Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #4 of Revelation, chapter 14, and we are going to be reading Revealtion14:3-4:

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. 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 were discussing verse 3 in our last study.  We saw how the Bible pictures individuals following salvation as “singing a new song” as they begin to declare the Word of God, the Gospel.  No one is able to learn that spiritual song that God gives them (the true Gospel) except the 144,000, the elect who have the spirit of God within them.  God guides them into truth and they are very jealous of that “song,” which is the Bible; they do not add to it or subtract from it and they are careful in every manner of doctrine.

Then it goes on to say of the 144,000 (those saved during the church age), in Revelation 14:4:

These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins…

The Greek word translated as “defiled” is only found three times in the New Testament.  In one place God speaks of the conscience with this word “defiled,” but there is another place where I think the meaning is a little clearer, in Revelation 3:4:

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

Here, the white garment pictures purity and holiness.  It is that which is without sin and God’s elect are washed of all sin and He cleanses these sinners and makes them new in His sight, without spot or wrinkle.  God can use the image or picture of a garment that is fine, white linen to teach that there is no sin, or He can use a picture like “not defiled with women; for they are virgins.”  They are pure in His sight.  They are holy in His sight and He does not see any of their sins.  Their sins are gone.  The sins of a child of God are removed at the point of salvation “as far as the east is from the west.”  They are cast into the depths of the sea and the Bible says their sins will be remembered no more.  Let me read this verse, as it is really a wonderful verse.  It says in Micah 7:19:

He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 

Notice it is “all their sins,” not just most of them or 99% of them.  All the sins of all of God’s people are gone.  If you are saved and I am saved, it means that all our sins were laid upon Christ and cast into the depths of the sea; He paid for them all.  Then there was the matter of applying that atoning work to us in “time,” as we were born into the world and that was the purpose of the sending forth of the Gospel.  Its purpose was to find those elect that were predestinated to salvation and whose sins were cast upon the Lord Jesus Christ from the foundation of the world.  He died for them as the Lamb and He rose again after He made full payment for all the sin of His elect.  We know the law of “double jeopardy.”  If someone has been tried and found guilty (in the person of Christ) and the payment has been made and justice has been served, then he cannot be tried again for the same crime.  So if we have sinned, God does not want payment from us; He does not want us to offer up some sacrifice for our sin.  There is no need for that and it would be abominable to Him because there was only one acceptable sacrifice and that sacrifice was offered before the world began and that is what God looks to.  Since all the elect have now had that sacrificial atoning work of the Lord Jesus applied to their souls and since everyone to become saved has become saved, God has used His Word to apply the blood of Christ to everyone He intended to save whose names were recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Now, at this point, it is just a matter of making this manifest, as the Lord’s people go through this Day of Judgment, but there is no actual payment of sin by God’s people because that has already been done.

The Lord sees an undefiled company of His elect.  He sees purity.  He sees individuals that are “white as snow” and cleaned from all iniquity and He does not see the multitude of transgression.  So the 144,000 that had been saved and cleansed during the church age are typified as being “not defiled with women, for they are virgins.”

God moved the Apostle Paul to write in 2Corinthians 11:1:

Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 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.

It is as a woman “undefiled.”  He is saying in the spiritual realm that he wants to present them as saved people to the Lord Jesus Christ, as the bride of Christ, and since all their sins are gone, they are as a “chaste virgin.” 

In Leviticus 21, God established the law for the high priest.  It says in Leviticus 21:10:

And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;

Then it says in Leviticus 21:13:

And he shall take a wife in her virginity…

This is important because Jesus is typified by the high priest who would go into the Holy of holies once a year and offer the blood, sprinkling it on the mercy seat which covered over the Law of God.  The Law is demanding justice, demanding satisfaction and demanding death for the transgressors.  In the case of Israel, then comes the high priest with that sacrificial blood of an animal and sprinkles it on the mercy seat and it as though the Law has no more to say.  That is the picture and that is the idea that God wanted to get across in all the animal sacrifices; in the sacrifices, there was a shedding of blood and the shedding of blood satisfied the Law’s demand for justice. The Law had been broken.  The Law had been transgressed and whoever transgresses even one of God’s commandments is guilty of all and the penalty is death, but here is the offering of the sacrifice: the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.  His blood (and the life is in the blood) is offered in the place of the sinners God had determined to save, all those chosen and blessed people that were elected to salvation.  God selected them, but not based on merit or anything they had done or could ever do, but based solely upon His good pleasure.  He decided to save Jacob (“Jacob have I loved”) and He decided not to save Esau and, therefore, it is said, “Esau have I hated.”  Of course, this is the Gospel that the Bible sets forth and it is the wonderful news of God’s salvation for His people.

