TOPIC: Just who are the 144,000?
by David O. Ogaga
PART 1
TEXT: Rev.14:1-5
A LOOK AT APOCALYPTIC WRITING
“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 written in their foreheads. And I
heard the 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 sang 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 withersoever he goeth. These were
redeemed from among men, being the first fruit 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.
INTRODUCTION: The above quoted passage of Scripture forms our text
in this particular study wherein we intended to examine the reality of the
following terms: who is the lamb? Where is he standing and what is mount Zion?
Who are the 144,000 that are with him on this Mountain? What does it mean to
have the father’s name written on their foreheads? What constitute the new song
they were singing and why? What do we mean they are virgins and why are they virgins?
Who are the women that did not defile them? How is it that they had no lie in
their mouth? Etc.
Unfortunately,
this is one of the passages our Christian brethren have used all these years to
propagate a doctrine that only 144,000 persons shall go to heaven to reign with
Christ from the throne while the rest of the believes redeemed from amongst men
because of their faithfulness inherit the earth as a redeemed paradise, after
the war of Armageddon whereas the wicked have been totally annihilated from
planet earth. the question one will like to ask these brethren here is does it
mean up till now since two thousand years ago Christ has not been able to
select the 144,000 to reign with him in heaven from among the saints of old? If
the era of the apostles was even to be the starting or counting point thereby excluding
the old patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, can we still believe that up
till now inaugurate his heavenly government? Or He changed his mind on this?
Something must either be wrong with our interpretation of this scripture or
Jesus has actually changed his mind. But the truth of the matter is, neither is the case rather a lack of spiritual
understanding of the passage in question based on the fact that men have
ignored the spiritual symbolism of the book of revelation.
THE BOOK OF REVELATION
The
opening verse of the book written by John says “The revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave unto his servants, things
which must shortly come to pass and He sent and Signified it by his angel unto his servant John”Rev.1:1.one of the
things I would want you to note here is that the Greek title of this book is ‘APOCALYPSE OF JOHN’ and the word
‘Apocalypse’ is a transliteration of the Greek word ‘Revelation’. Now the word
Revelation actually stands for that which is hidden, which has to be unveiled, which
often has to do with hidden invents. whereas apocalyptic writings and prophetic
literatures may be similar, the major contrast like the prophet of the old
Testament is that while the prophets received the word by ‘hearing the word of
God’ and passing it on by the word of mouth, ‘thus saith the Lord’ the author of
‘Apocalypse’ receives this revelation in a vision and passes it on in writing. Now,
the language of apocalyptic writing is highly symbolic and the importance of
the visions, which are described, is never in their immediate literal meaning.
Hence the message here was ‘signified’–semaino–to
indicate–signify. So it is a work done in signs. Therefore it must be observed
as a rule in writings like this that the elements so mentioned have symbolic
value–such as the persons,places,animals,actions, objects, parts of the body,
numbers and measurements,stars,colours and garments. Therefore if we are not to
misunderstand or distort the intention and thoughts of the writer, we must
appreciate the imagery at its true value and do our best to translate the
symbols back into the ideas the author intended to convey. It is a known fact
that apocalyptic writing was very popular in some Jewish circles (including the
Essence of Qumran) in the two centuries before Christ. The vision of prophets like
Ezekiel and Zachariah paved the way, and apocalypse form of writing was already
fully developed in the time of Daniel. Right in the New Testament, we have a
major apocalyptic writing which is the book in question, the book of Revelation
by John the beloved 1:9.
THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
This
statement clearly shows that this apocalyptic writing is about Jesus Christ. In
other words, it is a book that unveils Christ and his activities, which God
gave to Jesus to show unto his servant John, of the things which, MUST SHORTLY come to pass. Therefore we
can see that such symbols as lions, dragons, waters etc seen in this book
should not be taken literally. Again that they all point to the activities of
Christ. So when we want to talk of the 144,000, we should not be misleading and
a misrepresentation of the thoughts and the mind of John. Take for instance in
Rev.17:1, we are shown the picture of “a
great whore that sitteth upon many
waters”. Now what do we understand by this? Should we picture a literal
harlot woman sitting upon a literal body of waters? Well the meaning of course
is found in verse 15; “and he saith unto
me, the waters, which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples and
multitudes, and nations and tongues”.
I am sure also that my readers do understand that when we talk of a woman in
the bible, we are talking of a church such as “the bride, the lamb’s wife”Rev.21:9.see Eph. 5:25, 32.
In
similar vein, when we read of “… (the) pure of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and the lamb”Rev.22:1,we
should not be expecting to see a literal river flowing from the throne of God
in heaven, somewhere. We should understand that in the Scriptures water carries
different shades of meaning. But in this context, we should be talking of the
cleansing power of the word of God that is coming forth uncorrupted from God’s
own throne. Think of it. The word says “let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,
and our bodies washed with pure water”
Heb. 10:22. So what do we mean here by this pure water? Certainly we are not
talking of a literal bath in a literal river. Again, the word says “…that he (Christ) might sanctify and
cleanse it (the church) with the washing
of water by the word”Eph. (5:26).
“Now are ye clean through the word which
I have spoken unto you”Jn.15:5. The Psalmist will ask. “Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way? By talking heed thereto
according to thy word”.Ps.119:9. So symbolically, we can see that the
pure water flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb in Rev.22:1 is the
pure undiluted word of God that carries with it the cleansing power of
regeneration in the life of those who sincerely obey and follow the word. “Seeing ye have purified your souls in
obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren…being
born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God
which liveth and abideth
forever”1 Pet.1:22-23.
I
am sure with this background, it will be easy for you to comprehend what we are
about to say as touching Rev.14:1-5.
PART 2
A LAMB STOOD ON MOUNT ZION
“And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on mount Zion, and with him an hundred and forty and
four thousand, having his father’s name written in heir foreheads” Rev.14:1.
As we begin to meditate on our subject on who the 144,000 are supposed to be, I
will also like to quote the above verse of Scripture from the Jerusalem Bible
translation in order for us to begin to pick out the elements contained
therein. “Next in my vision, I saw Mount Zion,
and standing on it a lamb who had with him a hundred
and forty-four thousand people, all with his name and his father’s written on
their forehead”. Now it is clear to us from this translation that what we
are dealing with is “A VISION”. And like we have said, earlier on, you cannot
interpret a vision in a literal sense otherwise you will loose the entire
meaning of what the man who had the vision and has so put down in symbols
intends to convey. When Peter saw the vision of a basket descending from heaven
with all kinds of beast,(reptiles) to which the voice said, he should kill and
eat, (Acts.10:1-34), it was not a literal basket full of literal beasts, but
the very nature and household of Cornelius, a gentile to whom God was sending Peter.
Peter refused the order to kill and eat (v.14) because, he as a Jew will not
keep company with a gentile (v.28). Read the account for. What we are trying to
establish here is that the true meaning of what the elements in a vision stands
for must be brought out otherwise one will be misled, thereby missing the true
spiritual value that the spirit intends to convey through the author.
A LAMB STOOD ON MOUNTAIN
The
first element we intend to interpret in the vision is the lamb. Who is the lamb in the Scripture? And what is Mount Zion?
To answer the first question above, I shall quote a verse of Scriptures. “The
next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin
of the world.” (Jn.1:29). “And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith
behold the Lamb of God”. (Jn.1:36). Talking about his crucifixion, we are told
“…he was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a Lamb before his shearer,
open he not his mouth” (Acts.8:32, Isa.53:7) compare 1 Pet.1:19. Evidently, we
can see from the above Scripture that the Lamb is Jesus Christ himself. Pure and simple.
