Revelation 14:1-5 - The People of God and Our New Song
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Revelation 14:1–5 (ESV)
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.
No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.
We saw last week that in contrast to the dragon, the beasts, and those who worship them, John sees the church with Christ in her midst:
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
We saw that Mount Zion symbolizes the dwelling place of God, which between Christ’s two comings is the church. We reviewed the 144,000 and saw that this represents the saints of all time. We saw how in the midst of the saints is the Lamb - like the dragon and the beasts and the lost are all together in each other’s presence, we are in God’s presence, which we will see John emphasize.
We saw that as opposed to the mark of the beast - his name or his number that represents those in their fallen condition - we have the name of God written on our foreheads. This is the mark or the seal of God that makes us His.
And we saw, we are in a war against the dragon - who is Satan - the beasts - which are secular powers and false religion, which Satan uses to fight against us - and all of the fallen angels.
And I finished by saying that we would see more about who we are as those sealed by the Holy Spirit. And that’s where we’ll begin by looking at what John hears next. Remember, what He is seeing is the church with Christ in her midst. But he also describes what he is hearing.
This is similar to what we saw in Revelation 7 when John hears of the 144,000, but sees a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language.
So what does he hear?
Revelation 14:1–3 (ESV)
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.
Now notice that John hears a voice from heaven. As we saw, John is seeing this vision on earth - the dragon and the beasts and those with the mark - and the church with Christ in her midst. So He hears from heaven a voice. And then John describes the voice in great detail. He says:
Revelation 14:2 (ESV)
And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters
John heard this voice at the very start of the overall vision. It is the voice that dictated the addresses to the churches. It is the voice of Christ:
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.
So John is letting us know that the voice he heard at the start of the book of Revelation is the voice He is hearing from heaven. It is Christ. But there is more to the voice:
Revelation 14:2 (ESV)
And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.
The voice also sounded like thunder. This also describes the voice of Christ earlier in the book of Revelation.
If you’ll remember, the second vision cycle takes place in heaven, where John sees God on His throne and the Lamb in the midst of the 24 elders - this is Christ in the midst of His church. But John also saw what he describes as “four living creatures”, which together also represent Christ. One was a man, one was a lion, one was an eagle, and one was an ox - this is Christ as human, as king, as God, and as servant.
And the Lamb is given the scroll with the seven seals, and when He begins to open them, each of the four living creatures call John to come to see what is revealed. And we read this when this the seal breaking begins:
Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”
Which creature is not identified, but it doesn’t matter because all of them represent Christ. And here, the voice of Christ is like thunder to John.
Then, in the third vision cycle, during the sixth trumpet, John is given three visions. One is judgment on the reprobate. One is the the two witnesses that represent the Word of God in the world. And between those John sees a mighty angel come down from heaven, Who we saw was Christ. And we read:
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded.
Here we see that the voice of the angel Who is Christ is compared to a lion roaring, but we also see that when He called out, the “seven thunders” sounded. And those seven thunders reveal something to John that he is told not to write down. It is revelation from the mouth of Christ that is not revealed to us.
So here:
Revelation 14:2 (ESV)
And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.
John is describing this voice from heaven as the voice of Christ.
So note that when we take this together:
Revelation 14:1–2 (ESV)
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.
John is describing Christ as both on earth with His church, and at the same time in heaven. And this is exactly what Christ said would be the case. In the upper room the night before His death, Jesus told the disciples He was going away but coming again:
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
So Jesus says He is leaving, talking about His ascension, but that He would come again to take them to Himself, which is the Second Coming.
But in between those two events, Christ said He would also come to them:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
This is the sending of the Holy Spirit - the seal that makes us part of Christ’s church - but through the Spirit, Christ is with us. He said “I will come to you.” And this is not the Second Coming, because Christ said the world will not see Him. At the Second Coming, as we have seen, the world sees and is terrified.
And Christ says that we are in Him and He is in us. This is our union with Christ. We are identified with Him and actually continue His work on earth as He works His power in and through us.
This is what John is seeing and hearing - Christ in the midst of His people, even though He is heaven where He ascended:
Revelation 14:1–2 (ESV)
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.
But John describes the voice even further. It is not just like the roar of many waters and the like the sound of thunder:
Revelation 14:2–3 (ESV)
The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.
