Study Audio Download

Rev 14:1-5  Part 1, The 144,000 Firstfruits unto God and the Lamb

[Study Aired February 7, 2025]

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 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3  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 14:4  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.
Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

Introduction

We have already demonstrated in our study of Revelation 7:1-8 that this symbol of 144,000 who stand with the Lamb upon mount Sion is the symbol of God’s elect. In chapter 7, this numbered group was contrasted with another group “which no man could number”:

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

In our study of chapter seven we took note of the fact that the great multitude which no man could number served God day and night in His temple… which temple we are (1Co 3:16-17):

Rev 7:15  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

This numbered group of 144,000 is signified by the “four beasts and four and twenty elders” who sit with Christ on His throne and rule with Him a thousand years and then throughout the time of the lake of fire, beginning at the great white throne judgment which is where this group that no man could number appears.

We will not belabor that subject except to add that these 144,000 firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb, are “firstfruits” because they are the “first [to] believe in Christ” (Eph 1:12), the first to “die daily” (1Co 15:31, Gal 2:20), in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) and be judged now, in this age (1Pe 4:17):

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory,  who first trusted in Christ.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Gal 2:19  For I through the law am dead [aorist tense] to the law, that I might live [aorist tense] unto God.
Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed [aorist tense] in us.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin [Aorist tense] at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth [Future tense]; they that have done good [Aorist tense] unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

It is this numbered group who are pronounced to be that “blessed and holy”, group who will come up in the resurrection to life (Joh 5:27-30) which also called “the first resurrection”:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

“And will rule with [Christ] for 1,000 years” prior to the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death. We covered all of this in chapter seven, so why is this “blessed and holy” numbered group of “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” being mentioned again here at the beginning of this 14^th chapter?

The answer is that it is placed here to remind us that:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

“The whole creation” is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God ”who are their “saviors” (Oba 1:21):

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

This reminder that as this numbered group of 144,000 “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, we are to be the saviors of “the creature”, meaning all the rest of mankind of all time is placed at this junction in this prophecy because the rest of this chapter, and the next two chapters remind us in great detail of the severity of the judgment which is at “this present time… upon the house of God”, and to remind us that the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us after we have endured the torment in the presence of God and of the holy angels  which we must endure before we will be given to have our part in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, and to rule with Christ for a thousand years and judge all the rest of mankind in the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/ second death.

This is another chapter which leads up to and prepares us for the revelation of the events of the seventh trump, which is the pouring out upon our beast the fullness of the wrath of God. The six previous trumpets were sounded and immediately explained, but this seventh trumpet is first mentioned in Revelation 10, then we are told that it is sounded in chapter 11, but it will not be explained until these 14^th-16^th chapters.

Here is how this seventh trumpet is first introduced to us in Revelation 10.

Rev 10:5  And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
Rev 10:6  And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: [no longer any delay]
Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

“The days… when he shall begin to sound…” certainly reveals that this seventh trumpet is part of a process that is taking place within us, which has nothing to do with the literal sounding of a trumpet within just minutes, or even hours. This “mystery of God” was revealed in our study of chapter 10 to be the revelation of “the secret which has been hidden from the ages and from generations”, but we need to be reminded what “that mystery of God” is. So here is that great mystery which was “declared to His servants the prophets:

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

So now we know what this seventh trumpet is all about. “When this seventh angel begins to sound [within our lives] the mystery of God… the mystery of Christ in us, the hope of glory… should be finished, as He has declared to His servants the prophets.” Christ in us is not just a vague term or phrase. “Christ in you” has a specific meaning to those who truly know Christ. What that phrase means it that Christ is reliving His life of obedience to His Father and rejection by this world in us. What exactly does that entail? It’s not anything we have been taught by the churches of Babylon the Great. Here is what that means. Here is what the seventh trumpet is all about:

Luk 18:31  Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man [Act 22:8, 1Jo 4:17] shall be accomplished.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of [Greek: the] Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

That is what the sounding of this seventh trumpet begins to “finish”. That is what He has declared to His servants the prophets. Christ is the king of the kingdom of God. Where is that kingdom? It just happens to be in the exact same place where the king of that kingdom resides:

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is [the mystery which has been hid from the ages and from generations, but now is made manifest… which is Christ] within you [the hope of glory].

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

That is the mystery which God has declared to His servants the prophets. It concerns both Christ in us and His kingdom within us, because those two things are not two things at all. They are both the same thing, and they are both the same event which “begins to be finished, in the days when the seventh angel begins to sound.”

These 144,000 are the symbol for the body of Christ, as those in whom He has taken up His residence.

Luk 24:27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

“Beginning with Moses”, just to be sure we understand, means beginning with Genesis, the first of the “five books of Moses”. “… And all the prophets” means “all of the prophets”, major and minor. “He expounded unto them in all of the scriptures…” means that “all of the scriptures” concern Christ Himself. That is what all of scripture concerns itself with. “All the scriptures… concern Himself”. They all concern Christ, because “He is the beginning and the end”, and that means He is also everything in between.

While this book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ was not written at the time He was speaking to these two men on the road to Emmaus, this book certainly is His own Revelation of Himself, in far greater detail than in the law of Moses and all of the prophets.

Having already discussed the symbolism of the 144,000 as those who comprise the body of Christ who will come up in the first resurrection and rule the kingdom of this world for a thousand years followed by judging angels in the lake of fire, we will only dwell on the things that we have not mentioned in that past study.

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.