The
next question is “why is he standing? Because, he was first slain or
laid down, as a result of the influence of the beastly system of Rev.13. Look at
it. “And all that dwell upon the earth (that is those who are earthly minded,
who mind earthly things, whose God is their belly Phil.3:18-19),shall worship
him (the beast that rose out of the sea 9v.1) which is actually all governments
and system of religious power that satan-in-man have used, is using and will
use to persecute God’s people) whose
names are not written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world”
Rev.13:8. (For detail study on who is the beast of Rev.13, please request for
our study on “who is the beast, his mark, name and number 666”). So from the
above passage we can see that the Lamb who is Jesus was slain from the
foundation of the world. Now two words need definition here. The first one is SLAIN which in the Greek is Shazo- to butcher (especially an animal for food or in
sacrifice) or generally to slaughter, or (spec.) to maim (violently) kill,
slay, wound. The second word there is
foundation which is katabole-a deposition i.e. founding, from the root;
to throw down, cast down, descend, fall. Putting
the whole together we can see that Jesus, as a sheep taken to the slaughter for
sacrifice was actually the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
Now the word founding is the same as sinking. It is like when a ship got grounded,
that is what it means to found. In other words, the world got grounded
(founded) along the line of her development, which as a matter of fact is the
effect of sin. Now this sin which is the sin of the world (Jn.1:29) was introduced
when Adam fell a victim to the suggestion of the beastly communication in
Gen.3:1+ when Adam and Eve listened to the words of the serpent, their entire
perception of life changed, realizing that words have power, so they received a
wrong seed into their lives through the words of the serpent. And since Adam
and Eve are the progenitors of the human race, they passed on this wrong seed
into their blood stream thereby destroyed the life of Christ that was supposed
to be standing in man. God’s true life was slain. So man was totally given to
cravings and desires of the flesh which in effect is enumerated for us in
Gal.5:19-21. “But when you follow your own wrong inclinations, (i.e. living your life at the expense of the Holy
Spirit) your lives will produce these evil results; impure thoughts,
eagerness for lustful pleasure,idolatry,spiritism (that is, encouraging the
activity of demons) hatred and fighting, jealousy and anger, constant effort to
get the best for yourself, complaints and criticisms, the feeling that everyone
else is wrong except those in your own little group-and there will be wrong
doctrine,envy,murder,drunkenness,wild parties, and all that sort of thing…” now
you must understand that all these sins, so to say, are the product of one
particular factor inherent in man which can be termed the ‘inbred sin’ which is
actually the seed of the serpent. Now every seed can grow to become a tree with
leaves and fruits. So the list above is just the product of the power of sin
within every man-sin. This is what Paul meant when he said “when I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it
anyway. Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, it is plain where the trouble
is. Sin still has me in its evil grasp” Rom.7:18-20 TLB. See Ps.51:5. So when
John talked about the Lamb taking away ‘the SIN of the world’ it is the factor responsible for the sins of
mankind, the old sinful nature that is to be dealt with, with the sacrifice of
the Lamb of God, which the ‘Lamb of men’ can not do. No matter the
number of sacrifices that men will want to offer, no matter the philosophical
concept they want to imbibe or even the religion they want to belong to, it is
rather a suppression of the factor of sin in man. Any slightest opportunity,
the old man will reveal your true nature to you. For no man claim to have
overcome that which has not been tested? Leave a lump sum of money with a man
who loves money and is extravagant and come to take your record in a week’s time,
though he claims to be a Christian, and see whether the account will balance.
Step on the toes of a man who claims to be gentle and watch for his reaction.
You will know his claims are true or not. So when Paul saw the predicament of man,
he said, “So you see how it is. My (man’s) new life (Christ Col3:4) tells me to
do right, but the old nature (the sin factor) that is still inside me loves to
sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery
to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has all things (that are now right) through Christ which strengthened
me” phil.4:13. So you see, through the Spirit, man is returning back to his
original state where he could manifest the life of God again. And so we read
“it is the spirit that quickeneth (i.e. gives life) the flesh profited nothing;
the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” Jn.6:63,
it took words that contained poison to kill man and to reverse the process, it
is taking the words again in the spirit of Christ to do so. And this is what is
meant by the seed of the woman bruising the head of the serpent Gen.3:15. In
other words, a new and more blood stream of man. Again “no one born (begotten)
of God (deliberately and knowingly) habitually practices sin, for God’s
nature abides in him- his principle of life, the divine sperm, remains
permanently within him-and he cannot practice sinning because he is born
(begotten) of God”.1Jn.3:9. The King James Version says “whosoever is born of
God doth not commit sin (singular) for his seed remaineth
in him; and he cannot sin; because he is born of God.” And we are told that
every seed must bring forth its own kind Gen.1:11. so
what are we saying? The lamb that was slain is eventually standing up again in
us as we overcome the Adamic nature with its beastly characters through the
power of the Christ indwelling. This is “the power that worketh in us to do
exceedingly above all that we ask or think” Eph. 3:20. Thank God for the Lamb of God!
PART 3
THE LAMB STANDING IS TO CONSOLE AND
TO BLESS
“And I looked, and lo a lamb stood on
mount Zion and with him an hundred and forty and four thousand having his
father’s name written in their foreheads”Rev.14:1.
We
have already been able to establish the fact that the lamb so mentioned in this
passage is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And again that he is so called a lamb
in his function as the sacrificial lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world (Jn.1:29). We now want to give due consideration to the reason why he
stood and the place he is standing as well in the vision.
WHY IS THE LAMB STANDING?
In
our attempt to answer this question, I want you to bear in mind that he stood
with a group of people called the 144,000. so why was
he standing? Is there any relationship why he should be standing with them?
What must have happened to them that will cause his standing with them? Now to
answer all these questions, I will quote two passages of Scripture; one from
the New Testament and another from the Old Testament. Firstly the Greek word
for stood is “Histemi”
which means to stand, abide, appoint, bring, continue, covenant. Please keep
this in mind s we go on especially the last word “convenant”.
In the account of Acts27, we are told of how Apostle Paul and those who were
with him suffered a Shipwreck at Mileta on their way
to Italy.
We are told in verse21-24 that “…after
long abstinence Paul STOOD forth
in the midst of them and said Sirs,ye
should have hearkened unto me and not have loosed from Crete,
and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good
cheer; for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but the ship. For there STOOD by me this night the
angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve saying fear not,Paul;thou must be brought before Caeser:
and, lo God hath giventhee all them that sail with
thee”. Now just meditate on this, the two times the word ‘stood’
appeared, it has to do with an address by the one that is standing.(1)
Paul stood to comfort the people that were in distress; (2) the angel of God
‘stood’ to comfort Paul that he in turn may comfort the people. So essentially their purpose of standing was that of consolation. The word of the
angel was that all those in the ship with Paul have been to him. Paul
was in charge spiritually, overseeing them spiritually and therefore there
shall “…be no loss of any man’s life among you…”
So
what would you think Jesus was saying to the 144,000? He was simply encouraging
and strengthening them who have been undergoing persecution in the hand of the
beastly system of Rev.13 that is what the Saints of God suffer for standing for
the truth. In verses 5-6, we are told there was given unto him (first beast) a
mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; “…he opened his mouth in blasphemy
against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle (ye are the temple of God-the church 1cor.6:19) and THEM THAT
DWELL IN HEAVEN”. Who are the them that dwell
in heaven? These are those who are identifying with the cause of Christ, whose
mind is set on things of heaven where Christ is sitteth at the right hand of
God Col.3:1. They are they whose names are written in the book of life of the
Lamb of God. The bible puts it this way “even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by
grace ye are saved) and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus”Eph.2:5-6. so we
can see that those who have been able to overcome the earthly consciousness are
the heavenly dwellers. For “as is the earthly (Adam) such are they also, that are earthly (carrying on with the life and nature of Adam); and is the heavenly
(Christ) such are they also, that are
heavenly (carrying on with the life and
nature of Christ)” 1Cor.15:48. Again we are told that those who will “not worship the image pf the beast should be
killed…”Rev.13:15-17. Therefore we can see that heavenly dwellers have not
only suffered persecution in the hand of the harlot religious and political
system but have been able to overcome the character of the old man-Adam. In
other words, they do not have the mark of the beast in their right hand (place of power) or forehead (place of wisdom). That is, doing services to Christ with a wrong Spirit, in
thoughts and power, which we can find today in most religious circles. They
have not also received his number 666, which is the fullness of the beastly system,
the completeness of the Adamic earthly consciousness and its manifestation.