Note, this is still what John is hearing. The voice of Christ sounds like harpists playing on their harps, that were singing a new song. This is what the voice sounded like. He doesn’t say there were people playing harps and singing, this is what the voice of Christ sounded like.
And it was a song being sung before the throne, before the four living creatures, and before the elders.
Now, we have already seen harpists in the book of Revelation. The four living creatures - representing Christ - the the twenty four elders - representing the saints of all time - were playing harps before the Lamb:
And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And we saw, this is the heavenly worship of the Lamb. He is exalted because He is the One Who can open the seals - He is the One Who can initiate the salvation of the elect in space and time.
But here, the elders and the creatures aren’t playing the harp.
Revelation 14:2–3 (ESV)
The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.
These harps are being played by others, but “before” the throne and the living creatures and the elders.
Now, before we go any further, we need to see that John is continuing that contrast that He began in verse 1. The dragon, the beasts, and the people who take the mark from chapter 13 are contrasted with Christ and His church, who are those marked by God.
Here, John is using this repetition of “before,” to make a point. And in the English we lose what he is doing because of how this word for “before” is translated elsewhere.
Now, note that here in the Greek, the word is only used twice. It literally says that the harpists played “before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders.” Often, translators will add the repetition of a word that is not there to try and bring out the meaning.
But here, I think that John is separating out the throne from the living creatures and the elders on purpose. He is separating out Christ on His throne - where He is in heaven - from Christ among His church, the creatures and the elders, where He is on earth in this vision cycle.
But with that in mind, let’s see the contrast John is drawing. The Greek word for “before” here is the word ἐνώπιον. It means “before,” “in the presence of,” “in sight of,” “in front of,” or “face to face.” It speaks of being directly in the presence of someone or something.
Now, let’s go back to chapter 13 where John describes our enemies. He describes the dragon, the sea beast, and then:
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
Let’s see the repetition John actually uses here. The earth beast:
Revelation 13:12–14 (ESV)
Exercises all the authority of the first beast ἐνώπιον it, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth ἐνώπιον people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work ἐνώπιον the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
John makes a point to talk about how the beasts and the people who worship them are together.
He does the same thing here:
Revelation 14:2–3 (ESV)
The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song ἐνώπιον the throne and ἐνώπιον the four living creatures and the elders.
John is still painting this picture of the two sides of the war. And this actually goes back further into Revelation 12, because when we read that the dragon who was the accuser of the saints is throne down out of heaven, we read that:
Revelation 12:10 (ESV)
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night ἐνώπιον our God.
Remember, Satan, though evicted from Eden and God’s presence, still had access to heaven. He could still enter into the presence of God, and he did in order to accuse the saints.
But with Christ’s victory at His First Coming, as we saw, Satan was expelled from heaven. He no longer could be in the presence of God.
So in his wrath, he turned against God’s people. And that is when we get the description of the beasts and the worshipers of the sea beast - which means they’re worshipers of Satan. These are the means Satan uses to fight the war.
And so the world - the unsaved who are all followers of false religion, including atheism and false Christianity - follow the power of the world and of their false religion. And they are all together. These people live in the presence of these powers that work their power in the presence of the people.
But on the other side is God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as we saw - and God’s people - the 144,000 - who all live in each other’s presence. Us with God and God with us. That is the picture John is painting here.
But remember what we saw last week, on that side of the war is Satan, the beasts, the unsaved, and all of the fallen angels - the demons who fell along with Satan.
And on our side is our God and His people, and also those playing the harps - those who are also in the presence of God and His people. These are the angels.
We have seen angels throughout the book of Revelation.
Christ declared to the church in Sardis that if they persevere, this would happen:
The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
And of course, the word here for “before” is our word ἐνώπιον - it is a favorite word of the John that wrote Revelation. It is used only 93 times in the New Testament, and 35 of those uses are in the book of Revelation.
In the meantime, it is used in the epistles of the Apostle John a total of two times, and the Gospel that I believe is wrongly attributed to John only one time.
But here, we see the idea of Christ in heaven in the presence of both the Father and the angels.
We will see angels referred to ten different times in this chapter, including the statement that those who take the mark of the beast:
he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
If you can guess what the word for “in the presence” is here twice in the verse, you win a high five from me.
Point being, since the creatures and the elders are not playing the harps. And since YHWH on His throne is not playing them. And since the Lamb is not playing the harp, since John is seeing the Lamb on earth as the voice like a harp is coming from heaven - there is only one other group that is said to be in the presence of God in heaven, and that is the angels. This is the worship of the angels.
