“These are they which follow the lamb withersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, BEING THE FIRST FRUITS UNTO GOD AND TO THE LAMB” Rev.14:4.
“By his own will he brought us into being through the word of truth, so that we should have first place among all his creatures” James 1:18 GNT.
Rev.14: 1 “ And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads….. 4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb
SPIRITUAL DEFILEMENT
In the old Testament, marital infidelity is spoken of metaphorically as idolatry (Hos. 1:2+). And when God was describing Israel’s defilement in this regard, He said “…How dare you say ‘I am not defiled, I have not run after the Baals?’. Look at your footprints in the valley (the valley of Gehenna to the South of Jerusalem where Children were sacrificed to the god Topheth. Jer. 7:31 and Lev. 18:21+) and acknowledge what you have done. A frantic she-camel running in all directions bolts for the desert sniffing the breeze in desire; who can control her when she is on heat? Whoever looks for her will have no trouble; he will find her with her mate. Beware! Your own foot may soon go unshod, your own throat may grow dry. But ‘who cares?’ you said, for I am in love with STRANGERS and they are the ones I FOLLOW” (Jer. 2:23-25) JB.
Rev.14: 1 “ And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads….. 4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb”
The definition of the 144,000 is clear from this verse, they are the people redeemed from among men, not just the twelve tribes of Israel. Besides, it says there are virgins. Are we imagining that this should be talking about literal virgins in Israel like Marry was? So are they just women or they are men as well. You see, beloved, these are spiritual languages, nothing to do with literal men or women living or walking in the street of Jerusalem.
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.
Rev.14: 1 “ And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Furthermore on the language of Numbers
We read in Ps. 50, God talking about those who brought abundance of sacrifices to Him instead of thanksgiving and prayer which he demands, ‘In verse 10, we are told “For every beast of the forest is mine and the CATTLE UPON A THOUSAND HILLS” (KJV) or “Since all the forest animals are already mine, and the cattle on my mountains in their thousands…” (JB),
The idea behind this verse is that God owns everything and there is nothing you are presenting to God that is not His own in the first place. Meaning you are only a custodian of God’s possession therefore you do not need to pride yourself as if you are giving Him anything. For the earth and the fullness thereof belongs to God” (v. 12). So to talk of the “cattle upon a thousand hill” does not mean that other cattle that are not on this thousand hill do not belong to Him. Therefore the cattle are not in numerical arithmetical value neither the hills.
In Ps. 68:17-18, we are told of God’s Chariots being in twenty thousand, even thousands of angels, the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place”
Rev.14: 1 “ And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev.5: 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
While Moses in Exodus 15, sang the song of ‘deliverance’ of the wilderness church from the hands of Pharaoh and his men in the red Sea, the redeemed of the Lord today through the blood of Jesus are singing a new song which is the song of ‘redemption’. It is a new song because only the redeemed in Christ knows it and can sing it.
The song tells of our new place and position in Christ and on the earth, “kings and priests” . Kings rule and priests reconciles, so friends, this is not a fulfilled eschatology of AD 70. It’s an ongoing event and prophecy that can be manifested by any one that have come under the blood of the Lamb and now have the Christ resident within him. He is the head and we are his Body, he is actually ruling and reconciling the earth and men through us as his expression on the Earth just as we read of
Rev.14: 1 “ And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
I have stated that this Book of Revelation is a spiritual Book to a spiritual people in the new order of the kingdom of God which is a spiritual kingdom as compared to the physical kingdom of Israel.
There is no doubt that here in this Book, Babylon the great could be used to describe Jerusalem in AD 70, as a religious city that killed the prophets and even Jesus Christ. But can we not see that, that was not the beginning of the use of that name. The fact is Babylon got its spiritual meaning right from Gen 11. When men started building a Tower that can reach up to heaven and God confounded their language thereby putting a stop to it. So we have Babel as a city of religious confusion. Meaning Babylon is man’s attempting to be independent of God and yet wants to get to God through human efforts. Yet the word says except the Lord build the house, they labour that build but in even. Jesus said I will build my church. Jesus said he is the stone that the builders refused who shall later become the chief cornerstone.