This is why these heavenly dwellers are called “virgins” in chapter 14:3-4 for
they have been redeemed from the earth. So if they have been redeemed from the
earth, then of course they now live their lives in the heavenlies.
What are we saying? The Lord stood to console these heavenly dwellers. He stood
to address this heavenly congregation in Mount Zion
that has now been bought with his blood from amongst men Rev.5:9 as a general
will address an army. So here in this realm of Mount Zion we do not only
receive a word of consolation in times of distress that we will be able to
overcome and remain covenanted with our captain, we also receive further
instructions on how to continue to abide in this heavenly calling
(Heb.3:1) wherein we are called, as the Lamb begins to stand within us as Lord.
The
second reason I want to share with you why the Lamb is standing is found in a
typical situation of King Solomon having built the tabernacle. In 1Kgs.8, we
are given the account of King Solomon’s dedication of the temple and his
prayer. From verse 54 we are told, “and it was so that when Solomon had made an
end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the Lord, he rose from
before the alter of the LORD, from kneeling on his
kneels with his hand spread up to heaven. And he stood and blessed the
congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying; bless be the Lord, that hath given
rest unto his people Israel according to all that you promised…the Lord our
God be with us, as he was with our fathers, let him not leave us, nor forsake
us. That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and
to keep his commandments, and his statutes and judgments,…And let these my
words, where with I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the
Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the
cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require. That all
the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is none
else. Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his
statutes, and to keep his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this
day. And the King, and all Israel
with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD”. 1 Kgs.8:54-62. from
this account, it is plain that when Solomon stood up, it was for him to bless
the people of Israel
who were with him in the tabernacle wherein God is worshipped . so we can see
that the Lord who was slain now standing is not only just giving the
overcomers, the saints,144,000, a word of consolation, but also blessing them and bringing them into a
realm wherein they can truthfully and continually walk with the Lord even as
virgins. Solomon in blessing the people said that God “… hath given rest unto
his people”. And this is the answer to the cry of the persecuted souls in
Rev.6:9-11. “And when had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the
alter the souls of them that were slain for the word of God (compare
Col.3:1-4, Gal.2:20, 5:24,
6:14) and for the
testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, how long,
o Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that
dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it
was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their
fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were,
should be fulfilled” for “…blessed are
the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit that they
may rest from their labours and their works do follow
them”.Rev.14:13. Don’t forget that the souls of those who uttered this cry were
under the alter of God. Those who
have been able to found themselves in his presence having suffered all kinds of
persecution for his name sake. Paul said “I am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand” 2Tim.4:6.
So
the rest that we experience in his presence is as we cease from our human
efforts and allow the Spirit to take over with our works which is the fruit of
the Spirit following (Gal.5:22-23). Then we should have crucified the flesh and
totally now virgins, no corruption in our souls anymore. Therefore as he is now
standing up in us, we are getting ready to be blessed of him.
PART 4
A LOOK AT MOUNT ZION
“And I looked, and lo a Lamb stood on Mount Zion and with him
an hundred and forty and four thousand having his father’s name written in their foreheads”
Rev.14:1.
As
we now progress to discover the meaning and significance of Mount Zion where
the Lamb is standing, it will be pertinent to remind us that “the Lamb (Jesus Christ) standing” speaks to us of
his position as a ‘King’ who has conquered his enemies (the beastly order) and the overcomers (144,000) who have so followed him even in his conquest. These
congregations of over comers who are now with him are the ones he now ‘stood’
up to address as he is now consolidating his Kingdom as a King. Let me quickly
make reference to three more scriptures to make the above point clearer.
In
1Chron.28:1-2, when King David spoke
to the children of Israel of how God has chosen Solomon instead of himself to
build the house for the ark of God, we are told “and David assembled all the
princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies
that ministered to the King by course… Then
David the king stood up upon his feet and said…” so his standing up was to
address his subjects with him in his kingdom. Again in 2 CHRON. 6:8, when King Solomon had finished building the temple for the Lord and
dedicated it with God’s glory coming down, in verse 3-4 we are told “ and the king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel and the congregation of Israel stood and said…” in the same vein King Abijah
the grandson of Solomon who took over the reign of power after the death of his
father Rehoboam, in addressing Jeroboam, who has “set
the battle in array” to fight against him and the congregation of Israel, we
are told “And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim… and said,
hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel…” 2Chron.13:1-20. considering the above
facts, it becomes plain enough that it takes the king standing up to address
his subjects and so King Jesus stood up in Mt.
Zion to address the congregation of the
144,000 overcomers who are with him who I believe also stood up to hear him
speak.
JUST WHAT AND WHERE IS MOUNT ZION?
We
are told, the Lamb stood on Mount
Zion. Now where is Mount Zion?
Is it in the Middle East? Will Jesus literally
come to Mount Zion? Or on the other hand, is it up
there in the sky? I mean is it in a location called heaven, up somewhere? It is
terribly embarrassing how the children of God with all their titles and degrees
cannot make sense out of the word of God. I want to state here that it is the height
of scriptural and theological delusion to imagine that Mount Zion
is somewhere up in the sky wherein the Lord and only 144,000 people that
constitute his government are to rule the rest of mankind from. I think the
fact of the matter is, the church has refused the love of the truth and so the
Lord has given them a strong spirit of delusion, that they should believe a
lie” see 2Thes.2:10-12, iKgs.22:22. So what is this Mount Zion
that Jesus Christ is standing today? Historically speaking, Zion was the stronghold of
the Jebusites which David captured and later enlarged
it to become the “city of David”
the capital of his Kingdom. See 2Sam.5:6-10.Three basic geographical factors
contributed to its historical significance: (1) its strong position (2) it was
centrally located (3) it was outside the territory of the twelve tribes of Israel.
But this literal city of David came to its ends
as predicted (Jer.26:18; Mic.3:12) when Jerusalem
was captured in AD70. Figuratively, the children of Israel
were called the “daughters of Zion (Isa.3:16) or
“children of Zion”
(Joel 2:23).
So
looking at it from its historical and figurative background, Zion spiritually speaking becomes in the
Psalms and in the prophets, the spiritual counterpart of the literal city. In
the words of Wick Broomall, I quote “The theology of the ‘spiritualization’ of Zion has yet been explored
by expositors. A few gems from this rich
territory must suffice (1) the literal Zion was
a strong fortress (2Sam.5:7) the spiritual Zion
is immovable (ps.125:1) (2) the literal Zion
became the seat of David’s throne (2Sam.5:9, 12). The spiritual Zion is the place of the Messianic (Christ) throne (Ps.Rev.14:1, 3) (3) the literal Zion
became the birth place of David’s elect (Ps.87:5, Isa.66:8) (4) the literal Zion was the place where
David received the promise of an eternal house and throne (2Sam.7). the
spiritual Zion is the place where “the everlasting covenant” is established
(Jer.50:5+, Heb.8:6-10) (5) the literal Zion, in contrast to the ceremonialism
of Sinai, housed the ark in a single form of worship (iKgs.8:1+); the spiritual
Zion becomes the eternal embodiment of the true worship of God ‘in spirit and
truth’ (Jn.4:23+, Amos 13:15; Heb.12:22+)” end quote.
If
only we can realize that “… the old Testament’s principle and names were but a
‘figure’ and a ‘shadow’ of good things to come, and not the very image of
things…”(Heb.9:8-14,10:1); then it will not be difficult for us to comprehend the
fact that “…they are not all Israel, which are of Israel, neither, because they
are the seed of Abraham, are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. That is, they which are the children of God; … (Rom.9:6-8), rather it
is “…but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule (of the spirit) they are the Israel of
God” Gal.6:15-16. Even so the literal Zion of
old- ‘the city of David’ has translated into the
spiritual Zion
of the now. I am sure you are beginning to understand a few things as to what Zion is all about.