But there’s more, because the song they are playing, John tells us, is a new song:
Revelation 14:3 (ESV)
and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.
What is this “new song?”
Well, back when it was the elders and the living creatures playing their harps, we read:
Revelation 5:8–10 (ESV)
The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
So the new song that we sing here is a song about Christ’s finished work that resulted in the salvation of the nations.
Is that the same song that the angels are singing here?
Well, the idea of the “new song” to be sung unto God is used 9 times in the Bible. It is used twice in Revelation - here and our passage in chapter 14. The other 7 times it is used are all on the Old Testament.
Six times, the term appears in the Psalms:
Psalm 33:2–3 (ESV)
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
Note that the new song is played on harps here. This Psalm has two dominant themes. First, the Word of the Lord is the power of God - He creates and sustains and judges through His Word. And second, the Psalmist speaks of God’s salvation for all the nations:
Psalm 33:13–19 (ESV)
The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.
In Psalm 96, the new song is again because of the salvation of all the earth:
Psalm 96:1–3 (ESV)
Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
In Psalm 98, the Psalmist again sings the new song of salvation for the nations:
Psalm 98:1–3 (ESV)
Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Psalms 40 does the same:
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.
Then, Psalms 144 speaks of the new song, but it speaks of judgment:
Psalm 144:5–10 (ESV)
Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down! Touch the mountains so that they smoke! Flash forth the lightning and scatter them; send out your arrows and rout them! Stretch out your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you, who gives victory to kings, who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.
Note again the harp that accompanies the new song.
Psalm 149 speaks of the new song, but it combines salvation and judgment. What is salvation for God’s people, is judgment for everyone else:
Psalm 149:1–9 (ESV)
Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. Let the godly exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute on them the judgment written! This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the Lord!
So in the Psalms, the “new song” is about salvation and judgment. And I submit to you that they are all the same song.
The other place this song is mentioned is in the book of Isaiah. It is in chapter 42, which is the first of Isaiah’s famous “Servant Songs”. And this chapter focuses on the Servant, Who is Christ, the salvation of the elect of the whole world, and the judgment of the ungodly.
Let’s read the whole chapter:
Isaiah 42 (ESV)
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law. Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:
“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
[And what are the new things? Salvation in Christ and judgment in Christ. What the “new song” is about. There is salvation] Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands.
[And there is judgment] The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes. For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant. I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools.
[Salvation] And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.
And judgment] They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.” Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord? He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.
The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious. But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say, “Restore!” Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come? Who gave up Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey? So he poured on him the heat of his anger and the might of battle; it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand; it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.
So this is the New Song that is sung. It is the “new thing” that God has done in Christ, which is forsaking His physical people who have forsaken Him, and calling a spiritual people from every nation and people. And God will save His elect, and judge the rest.
This is what God is worshiped for.
But we need to remember, John is very vividly describing a scene that he is not seeing. He is only hearing all of this. This is still a description of the voice from heaven:
Revelation 14:2–3 (ESV)
And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.
And since this is the voice of Christ, what we have here is a reference to His Words. To the Word of God. This is the voice that John hears, and it is the voice that revealed the “new thing”: the covenant and the salvation of the whole world whether Jew or Greek, and the judgment of those who do not hear His voice, whether Jew or Greek.
And we see that here, because we read:
and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
Remember, the song is a description of the voice of Christ. And no one could learn that song that describes the voice of Christ, except for the 144,000 which represent the elect of all time, who have been redeemed from all the earth.
In other words, the 144,000 are those that hear the voice of Christ.
As Christ said of His church:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
But there’s more, because Christ didn’t stop here. To make sure the disciples - all Jews - and the Pharisees - all Jews - who heard Him say this understood that this is the voice that calls those from all nations, Christ said:
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
Jesus said that there would be one flock, one Shepherd. Not a church flock and an Israel flock. He was talking about the salvation of the disciples and the judgment of the Pharisees - all Jews. Some judged, some saved.
And we see that there were some who heard His voice and some who did not:
There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
So hearing the voice of Jesus means being part of the one flock - the one people - of God who hear the voice of the one Shepherd - the One God. And some of Israel will be included, and some won’t. And some of the other sheep from the other fold - the nations - will be included.