“Having his Father’s name written in their foreheads” is the symbol we have just discussed in the previous chapter concerning the mark, name, number and image of the beast. “The mark of the name of the beast” is in our foreheads when we are living that part of our walk. “[Our] Father’s name in [our] forehead” is to have His mark and name and image and number. We cannot receive our Father’s name in our forehead without first being of our father the devil and first “receiving the mark of His name”:

Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

We saw that the symbol of “in their foreheads” means that we think and act as our father the devil, when we are His children. Likewise we have our Father’s name in our foreheads as the symbol of the fact that we now, as the elect sons of God, think and act as He thinks and as He acts. We covered this in great detail when we covered this verse of chapter 13:

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

This ‘mark’ is called “the mark of His name”, and the number is also called “the number of his name.”

Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Just as God had told Israel that His “mark” would be in their right hand and in their foreheads, so also the name, number and mark of the beast is in our right hands and in our foreheads.

Deu 6:6  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:[‘forehead’]
Deu 6:7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Deu 6:8  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.[‘forehead’]

The Lamb is said to be “standing upon Mount Sion”:

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.

Mount Sion is called the place where God will dwell, and it is called the place of God’s rest.

Psa 132:13  For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
Psa 132:14  This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

Since we are told that God dwells in His people (1Co 3:16-17), and since we are told that He dwells in us (2Co 6:16), it is obvious that “Mount Sion” is just another symbol which signifies the Lord’s elect.

Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

Since we have just established where God dwells, and we have found that He dwells in His people, we have also established that ‘heaven’ is within us, because we are also told that “God dwells in the heavens.”

Psa 103:19  The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.

Psa 123:1  Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.

God’s voice is often referred to as “the voice of many waters”.

Eze 43:2  And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.

This statement in Ezekiel evokes thoughts of the roar that is associated with great waterfalls like Niagara Falls, which are so loud that nothing else can be heard. While that thought is no doubt very valid, we need to also remember that God’s Word is itself referred to in scripture as waters.

Joh 4:10  Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

So “the voice of many waters” is the voice of the truth of God’s Word, and the Truth of God’s Word involves the truth that judgment is now on the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). Those words of God speaking of that judgment are referred to “as the voice of a great thunder.”

Exo 9:23  And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder [judgment] and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt [our flesh and the lies we believe].

It is that judgment upon our flesh and all the false doctrines which appeal to our flesh, that this seventh trumpet is all about. This 14th chapter, speaking of these 144,000, assures us that God will see us all through His judgments, but we are never to deny that we are being judged and that God’s judgment against lies and sin is so severe that all lies and liars and all sin and death will in the end be destroyed.

Notice what the presence of God’s thunder reveals:

Exo 9:29  And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; [and] the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD’S.

So even this sinful earth is the Lord’s, and all that takes place within it is His work for His pleasure:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

The wicked are not wicked by their own free will. They are wicked “for the Lord” and for His own purpose and His own will.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Our ‘will’ is shown to be nothing more than a work of “His own will”, be it for good or evil:

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his [own] good pleasure.

Nevertheless the Lord, according to the previous verse, wants us to act as if our will and our efforts are very much involved in the work He is working in us:

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

So even the lies we believe are actually evil, lying spirits which are “from the Lord” by the agency of the Lord’s Satan.

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1Sa 16:15  And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

1Ki 22:20  And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
1Ki 22:21  And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
1Ki 22:22  And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he [The Lord] said, Thou shalt persuade [him], and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
1Ki 22:23  Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

So “the Lord… puts a lying spirit in the mouth of all” the false prophets of this world. We all hear their lies and believe their lies and propagate those lies ourselves. This all provides the Lord the occasion He is seeking against us, as He was seeking here against Ahab and as He sought against the Philistines.

Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD [ Samson’s desire for a Philistine wife], that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

The Philistines in scripture signify those who are in the promised land without the agency or benefit of circumcision. They did not come up out of Egypt as we all must. They are the type and shadow of the lies that deny the need for coming through the baptisms of the Red Sea, the forty years of trials in the wilderness and the baptism of the Jordan River. In short, they are the shadow of all the lies of Babylon, and that is why hail is so often mentioned in connection with the thunder of the voice of the Lord.

Why is hail mentioned in connection with thunder? What does that hail signify and symbolize?

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

There it is. Thunder is connected in scriptural types and shadows with judgment:

Exo 9:23  And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

1Sa 2:10  The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

The judgment of that thunder will bring with it the hail and lightning which will “wipe away the refuge of all the lies” of Babylon within us. In the end, our old man is judged, dethroned and destroyed, and our new man reigns on His rightful throne in our hearts. [“Christ in you… Col 1:27]

1Sa 2:10  The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

That is the meaning and purpose for “the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder”.

“… And I heard harpers harping with their harps”

What is the spiritual significance of “the voice of harpers harping with their harps”? Who are these “harpers”? Here is who these harpers are, and once again we see that there are only two men in the entirety of scripture; our old man and our new man:

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

It is the four beasts and the four and twenty elders who are these “harpers harping with their harps.” It is they who “have the harps of God.”

Who do the four beasts and the four and twenty elders with harps signfy? We are not left to guess. The answer is in the very next verse:

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;
Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Where else do we see these redeemed of God with harps?

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Those who “stand on the sea of glass mingled with fire” are “them that had gotten the victory over the beast.” They are but one more symbol for those who “have been redeemed to God by the blood of Christ out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” They are both God’s few, chosen and faithful to the end elect. They are the 12,000 from every tribe of Israel. They are the firstfruits unto God and the lamb. They are this 144.000.

We will pause our study at this point, and we will continue our next study with verse 3 where we will discover who those are who “sing a new song”:

Rev 14:3  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.