3 characteristics of the 144,000: they’re not defiled with women i.e. virgins 🤯, they follow the Lamb wherever He goes, and no deceit is found in their mouth (Rev 14:1-5).
Revelation 14:4-5 is a description of the 144,000 that aligns with God’s last day people, who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12). Although they experienced the fullness of Satan’s wrath in the final crisis, they have remained firm because of their close relationship with Jesus. 🙏🏾
Sexual immorality is a symbol of unfaithfulness to God. A woman in Revelation however refers to a type of Church. This could either be a pure Church built fundamentally on God’s undefiled truth (2 Cor 11:2; Rev 12:1-6, 13-17), or an impure contaminated church built on deceit and perversions of God’s truth (Jer 3:6-9).
Revelation 17:5 talks about the end-time harlot Babylon and her daughters, with whom all the people of the world will commit fornication (see also Rev. 18:3). This means the truth perversions of Babylon (the mother harlot/church) is carried on by the daughter harlots (other churches practicing different elements of the mother’s untruths). The 144,000 will however remain loyal to Christ and resist the defiling relationships with Babylon and the apostate churches. The 144,000 “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rev. 14:4, NKJV).💡
The 144,000 are further described as the ones who have been “redeemed from among men” as “first-fruits to God and to the Lamb” (Rev. 14:4, NKJV). In ancient Israel, the first-fruits were the best fruits of the harvest offered to God (Num. 18:12). The word “first-fruits” can refer to saved people as distinct from those in the world (James 1:18), but in Revelation the 144,000 are clearly a special group because they will be translated without seeing death (1 Cor. 15:50-52) i.e. the righteous living at Christ’s return! Thus, they are the first-fruits of the larger harvest of the saved through all the ages (see Rev. 14:14-16) i.e. the “great multitude”. 🙌🏾😁
Source reference: SDA 1Q19 Quarterly
The Langford Files 