Introduction

Let us proceed to Revelation Chapter 14. The theme here is stark and clear: the ultimate destiny of those who follow the Lamb versus those who follow the Beast.

The 144,000 Who Follow the Lamb

Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.

And they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins.

It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. (Revelation 14:1-5)

Jesus descends on Mount Zion with the 144,000. What happens to the rest? We do not know. There is a profound logic in Scripture: it defines the victors with absolute clarity. The 144,000 who follow the Lamb, and the promises to the overcomers at the beginning of Revelation, are spelled out in black and white. But what of those who fail to overcome? Do they follow the Lamb? Scripture is silent on this.

"No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless." It is difficult for us to imagine: what happens to those with minor blemishes? Scripture does not say. Why this silence? The intent is clear: it is to compel us to emulate these 144,000 blameless followers. Do you understand this logic?

For those in the grey area—the half-hearted—we have no guarantee of their fate. God deliberately instructed John to write this way. The two extremes are clear: the 144,000 blameless victors return with Jesus, while the fate of the mediocre, the lukewarm believers, is left in obscurity.

Consider university admissions. If you secure admission to top-tier universities like Tsinghua, Peking University, MIT, or Harvard, your path is clear and defined. But for those who fail to get in, their future remains uncertain. It is that simple. In my generation, only three percent made it to university. The rest? Their fates were unpredictable—some succeeded, many did not.

This is God's deliberate design. He sets a gold standard so that you will purify yourself to match it, leaving no room for worldly desires. When the text says, "these are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins," it is not a literal discourse on celibacy. It means these 144,000 possess not a single shred of love for this world.

Some will protest: "Who can achieve this?" My answer is simple: 144,000 did. Others ask: "Why so few?" Excellence is always rare. As for the 145,000th or the 146,000th person? Scripture is silent. This silence is designed to force us to strive relentlessly for holiness.

You may wonder about the fate of those who fail to overcome. Are they saved? Do they go to heaven or hell? Which level of heaven or hell? I have no interest in debating these hypotheticals. My sole focus is on how to fight our way into that 144,000. That is God's intent. If you have that drive, even if you end up as number 144,001, God will not turn you away.

This passage tests your resolve: will you follow the Lamb without compromise? Wherever He goes, we must follow. If He goes to Golgotha, we follow. If He goes to the Cross, we follow. This is the very core of the Chinese Mingding Doctrine.

We do not subscribe to the cheap grace of saying, "I am saved, I will go to heaven, and it does not matter if I only sweep the floors there." We reject such complacency. We demand relentless pursuit. We must constantly audit our progress. Never assume you have arrived at the ultimate truth; you must keep pressing forward.

I recently received three pastors. Their feedback was satisfactory. They said, "Every time we visit, we learn something new, and it is highly practical." This is correct. When they visited years ago, I spoke to them from my level of understanding then. Today, I speak to them from a higher altitude. Why the difference? Because I have climbed another mile.

I never assume I have reached the peak; I am constantly striving. This is a defining characteristic of the Chinese Mingding Doctrine. It would be very easy for me to slack off—no one polices me. But I refuse to coast. Even with maximum effort, the margin for error is slim; complacency guarantees failure. My goal is to secure a place among the 144,000, and I want every one of you to do the same.

The song we sing is unique; no outsider can learn it. It is far superior to any worldly performance. How glorious it is to proclaim the message of victory to the sound of heavenly harps! I imparted this vision of victory to those pastors. Have you overcome? Do not think you can coast to victory. The path of victory is paved with sweat, tears, and if necessary, blood.

We must build this robust character. I thank God for giving us this resolve. A senior pastor once told me, "The character of the leader determines the character of the church." The character of our church reflects my own character. I am a man determined to win. Whatever the cost, we must overcome.

I urged these pastors to overcome. They had recently faced severe trials and their church was in deep trouble. I built up their faith and pushed them to scale new spiritual heights.

I thank God for giving me the magnanimity not to play king-of-the-hill. I do not suppress others to protect my position. On the contrary, my desire is to see others surpass me. That is true strength of character.

Why are there only 144,000? Because they fought their way in. If top universities like Peking or Tsinghua expanded their intake to a million, they could do so. But if they did, they would cease to be elite institutions; they would become third-rate garbage.