This then is the mystery of Babylon, it is a spirit in man and it’s not just limited to Jerusalem of old alone. Just like Jezebel mentioned in the Book of Revelation was not the origin of that name, but took its root from the activities and life of King Ahab’wife, it is a spirit that wants to usurp authority that is not hers. And it can be found in both male and female. So in this Book, we are actually without doubt dealing with spiritual realities and not just history that can shut itself down in AD 70.
THE SEALED 144,000 IS SYMBOLIC OF SPIRITUAL ISRAEL
Rev.14: 1 “ And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads”
One of the most confusing aspects in the interpretation of the Book of Revelation is to have it in correspondence to the Book of Daniel. Yes, there are motifs from the Book of Daniel that can be found in the Book of Revelation going by apocalyptic writings. But the truth is, while the Book of Daniel was not only an Old Testament prophecy., It basically concerned itself with literal, physical, outward, earthly events transpiring in the world of literal, physical, natural and outward laws of ritual ceremonies even in their laws and ordinances etc etc.
But under the New Testament in which the Book of Revelation is represented, it’s completely a different thing as God’s people are a spiritual people born from above as opposed to the physical Israel old. Here we have the laws of God written in our hearts, unlike Israel that have theirs written in tablets of stone. Especially, then we can see that the Book of Revelation not sent to the Natural Israel of God after the flesh, but to His Spiritual Israel after the Spirit, his heavenly citizens of heavenly Jerusalem.
If this Book is a prophecy, as stated (Rev. 22:19), for the called out ones, that is the Church.
Rev.1: 1 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John”
3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Those who hear the prophecy of this Book are blessed.
“Blessed — happy — to be envied — are they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand” (Rev. 1:3). Ampl.
Let me touch one more thing here briefly and move on to discuss a few things in relation to what men called fulfilled eschatology of the 144,00 standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion.
These opening words are something interesting to behold. Do you know a lot of people don’t like reading the Book of Revelation because of fear based on how men have interpreted the Book by illustrating and revealing the devil, the Ant Christ , Armageddon, earthquakes, killings , failing economy , climate change to destroy all mankind, Israel to fight with Russia or Iran resulting in Third world war, now of late Russian with Turkey etc?
Rev.1: 1 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John”
We have indicated that this Book is written in prophetic symbols for it was ..sent and signified.., We can see that The book of Revelation falls into a form of writing called “Apocalyptic literature”. This was developed as a distinctly Jewish genre. It began with them and developed with them and then the Christians continued to use it. It is a form of writing that is highly symbolic and yet prophetic.
It was commonly employed by the prophets in their writings, especially Books like Ezekiel etc. They were more or less like parables, and you found that Jesus employed similar manner of teachings, such that he will tell the disciples, for you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom but for those without these are done in parables. And anytime he finishes teaching like this he will say,
“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!” (Mat. 11:15). Same thing he said to the seven Churches in Asia..“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;”
Now , the very nature of a symbol is that it means something else other than what is being said on the surface, otherwise it would not be a symbol! For instance, in the Greek language the word angel means a messenger and so in the book of Revelation the angel stands for a message and the messenger! Not necessarily a wing creature like we have been made to believe. In Luke 7: 24, we are told of the messengers of John.
Rev.1: 1 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John”
In continuing with these thoughts on the Book of Revelation, let it be noted that am only here to highlight a few things that will enable us do a thorough study of what the Book is all about Endeavouring to ensure that, we have to see beyond the letters of the word here written, and that which is called historical fulfillment into the reality of what the Father is conveying to us through the Son in the spirit of truth.
For those of us who say this Book should be interpreted literally or that it is already a fulfilled Book. What do we do with passages like this..
Rev.14: 1 “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads”.