And I saw…the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 having his name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like … many waters … great thunder … and harpers playing on their harps. And they sing as it were a new song … and no one was able to learn the song except the 144, 000 who have been redeemed from the earth. These are those who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. They are the followers of the Lamb wherever He goes. They were redeemed from men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb, and in their mouth a lie was no found. They are blameless. Revelation 14: 1-5

Chap. 13 revealed Satan’s cohorts, strategy and tactics as he prepares to engage in earth’s final crisis. Chap. 14 will portray God’s activities as He delivers a final gospel appeal and warning through His remnant. But first, John begins the chapter with encouraging highlights of how and why God’s small company of believers achieved victory.

The scene begins with the small company of believers who were and are Sabbath keepers; made up of those who since 1844 died in Christ and who survived and passed through the earth’s final crisis (read The Sealed Saints). Just as predicted, they stand on Mount Zion, the place of God’s deliverance, due to them being victorious (Joel 2: 32). Because of the New Testament, we know that this holy mountain is really “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12: 22).

That Christ’s and the Father’s names are written on their foreheads signifies that they are conformed to the character of God. That contrasts with those who have the name of the beast on their foreheads (Rev. 13: 16, 17).

In victory, the 144,000 sing a song of deliverance and salvation. It’s called “the song of Moses and the Lamb” (Rev. 15: 3). Only these saints know the song.

Their history is one of putting Christ first, following Him wherever He went. On earth, they remained faithful to Him, and did not defile themselves by yielding to the church of Rome, with whom all others on earth committed fornication (Rev. 14: 8; 17: 2; 18: 3). Nor did they defile themselves with apostate Protestantism, the Roman church’s harlot daughters (Rev. 17: 5). It is in this sense that they are considered virgins.

They are redeemed and offered to God and the Lamb as firstfruits, meaning they are preeminent among God’s creatures (James 1: 18).

The 144, 000 did not conform to the world’s refusal to “receive the truth so as to be saved.” As such, they were not deceived to believe the lie (2 Thessalonians 2: 10, 11). This company, of all God’s people, faithfully held on to the truth. They did not fall for nor propagate the beast’s deceptions. There wasn’t equivocation nor compromise. In this context it should be understood that a lie wasn’t found in their mouths.

A final characteristic of the 144,000 is that they are found blameless. We see that when Noah and Abraham walked with God, they were called blameless (Genesis 6: 9; 17: 1). That doesn’t mean Noah and Abraham were absolutely and morally perfect. What it does mean is that they were loyal to God. In the same way are the 144, 000 blameless. They too were and are faithful to God, clothed in Christ’s righteousness.