So the “new song” is the song of worship to God for breaking down the barrier between all physical peoples and calling to Himself one, spiritual people. Those that are represented by the 144,000, with God in our midst, over against the rest of the world, in the presence of the dragon and the beasts.
And “learning the new song” is hearing the voice of Christ call you into His one people.
And who are those that hear His voice? The 144,000 that have learned the song.
Revelation 14:3–4 (ESV)
and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins.
Why are the elect pictured as virgins who have not “defiled” themselves with women.
Well, let’s begin with the “defiled with women.” Why would sex with a woman necessarily defile a man? What if it’s his wife?
Well, the defiling happens because an emission of semen meant a man was ceremonially unclean. Why? Because the fluid lost is life giving. It is no mistake that the sign of the Old Covenant meant for a physical people was given in the body part used to make children. It was all symbolic, of course, but according to the law, the emission made a man unclean for the remainder of the day.
We read in Leviticus 15 the rules about this:
“If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until the evening. And every garment and every skin on which the semen comes shall be washed with water and be unclean until the evening. If a man lies with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them shall bathe themselves in water and be unclean until the evening.
But we read later of a specific application of this rule:
Deuteronomy 23:9–11 (ESV)
“When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing. “If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, but when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp.
So men were not allowed to go to war if they were unclean because of this defilement. This is why when David is on the run from Saul and needs bread, when he goes to the priest, we read:
1 Samuel 21:1–5 (ESV)
Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.”
And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?”
David is of course lying to the priest, but the point he makes is that the men always keep themselves from women when they are going out to war.
This is part of the reason that Uriah does not not go in to Bathsheba when David, again dishonestly, wants him to have sex with his wife:
2 Samuel 11:8–11 (ESV)
Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”
Uriah did not want to exclude himself from going into battle by having sex with his wife, which was perfectly lawful to do, but which would exclude him from war.
This is what is in view here:
Revelation 14:3–4 (ESV)
and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women...
Remember, John described these 144,000 back in chapter 7, where we read this:
Revelation 7:4–8 (ESV)
And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
Please note that John lists the number from each tribe of Israel. Where have we seen this before?
We see it in the book of Numbers where a census is taken of all the tribes of Israel. Who was included in the count?
The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company.
So the count of the men of Israel, was a count of warriors.
So John is picturing these 144,000 - the elect of all time - who have not “defiled” themselves with women, as warriors who are ready for battle. He is still drawing that contrast of the two sides of the war, and here we - the church - are pictured as warriors.
And this is why Paul in Ephesians 6 calls us to wear the armor of God, because we are at war against the evil spiritual powers. And he pulls in from the Old Testament images of the breastplate and the helmet, etc., and many of those images are pictures of the Divine Warrior Who is Christ.
This is the warrior of that Isaiah passage that is part of the new song:
Isaiah 42:13 (ESV)
The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.
That we are also warriors is once again us continuing the work of Christ. It consists of bringing the light of the Gospel to the nations, but it also includes continuing the war against the spiritual powers of darkness in the here and now.
And we know that the war has already been won!
But there’s more, because when John hears the count of the tribes of Israel, he hears of 12 tribes, but the tribe of Dan is missing. Instead, unlike in the census of the book of Numbers, the tribe of Levi is included. Levi was excluded from that original census:
But the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel.
And while many have tried to explain the absence of Dan in various ways, like ascribing to the tribe of Dan the worst sins or the first sins against God, I think the Bible speaks against one particular tribe being any more sinful than another.
And while I won’t die on this hill, I see a correlation between John’s list here and another list of the tribes in the Bible. The Chronicler - writing after the return from captivity - lists the heads of the families of each tribe that returned from Babylon.
You can find that in 1 Chronicles chapters 4-7. And if you were to go there now and see the tribes that are discussed, you will see one tribe conspicuously missing. It is the tribe of Dan. Why would that be significant?
Because John is not just picturing the church as those sealed by the Holy Spirit. We are not just those that dwell in the presence of God. We are not just those who are the very dwelling place of God. We are not just those who hear the voice of our Shepherd. We are not just those who are ready for battle.
We are being pictured as the remnant. Those that God promised He would free from captivity and gather to Himself. And this is used in the Old Testament as a picture of God’s people in Christ. It is a reference to the church. So the exclusion of Dan, most likely in my opinion, is identifying the 144,000 with the promised remnant.
