During the events related in the two preceding chapters God only works, as it were, behind the scenes. The time for showing Himself to Israel has not yet arrived, though they have once more become the center of His counsels and the objects of His sheltering care. There is now a break, during which the history of His controversy with their oppressors is suspended, until other preliminary judgments, in one of which the beast and his confederates play an important part, are brought before our view. In this chapter we have disclosed, first, the blessing of the Jewish remnant, and secondly, the threatenings and promises of God sent forth during this brief but eventful period. The blessing of the Jewish remnant on earth is not the subject of the book, but is brought in parenthetically to cheer the hearts and uphold the faith of the saints amidst the unparalleled sufferings through which they are passing.
The Jewish Remnant (Rev. 14:1-51And 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. 2And 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: 3And 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. 4These 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. 5And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. (Revelation 14:1‑5))
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with Him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name [or, “His name and His Father’s name”] written in their foreheads. 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 [or, “and the voice which I heard was, as it were,”] of harpers harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 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. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault” [before the throne of God]. (Rev. 14:1-51And 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. 2And 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: 3And 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. 4These 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. 5And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. (Revelation 14:1‑5)).
This scene is, like the vision of the palm-bearing multitude, anticipative. The Spirit looks forward, and gives a glimpse of the millennial blessing and glory of that faithful remnant which we recently saw groaning beneath the persecution of the Roman prince and his crafty coadjutor. We have beheld the deluded followers of the false lamb; we now behold the faithful followers of the true Lamb. Jehovah has held all the rage of men in derision, and after vexing them in His sore displeasure, has seated His King on His holy hill of Zion. There God’s Anointed is seen, with a multitude of His people, symbolized by the mystical number one hundred and forty and four thousand, the highest order of administrative perfection, gathered around Him. As the followers of the false Christ had received a mark in their forehead, so these followers of the true Christ have His name and His Father’s written in their forehead. The name in the forehead signifies that they bear the moral impress of the One whose lordship they acknowledge. The followers of “the man of the earth” bear his image; the followers of Christ bear His. Heaven rejoices over their deliverance and blessing, as it rejoiced when Satan was cast down to the earth. The heavenly saints then owned these suffering ones as their “brethren,” and gave thanks that their accuser was driven from heaven. They now participate in their joy as those who have triumphed over him on the earth.
A new song, which only they can learn, rises from these conquerors to the throne of God, surrounded by the living creatures and the elders. For there is a special joy belonging to those who have passed through the furnace of affliction. Several passages of Scripture seem to indicate that the ten tribes will be gathered after Jerusalem is delivered, while the Jews, who rejected Christ, will be gathered before, and will there endure the full heat of the great tribulation. No doubt it will try all the world with more or less intensity; but its most scorching rays will fall upon the Jews, and it is apparently of the redeemed Jews that this select band consists. Of the faithful portion of the Jewish people there are two classes, the martyrs who suffer death, and the remnant who escape. The blessed fate of the martyrs is presently revealed; but we here see the triumph and joy of those who survive. Others will share the blessings of the millennial reign, but none will taste all its sweetness like those who have drained the bitter cup of the preceding sorrows. To none will such special nearness to the throne be possible as to those who have tested God’s strength and faithfulness in the hour of sorest need.
These were in the midst of “the dwellers on the earth;” but they have been “redeemed from the earth,” and now know the blessedness of “following the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.” Like Him, in the days of His flesh, they have been a separated people, virgins holding aloof from the defilements of the world; and now they are the first-fruits of this new harvest of his redemption-toil. They have held and practiced the truth; for “in their mouth was found no guile” or lie, while all the world was going after the falsehood of the beast. They have too been without fault, blameless, while all the world has been loving and living in unrighteousness. It does not say that they are “without fault before the throne of God,” as in our translation; for though as believers their sins are all put away, that is not the question here. But the character of their walk is blameless, just as that of believers should be now, in distinction from the wickedness and corruption of the world around.