Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. – Revelation 14:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 3, 2018): Revelation 14

Is the future fixed, or fluid? It is a question that philosopher’s and theologians have danced around for centuries. For some, the belief is that it must be fixed because God knows the future and the number of our days. And while that may be poetic, there are few examples in Scripture that support this idea. In the Bible, God is someone who is filled with passion and moved by our prayers. Things in the future change because God has allowed it to change and because the Spirit of God moves among us. I have to admit that I sometimes wonder if the future is more fluid than we realize. Every day we make choices, large and small, that influence our futures. And every day it might be that God protects us from some of our stupider actions, but still we build a future brick by brick and often have to live with the consequences of our choices.

Maybe the future is like more like a river running down a mountain. We know that the water will somehow reach the bottom after bouncing through offshoots and pools along the way, but the exact path for an individual water molecule is unknown. Along the journey it may be turned from one eddy to another, the exact path that the molecule will take is unknown. Even the ultimate destination is unknown. Most will be carried to the bottom of the mountain, but not all. What is known is that God knows all the possibilities. For us, he understands every tributary that our choices may carry us down – and, in the end, he is in control and holds our every possibility. But this is not a fatalistic faith that says that our choices and prayer are unimportant. They are important because it is possible for our prayers to move the hand of God.

The last time we read about the 144,000, this group of Jewish Christians who are called to minister throughout the Tribulation period, was in Revelation 7. Scholars agree that this Revelation 7 mention is at the beginning of the Great Tribulation and that the 144,000 were to be protected. It is not that God necessarily knew the ending, it is that God is actively protecting the 144,000 so that they would thrive throughout this difficult period. Satan might try to destroy them, but God’s protection would be on them.

And now the 144,000 stand victorious at the end of the Tribulation. The presence of the 144,000 stands as a testimony that the beasts of Revelation 13 might make war and cause discomfort for the Christian community, but they will not be able to overcome them completely. Here at the end of the Tribulation, the 144,000 are seen as standing firm on Mount Zion, the Mountain of God, triumphant and worshipping Jesus. We may not know the path to the end, but we know that in the end, the Lamb wins.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Revelation 15