique song. Nobody can sing this song. But we can sing it and what it is, is God did it. God sealed us. God protected us. God used us. And we finished our course.

And of course, that’s one category in heaven. We are not aspiring to that ourselves, but we are recognizing that I think I want you to think that something similar is happening in your life. You have a song. You have a story. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t live in guilt. Enjoy your life of faith because God is for you. Okay. Amen. Would you pray with me? 

(Prayer). 

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