Blameless in their speech
Deception and lies had no part of this group. Usually deception and lies are part of a larger agenda. A person wants something and then employs the means necessary to obtain it. Frequently the means are less than honest if not downright deceptive. Just as I think the 144,000 number represented something larger, and the word virgin meant a larger sexual purity they lack of deception spoke to a larger motivation. These people John saw who followed the lamb did not pursue their own agenda outside the bounds of God’s intentions.
There can be and is purity in pleasure
God given drives have God given solutions. When God says go and fill the earth with children he gives the marriage context and makes it enjoyable. The 144,000 marked as God’s were not prudes, but pure. They did not deny life as God intended.
God has placed priority on Jews and on men
There are things which you may not like nor understand, but they are what they are. Throughout the New Testament it is clear that judgement and blessing come first to the Jew and then the Gentile. In the Old Testament it is said that God created man first and then women second. What should always run alongside these realities is that God loves, cares for and values all of his creatures. Do not let your Western Culture evoke powerful and negative reactions to this. Also recognize that the Holy Scriptures clearly, very clearly teach that in Christ the divisions, the barriers are not relevant. God loves all of his creatures and distinctions do not in any manner accrue to the way he values them.
Why should all be the same? Does the yellow butterfly in your backyard need to be like the squirrel jumping from the grass to the tree? Of course not. They are both wonderful, excellent in their own ways. Just because some are men and some are women has nothing to do with value in God’s eyes. Each glorifies God in their own niche, in their own manner. Social construction does not diminish the way God values.
Live redeemed no matter what
These redeemed lived lives in the darkest hours of human existence. In the midst of that time they were pure in their bodies, obedient in their deeds and blameless in what they said. It should be the very same for us. Whatever we do in word or in deed is to be done to the glory of God and it can be done in the worst of times.
Redeemed living is real living. If we have given our lives to Christ we are already among the redeemed. Will we live as one of the redeemed? Will be adhere to the things God has taught regarding marriage and faithfulness there? Will we follow the Lamb wherever he leads? Will we be honest in all things shunning deception and shunning lies. Obey and let God settle out the endgame, not us.
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