Revelation 14:1; Blessed Are the Undefiled
Revelation 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.
In chapter 12, we saw perennial conflict between Satan and the nation of Israel from which will come the Messiah, the Saviour of all mankind. And in chapter 13, we saw the rise of the Antichrist in verses 1-10 and from verses 11-18, the rise of the False Prophet. It seemed the situation is hopeless, evil has invaded and overtaken the earth. But in chapter 14, we see the Lord’s hand overturning and thwarting evil and establishing righteousness. There are praise and singing and rejoicing just like the Apostle Paul and Silas singing praises to God in the jail in Philippi and suddenly an earthquake came and shook the prison cell and loosed their chains. They did not escape. But received the jailer and his family to faith and waited for the magistrate to come personally and apologize for the harm done to them. God overturned the devices of the devil. He is a defeated foe struggling to the bitter end and receiving God’s wrath and judgment.
You will notice there are those who are the true worshippers of God whom God will take care even amidst great spiritual conflict, He uses his true servants to do His will.
Here we are brought to a scene on earth in Mount Zion in Jerusalem. We see a Lamb that stood on earth with him 144,000 Jews that we saw in Revelation 7 who were tasked to preached the gospel during the Tribulation period.
Boldness Before God (v1-5)
1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty andfour thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
These men had their foreheads sealed by the name of God. They were not sealed by the mark of the beast but have pledged allegiance to the living and true God. They stood with a Lamb, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ triumphant. This is a prelude picture of the soon coming complete destruction of Satan and his army on earth when Christ sets foot upon Mount Zion in the same way that He has ascended from Mount Zion.
You recall the disciples gathered in the of Mount Olives saw our Lord ascended to heaven asking when God would restore the kingdom to Israel?
Acts 1:6-11 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
The scene before us gives a prelude of the bodily return of Christ on earth where the landscape of the Holy Land will be changed. The Dead Sea will come alive and Christ will establish His physical rule on earth for 1000 years. This will be the beginning of the Millennium. And we are
Zechariah 14:1-4 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which isbefore Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall bea very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
This is a follow-on scene from the development of Revelation 7, where there seemed to occur an interlude, between the Seal judgments and the Trumpet judgments, in particular between the 6thand 7thseal judgment during the first half of the 3½ years of the Great Tribulation, where we observe God’s plan to send out 144,000 Jewish evangelists to preach the gospel.