ZION
OF TODAY, THE TRUE CHURCH
OF JESUS CHRIST.
In
heb.12:22-24, we read “you have now come to Mount
Zion and to the heavenly Jerusalem. This is the
city of the living God, where thousands of angels have come to celebrate. Here
you will find all of God’s dearest children, (the gathering or church of the first born children) whose names, are written in heaven. And you
will find God himself, who judges everyone. Here also are the spirits of those
good people who have been made perfect. And Jesus is here! He is the one who
makes God’s new agreement with us, and his sprinkled blood says much better
things than the blood of Abel” CEV. Looking at the above, what does Mount Zion
speak of today? Mount Zion is the same thing as (1) the heavenly Jerusalem (2) the city of the
living God (3) it is the church of the first born children or first fruits
amongst men unto God (Jm.1:18). I am sure you can also agree with me that this
heavenly Jerusalem, Mount Zion,
is the same thing as the New Jerusalem of God? It is new as compared to the old
Jerusalem in the Middle
East. So what is this New Jerusalem? Listen! “And I john saw the
holy city, NEW JERUSALEM, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a BRIDE
adorned for her husband… And there came unto me (John) one of the seven angels… saying, come hither, I will shew
thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And
he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain, and shewed me that great
city, the holy Jerusalem, … having the glory of God…” Rev.21:2, 9-11. Here it is
plain that the heavenly Jerusalem which is mount Zion
is the bride of Christ the Lamb’s wife. And what else is the Lamb’s wife? It is
the church that is made up of all that have so believed and are appropriating
into their lives the sacrifice of Jesus-the Lamb. We are told “husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish…This is a mystery; but I speak concerning Christ
and the church” (Eph.5:25-32) “…The church of God, which he hath purchased with
his own blood” (Acts20:28). So you can see that this New Jerusalem is not just
literal city up there in the sky somewhere called heaven. It is simply a
gathering together of God’s people through the word of God, which is the
church. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the
midst of them” (Math.18:20). From this gathering where he begins to speak or
address the congregation, other sons are begotten. No wonder Paul said “…Jerusalem which is above
is free, which is the mother of us all” Gal.4:26. See 1Pet.1:22-23. In the
words of Jesus to Nicodemus “what is born of (from) the flesh is flesh-of the
physical is physical; and what is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not0do
not be surprised (astonished)-at my telling you. You must all be born anew
(from above)” John3:6-7 AMP. So you find that the church is above not in terms
of geographical location but because it is birthed in the spirit which is above the natural. And it is as we ascend in our
spirit into this realm of life in God that we meet the Lamb standing and we
will begin to hear his command. So Zion is
simply the living inter-body church
of Christ. A high realm in the spirit of God with Christ in control.
PART 5
MOUNT ZION, A
DIMENSION OF SONSHIP IN GLORY
“And I looked, and lo a Lamb stood on Mount Zion and with him
an hundred and forty and four thousand having his father’s name written in
their foreheads” Rev.14:1.
“…so
David dwelt in the fort, and called it the City of David built round about from Millo and inward… And David perceived that the Lord had established him King over Israel…And David took him
more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron;
and there were yet sons and daughters born to David”
2Sam.5:9-13.
I
will like to touch on some vital points of spiritual truths on spiritual Zion based on the literal Zion that David as a king occupied.
ZION THE BIRTH
PLACE OF SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD
Looking at the above test in 2Sam.5:13-the literal Zion that David occupied
became the place where he gave birth to his sons and daughters. We can also see that King David took his wives and
concubines “…out of Jerusalem”.
The word out of Jerusalem
means they were taken from a lower realm to a higher realm of fellowship with
the king. We already know that Zion as the city
of David was the territory outside the twelve
tribes of Israel.
While the seat of the king was in Zion
(2Sam.5:9, 12) the rest of the twelve tribes were occupying a lower realm
called Jerusalem
from where he took his wives. David as a king in Mount
Zion above the city, Jerusalem rules the rest of the twelve tribes
from this vantage position as the laws were made from this position. In the
vein, we found that Christ being the “offspring of David” (Rev.22:16) ascended
to the throne of his father through his death and resurrection. For we read.
“Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed
of David was raised from the dead…” (2Tim.2:8) “Therefore, (David) being a prophet, and knowing that
God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins,
according to the flesh, he (God)
would raise up Christ to sit on his throne…” (Acts2:29-34). Now we do
understand that ‘Christ’ is spirit even as the word says “…God hath made that
same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ”.(Acts2:36)
“now THE LORD IS THAT SPIRIT…” (2Cor.3:17). It therefore follows that this
Messianic throne of Christ in Zion
is spiritual. For “Yet have I set my king (Christ)
upon my holy hill of Zion” (Ps.2:6). “And I looked and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion…”(Rev.14:1). So we can see that this Zion to which the Lamb is standing is a high
realm of the spirit to which a few have been called into. It is the high realm
of God’s spirit from where the rulership of the
Christ spirit is to be exercised. It is
the high realm where the mind of God is made known and communicated to the rest
of creation in judgment based on true righteousness and holiness. “And in thy
Majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness”
(Ps.45:4). For “they (those who have ascended
into the Mt. Zion) shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain…” (Isa.11:9) “Thy throne o God is
forever and ever; the Sceptre (rod of authority) of thy kingdom is a right Sceptre”.
(Ps.45:6). And with this right Sceptre, the Lord
“shall break them (the nations) with
a rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Ps.2:9)
causing “all knees to bow, both of things in heaven and things in earth, and
things under the earth” (Phil.2:10).
King
Solomon describing the enthronement of the Christ in this holy hill said “I was
set up from everlasting, from the beginning or ever the earth was”
Prov.8:23. And I want to declare to you that this high realm of God’s glory in
Christ is what Abraham saw afar off on the “third day” while he was to offer
Isaac. “Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw
the place afar off” Gen.22:4. Now the “third day” is the day of Christ. It
is the day of resurrection, it is the day of power of
the Spirit. It is the high realm away from tradition, ceremonies, customs that
are not befitting to the course of the Gospel of Christ; it is the realm where only
the Spirit is in control. It is the realm where the voice of the king is
distinctly clear, for the Christ Spirit is not the author of confusion
(1Cor.14:35). If you are still battling
with what to believe and what we are not
to believe, whether to worship God or not to worship God because of either what
you are seeing around-“the twelve tribes of Israel” (Christ) down the hill, then you have not ascended this mountain. If
you are still “tossed to and fro” by every wind of doctrine and the sleight of
men and cunning craftiness (Eph.4:14) then you have not ascended this mountain,
you have not entered into the third day. For when the Pharisees came to warn
Jesus of the threat of Herod to kill him, he said “…Go ye and tell that fox,
behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow and
the third day I shall be perfected” (Lk.13:32). The perfection is in
relation to bringing his body to maturity by he spirit, …till we all come in
the unity off the faith…Unto a PERFECT MAN, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ”Eph.4:12-13.
Again
we must understand that Abraham ‘lifting up his eyes’ speaks to us of having
his single unto God, for “when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full
of light; …Lk. 11:34.
In other words the vision of God’s mind in Christ as revealed in the sacrifice
of Isaac was opened unto him. So in that he saw the place afar off, he saw the
Christ enthroned and so “…he looked for a city (of David, Mt.Zion) lay than
that is laid which is JESUS CHRIST” 1Cor.3:11. In other words, every other
concept of sacrifice or mode of worship like what himself intended to do would
not avail for the sin of men and would not receive the acceptance of God other
than that of Christ.