Therefore, we must overcome, and we must infect everyone around us with this drive to win. To fail to overcome is a tragedy. If you enter the ministry and remain complacent, it is a disaster. How can you win with a sloppy attitude? The consequences of failure are severe.

God designed it this way. Therefore, we must make a hard decision: we will fight our way into that 144,000, even if we have to squeeze in as number 144,001. If you are governed by your feelings, you will fail. But if you submit to God's will, the results will be extraordinary.

In truth, overcoming is not complicated. It simply means following the Lamb. He leads, you follow. Is that clear? The Lamb walked the road to Golgotha and was crucified. We must walk that same road. We must be prepared to die, disregarding our own feelings and lives. We have only one objective: to overcome and be counted among the 144,000.

Blessed Are the Dead Who Die in the Lord

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!" (Revelation 14:12-13)

Scripture does not say, "Blessed are those who compromise to survive." It says, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." Why? Because by the time we reach Revelation Chapters 13 and 14, there is no middle ground. You either choose to die in the Lord without fear, or you accept the mark of the Beast.

I believe these 144,000 are individuals who do not love the world, do not fear death, and do not indulge the flesh. When they depart this world, they rest from their labors, and their deeds follow them. Behind them are others who, despite their flaws, would rather die than receive the mark of the Beast. That requires real grit.

Some people barely scrape through to Chapter 14. I ask them: what were you doing before this? You must understand that indulging the flesh leads to misery. Those ruled by their physical desires suffer terribly. I told the pastor who visited me: "The cost of failing to overcome is heavy." I gave him examples of pastors who contracted cancer and lived in misery. It was not because they were bad people, but because they failed to overcome.

Building a church is like poking a bear. If you do not have the means to kill the bear, why poke it? Ministry is exactly like that. When the bear turns on you, how will you defend yourself? Therefore, you must have absolute resolve. This applies not just to church planting, but to every Christian. Once you choose to be baptized into Christ, you must have this determination. Otherwise, your end will be miserable.

I want you to realize this early. What is the alternative? The mark of the Beast. Do not think this marking only begins in Revelation 13. Demonic forces are marking people right now. Do you bear the image of the devil? We must examine ourselves. If you look like the devil, it is because you are indulging the flesh and loving the world.

We have a sister who was delivered from depression over a decade ago. She grew, but she remained fearful of death and indulgent of her flesh. The moment she faced insomnia, she fell into anxiety. Six months ago, the spirit of depression returned. Did she commit some heinous crime? No. She simply coddled her flesh and clung too tightly to physical survival.

For me, I look forward to resting from my labors. I find joy in building the church and serving you, but there is a far greater joy: to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. My deeds will follow me. A person with this mindset does not get depressed.

Those who love the world and coddle their flesh only breed anxiety and misery. Why cling so desperately to this physical existence? Blessed are those who die in the Lord, not those who compromise to survive.

Make a hard decision today: resolve to die for the Lord. If you have the courage to die, you will have the resolve to overcome. You will build real character. Do not be fragile, self-absorbed, and easily shaken. That is useless. Anyone who coddles the flesh becomes useless.

Fear God

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water." (Revelation 14:6-7)

The fear of God is the fundamental key. What is it that you actually worship? Man must fear God. If a man fears God, he fears nothing else. But if he does not fear God, he becomes a coward, fearing everything—this, that, and the other. Yet, he does not fear God. Is this not absolute ruin? To fear ghosts, to fear death, to fear everything under the sun except God—this is a recipe for intense misery.

If you wish to live in misery, the formula is simple: fuss over every trivial matter, but ignore God. Refuse to strive to be among the 144,000 who follow the Lamb. Instead, choose to drift along, indulging your flesh, thinking you can afford to be indifferent. I tell you, the end result will be catastrophic.

Once you enter the church as a Christian, a small group leader, or a pastor, you must fear God. Those who do not fear God are finished. Why do people become foolish? Because they lack the fear of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Therefore, preaching the Gospel is about teaching men to fear God while they are alive, not merely about whether they go to heaven when they die.

