23.July.23

We studied that the first fruits of the last harvest are the 144,000. We read their description in today’s passage. We pray that we will become the spiritual 144,000 in the end times, so we pray that these descriptions are about us.

1. They have been purchased from the earth – From the earthly to the heavenly level.
2. The ones not defiled with women and kept themselves chaste. Have we been purified or defiled? These “women” refer to the harlot of Babylon, the defilement and sinfulness of this world.
3. Ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. This speaks of people with faith not only in their heads or lips, but their faith is in their feet.
4. Those purchased from among men as first fruits to God and the Lamb.
5. No lie was found in their mouth.
6. They are blameless

Among these attributes, we will think about the description “No lie was found in their mouth”. This might sound very basic and fundamental. This is from the 10 Commandments.

Exodus 20:16 (NKJ) “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
Matthew 24:4-5. People will bring false witnesses, and mislead and deceive many people in the end times. In Hebrew, this “false witness” or “lie” is sheker: which means lie, deception, falsehood or fraud. It is not just a simple lie, but using falsehood or a lie to deceive. Deception is when you use a lie with the purpose of leading somebody to believe or do the wrong thing. It is fraud. In Greek, it is pseudomai: which means to lie or deceive by lying. Lying is bad enough but using that lie to deceive is Pseudomai.
In Revelation, the end time’s final judgment, there are 2 categories of people, people whose names are written in the Book of Life and people whose names are not written in the Book of Life. The 144,000 are people with names written in the Book of Life, it says there was no lie found in their mouth. Revelation 21:27. What is one of the main qualifications for being written in the Book of Life? No lying. The symptom shown by mankind after eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was telling a lie. In Ecclesiastes 7:29, it says God made man upright. Romans 1:25, Apostle Paul explains this very simply.

1. Am I a liar?

(i) First, lying is speaking a non-truth
What causes us to lie? It comes down to me, to cover up my shame, for my selfishness, my pride, my image. Sometimes I lie because of a lack of ability, lack of willingness, lack of willpower.
Reverend Abraham Park once said that lying, as one of the commandments in the 10 Commandments, cannot be weighed less than other sins, such as murder, and adultery.
Even if we have committed a small or big sin, it doesn’t matter, we cannot go into the kingdom of heaven. Sins of sexual immorality and lying and idolatry are probably the most emphasized sins in the bible. James 3:6. The whole world of iniquity is in the tongue. It defiles the entire body. We need to pray for God to give us holy control over our tongues, and over what we say. Our whole life can be aflame because of my tongue, this is hellfire.
Psalm 101:7, Proverbs 19:5, Proverbs 19:9

(ii) When my words don’t agree with my actions (not fulfilling what I said or promised)
Malachi 3:5. Those who promise falsely.
When I made a vow during my ordination time, am I keeping that? As elders, eldresses, and deacons, we all took the oath before God. Everyone baptized made a promise before God, are we keeping those promises?

(iii) Knowing the truth of God’s Word and not obeying it
As Christians, if we confess to being a Christian and not live the way Christians should, that is a lie.
Proverbs 12:22, Proverbs 13:5, Isaiah 59:13.
Knowing the truth and not following the truth, is a lie. A life of lying. Covering up the truth, not following it. Or standing against the truth. These are all considered a sin of lying.

The final enemy in the bible called the Anti-Christ in the end times, is foreshadowed by false prophets, and false witnesses. The common thing about them is falsehood. Prophets are like pastors, teachers of God’s Word, they are not secular leaders (beasts) of this world, they are religious leaders who teach falsehood and have false witnesses. In the end, according to Revelation, there will be religious leaders who are against Christ.

2. In order for us to have no lie in our mouths, we need God’s uprightness in us.

According to Psalm 25:8, uprightness is God’s attribute.
Psalm 25:8, Psalm 15:1-2, Psalm 112:1-4
The children of those who are upright and faithful will be greatly blessed. May our uprightness bless our children. In order for us to have God’s uprightness, what do we need? The righteousness and uprightness of God is His Word. Therefore in order for us to have uprightness in us, we need to have the Word of God in us.

The problem is that the false has many allies, my pride, my greed, my selfishness, and the world. A mixture of bible knowledge mixed with my selfishness, pride, and greed, is bad.
John 8:44
There are only two allies of truth, the conscience that God gave us and the Word of God. But even that conscience becomes dull. There are more allies on the side of false.
Hosea 14:9, Psalm 19:7-10, Psalm 33:4, Psalm 119:163

Conclusion

In order for us to have that uprightness, we need to pray like David. David prayed this prayer because he was honest. That integrity begins with being honest about who I am. Stop covering up myself, stop hiding from God.
Psalm 25:20-22 (NKJ) Keep my soul, and deliver me; Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You. 21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You. 22 Redeem Israel, O God, Out of all their troubles!

AMEN!