THE THREE REALMS OF OUR WALK IN GOD
Paul
writing on the two covenants said the law, which is Mt.Sinai
in Arabia, speaks of Jerusalem,
which now is (i.e. the one people
travel to for pilgrimages). But that “…the Jerusalem which is above
is free which is the mother of us all”. Gal 4:25-26. This allegory is
very important to us in this study, why? Because, it can be understood that
while David took wives from Jerusalem up to Mount Zion
and through them produced his children, the wives were not the ones to take
over the rulership of the kingdom from him rather any
of the sons, such as Solomon in the natural. And that speaks to us of the fact
that the glory of the son differs in degree from that of the queen. For as soon
as the son comes into power and maturity, the influence of the queen pales into
significance. And of course another queen who is the present wife to the son
comes into the scene. Outside of that, most of these Mother-Queen often get,
corrupted with idolatry, like the Mother of king Asa
“And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she
has made an idol in a grove…” 2Chron.15:16. What am I trying to say? Let me
illustrate with the setting in the wilderness. In Exo.24:1, we are told “God
invited Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu
and seventy of the elders of Israel
to go up to the mountain to worship afar off”. But after they have all climbed
up to a level, they stayed there and saw the God of Israel (v.11). Now in verse
12, 2, we are told “And the Lord said unto Moses, come up to me into the
Mount and be there…And Moses ALONE shall come near the Lord; but they shall not
come nigh, neither shall the people go up with him”. Now looking at this
picture, we find three categories of peopleL1) Moses who got close to God (2) Aaron, his sons and
the seventy elders who climbed up saw God afar off but did not get near him (3)
the rest of the multitude who were at the base of the Mountain who had eventually
fell into idolatry when Aaron who could not climb further came down to them.
Now who had the authority among these people? Only Moses; who
not only saw God but met and stayed with him. He got the laws of God and
so he knew the mind of God. But they were all Israelites. Even so though we
have been given birth to by the church, it is the overcomers, termed the man
child of Rev.12:1-5) that shall receive the rod of iron.(the
right scepter) to rule the nations. See Rev.2:27. It is not given to the queen
“clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet” to rule the nations. The
present church may be clothed with the glory of Pentecost, but it is in the
realm of sin and in-part. For herein Ananias and Sapphira his wife not only lied to the Holy Spirit but also
died (Acts10:1-10). Judas Iscariot betrayed the Lord and died, even with all
the deliverance he had conducted, for he was among the twelve sent out who came
back with results, (Math.10:1+). This is the realm of the seventy who saw but
did not enter. Then down below the hill is “mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and
the abomination of the earth”Rev.17:5. This is the death realm of religious idolatry
wherein the multitudes are found. See verse 1, 15 as it were with those in the
wilderness with Aaron as their high priest. To which the spirit is saying, “Come
out of her my people”. Rev.18:4, meaning God has his people there in religious
bondage. To be in bondage is to be guided by tradition. If you hearken to this
voice you will then move up to me into the mount and be
there” (Rev.18:4, Exo.24:12). People of God in Mount Zion,
we have the mind of God as sons that we may rule with HIM.
PART 6
STANDING ‘WITH’ THE LAMB IN MOUNT ZION
“And I looked, and lo a Lamb stood on
Mount Zion and with him an hundred and
forty and four thousand having his father’s name written in their
foreheads” Rev.14:1.
Sure
enough, we have been able to understand what exactly is Mount Zion
and who the Lamb that
is standing there is and why he is standing. The next thing that follows
immediately is “and with him an hundred and forty and four thousand…” so
who are these people? How many are they truly? Are they literally a hundred and
forty and four thousand? The first thing that comes to mind as you read through
the sentence “…and with him…"
shows a state of union. It speaks of these 144,000 partaking of the same
life and glory with him. It is an indication of fellowship, a realm of
companionship, sharing the same vision, hopes and aspirations. Pursuing the
same common goal and giving themselves to it, but only
that he dictates what takes place and how it is carried out. Take for instance,
if someone should ask you the question. “Are you with me? What immediately
comes to your mind? It is either of two things such as “do you understand what
I am saying? Or do you agree with my opinion? And your answer will be either
yes or no? Are you seeing it? Okay! On the other hand if someone should ask you
this question “who are you with? What do you think he is trying to find out? It
is simply another way of saying whom are you following? Whose party do you
belong to? So you see, to be with someone is to share
of the course, actions, thoughts, opinions, views etc of an individual. If you
were to ask me such a question as to who I am with in relation to religious
opinion based on faith, my answer would be “I am with Christ”. That means I
share and believe in the teachings and the course of Christ on earth for the
redemption of mankind. That my life should speak forth of the redeeming power
of Christ. That means I will do every thing possible to see that the gospel of
Christ to which I believe in is not blasphemed by my character (2Cor.6:3). In
the same way it means I must put myself on the path of evangelism which is the
medium by which the course of Christ that I believe in is communicated. Let me
illustrate what I am trying to say with a scripture here. In Mathew 12:22+ when
Jesus healed a man that was possessed with a devil, blind and dumb, we are told
“…when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow (Jesus) doth not cast out devils, but by Be-el-ze-bub
the prince of the devils” (v24). In reply, Jesus told them that any kingdom
divided against it cannot stand and so the devil cannot work against itself by
casting out other devils. Now considering this accusation, it simply means they
were not in support of his ministry, either because of outright hatred or
jealousy. So they were speaking to ensure that his ministry is discredited and
so terminated because he was not like them. Now hear what Jesus eventually said
with regard to this attitude of theirs towards him. “He that
is NOT WITH ME IS AGAINST ME and he
that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad” (v.30).
It therefore means the Pharisees instead of Evangelizing to bring people to the
course of Christ, they were scattering the people from him by saying
blasphemous words against him, and so they were not him.
On
the other hand, consider when John reported to Jesus the case of a man whom he
rebuked because the man was casting out devils in the name of Jesus and yet he
was not among the identified disciples of Jesus (Mk.9:38-40). In verse 39-40,
Jesus replied and said “…forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a
miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me FOR HE THAT IS NOT
AGAINST US IS ON OUR PART”. In other words this said man believes in the course
of Christ and since he is not against him and his works, he is for him or with
him. In real sense of it therefore, you can either be with Christ or
be against him by your actions, attitude, language, thoughts etc. the
truth is even if you so claim to believe and you are doing nothing to expand
the course you believe in, you may end up being against him, you cannot be said
to be with him. Otherwise how can you be employed in a factory and you
are doing nothing towards the increase in production or output. Of course, you
are only a financial drain to the establishment and with that you are against
the progress of the establishment because your none
productive posture is equal to a decrease in output hence a financial waste.
And so you are not with the company. You become redundant. Now let us not
forget that the main purpose of the Lamb that was slain (Rev.13:8) standing up
in Mount Zion (Rev.14:1) is not just to prove his
overcoming ability but to take over control of the rulership
of all realms of creation as the king enthroned.
Like
we have said elsewhere in this study, when king Solomon dedicated the temple he
had built, we are told “…and the king turned his face and blessed the whole
congregation of Israel and the congregation of Israel stood and he said…”
2Chron.6:8. to say the congregation stood, simply
means they stood with him, not only in prayer or that they should be prayed for
but in total agreement as to what the future of the kingdom of Solomon holds. So we are beginning to
see that for the 144,000 to stand with Jesus (the lamb) is a clear indication of their total commitment to the
course of the Lamb.
THE STRENGTH OF THE WORD ‘WITH’ IN THE
GREEK
The
Greek word “WITH” is “META”
which means with, together with, IN THE MIDST OF, between, in common with,
the help of, by means of. Looking at this definition, firstly, we can see that
it simply means that Christ is standing in the midst of his people, the
overcomers, and that they and the Christ in their midst are not only to do
things in common, but to also advance the course of Christ by his help. At this
realm, the overcomers are sharing a common trait with the glorified Christ
because God has “…made us alive together WITH THE CHRIST… and seated us
together in theheavenly places in UNION WITH CHRIST
JESUS” Eph. 2:4-6. inter lin.Trans.
and do not forget that according to Col.3:1, Christ being seated at the right hand of God and the saints being
seated together with him speaks of the place of authority in God as the Christ
in the midst and indwelling in his people reign in (with) power. A corresponding scripture to this can be fund in
Isa.57:15 which reads “…thus saith the high and holy one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy I dwell in the
holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive
the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones”.