If you fear God, you do not even fear death. What else is there to fear? When I die, I rest from my earthly labors and enter eternal life; my deeds and service follow me. What have I to fear? Do I care about the trivialities of this world? I do not. Why fuss over these petty, inconsequential matters? They are utterly meaningless.

To the brothers and sisters among us, especially those who have suffered from depression: you must be careful. You are likely too indulgent of your flesh, constantly following your feelings. To live by your feelings is to invite misery. Not only will God despise you, but even demons will look down on you, and you will despise yourself. What a miserable existence that is.

You worry about saving face, you fear everything, yet you do not fear God. It is a tragedy. Can you wake up now? In everything you do, fear God, and be ready to account to Him.

Harvesting the Grapes of the Earth and Throwing Them into the Great Winepress of God's Wrath

Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe." So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe." So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia. (Revelation 14:14-20)

What are these grapes? Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches." This means Christians are the grapes, the branches of the vine. The Jews, the Israelites, are represented by the olive tree and the fig tree. When you read of grapes in the Bible, it refers to Christians; when you read of the fig tree, it refers to the Jews and Judaism.

This is highly unusual. When God pours out the seven bowls, He harvests these fully ripe grapes of the earth and throws them into the great winepress of His wrath. These are the Christians who fear death and love their lives, those who took the mark of the beast. God deals with them separately. Because you are a Christian, but a rotten, overripe grape, what happens to you? You are harvested! You may not face the plagues of the seven bowls directly, but you are thrown into the great winepress of God's wrath.

The preceding passage spoke of the 144,000 overcomers. Now, we are looking at those who failed to overcome. A river of blood, "as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia"—that is at least 1.7 meters deep, deep enough to swim in. Imagine how many Christians must perish for this to happen!

Thus, the 144,000 are few, while those in the river of blood are many. This should not surprise us. Of the 600,000 fighting men of Israel who left Egypt, only two—Joshua and Caleb—actually entered the Promised Land. It was a tragedy.

I believe Laozi, the author of the Tao Te Ching, had a correct observation of the divine order. Observing his era, where floods killed thousands and droughts starved millions, he remarked: "Heaven and Earth are ruthless; they treat all things as straw dogs. The Sage is ruthless; he treats the people as straw dogs."

In other words, whether more or fewer die is of no consequence to God. If blood flows for 600 miles, or even 6,000 miles, God is indifferent to the number. This shows how grim the fate of those who fail to overcome is. Therefore, I urge you once again: to overcome on this earth is the only glorious end. I desire with all my heart that every brother and sister possesses the resolve to overcome.

Among pastors, I am a rare breed. Many pastors desire mega-churches with tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of members. I do not. My only desire is to build God's glorious church together with Christians who overcome.

Thank God. I recently met with a pastor, and we reviewed our journeys over the past years. Our church has gone from strength to strength, running rapidly on the path of victory. He then cited several examples: this church has barely anyone left, that church is empty, this pastor has cancer, and that pastor has fallen into depression.

Let me be clear: for a Christian, salvation is synonymous with overcoming. There is no such thing as being saved without overcoming. The Lord we believe in requires us to follow Jesus Christ into a state of victory while we are alive. Overcoming is not difficult; it simply requires following Him. Measure yourself against the Word of God. Do your actions reflect the likeness of the Apostle Paul or Jesus Christ? Do you possess the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?

It does not surprise me at all that these people are thrown into the winepress of God's wrath. This is the norm. For instance, some churches seek to make Christianity the state religion. Can they overcome this way? Is a state religion a good thing? Joining the church becomes like joining a political party.

We live in a highly distorted age. They believe they can transform the world, but instead, the world has transformed the church. Look at how corrupt the Roman Catholic Church became after the Roman Emperor made it the state religion. How many actually overcame? Secularization transformed the church, turning it into a mere instrument of political control.

Therefore, I have no interest in expanding for the sake of size or power. My sole focus is victory. I want our brothers and sisters to share this mindset: to overcome, even if it means not clinging to your own life unto death. Look at how much those who fear death suffer. The number of physical illnesses a person has is directly proportional to how filthy their mind is.

