Verses 1-5 as explained by Brother Shallieu in his commentary, The Keys of Revelation
VERSE 1 “Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.”
As was alluded to in our first segment:
“The first five verses of this chapter should more properly be suffixed as a climax to Chapter 13, which relates (Rev 13:15) to the death of the last members of the body of Christ because of their refusal to bow the knee to the image of the beast. Their death according to the flesh will result in their change to spirit nature and the completion of the Church beyond the veil of human experience. The 144,000 who stand on Mount Sion (Zion) represent the glorified Church; hence Verse 1 is future in its application. After Jesus fulfilled his earthly mission, he was laid for a foundation in spiritual Zion, being a tried (and finished) stone (Isa. 28:16). The temple class is to be completed in like fashion at this end of the age: as tried and finished stones.
It is this Kingdom—symbolized by Mount Zion, toward which all of the Lord’s people march throughout this Gospel Age—that will soon be fully attained. As Moses went up into the quaking mountain the third day (Exod. 19:16–20) and was lost to the sight of the people below, so at and in conjunction with a great time of trouble, the last body members will be, as it were, “caught up,” gathered to the Lord, changed to his likeness (at the moment of their deaths in the flesh). In the Kingdom the Word of the Lord will go forth from Jerusalem (the earthly phase of the kingdom), but the Law will go forth from Zion (the heavenly phase of the kingdom), the completed and glorified Church (Isa. 2:3; Mic. 4:2). The very number itself, 144,000, is another indication this verse is future.
In Chapter 7 the 144,000 were also mentioned; there the number was said to be “sealed” (Rev. 7:4).
“And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed a hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.”
Having God’s name written or having His mark branded in their foreheads— permanently fixed there in the most intimate sense—is the same as being sealed. The 144,000 are the sons of God in the highest sense of that term.
ONLY 144,000 are to be sealed, and those who are sealed in the full sense of the word will make their calling and election sure (2 Pet. 1:10). On this side of the veil the Christian is in the process of being sealed; whereas this class is spoken of as having been sealed, it is an accomplished fact. The latter is a crystallized, finished work in which God’s name is permanently ingrained in the person’s character.
VERSE 2 “And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps.”
Elsewhere in the Bible both the Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are described as speaking with “the sound [voice, noise] of many [great] waters” (Ezek. 1:24; 43:2; Rev. 1:15). Ezekiel 1:24, where God’s voice is described as “the noise of great waters,” relates to the Word of God.
The two “wings” represent the Old and New Testaments, in which can be heard the voice of God Almighty, for in Holy Writ God can speak in all the languages and dialects of earth. These wings, in the vision, act as a broadcast medium or loudspeaker transmitting Jehovah’s voice like the sound of a mighty host. Therefore, while John heard the 144,000 singing in Rev 14:1–3, he also heard “a voice,” the voice of the Heavenly Father, singing in unison with them. God’s voice is “as the voice of many waters, and as the…[sound] of…thunder.” The thought conveyed is that of a waterfall, i.e., a continuous, voluminous voice. The message intended in the first portion of Verse 2 may well be that the Father and the Son are heard singing loudly and clearly, as a duet, above the joyous song of the “harpers.” But the Father’s voice as of “a great [singular] thunder” would surpass all.
Imagine the sound of the Heavenly Father singing! It is not difficult to conjecture how John the Revelator felt upon witnessing this vision and listening to this anthem (“And I looked, and… I heard”—Verses 1 and 2). What individual Christian experiencing this resurrection change and hearing the personal commendation of the Master (“Well done, thou good and faithful servant”—Matt. 25:21) would not join in and exuberantly and exultingly sing with heart and voice with his fellow brethren?
The last members of the true Church having been freshly slain, it would now be possible for the whole retinue of the saints—the entire 144,000 in the “air” or earth’s atmosphere (1 Thess. 4:17)—to be formally introduced as a completed company into the courts of heaven “before the throne” (Rev. 14:3).
It is to be noted that the “voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of . . . thunder,” is introduced by the expression “And I heard.” The “voice of [the] harpers” is also introduced by the expression “And I heard,” and is therefore not meant to be equated with the voice of the waters or of the thunder.
The harp, a ten-stringed instrument, is likened to the Word of God (Psa. 33:2,4; 1 Cor. 14:7–9). The ten strings represent the Ten Commandments of the Law given on Mount Sinai to Moses—but brought into pitch and attuned unto the ten declarations of blessedness pronounced by the Lamb in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:1–16). It is these strings, swept by the devoted servants of God, who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in their hearts, that yield the most enchanting strains of the music of Moses and the Lamb.
In Verse 2 of the Apocalypse, the harping does not refer to the sweet cadence and harmony of Scripture pertaining to the various doctrines of truth in the panoramic unfolding of the divine plan; here the harping indicates the resurrected saints’ recognition and appreciation of the indwelling of God’s Spirit, the accomplished character development found in their hearts and minds, and their possession of a body in the express likeness of the Father’s image . . . as well as the realization that now, at long last, God’s blasphemed name is soon to be vindicated in the sight of all mankind.
We continue with Verse 2 in our next post.