The
above scripture gives us the condition of those who can dwell with the
Lord. Those who are qualified to share not only this glory but also be
partakers of his grand plan of total redemption as he walks and work out his
will in and through them, (2Cor.6:16-18) are all in this high realm of Mount
Zion. Again, looking at Isa.57:15 from the Living bible, it
says “…I live in that high and holy place where those with contrite humble
spirits dwell; and I refresh the humble and give new courage to those with
repentant heart”. By implication those who can dwell with the Lord up
there in Mount Zion, that holy place are those who have
abandoned themselves to the course and the will of the Lord. Those whose minds
have been totally emptied of everything that is of self and human influence.
Those who have had their souls completely renewed in the light of the Gospel of Christ, thereby
overthrowing all works of the beast in their lives by the power that worketh in
them. No wonder they are termed “virgins” (Rev.14:4) for “…they follow the lamb
withersoever he goeth”. At this level of relationship with the Lamb, we can no longer be
speaking our words, neither do we have any choice of our own as to what we
should do in every situation in life and ministry, but such as is decided and
communicated to us by him. The best description of those who are with
him is found in Jn.3:8. “The wind blows (breathes) where it will; and though
you hear its sound, yet you neither know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with every one who is born of the Spirit” AMP. For those in this
realm, they have lost their mind, now they walk with the mind of Christ.
Therefore they are ‘strangers’ among men both in language, conduct and dealings
etc. for the influence of the communication of the serpent in their souls have
been washed away by the word of the spirit of life hence to God they are
virgins.
PART 7
UNDERSTANDING THE ‘THOUSAND’
LANGUAGE.
“And I looked, and lo a Lamb stood on
Mount Zion and with him an hundred and
forty and four thousand having his father’s name written in their foreheads”
Rev.14:1.
Now
we have come to the core of our study, which is the 144,000 that are standing
with the Lamb. So who are they? Is it only 144,000 or the number is figurative?
A LOOK AT THE THOUSAND FIGURES IN SCRIPTURES
Let
me first state here that in APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE, and the book of Revelation
being one of them, the thousand represents ideas and not arithmetical values.
Take for instance when the relations of Rebecca prayed for her as they were
sending her away with Abraham’s servant to Isaac in Marriage, they said unto
her, “…thou art our sister, be thou the mother
of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which
hate them” Gen.24:60. What can we understand by this? “Thousands of millions”
is certainly not a literal number but something that is infinite. And that is
directly connected to the prosperity of the Kingdom, which has no end in terms
of arithmetical calculation even as Rebecca was a type of the Church, and a
wife to Isaac who was a figure of Christ. So the idea behind it is that which
is incalculable because “…the increase of his government, there shall be no
end” (Isa.9:7).
At
the slaughter of Goliath by David, the women came out of all the cities dancing
and singing at the return of David from the slaughter when Abner
presented him to Saul. We are told “the women answered one another as they
played and said Saul hath slain his thousands
and David his ten thousands”
1Sam.18:7. But how may people did David simply killed one man–Goliath. The
comparison here is that while Saul has been fighting the Philistines with
occasional defeats the greatest problem Israel
had was Goliath who had so cowed the army of Israel in making them to hide in
holes. So this one man was more or less the whole of the Philistines put
together for he was their backbone. So destroying Goliath is equal to
destroying the entire army of the Philistines. Therefore we can see that the
value of the ten thousands of David’s slaughter here as compared to that of
Saul is the strength and might of Goliath, not a literal number. I pray God
will help us to understand.
Again,
in Ps.50 God was talking about those who brought abundance of sacrifices to him
instead of thanksgiving and prayer which he demands. In verse 10, we read “for
every beast of the forest is mine and the CATTLE
UPON A THOUSAND HILLS” (KJV) or “since all the forest animals are already mine
and the cattle on my mountains in their thousands…” (JB).
The idea behind this verse is that God owns everything and there is nothing you
are presenting to God that is not his own in the first place. Meaning you are
only a custodian of God’s possession therefore you do not need to pride
yourself as if you are giving him anything. For the earth and
the fullness thereof belongs to God” (v.12). So to talk of the “cattle
upon a thousand hill” does not mean that other cattle that are not on this
thousand hill does not belong to him. Therefore the
cattle is not in numerical value neither the hills.
In
Ps.68:17-18, we read of God’s Chariots being in twenty thousand, even thousands of angels, the Lord is among them as in
Sinai, in the holy place” what number is twenty thousand, even thousands” as
compared to those who were with him in Mt. Sinai? At the base of Mt.Sinai, we are told, he came with ten thousand of Saints; from his right hand went a fiery law for
them” Dt.33:2. Compare Jude14. The picture here is that of the children of Israel who came out of Egypt’s bondage. Now were they only
ten thousand or more? About two million people came out of Egypt. Is that ten thousand?
However we do realize that the ten thousands refer to the children of Israel as they came out of Egypt. In the same vein, you can
see that “the twenty thousand of angels” is here referring to the Saint of the New
Testament as we are led out of the captivity of sin. Verse 18 makes that plain,
“Thou hast ascended on high, thou has led captivity captive, thou has received
gift for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD GOD might dwell among
them”. This is clearly what Paul wrote about when he talked of the death,
resurrection and ascension of Christ and the eventual release of the Holy
Spirit upon men and the giving of the five fold Ministry of Apostle, Prophet,
Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher to the church-the world. Eph.4:8-11. so if we can agree that the Twenty thousand, even thousand
of angels” speaks of the saints of the NT, what literal number constitute the
fullness of the New Testament Church? Once again, this number speaks of that
which is infinite, for the word “chariot”
used here in the Hebrew is rekeb-which means a
vehicle, by implication a team, by extension Calvary, by analogy a rider,
MULTITUDE- a great number; numerousness; a crowd; an assemblage. Are you seeing
it? So the figure is that of a great multitude of saints that are with the
Lord. The Lord’s ascension in the above passage speaks of his enthronement as a
king. Compare Ps.24:7-10; 68:17-18. And those around the throne constitute the
“twenty thousand, even thousand of angels”. This is what Daniel wrote about as
constituting the court of God in the heavens. “a fiery stream issued and came
forth from before him; thousand thousands
ministered unto him; and ten thousands
times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment was set, and the books
were opened” Dan.7:10. Please compare 1kgs.22:19, where this number is simply called
“the host of heaven” wherein a court was in session to judge wicked king Ahad. So who do you think this host of heaven is? They are
simply the saints of God. Even as the word of God says “do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?...know ye not that we shall judge angels? 1Cor.6:2-3. “For
the father judgeth no man, but hath committed all
judgment unto the son” (Jn.5:22). And the son is in his body the church. Even
as “he is the head of the body, the church” Col.1:18. Again, you can see that the
“thousand thousands… and ten thousand who stood before God that Daniel wrote
about could never be in literal arithmetical calculation. It is figurative of
the host of, or multitude of people. Paul employed this figurative application
of the use of thousands when writing to the Corinthians. In his words “for
though ye have ten thousand
instructors in Christ; ye have not many fathers…”1Cor.4:15). Now Paul did not
mean they had a literal ten thousand men coming to preach and teach the
Corinthians outside of him rather, there were many people coming into this
church he established with the sound doctrine of Christ, and teaching other
things and yet the Corinthians because of their spiritual immaturity
irrespective of the abundance of the gift of the Holy Ghost were just
swallowing everything. In other words, many people were coming to them as
supposed ministers of the Gospel. Even in 1Cor.14:19, he used the same language
when he said “…in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also,
than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue”. Paul was not going to
count the words he speaks in the church such that when he gets to the number
five, he will stop, rather the five here do not only speak of fewness but that
which carried with it an amount of Grace to the edifying of the hearers, even
as five is the number of grace. In other words “let the word of Christ dwell in
you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing with GRACE in your heart to the
Lord”. Col.3:16. Speaking, multitude of words (ten thousands) in an unknown
tongue is of no benefit to a congregational worship “for he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh
not unto men, but unto God; for no man understandeth
him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. …he
that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth
edifieth the church 1Cor.14:2, 4.