Some of you ask if the sister with depression has recovered. She is much better these past few days, simply because I gave her one harsh scolding after another to wake her up. One must not love the world; loving the world brings nothing but misery. We must hunger to overcome. Overcoming is the core tenet of the Chinese Mingding Doctrine.

The Great City of Babylon Has Fallen

And another angel, a second, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality." (Revelation 14:8)

I tell you, you do not need to wait for Revelation 14 to see this fall. Look closely at the world around you; stories of collapse happen daily. Some scramble and claw their way to the presidency, only to end up in prison once they step down.

What does Babylon represent? It represents those who climb the Tower of Babel. In the end, they all fall. Observe carefully: those who struggle to climb to the top of Babel find only a cliff. They fall and are smashed to pieces. Those who fail to reach the top fall and are also smashed. There is no good end. And during the climb, they live in such agony that their faces are contorted with stress.

Some may seem to be doing well now, but when Revelation 14 arrives, they will not be. In truth, their ultimate fall then is no different from their fall today. In the end, this world and its desires will pass away, but the Word of God stands forever.

Do you still wish to love this world? Make no mistake: if you indulge the flesh and love the world, failing to overcome, you will begin to suffer. If you resolve to overcome, not only will Jesus Christ lift you up, but the pastors and co-workers of this church will also support you. I want every brother and sister to grasp this concept of victory.

This is why I often say, if you have problems, come to me. But if my words only increase your pain, I might choose to remain silent. "The words of the wise are like goads." Once spoken, they will make you highly uncomfortable.

The fall of Babylon is not an event reserved solely for Revelation 14; it is an ongoing reality. From Cain, Lamech, and Nimrod—who lived like madmen—to Sima Yi and Cao Cao in China, did they live well? They did not. It is a sobering thought. God has made this plain: before He pours out His wrath, He harvests the Christians first, and then comes the turn of Babylon and those who worship the beast and its image.

Those Who Worship the Beast and Receive Its Mark

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name." (Revelation 14:9-11)

Remember this: those who take the mark of the beast do so merely to survive a little better. Those who fear death and desperately cling to life will worship the beast, because refusal means instant death. Yet, worshiping the beast only hastens your demise, and you will have no rest day or night. What then of the future? We must have a clear-headed understanding of these realities. Those who worship the beast and its image, who are obsessed with themselves and their earthly survival, will never end well. They live with such intense anxiety, as if physical survival were the ultimate goal.

No matter how important you think life is, if you are a coward who fears death, you are doomed. You will inevitably bow to the beast and its image. And what is the result? Look closely at the severely ill patients we minister to. Is there even one whose mind is not utterly filthy? Do not think highly of yourself; your self-righteousness is completely useless.

For those who worship the beast and receive its mark, the cup of God's wrath is poured full strength. It contains nothing but pure wrath and unmitigated pain. That is the final verdict. You fear pain, do you not? At that moment, the pain will be excruciating. You will seek death but will not find it. You will be made to suffer to the uttermost, with absolutely no rest.

I desire that all our brothers and sisters have the resolve to overcome. Do not crowd yourselves among those who fail. Why would you want to squeeze in there? It is a place of sheer torment. Is suffering amusing to you? You claim you want to avoid suffering, yet you push your way straight into it.

If you trust God with a resolve to die, you will rest from your labors. But if you desperately cling to life, you will live in agony. This is the simple logic of your destiny. Examine your own path: which side are you crowding into? Are you striving to be among the 144,000, or are you squeezing into the pile of rotten grapes, or joining those with the mark of the beast? This chapter is a stark wake-up call.

Those who follow the Lamb sing and rejoice together; those who follow the beast face an eternity of unrest. Therefore, be vigilant. You must not walk according to the flesh. To be carnally minded is to be at enmity with God. Do not make God your enemy; that is a profound tragedy. You must fear God. Many fail to understand this, and their end is invariably disastrous.

While we are still alive, before the events of Revelation 14 unfold, we are already shown this grim reality. Why must we fear God? To overcome. God demands overcomers. Amen! May our brothers and sisters be those who follow God and the Lamb, destined to overcome through Him.

Overcoming is not difficult. If you follow Him, the path is clear. God will fight before you and secure your victory. Do not follow your feelings; submit to the Word of God. We will conclude our Bible study here. May God bless you all.