“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” 4 …These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb,” Rev. 14:1-5.

HOW DO WE COME TO THIS STATE OF BEING?

The Word says, “…These were redeemed from among men, being the FIRST FRUITS UNTO GOD and to THE LAMB.” In Israel’s most ancient legal law (Exo. 22:28-29, 34:19-20), the first male of men or animals are pronounced God’s property. They belong to God. The firstborn of men are always redeemed (Num. 3:13; 8:17).

As it was in Egypt, the firstborn sons of the Israelites were dedicated to God; and so they were to be delivered from Egypt as God’s own property. The firstborn sons of the Egyptians had to die as a corresponding ransom for them, with the tenth plague that was visited on them (Exo. 12:29-34).

And the community of Israel, which was redeemed from Egypt, a type of the world in place of the firstborn sons, was spared on that occasion.

The Levites were consecrated to God (Num. 3:12, 40-51, 8:16-18).

Now our reading says, the ‘first-fruits’ are those who are redeemed from among men. In other words, they have been delivered from the beastly system of the world around them. And for them to be so delivered and become God’s property simply means they also now possess the very nature of God within them, which enables them to become the true followers of the Lamb wherever He goes.

So how did they (the redeemed 144,000) come to have this divine nature imparted unto them? Again we read,

“By His own choice He made us His children by THE MESSAGE OF TRUTH so that we should be a sort of FIRST FRUITS OF ALL THAT HE CREATED,” James 1:18.

Let us quickly remember this, that the first fruit of any harvest is not the totality of the harvest. So if there is a ‘first fruit’ unto God, there shall eventually be an ingathering at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, the principle of being harvested from the world is “the message of truth.” That means all that have received the Word of truth are begotten of the Father and not just the numerical 144,000.

So it goes beyond a literal number of people, but rather all of mankind even at this age and the ages to come that have received the Word of truth. Now the Word of truth is everything God has revealed to the human race. This is also called the law of liberty or supreme law.

In James 1:21-25 we read,

“…accept and SUBMIT TO THE WORD which has been planted in you and can save your souls. But you must do what the word tells you and not just listen to it and deceive yourselves. To listen to the word and not obey is like looking at your own features in a mirror and then, after a quick look, going off and immediately forgetting what you look like. But the man who looks steadily at the perfect law of freedom, (from legalism) and makes that his habit – not listening and then forgetting, but actively putting into practice – will be happy in all that he does,” JB.

So you see, the Christian’s true freedom is based on the impartation of the life of God through the Word.

Now get me right, the word that saves our soul is not just a speech or the sound of a message you are hearing or have heard, but it is the life of God Himself. For the scripture says, “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God,” John 1:1.

Now the Greek word used here as the ‘word’ is ‘logos’ which is more than a mere speech, rather it carries “with it the idea of a thought” or “the expression or utterance of that thought.”

So the ‘logos’ of God, who is Christ, is the embodiment of all the divine wisdom and collective ‘thought’ of God as expressed in Him (1Cor. 1:24; Eph.3:11; Col. 2:2-3; Heb. 1:1-2).

Now the beautiful good news to us is that this same ‘thought’ and ‘divine’ wisdom of God is becoming our lives, and in fact is our life. “In Him (the word – logos) was life; and the life was the light of men … That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” John 1:4, 9.

Did you see it? That ‘word’ which is ‘life’ is the ‘light’ of men. We are (en)lightened as the Holy Ghost via the Word ignites our spirit man which is the candle of the Lord (Prov. 20:27) “…formed within us” (Zech. 12:1). This is the new birth.

From within our spirit, the divine thoughts of God will begin to flow into our soul realm. And as we begin to walk in the light of what is flowing forth from our spirit, we are then said to be walking in the liberty of the higher law of the spirit. With this, our will is being broken and taken over by the will of the Father.

This then is the will of God being done in earth, (Matt. 6:10) as the Word takes root in us and have our lives directed by the indwelling power of the Word, thereby becoming the first begotten son of the Father.

For with this, we are partakers of God’s divine nature (2Pet. 1:4).

“Seeing ye have purified (saved) your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren… being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by THE WORD OF GOD which LIVETH AND ABIDETH forever,” 1Pet. 1:21-23.

To be continued…