It says in Isaiah 62:4-5:

Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for JEHOVAH delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

In these verses, God ties marriage (a young man marrying a virgin) to the Lord Jesus Christ, the bridegroom, marrying His bride, which is presented as the chaste virgin to Christ.  The High Priest of the people must marry a virgin and God has placed His own name under His own Law, which means that God has subjected Himself to His own Laws.  It is not possible for God to disobey a Law and every Law is important.  No matter what the Law is, it teaches something, like the Law in the Book of Deuteronomy that sets the limit for a judge meting out judgment, which states that it may not exceed forty stripes.  He can give forty stripes, but no more; there is a limit to punishment and, of course, that means that God is also under that Law.  Therefore, when God, the Righteous Judge of all the earth, metes out punishment to sinners, there must be a limitation to the punishment.  Because God wrote the Law and placed Himself under His own Law, He cannot beat someone and give them “stripes” without end and without limitation.  That is one big reason (and there are many reasons) why there cannot be a place called “Hell,” where sinners are punished for ever and ever, without end.  That is what the churches teach and it is the doctrine theologians have developed and, yet, it is wrong, according to Deuteronomy 25.  It is not within the realm of Biblical possibility for God to be a Righteous Judge, but to mete out the punishment for the wicked for ever.  Yes, He can punish the wicked that knew His will with “many stripes” and others with “few stripes.”  He has allowed Himself that possibility, but He cannot punish them without end because that is contrary to the Law which He has written.

Let us go back to Revelation 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.

Let us look at the phrase: “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.”  The idea of following Christ is a familiar idea.  The Greek word translated as “follow” is found in the Gospel accounts over 70 times.  The same Greek word is found 4 times in the Book of Acts, only once in the Epistles (in 1Corinthians 1, verse 4) and seven times in the Book of Revelation.  I was surprised at this distribution within the New Testament, as I thought it would be found numerous times in the Epistles, but it was only found once.  It is found in our verse, “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.”  I will go to a couple of other verses in the Gospels, to remind us of where this word can be found.  It says in Matthew 4:19:

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

These were fisherman that became some of the Apostles.  Jesus commanded them, “Follow me,” and they did follow Him.

It says in Matthew 16:24:

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

It says in John 10:4-5:

And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

When we get away from the four Gospel accounts and the Book of Acts, the word “follow” is only used one other time, until we get to the Book of Revelation, and I think there is a very significant place where the word “follow” is found, in Revelation 19:11-15:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

I hope this “hits” you like it “hit” me.  God’s people follow the Lamb.  We follow the Lord Jesus Christ “whithersoever he goeth,” as it says in our verse in Revelation 14:4: “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.”  The Apostles were excellent examples of that.  They were fisherman and Jesus said, “Follow me,” and they put down their nets and followed Him. 

God’s people followed the Lord Jesus Christ from the nation of Israel into the New Testament church age.  God’s people followed Christ throughout the day of salvation and into the end of the church age and into the period of Great Tribulation.  The Lord’s people followed the Lamb out of the churches because the Word of God declared that we must flee Judea and go to the mountains, so God’s people followed. 

Revelation 19 is an account which describes Judgment Day and the Lord Jesus Christ is going forth to battle to make war with Satan and his forces and there is Christ and “the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”  These are the elect of God, those that had been washed of their sins and purified so that there was no sin any longer upon them.  They followed Christ into the battle of the Day of Judgment.  Of course, we have to keep in mind that this is not speaking of some future event that is far off in the future, but it is describing what took place on May 21, 2011 and ever since that day, as we have been living on the earth in the Day of Judgment.  God won the victory, but since Judgment Day is a prolonged period of time, it is still like the whole period is the battle.  And the Lord’s people follow Him.  We do not argue with God.  We do not resist the Lord Jesus Christ.  We do not say, “I will follow you, Lord, as long as there is still salvation.  I will follow you as long as what the Bible declares is to my liking.  I will follow you in this battle, but only to the point that the doctrine of the Scriptures still allow for salvation.”  That would not be following Christ, but trying to lead.  The Lord’s people follow the Lamb in whatever He says and Christ is the Word made flesh, so what the Bible says is what Christ says.  As we learn from the Bible about the “righteous judgment of God,” and as He has opened up many other important truths in the Day of Judgment, we obey and that is following Christ into the battle.