In the light of the above therefore when we read. “in my vision, I heard the sound of an immense number of angels gathered round
the throne… there were ten thousand times
ten thousand of them and thousands upon thousands shouting, the lamb that
was crucified is worthy to be given power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour,
glory and blessing” Rev.5:11JB, what do you think we are talking about? Who are
these “thousands and thousands and thousands”. They are simply all those who
make up the church
of Christ universally
both Celestial and Terrestrial who have attained to the resurrection life of
the Lord by reason of his redemptive blood. Here we all are declaring the glory
due him because of his sacrifice on our behalf. So we can see that the ten
thousands as a number is only symbolic of that which
is numerous and not just a literal figure.
PART 8
THE 144,000–GOD’S SPIRITUAL ISRAEL
“And I looked, and lo a Lamb stood on
mount Zion and with him an hundred and
forty and four thousand having his father’s name written in their foreheads”Rev.14:1.
We
are already beginning to understand that the application of the thousand
language of God is symbolic which speaks of greatness in terms of multitudes
and not necessarily in the value of arithmetical calculation. We now want to
discover precisely who these 144,000 are and what brought the number to
144,000.
144,000 SEALED AND THE PURPOSE OF THE
SEAL
Honestly, the key to the understanding of the
144,000 of Rev.14 that are standing with the lamb on Mount Zion
is found in Rev.7. in this passage we are told that
John in a vision saw four angels who had been given power to harm the land and
sea. “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God”. The angels
having the seal of the living God said to the four angels who had been given
power to harm the land and the sea (Rev.7:1-3 NIV). Essentially, we can see
that the seal was to provide assurance that God’s people are secured from the
plagues and judgments. The seal identifies those under God’s protection.(see Ezek.9:4-6). It is a matter of ownership or
possession. Then reading from verse 4-8 we are told “then I heard the numbers
of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. From the tribe of Judah
12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000…from the tribe of Benjamin
12,000”.
SIGNIFICANCE
OF NUMBERS.
Before
proceeding, let me state here that the use of numbers is very significant in
Bible interpretation and especially to the writer of the book of Revelation. This
idea is very foreign to most modern bible readers, yet it is a major key in
understanding the scriptures. While I may not go into interpreting or giving
the meaning of most numbers in this writing, suffice it to say that, the most
obviously symbolic numbers in Revelation are 4,7,12 and their multiples. The
number 4 for instance stands for the number of the world-created universe. You have
the four seasons, four quarters of the earth, North, South, East and West.
Therefore the four living creatures as can be found in the book of Revelation represent
all creation. The number 7 denotes perfection or completion, with reference to
the seven days of the creation week of Genesis account. And since we have the
12 tribes of Israel in the Old Testament and 12 apostles in the New Testament,
12 stones at the bottom of River Jordan, 12 manner of fruits in the tree of
life, it stands to reason that 12 is the number that stands for the church of
God, his government, or in the case above God’s redeemed people from both covenants.
Now
a number multiplied by 10’s such as 144,000 (12 x 12 x 10 x 10 x 10) would
suggest a definite but very large number or figure. Evidently then in line with
the application of the “tens of thousands” the
144,000 stands for the entire church throughout history; a kind of first fruit
unto God and the Lamb from amongst men (Rev.14:4). For after this number in
verse 9 of Rev.7, we are still told of the great multitude in white robes that
no one could count from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing
before the throne and in front of the Lamb (NIV).
THE SEALED 144,000 IS SYMBOLIC OF
SPIRITUAL ISRAEL.
One
of the major reasons why the 144,000 sealed in Rev.7 is not the literal Israel
of old is the fact that the tribe of Dan is missing from this account. Secondly
in verse 7, we are told 12,000 were also sealed from the tribe of Levi, but the fact is Levi was not a
tribe in Israel.
A good comparison of the Census book of numbers Chapter 1:1-16 when God told
Moses to number the children of Israel and to pick “men from the twelve tribes
of Israel that will “stand with” him(v.5)
the following tribes of natural Israel were mentioned (1)Reuben
(2)Simeon (3)Judah (4)Issachar (5)Zebulun
(6)Ephraim (7)Manasseh (8)Benjamin (9)Dan
(10)Asher (11)Gad (12)Naphtali. Whereas in the
book of Rev.7 what we have is (1)Judah (2)Reuben (3)Gad (4)Asher (5)Naphtali (6)Manasseh (7) Simeon (8)Levi (9)Issachar (10)Zebulun
(11)Joseph (12)Benjamin. Again notice that Joseph was not a tribe. The record
in numbers says “of the children of Joseph; of Ephraim;…of
Manasseh…” (v.10). Meaning these two tribes came out of Joseph’s children. So you
can see clearly that what we are dealing with is a spiritual matter and not
just 144,000 individuals floating with Christ some where in the skies up
yonder. Again verse 5 and 16 of the account of numbers chapter one is very
significant. Therein we are told “and these are the names of the ‘men’ that shall stand ‘with’ you… these were renowned of
the congregation, Princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands
in Israel”.
I will like to quote these verses from another translation “one man from each
tribe, each the head of his family, is to help
you. These are names of the men who are to ASSIST YOU…”Num.1:4, 5, 16
NIV. Now notice something. These ‘men’ that are to be ‘with Moses’ are the ones
to help or assist in administering the congregation (church) of Israel.
Can you see any connection with those who are with the lamb on Mount Zion?
Look at it from the Amplified
Translation “then I looked and lo the lamb stood on Mount Zion, and WITH HIM a
hundred and forty and four thousand (men)…”
the fact of the matter is, these 144,000 are MEN; meaning they are mature
people who are now qualified for the position
of administration. For we know that ‘men’ in the scriptures speaks of
maturity. The word says “brethren, be not children in understanding; howbeit in
malice be ye children, BUT IN UNDERSTANDING BE MEN” (1 Cor.14:20). “Therefore …MEN
(ought to) pray everywhere lifting up
holy hands without wrath and doubting” (1Tim.2:8) “wherefore…when he (Jesus) ascended up on high, he led
captivity captive, and gave gifts UNTO MEN” Eph.4:8. this is plain enough that
so many of us cannot be blessed especially with the five fold ministry gifts of
apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (v.11) because of our
spiritual immaturity. It is only a stupid father who will give a loaded pistol
(shot gun) to his child of three years old as a birthday present (toy) or give
a car key to a four year old boy as a present and ask him to go and drive. Once
again, only the mature ones can assist the lamb on Mount Zion
in his administration.
THE
ADMINISTRATION OF THE TWELVE TRIBES BY THE APOSTLES.
This
administrative position for only the spiritually matured was promised to the
disciples (apostles) of Jesus who were trained by him personally when they
asked him what will be their reward for following him and having forsaken all
things. In reply he “said unto them, very I say unto you, that ye which have followed
me, IN THE REGENERATION when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his
glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of (spiritual) Israel” Math.19:27-28. The very twelve tribes that were sealed in Rev.7. They shall
be judging Israel
even as “did Prophet Samuel all the days of his life” 1Sam.7:6, 15, 8:1. In
other words, he ruled or governed Israel on behalf of God. Now the
promise of the disciples administering was fulfilled when the Holy Ghost was
poured upon the Apostles in the upper room–gifts to mature men. The key word to
your understanding what I am saying from the passage is the word regeneration. Quoting the same passage
from the Amplified, it says “…truly, I say to you in the new–the Messianic rebirth of the world (i.e. in the regeneration)–when the son of man shall sit down in the
throne of his glory (see Math.10:22-23; 16:28) you (who have become my
disciples, sided with my party and followed me) will also sit on twelve thrones
(place of authority) and judge the
twelve tribes of Israel”. Can you remember how Apostle Peter exercised this
authority as a judge in the early church on Ananias
and Sapphira? Acts5:1+. What of when he preached
about Christ and the people asked what shall we do and he said repent for the
forgiveness of your sins? (Acts2:37-38). That was judgment passed on the wicked
generation in the time of the regeneration that they may return unto God. So
the time or age of the regeneration is the age of the Holy Ghost. Even as God
saved us from our foolishness…not because of any works of righteousness that we
had done, but because of his own pity and mercy, by (the) cleansing (bath) of
the new birth (regeneration) and
renewing of the Holy Ghost”Tit.3:5-5 Amp.
