An elect company of believers:

“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.
   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:
   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.
   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. 14.1-5

Immediately we see the central character of Revelation, Jesus, appearing once again as a Lamb, the very same way He had appears in chapters 5-7. Only now we see a different group of people with Him, however. He is on Mt. Zion and around Him stand 144,000 people who have been redeemed from the earth. Our first challenge is to identify who these redeemed people are and what connection they have with Christ. Many students speculate that these must be the Jews that we have already encountered in chapter seven. The number is the same and they have the name of Jesus’ Father written in their foreheads. At first glance, this seems to be the right answer, but nothing in the rest of the description supports that interpretation.

After we look at all the aspects of this company of believers it is much more plausible that this is yet another look at raptured saints. Here we are given clues about the characteristics that made them “rapturable”. They are a company of faithful believers, who, by a walk of spiritual character and through the obedience of faith, have attained the “prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”. Phil 3.14  Upon closer inspection we find that it is almost certain that the two Revelation groups of 144,000 are not the same. One group is on earth, the other is in heaven. The Jews who are sealed and given supernatural protection from the judgments of the Tribulation are on earth during the entire Tribulation preaching the Gospel. This is why they were sealed and given supernatural protection by God. They cannot be stopped from preaching on earth and they remain on earth. But the 144,000 we see with the Lamb are ensconced in heaven. They are redeemed from among men. Redeemed men do not dwell on earth during the Tribulation. Jesus is seen at this time as a lamb only in heaven, on earth He is a mighty angel, a lion, a judge. The Mount Zion which He and His select group of followers stand upon is the heavenly Mount Zion spoken of in the book of Hebrews.

“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
   To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,” Heb. 12.22-24

It makes sense that these people are raptured saints because we are told they are redeemed from among men. We are told they are the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb. They, along with the group of “elders”, are among the “charter” members of the “Church of the firstborn”. We must ask ourselves, would Jews at this point of the Tribulation be said to be firstfruits unto the Lamb? Israel, as a nation, will be saved but not until the end of the Tribulation when they “look upon me (Jesus) whom they have pierced.” That does not happen until Jesus returns from heaven with “ten thousands of his saints”. If this is a picture of saved Jews at the end of the Tribulation then there is no order in the events of chapter fourteen. But we may honestly ask, why then the name of the Father in their foreheads if these are not those Jews? This is God’s counterpart to the Mark of the Beast. God will seal 144,000 Jews in their forehead for protection on earth, this is true, but He also seals the forehead of 144,000 raptured saints with glory in heaven. This is the fulfillment of two promises that Jesus made to the Philadelphia Church back in chapter three. He promised that anyone who stayed obedient and overcame temptations that He would “keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” and, “I will write upon him the name of my God.”

It should not be that hard to accept that God would have two sets of 144,000 people, one for the Jews and one for the Church. The number 144,000 is a multiple of the number twelve which has great spiritual significance. God will use it at the end, just as He has used the number twelve in the past for both Israel and the Church. The number 144,000 is 12 x 12,000. Twelve is the number of leadership in God’s kingdom. Twelve patriarchs headed up the twelve tribes upon which the nation Israel was founded. The Church was led by twelve men all of whom Jesus hand-picked (Judas being replaced). Later in Scripture God associated the number twelve with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It was Paul who came upon “about twelve men” outside of Ephesus and baptized them in the Holy Ghost, the mark of leadership and endowment of power in the Church.

If we conclude that this must be a group of raptured Christians we now have some new and engaging information about the Rapture and those who will be “accounted worthy” Luke 21.36 to be part of it. This is the Bride. There will be other companies of believers saved and invited to the “marriage supper of the Lamb”. (see Psalm 45) But this is Christ’s most intimate love. This is His engagement party in heaven. This is the glorious Church without spot or wrinkle being presented to Jesus which was spoken of in the book of Ephesians. (Eph 5.27) The elders, also a part of the raptured saints, are there as the bride sings a new song and celebrates her engagement to Christ.

Notice that these 144,000 are virgins, without fault, and with no guile in their mouths. We are getting a picture now of the spiritual makeup, the character of the bride. They are without fault. Scripturally speaking they are “perfect”, not perfect in a worldly or fleshly sense, because that is not possible in this life, but perfect by obedience of faith. They stand before the throne of God having pleased God because they were unwavering disciples of Christ. They picked up their cross and followed after Him. They put their hands to the plow and did not look back. They believed that there would be two together in one bed and that one would be taken and the other left, and more than anything they wanted to be the one who was taken. Because they picked up their cross and followed Jesus, they will have the eternal honor of following “the Lamb whithersoever He goeth”. Who else but a man’s wife can go everywhere he does?

She is called a virgin because they stayed true to Christ. They were His chaste spouse waiting for their wedding day. They have not committed spiritual fornication or adultery by chasing after or flirting with idols. There is no guile found in their mouth. They are not hypocrites, saying one thing, and doing another. They do not want to simply be hearers of the Word; they must be doers of the Word. They were not double-minded in their faith, but they believed God’s Word and kept His commandments. Because of this, they sing a new song that no other being or creature in all of creation can learn to sing. This has to be, this must be, raptured believers. They lived the life that made them candidates for the Rapture; they were “rapturable”. The Jews do not sing this song (although a Christian Jew could be found among this number) because they join together with the Tribulation martyrs in singing the Song of Moses and the song of the Lamb when they are redeemed together at the close of the seventh year of the Tribulation. (ch. 15.1-3). But chapter fourteen’s group of 144,000 sing a song that no man can learn except their exclusive company. This is a picture of the people who captured the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Taken from the book Revelation Pure & Simple by Terry Myers Smith