Revelation 14 is another confusing and visionary chapter, with the Lamb and 144,000 featuring in its first few verses, then three angels and finally the image of the son of man coming with a sickle to harvest the earth and tread the winepress. All this imagery has its roots in other parts of Scripture (Jesus as the Lamb of God is expounded in many places; the role of angels features in many parts of the Bible and the Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13 and Isaiah 63:1-4 use the imagery of harvesting and treading the winepress), reminding us of the ultimate overall coherence of the Bible.

The chapter starts with stalwart believers sing a song of praise to God while standing on Mount Zion, believers who are described as spiritually pure, in stark contrast to the wicked people marked as worshippers of the Antichrist. Next, John sees three angels delivering messages of warning and prophecy. These messages predict God’s impending judgment on sin and evil and remind us that there is rest ahead for those who have proved faithful.

The last section of Revelation 14 depicts Jesus (the ‘son of man’, probably the favourite title he used while on earth) holding a sickle—a farming tool used to cut plants during the harvest. This passage symbolises the return of Jesus in terms of a grape harvest, a metaphor used, as we have seen, in Isaiah 63:1-4. Just as mature grapes are fat and full of juice, the wickedness of unbelievers on earth will have reached a peak at this moment. Just as a winepress crushes and shreds grapes to make wine, the wrath of God will tear apart those who fight against Christ at the end of the tribulation (Revelation 14:14–20). There is a need for all to take in the seriousness of this chapter and to choose your side now!

In the first part of Revelation 14, we see a vision of God’s people (the 144,000 we met earlier in Revelation 7:4) in heaven and hear a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder or like harpists playing their harp. We are told they sang a new song, a phrase that is used frequently to speak of the joy which God’s salvation brings to His people. The psalms frequently use this phrase:

• Sing to him a new song;play skilfully, and shout for joy. (Ps 33:3)
• He put a new song in my mouth,a hymn of praise to our God (Ps 40:3)
• Sing to the Lord a new song;sing to the Lord, all the earth (Ps 96:1)
• I will sing a new song to you, my God;on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you (Ps 144:9)
• Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song;his praise in the assembly of his faithful people. (Ps 149:1)
• Sing to the Lord a new song; his praise from the ends of the earth ( 42:10).

In what sense is this song new? J. Hampton Keathley III says, ‘A new song is a consequence of a deeper or clearer grasp of the person and works of God so that it results in a fresh and meaningful impulse of gratitude and joy in the soul as it is expressed in songs of praise and adoration. A new song is not necessarily a song new in time, but one fresh with a new response and understanding so that it is sung as though it were new.’

Singing remains a vital element of praising God, one which lifts the spirit of the one singing as much as it does those who listen!

Garry spoke tonight from Romans 8:1-3. 5-17 where Paul talks about two realms (or worlds): the natural world we all know and inhabit and the spiritual world. All of us are familiar with the first world, but when we become Christians, we gain access to a spiritual realm. Christ opens up for us a new dimension. We can either ignore the spiritual world altogether or believe that the material world has little value. In truth, both are necessary; to live life to the full, we must engage fully with both worlds.

Those who belong to the spiritual world must move away from the seflishness with which we are all born and learn to live with an awareness of God and of other people’s needs.God rules His world, but still gives us freedom to choose and always wants what is best for us. Even as Christians, we can live as though God does not exist; we can be concerned only with what we can see and touch. But this is not what God wants for us, for He wants us to live in the spiritual realm, where we are filled with love, hope and joy. He wants us to live with the eternal view in mind and to know that there is purpose in life. The choice is ours: will we swap the mediocre for the majestic?

This morning in our series ‘The Miraculous & The Mundane’, we looked at Mark 9:14-29 (see also Matthew 17:14-20), the account of Jesus healing a demon-possessed boy when his disciples could not. We may feel that it was unreasonable to expect his disciples to do miracles: surely only Jesus could do that? But as John 14:9-13 and Luke 9:1-2 make plain, Jesus did not perform miracles because He was the Son of God; He had authority from His Father to do these things and gave that authority to His disciples as well. He was clearly frustrated by His disciples’ lack of faith and we see from this account not only Jesus’s power over everything, but the revolutionary truth that ‘everything is possible for the one who believes.’ (Mark 9:23)

This scene is set just after the Transfiguration, when God has declared ‘This is my Son, whom I love.’ (Mark 9:7) There, Peter, James and John were left dazzled by the brightness of God’s glory, but ultimately saw only Jesus. Our eyes need to be firmly fixed on Jesus rather than on the needs surrounding us. As Matt Redman puts it, ‘The first step for a worshipper is to confidently get to grips with just how magnificent and mighty God is. The next step is to let that confidence in God seep into the very depths of our hearts and minds, forming a holy confidence on the inside of us.’

Jesus was secure in His identity as God’s Son and in who God was: ‘Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.’ (John 13:3) Knowing who we are in God and who God is are the keys to the miraculous; they are also the keys to a contented, happy life.

The boy’s father reflects the tension many of us feel as he says, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”’ (Mark 9:24) All of us struggle with the battle between the old nature and the new nature (Rom 7:15-19) We must learn to move from unbelief to belief, from doubt to faith, from insecurity to security, and this can only be done through prayer and the word. Jesus reminds us that apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5); if He Himself could only do what He saw His Father doing (John 5:19-20), then we too must learn to make our relationship with God our priority. Only by prayer and faith (which comes through hearing the message of Christ) can we access the miraculous in our everyday lives. We must see God as Almighty, realise everything is possible for those who believe and ask for His help to overcome any area of our lives where unbelief reigns.

We had a lovely evening painting and colouring at the ‘Churches Together’ ‘Mindful Moments’ evening in April.The next session is on Monday 15 May between 6 and 8 p.m. at GPCC.

We continued to make covers for the wooden story books which will be used at the Phoenix Park Fun Day on 31st May, and thank Sharon Seaborne, Karen Dunn, Julie Unwin, Claire Croot, Julie Beaver, Kathy Tasker, Stan Bryan and Julie Turner for their help in creating these.

We also painted ceramic coasters and did Easter colouring.