THE HOLY GHOST– OUR SEAL
So
you see, the sealing of the twelve tribes (Rev.7) of
spiritual Israel
is the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost. The bible says, “When we believed we
were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
his glory. (Eph.1:11-14). Now he which stablisheth us
with you IN CHRIST, and hath anointed us is God. Who hath also SEALED us, and
given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” 2Cor.1:21-22. See also
1Cor.12:12, 1Jn.14:16-19. The meaning of our seal becomes clearer when we
consider the words of Apostle Paul to the Corinthians. “Am I not an apostle? Am
I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not ye my work in the
Lord? If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for THE
SEAL OF MINE APOSTLESHIP ARE YE IN THE LORD” 1Cor.9:1-2. “If
in the opinion of others I am not an apostles, I certainly am to you, for you
have been won to Christ through me” (v.2TLB). In other words the proof
(certificate) of Paul’s apostleship is the Corinthian Church,
which shows the mark of ownership. In the same vein, our being sealed by God
shows that we are God’s possession and that we are truly alive to heavenly
life. So the 144,000 are all peoples who have received the (seal) of God, which
is not only a sign of protection but also of ownership. And these 144,000 are
the ones with HIM, assisting and helping him in his course of redemption
on earth. They are the first harvest (first fruit) of the Lord from amongst
men, the finished products of God’s workmanship created in CHRIST JESUS Unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we walk in them” Eph.2:10. The
144,000 are a people marked out by God and for God universally.
PART 9A
THE FOREHEAD IS THE PLACE OF AUTHORITY
“And I looked, and lo a Lamb stood on Mount
Zion and with him an hundred and forty
and four thousand having his father’s name written in their foreheads”Rev.14:1.
We
have been able to see that the 144,000 who are with the lamb is a symbolic expression
for the whole number of the faithful. It is the number of completeness, and
since they are sealed, not one of them is missing from the hand of him who has
so possessed them. So what do we mean by
the 144,000 having the father’s name written in their foreheads? Firstly,
the forehead is a very prominent and readily seen part of the body. In ancient
times, it was a place where slaves were marked so that all could see to which
master they belonged. Also those who are devoted to certain pagan gods were similarly
thus marked. Even today some follow the practice of putting religious marks on
the foreheads so that everyone can be aware of their devotion to their
religious beliefs.
FOREHEAD AS A FIGURATIVE EXPRESSION
To
imagine that God was going to literally write his name on a people’s forehead
is misleading. This is what has led to the erroneous teaching of a people
receiving the mark of the beast and his name on their hand and foreheads. (Please see our booklet on mark of the
beast). Take for instance when God was describing the stubbornness and rebellion
of the children of Israel
(Isa.48:4). He said, their “forehead” was a brass.
Also in Ezek.3:7-9 when God told Ezekiel to prophesy to these stubborn people
of Israel, he said, that he had the prophet’s forehead “like a diamond” in that
he God had given him the resolution,
determination and boldness to prophesy God’s message to the people. All
these are not literal. In a similar vein, on the forehead of the high priest of
Israel (Exo.28:36-38; 39:30) was written the inscription “holiness belongs to
God” which was a holy sign of dedication, suggesting that as a high priest of
God, he keeps his office holy. This also serves as a reminder to the children
of Israel
of the need of constant holiness in the service of God. This also prefigures
the picture of our great high priest, Jesus Christ and his dedication and
holiness to God “he is therefore exactly the kind of high priest we need; for
he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin, undefiled by sinners, and to him
has been given the place of honour in heaven”Heb.7:26TLB. Again, we can see
that receiving a mark in the “forehead” is similarly used figuratively in the
bible to signify that one is a servant to the true God or to another. This is
what we find in Revelation 7:2-4 of the sealing of the 144,000 in their
foreheads, which “seal” is symbolic of the Holy Spirit which began on the day
of Pentecost in 33AD (see Eph.1:13-14; 4:30).
The only way those who have received this seal on their forehead today can be
identified in their world is not by any outward visible sign on the forehead of
Christians but by their activities in preaching and teaching about the kingdom
of God and the life of Holiness and righteousness they live in and around their homes and
neighbourhood. Their activities and lifestyle gives them out as the slave of
God even in their language. We must without doubt realize that the primary
purpose of God in giving us the Holy Spirit is to be witnesses for God “but ye
shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall
be WITNESSES unto me…” (Acts1:8) and that as we walk in the power of the Holy
Spirit in this newness of life, the old Adamic life and its deeds are
destroyed. Walking in power of the Holy Spirit means a total change of life, a
refocusing of our direction from the soul realm to the Spirit realm, from God
outside to the God that dwells within. From the Jesus of
tomorrow to come to the Jesus of today who is alive forever more. For he
that dwelleth in us (2Cor.13:5, Col.1:27) is “…him
that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us”(Eph.3:20) “…whereby he is able
even to subdue all things unto himself” (Eph.3:21).
Whosoever
is a slave has no authority of his or her own and since a mark on a forehead
indicates ownership, it identifies a slave or servant with the ownership of
that mark. It therefore follows that such a one will have no authority over
himself, why? Because their master is now their authority or
head. That will mean that they have lost their initial head or authority
as they are subject to another king. Again, we discover that to lose ones head
is to lose his mind or source of wisdom or control. Let me give you a simple
illustration on this. When Elijah was to be taken away from Elisha
by translation, the sons of the prophets came and asked Elisha,
saying “…knowest thou that the LORD will take away
thy master from thy head
today?...”2Kings2:5. What is the meaning of this statement? It is another way
of saying; do you not know that your master will be taken away from you today?
In other words, don’t you know that your source of authority, wisdom, guidance,
ruler ship etc will be taken away from you today? Are you seeing it? Now if the
head that controls the body is taken away, then of course his source of
authority is taken and that includes his “forehead” for the “forehead” is
contained within the head.
GOD’S SERVANTS ARE BEHEADED PEOPLE
For
you to truly be a disciple of God, you must lose your head, that
is your initial authority for the leadership of Christ. And once this begins to
happen, to the world and people around you, you are mad, why? You can no longer
reason like them, think like them and enjoy what they enjoy. Are you then
surprised that Paul was called a mad man? “…Paul thou are besides
thyself; much learning doth make thee mad” Acts26:24. “Suddenly, Festus
shouted, Paul, you are insane; your long studying has broken your mind! TLB. See 2Cor.5:14, Jn.10:20. What made Paul to be mad in
their estimation? The language, reasoning of Paul who was once a Pharisee of a
respected order has changed. The man who was supposed to go after the
Christians to put them in chains has automatically become a witness for the
same course he was destroying. In their view, certainly enough, only the spirit
of madness could be responsible for this. But the truth is, Paul is now the
disciple of Jesus, he has received another head, a new authority and this has
influenced his reasoning, behaviours and conducts. A new personality has
emerged from the old Saul of Tarsus that they used to know. No wonder the
scriptures says “…if any man be in Christ, he is a new CREATURE; old things (reasoning, attitude, desires etc) are
passed away; behold (look), all
things are become new” 2Cor.5:17. No wonder the world cannot
see Christ today because they cannot see those so called Christians who have
lost their minds for the course of Christ. No wonder we cannot see the
revelation of Christ in our lives to lay down the old man because we have not
lost our minds. We are still holding to the old ideas of doing things. Our
former head, whatever it was is still controlling us and yet we claim to be in
Christ. No, my brother, those in Christ are new creatures. Stop deceiving
yourself. Look at your anger; your language, the way you rate yourself. What
occupies your minds the more everyday my friend?