Revelation 14:1-5
In verse 1 John is observing the receiving of the 144,000 Jewish men into Heaven. Apparently they have completed their assignment and have come up together to meet Jesus at a gathering place called the Mount of Sion.
There are different commentaries regarding this event and the few that I have personally reviewed have not even considered this to be the Rapture of the 144,000. Some even consider this group to be a different group than the one found in chapter seven.
The preference here is to simplify rather than theorize this event. Let us examine the event as it unfolds.
First, Jesus is standing on Mount Sion, which has been stated as being anything from a mount in Heaven, to being the Church, to being a literal place that is on the earth.
For the purpose of this study, we will take it literal and examine the context from that position.
Let’s examine who these 144,000 are. As stated previously, some think they are different than the group found in chapter seven. The questions that beg to be asked are; why the exact same number in two different groups and where in the context of this book does it indicate a different group?
Some might say, the group in chapter seven is Jewish and this chapter does not say they are Jewish. However, some things are a given. Many times in the Epistles of Paul, he states that the reader already knows and understands things that he is talking about.
Their culture and Jewish upbringing often left no need for redundancy, so things were just understood by the reader and for brevity the writer would leave details out. In this event, John likely assumed the reader would already know by the number being expressed that it was the same as previously mentioned of them.
We may also note that the statement “having his Father’s name” indicates something previously expressed as we can turn back to chapter seven and see this at its conception. The “his” as the subject of this event is the Lamb that stood on the mount.
So here’s the picture. Much like the Rapture of the Church in which we will be gathered together in the air to be with the Lord (1Thessalonians 4:17), the 144,000 will also be gathered together with the Lord on the Mount Sion.
They will then arrive being recognized by the seal or mark of God, so there will be no infiltration in the ranks. Then when all are accounted for, they will ascend together just as Jesus did previously in chapter one of the Book of Acts from Mount Olivet. They will hear the most beautiful voices and music from harps in verse 2.
In verse 3 we see these 144,000 singing a new song that is reserved only for this group of men to sing before the Throne. There it is, we see them move from the earth to the Throne in Heaven. They must have been “Caught up, Carried away, Transported, Raptured!”
Verse 4 gives us a descriptive of what these saints were like in the earth. They were virgins and did not give in to the temptation of sexual sin. Sexual sin of all sorts will be very prevalent during the Tribulation period.
They follow the Lamb wherever He goes; we would do well to do the same. They are evidently the first fruits of the Tribulation hour just as we are the first fruits of the Church age, brothers and sisters of the first born, Jesus Christ.
In verse 5 we see there was no guile found in their mouths. Let’s define ‘no guile:’ to be without guile is to be free of deceit, cunning, hypocrisy and dishonesty in thought or action. To beguile is to deceive or to lead astray, as satan beguiled Eve in the Garden.
These saints obviously understood the power of words as stated in Proverbs 18:21, “death and life are in the power of the tongue” and James 3:2, “if a man offend not with his tongue, he is a perfect man and able to bridle his whole body.”
So the last statement of verse 5 indicates that no fault was found in them because of these truths.
