Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word

Rev 14:1-5 Part 2, Who is Given to “Sing a New Song”?

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Study Audio Download

Rev 14:1-5- Part 2- Who Is Given To “Sing A New Song”?

[Study Aired February 9, 2025]


Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2  And I heard a 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:
Rev 14:3  And they sung 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.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

We ended our last study asking the question… who are those who “sing a new song”?

Rev 14:3 And they sung 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.

Who else sings this “new song”? We just read who else sings this “new song”. But just in case we might have missed it, let’s go back to the four beasts and four and twenty elders of Rev 5. That is right, it is the same “four beasts and four and twenty elders” who have the harps of God and they too ‘sing a new song’:

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

Since “no one can learn that [new] song but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth”, and since John hears harpers harping with their harps when he sees these hundred and forty and four thousand, and since the four beasts and the four and twenty elders are also redeemed from the earth, having every one of them harps, and are also singing this same “new song”, it is clear to anyone with any spiritual discernment that these two symbols, like Pharaoh’s two dreams, “are one”.

Gen 41:1  And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.
Gen 41:2  And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.
Gen 41:3  And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.
Gen 41:4  And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.
Gen 41:5  And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.
Gen 41:6  And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.
Gen 41:7  And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.
Gen 41:8  And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

Gen 41:25  And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is oneGod hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.

What other symbols are used to show us who these 144,000 symbolize? Here is more symbolism for the same people:

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

“Following the Lamb whithersoever He goes” means these 144,000 signfy those who are willing to please their Father Christ just as Christ wanted nothing but to please His Father and to do what His Father sent Him to do. “These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins”. Who is signified as a virgin in scriptural symbolism?

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

A repentant harlot is a spiritually “chaste virgin to Christ”. The same is true of any man or woman who has repented of his or her spiritual or physical adultery, fornication or uncleanness of any kind. The same principle applies to molesters and molested children who have accepted Christ as their savior. All who have Christ living His life of rejection and tribulation and persecution within them are “chaste virgins unto Christ”.

“These follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes” means that these recognize that they follow and live by the doctrine of Christ, and that doctrine is that “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4). It means that these virgins “fill up in their bodies what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ, for His body’s sake which is the church”:

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of [the] Christ [the Greek has the article ‘the’, and reads ‘the Christ’] in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

“These follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes” means that these “144,000… firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb… follow His steps”:

1Pe 2:21  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

Wherever the Lamb goes, His virgin bride goes with Him. It is only those Christians, who are espoused unto Christ as a chaste virgin, who are “redeemed from among men, and are the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.”

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

The whole world reaps the pain and misery their sins produce. That includes the Lord’s firstfruits bride:

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they [the whole creation, verse 22], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,  waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

We are the adoption, and we are redeemed in earnest only at “this present time” (Rom 8:18), and we are still “waiting for the adoption and the redemption of our bodies.”

Rom 8:24  For we are saved [Aorist tense] by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Ours is a future reward which cannot be realized in this present time except by believing the words of “that holy spirit of promise”. It is “that… promise” which constitutes “the earnest of our inheritance”, which ‘earnest’ is but a downpayment of “the purchased possession” which Christ purchased with His own blood ‘to the praise of His glory’:

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted [in Christ], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest [Greek: down payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

God’s “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” are right now “waiting for the adoption… the redemption of our bodies”. That is the honor we have been given if indeed Christ is living His life within us and we are “redeemed from among men”, and as His espoused bride, and if we are going wherever He goes.

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

The last symbol we have not yet considered was the first mentioned in this 4th verse:

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women;

“Women” throughout scripture signify the church, the bride of Christ:

Eze 23:2  Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
Eze 23:3  And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.
Eze 23:4  And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.
Eze 23:5  And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,

Gal 4:21  Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

The ‘women’ by which we are all ‘defiled’ are all the daughters of the great whore of Revelation 17-18. “Were not defiled” is in the aorist tense, which tells us that we are in the process of being judged as the Father drags us out of Babylon and is through the process of being judged placing us upon the “sea of glass mingled with fire”:

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

“Not defiled with women”, does not mean they were never defiled with women. What it means is that these “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” are well on their way to “coming out of her” the great whore and all of her daughter harlots, and willingly bearing the same hatred and rejection which that very same ‘whore’ dished out to our Lord. In this world ‘we are as  He is’:

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Christ was born into and raised up in the synagogues of the great whore:

Luk 2:51  And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

When His ministry began He ‘came out of her’ because he had no accord with her:

Luk 3:22  And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him [at His baptism by John], and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
Luk 3:23  And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,

