Sunday School Notes: Revelation 14:4-7

⁴ These are those who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are pure. These [are] those who follow the Lamb wherever he may go. These have been redeemed from mankind, [the] firstfruit to God and to the Lamb. ⁵ And in their mouth no falsehood was found; they are without blemish.

⁶ And I saw another angel flying high in the sky, having an eternal gospel to proclaim upon the earth-dwellers, and upon every nation and tribe and tongue and people, ⁷ saying in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, for the hour has come of His judgment. And worship the One who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and springs of waters.”

Jesus, the Lamb, is on Mount Zion with the 144,000. The opening passage to chapter 14 seems focused on telling us about these people. We’ve established before (see the notes on Revelation 7) that the number 144,000 is figurative, and represents all of God’s people, Old and New Covenant. The way they are described in the first three verses underscores this. They have the Lamb and the Father’s name on their foreheads–they belong to him, something we know is true for all believers. They, and they alone, are able to sing the new song, a further distinction between them and those who belong to the Beast (i.e., unbelievers, or “earth-dwellers”).

In verses 4 and 5 John continues his description of these people. He states four specific things about them:

1. They are parthenoi, literally “virigins”–they haven’t defiled themselves with women.
2. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
3. They are a “firstfruit” to God and to the Lamb, as a result of being bought by God.
4. They are without blemish; there is no falsehood in their mouth.

We looked at each of these in turn:

They are virgins. Some might want to take this literally, i.e., that they have abstained from sexual relations. This view would go along with taking the 144,000 literally, as a sub-set of believers who have kept some kind of vow of chastity. I see a couple of problems with this. First, since their virginity is based on the fact that “they haven’t defiled themselves with women,” the 144,000 would have to be male. Second, it seems to elevate those who abstain from sex as being better than the others, especially since there is a connection drawn between being a virgin, and not being “defiled.” Such a negative view of sex is unbiblical.

I think there are two ways we can see the “virginity” of the 144,000. First, we can take parthenoi in this context to mean the opposite of molunō, to make unclean or defile, and hence mean “pure” or “clean.” This would include not only abstaining from sexual immorality, but also refraining from idolatry, and other practices that would compromise their moral integrity as they try to stand for Christ and show themselves to be his people. We should also bear in mind that no believer could stand “pure” and “clean” before the Lord in their own strength. They are able to do this because they are washed in the Lamb’s blood, and clothed in the white robe given to them (7:9-10; 6:11). Secondly, there is a contrast here between the “virginal” people of God, and the Great Prostitute, who we’ll meet in chapter 17, and also the nations who “have drunk the wine of the passion of Babylon’s sexual immorality” (14:8 and 18:3). The symbolic prostituting of the nations is in contrast to the symbolic sexual integrity of God’s people.

They follow the Lamb. This is not in the sense of simply calling oneself a Christian and doing things Jesus would do. Remember the context of Revelation: these are churches under persecution. They aren’t just following Jesus’s teaching; they are following Jesus’s example of servant living, perseverance under persecution, and personal sacrifice for the sake of the gospel–even unto death. This is what it means to wear the name of the Lamb and the Father.

They are the “firstfruits” to God and the Lamb. The “firstfruit” is usually that which is offered to the Lord as the best pickings from the harvest. One might reasonably assume that if there is a first-fruit, there’s more fruit to follow, which some believe supports the idea that the 144,000 are a sub-set of God’s people. Again, however, this sets up an elite group of believers that are somehow better than the rest, which doesn’t correspond to the egalitarian nature of the gospel. We are all redeemed in Christ; our holiness is not our own but his. We derive our purity from him. So any redeeming good in us is of no credit to us, but to Christ. And nowhere in the New Testament do we get the idea that some people are “more saved” than others.

A better understanding of “firstfruits” here is to relate the use of the term back to Jeremiah 2:2-3, where all of Israel is called “the firstfruits of [God’s] harvest.” There isn’t a group within Israel that is God’s “firstfruit,” but rather the nation of Israel is God’s choice “crop” out of all the nations. The emphasis is on God’s people as being chosen, special, set apart from all the other peoples of the Earth. To underscore this, John says that the “firstfruit” were bought, or redeemed, from mankind. The same Greek verb, agorazō, is used here as in 5:9, in reference to those who were bought, or redeemed, with the blood of the Lamb.

They are without blemish and with no falsehood in their mouth. Similar language is used of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53:9, which we understand to be speaking of Jesus (see 1 Peter 2:22). Those who “follow the Lamb” will strive to follow his example, and, by his grace will display the same kind of purity and integrity as their Savior. This integrity may go beyond simply not telling lies, and speak of their faithfulness in proclaiming the gospel. There is a consistency between the proclamation of their mouths and the lives they lead. In the letters of chapters 2 and 3, we have seen that there are those in the church who may profess faith in Christ, but they wander into idolatry, and seem more concerned with not offending the culture than being faithful to the Lord. Just as Christ was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and was found without deceit, so we too, under the same circumstances, should be true to our Lord, and be prepared to accept the consequences.

In verse 6, John sees “another angel.” This is the first of three angels in this chapter. Why “another”? Probably in addition to the other angels John has seen so far; this is not an angel he has seen before. The angel is flying “high in the sky”–literally, “in mid-heaven.” John used the same term to describe the location of the eagle in 8:13. This is significant because that eagle spoke with a loud voice proclaiming woes upon the “earth-dwellers,” warning about the final three trumpet blasts. In other words, it appears that the eagle in John’s vision was the mouthpiece of God, declaring judgment upon the nations. Similarly, this angel, and the two following, will bring warnings of judgment from God to the nations.

If the angel is proclaiming judgment on the earth-dwellers, why is his message called “an eternal gospel“? Surely this implies some kind of evangelistic call to the unbelieving people on Earth, with, implicitly, the opportunity for them to repent and be saved? That the message goes out to every “nation, tribe, tongue, and people” seems to suggest there are those marked out for redemption among them (see 5:9, where those bought by the Lamb include the same type of people).

We’ve discussed before (e.g., in the notes on chapter 11) the fact that there are two sides to the gospel message. In 1 Corinthians 1:18, Paul says that the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but the power of God to those who are saved. He goes on in verse 22 to declare that we preach Christ crucified, “a stumbling block to Jews, folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jew and Gentile, it is Christ, the power and wisdom of God.” The gospel is life to the elect, but to the non-elect, those who are dead in their sins, it is death and judgment. When believers proclaim the gospel, it is a reminder to unbelievers of the knowledge of God that they are trying to suppress (Romans 1:18).

This is why the angelic “gospel” is a proclamation of judgment. Notice the content of the message: Fear God, give Him glory, and worship the One who made heaven, earth, sea, and spring of water, because the hour of His judgment has come. Fundamental to the gospel message is the fact that, by nature, we disobey this very basic command of God, to fear Him, glorify Him, and worship Him. We would sooner fear our neighbors or our politicians, glorify those who give us what we want, and worship ourselves, our work, our money, our TV/film/music idols. One’s response to this angelic call reveals one’s core sinfulness and the need for a heart-change that only comes through Christ. We already know how the earth-dwellers respond, because we’ve seen it in 9:20-21: they don’t repent of their evil deeds, or their idolatry. This why they are judged.