“And I looked, and lo a Lamb stood on Mount Zion and with Him an hundred and forty and four thousand having His Father’s name written in their foreheads…And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth,” Rev. 14:1-5.

“REDEEMED FROM THE EARTH BY HIS BLOOD,” continued

Again we read, “For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things (i.e., money) as silver and gold from your vain conversation (life without Christ received by tradition from your fathers), but with the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,” 1Pet. 1:18-19.

We can then see from the above readings that the equivalent price Jesus paid was His blood, which actually is the life of God poured out on man to replace the old life full of sin factors that we received from Adam.

I would want to believe that the power we got as we received Him (John 1:12), is the energy of God’s life empowering us to begin to live our lives in consonance with His indwelling heavenly life. A life completely different from our vain conversations of lust, covetousness, greed, etc. It is the power to lay down this Adamic life. That is the power we received from Him at our new birth.

THE ELDERS REPRESENT ALL THAT HAVE BEEN REDEEMED

So we can see that when the Elders say, “…Thou hast redeemed (bought) us to God by the blood…” (Rev. 5:9) this is not just a reference to only the 24 Elders or the 144,000 (Rev. 14:3), but as many as have received the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. The new song is, therefore, for all true born again Christians living the life of God now, whose conversation (lifestyle) is now in the heavenlies (Phil. 3:20-21).

So you see, when we read in Isa. 43:18-19, “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old, BEHOLD, I WILL DO A NEW THING…,” it has to do with the new order of Christ – the redemption in His blood as compared to the miraculous deliverance of the children of Israel by Moses.

The ‘new thing’ is therefore the release of the life of God flowing in us to water the waste places of our lives bringing us back to the place of God’s true Eden (2Cor. 5:17; Rev. 14:3, 21:5). What is the outcome of this redemption?

We are being made a kingdom of priests and kings to reign on the earth (Rev. 5:10). “…A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy ration, a peculiar people, that ye (we) should shew forth the praises of Him (God) who hath called you (us) out of darkness into His marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God…,” 1Pet. 2:9-10. The redeemed from amongst men – a new family on earth to rule. Amen.

THE 144,000 ARE VIRGINS – PURE BEFORE GOD

“These are they (144,000) which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins…,” Rev. 14:4. Here in verse 4 the two words that are very important to us in our meditation are “Women” and “Virgins.”

Firstly, we are told that these 144,000 are ‘virgins’ and that they were not defiled with ‘women.’ So what can we make of this statement? Do we have only women defiling men or can we also have men defiling women? Are the 144,000 strictly men such that women only could possibly have defiled them? May God give us understanding.

Other translations of the above passage reads, “These are the ones who kept their virginity and not been defiled with women…” JB. The Living Bible says, “For they are spiritually undefiled, pure as virgins.”
And of course, this is clear enough that what we are dealing with is a spiritual matter.

So we are not just talking of literal girls in the street defiling boys. But, of course, that in itself has a very serious consequence, for that is joining the body of Christ, which you are, with another. We are told to “flee youthful lust” (2Tim. 2:22) and also to “flee fornication” (1Cor. 6:18), because it is a sin against the body – the very temple of God.

So it is not something to toy with, neither should we be deceived into thinking that God only seeth the heart, and so He is not bothered about our ways of life. That would amount to religion and not Christianity. To be involved in fornication in the name of courtship as the manner of some is, is spiritual deception and religious blindness.

Next will be, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO DEFILE?

To be continued…