2Co 6:14  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
2Co 6:15  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

The Greek word for ‘guile’ is G1388, ‘dolos’, and it means ‘deceit’. ‘Deceit’ is to mislead and to tell lies. No healthy marriage relationship can exist on anything less than the Truth. A marriage based on lies cannot last, and we simply cannot say “Lord, Lord” and at the same time “do not the things [that Christ, our husband, says to do]”:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

We may deceive ourselves that we are obeying our spiritual husband, but He is not deceived. “There is no guile in the mouths of God’s elect, the espoused bride of Christ”. “The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” [the bride of Christ]:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

That is why we are told that Christ’s bride has heard the thunder of God and is familiar with the lightning which produces the judgment of that thunder and hail.

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

It is because “the hail [is sweeping] away the refuge of lies” within us, that there is no guile in our mouth, and we are without fault before the throne of God.

Mat 12:5  Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless[“before the throne of God”].

Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

God’s elect, His one hundred and forty and four thousand virgins, His four beasts and four and twenty elders, singing a new song, harping with their harps, are “without fault before the throne of God and of the Lamb”.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

Summary

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty [and] four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

What we have seen in this study is that this Lamb standing on Mount Sion, and the hundred and forty and four thousand, together are “the Christ”, who one and all think and act as our heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ think and act.

Joh 17:11  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

Joh 17:21  That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23  I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

This “that they may be one even as we are one” is true to the extent that Christ says of us: “I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you persecute”.

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto meI am Jesus of Nazarethwhom thou persecutest.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

We saw that mount Sion is just another symbol of where God has desired to dwell in His people:

Psa 132:13  For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
Psa 132:14  This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

That being the case, the hundred and forty and four thousand and Mount Sion both signify the Lord’s elect, firstfruit, wife.

Rev 14:2  And I heard a 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:

We have seen that the voice from heaven as the voice of a great thunder, and the voice of many waters is simply the Word of God, and that the great thunder signifies the judgment that comes with the fiery lightning which produces that thunder and its accompanying hail. We have also seen that the thunder of God signifies the judgment of our sinful flesh, and that the hail which accompanies that thunder signifies the fiery truths of the Words and doctrines of Christ which “shall wipe away the refuge of lies.” We have seen that “the refuge of lies” signifies the lying false doctrines of Babylon in which we thrive before God’s thunderous Word comes to us and judges us.

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

We saw that the “harpers harping with their harps” signify the the Lord’s elect, and are the same as the four beasts and the four and twenty elders, who also all have harps and sing the same new song just as these 144,000.

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Rev 5:9  And they [the four beast and the four and twenty elders] sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

Rev 14:3  And they sung 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.

Rev 14:3  And they sung 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

We have seen that the new song sung by the 144,000, can only be sung by the 144,000, and yet the harps which John hears here with the 144,000, and the fact that both the 144,000 and the four beasts and the four and twenty elders, all sing this same “new song”, and both have the same harps and are both “redeemed from the earth”, proves that these two symbols, like Pharaoh’s dreams, both signify the same thing. And that ‘same thing’ is the few chosen and faithful elect of God, who are in both cases “redeemed from the earth… from among men”.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

We have seen that those who are “not defiled with women, and are virgins” are not virgins because they have never known women, but rather they are virgins because they have overcome the name, number, mark and image of the beast. We saw that being a virgin is a matter of repentance from our own ways, and obedience and fidelity to the words and ways of our Lord. Being a spiritual ‘virgin’ is a matter of coming out of the lies and sins of Babylon and her harlot daughters, and believing and doing the things Christ tells us to do.

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as chaste virgin to Christ.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my [virgin] people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

We saw that the world will despise and reject God’s elect but that in the end no one can “lay anything to the charge of God’s elect” because, in God’s eyes they are “without guile, without blame, and without fault before the throne of God.”

Mat 12:5  Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? [“before the throne of God”].

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

These first five verses of this 14th chapter of Revelation are repeated here just before the rest of the verses in this 14th chapter for the purpose of incentivizing us to “endure to the end”, and to give us the ‘respect of the reward’ of being privileged to “follow the Lamb withersoever He goes”, and by having respect for that reward we are now able to endure the judgment that lies before us and which judgment must “first begin… at the house of God”:

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Next week, Lord willing, we will continue our study of the next six verses of Revelation 14, and we will see that the preaching of the everlasting gospel is all about the fact that “the hour of His judgment is come”, which judgment will teach the inhabitants of the world righteousness (Isa 26:8-9), and it will also produce the “worship of the maker of heaven, and earth and the sea and the fountains of water”.

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Other related posts