Today’s passage: Revelation 14:1-5
Helpful thoughts:
- Those who were gathered in 7:1-8 join Christ on Mount Zion.
- If these 144,000 were a figurative representation of all God’s people gathered by grace, it wouldn’t make sense that this group are the “firstfruits for God and the Lamb.” It has to be a portion of all God’s redeemed. There are more to come.
- These who had been redeemed are counted as pure in every way. Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to them.
- Some believe this Mount Zion to be a heavenly one (Hebrews 12:22). Others believe it to be at Jerusalem.
- This occasion elicits a “new song” from heaven kept especially for the worship from the 144,000!
Questions to consider:
- How does the context of this passage indicate that the righteous record of these 144,000 is a gift of God’s grace? If they are redeemed (verse 3), from what would they have been redeemed? How does this inform our understanding of how God sees us in Christ? What is our righteous record (Romans 4:3, 2 Corinthians 5:21)?
- What must be the content of this “new song?” We may not know the lyrics, but we can assume from all that we are reading. What has “the Lamb” done to bring about this ingathering of firstfruits who have a righteous record before God? Why is He worthy of such praise?