Revelation 14:4 (ESV)
It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins.
So not only have we not excluded ourselves from the war - pictured by the fact that we have not defiled ourselves with women - but the 144,000 are virgins. And this is not just speaking to the fact that we have not excluded ourselves from the war because we have never known a woman, to continue the metaphor. It is saying that we have never made ourselves unclean.
This is speaking to the fact that if we have heard Christ’s voice and are included in the elect, that it is as if we have never been unclean. Those in God’s presence - where sin cannot be - it is as if we have never sinned.
And this is why we are pictured as virgins who are to be given to our Bridegroom when He returns. It points to our purity in Christ.
But here’s the thing, you’re only a virgin once. Once you aren’t anymore, your not. And this is why we are called to live purely once we know Christ. It is maintaining our virginity as the betrothed of Christ.
This is why Paul exhorts the Corinthian church:
For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
Paul tells us that to remain a virgin is to not be led astray by Satan, but to stay devoted to Christ. To stay faithful to Him as our Bridegroom.
And as we will see this later in the book of Revelation:
Revelation 19:7–8 (ESV)
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
This is the church. We remain devoted to our Husband by being what He has called us to be. Which means we do what He has called us to do. Preach the Gospel. Fight the war.
We are to do what He did. This is why He tells those who would follow Him, right on Peter’s unwillingness for God’s salvation to include suffering:
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
And those that do this, are those being pictured here:
Revelation 14:4 (ESV)
It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
And John continues:
Revelation 14:4 (ESV)
These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb,
Note first that this is all who have been redeemed from mankind. That is the word ἄνθρωπος that we looked at a few weeks ago when we saw that the number of the beast was the number of a man - which is the same word in the Greek.
So note, the 144,000 are not pictured as those descended from Israel, but as mankind in general - those descended from Adam. This is again pointing to the one people of God as being from the whole world.
Second, we are firstfruits for God and the Lamb.
The firstfruits in the Old Testament were to be given to God as a sign of thankfulness for His salvation. It was meant to show a sense of dependency on God.
In the book of Exodus, we read:
Exodus 23:16 (ESV)
You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field.
And
Exodus 23:19 (ESV)
“The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.
So firstfruits were literally the first harvested food.
And, of course, a firstborn son would be referred to as the “firstfruits” of the father.
“Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my might, and the firstfruits of my strength,
preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
And as we know, Reuben, the firstfruit of the man Israel, lost the blessing and birthright. But this only pointed forward to the whole of national Israel losing the blessing:
Jeremiah 2:2–3 (ESV)
Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.”
Note here that Israel was - the keyword is the past tense “was” - the people who followed God. Those who were the bride. Those who were the firstfruits unto God - His typological “son.”
But they lost it all through disobedience. So Christ, the true Israel, the true Son, was the true firstfruits:
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
And because of our identification with Christ, we have become the firstfruits unto God.
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
And we become the firstfruits through the Holy Spirit:
But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
Who is the seal we receive as the 144,000, remember. Which Paul describes as our firstfruits:
And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Which is a reference to our resurrection when Christ returns
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
And that the Spirit has sealed us and made us who God chose as the firstfruits unto Him, I find it amazing that the reference to the firstfruit as an offering to God are part of the Feast of Harvest, which became known as the Feast of Weeks, which became known as Pentecost because it was on the fiftieth day after Passover.
And of course, the firstfruit offering to God pointed forward to us as firstfruits who are sealed by the Holy Spirit, Who was sent on the ultimate day of Pentecost. God took us - the church - as His firstfruits offering beginning that day.
That is who John is talking about here:
It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb,
And, as we saw, when God called us, and sealed us, and made us His people, we were so identified with Christ that His righteousness was given to us - He made it as if we never sinned, as if we were as undefiled as virgins - and He called us then to continue to live in that identification - that union - with Christ.
Which is why we keep ourselves spiritual virgins awaiting our marriage to the Lamb at His Second Coming. Which is why we are:
It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.
Whereas the dragon, and the beasts, and those with the mark are defined by their deceit, there is no deceit in God’s people.
Whereas they will not be held blameless, we will be:
Ephesians 1:3–4 (ESV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
And we are to maintain our blamelessness - our virginity - until the wedding:
Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Revelation 14:1–5 (ESV)
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders.
No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.
This is who we are.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jude 24–25 (ESV)
To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.