“And I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.” Revelation 14:1, New American Standard Version.

Of the various commentaries I have read on Revelation all but one state that this 144 thousand is the same group as the 144,000 sealed by the angels in chapter 7.

Tim LaHaye in his book “Revelation Illustrated and made Plain” which has been updated and re-issued as “Revelation Unveiled” puts forth a very compelling argument for this second group to be different altogether.

For this reason the Scripture quoted above is from the New American Standard Bible. The differences between this and the King James Version and the New King James Version (which is being used throughout this study) are very minor but they do make a difference here.

For instance the King James translations render the beginning of verse one above as “Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb”; there is no “a Lamb” there is only one Lamb, “the Lamb” as in “the Lamb of God”.

This is of little consequence since the Lamb is understood to be Jesus. However the wording of the last phrase in this verse is very important to understanding who the 144 thousand are in this case.

“Having His name [Jesus], and the name of His Father, written on their foreheads” Revelation 14:1b NASB; is rendered in both King James versions as “…having His Father’s name written on [in] their foreheads” Revelation 14:1b NKJV and KJV.

The intention here is not to shake your faith in the Bible since of the variety of translations out there they contain about 5000 or more differences between them, yet none affect basic Bible doctrines.

Be encouraged to read whatever version you are comfortable with, and enjoy yourself, but if you are going to split hairs as above, then two or three different versions to cross-reference with will help.

By the way the New King James has a marginal note pointing out the differences mentioned above, so check your marginal notes they can clarify a lot of things.

An additional thought, avoid the New World Translation put out by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, this translation has been corrupted to conform to their doctrine, rather than having their doctrine conform to Scripture.

The first difference between Revelation chapters seven and fourteen is that it states in chapter seven that the 144 thousand are of the tribes of Israel, chapter fourteen makes no mention of this.

In fact chapter fourteen verse one does not say “the 144 thousand” but rather, “…with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand” indicating that we are being introduced to a group not before mentioned in the book.

With the number being the same in both cases one could easily jump to the conclusion that they are the same group. However these are not the only differences.

In chapter seven these servants of God are sealed on their foreheads, with “…the seal of the living God”. However in chapter fourteen, they have “…His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads”.

On the one hand they are sealed with the seal of God and on the other they have both the name of Jesus and His Father’s name written on their foreheads. Arguably these are considerable differences.

These are standing with Him on Mount Zion. There are two Mount Zions. The earthly Mount Zion is located in or near Jerusalem and the other is the heavenly Mount Zion.

The heavenly is spoken of in this manner.

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” Hebrews 12:22-24.

It is this Mount Zion on which the assembly is standing. The reasoning is as follows. The things being described in chapters 10 through 14 and perhaps into chapter 15 are mid-tribulation events, since Jesus will not stand upon Mount Zion on earth until after the tribulation this would have to be a vision of a heavenly event.

Yet John does not preface his statement with words like, and then I saw a sign, or a wonder, he just launches into the next prophecy. Here is how it looks when you join the end of chapter 13 with the first verse in chapter 14.

“Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion…” Revelation 13:18-14:1a.

This is evidence to be considered when deciding whether this is a vision of something that takes place on earth at the end of the tribulation, or a vision of something that actually happens in the middle of the tribulation.

One possibility is that these actually are the 144,000 Israelites who by the middle of the tribulation have been martyred and stand with Jesus in heaven.

It is possible however, that because they are sealed with the seal of God on their foreheads, they will be protected by God and survive the entire tribulation.

If this is something that happens in heaven in the middle of the tribulation, is there another explanation? The answer to that may become clear as we study the next four verses.

“And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. And they sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth.” Revelation 14:2-3.

“A voice from heaven…a new song before the throne” verses 2 and 3. Once again we have an indication that this is the Mount Zion in heaven where God’s throne is. The description of this voice is fascinating; notice, a voice, not many voices, the song is sung in such unison that the 144 thousand sound as if they are one voice.

The voice of many waters; like the constant sound of rushing water, many voices yet no one is singing out of tune, the voice of loud thunder has to be the sheer volume of the sound.

John hears “the sound of harpists playing their harps”, these folks are called harpists so it may be that there is a group of angels who have a gift for playing the harp, and it may be these who are playing the harps, not the 144 thousand.

An alternate reading of this last phrase goes this way.

“…and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.” Revelation 14:2b, New American Standard Bible.

If this latter rendering is correct, and in the context it may be, then the sound of harps gives us an idea of the beauty of the melody.

I am not being silly here, but if you love music, whether heavy metal or Beethoven, you will not want to miss heaven because when you hear the music, you will be, well, in heaven.

“And they sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the [24] elders…” Revelation 14:3a.

Once again these individuals, four living creatures and elders, are in heaven. And as for the new song the 144 thousand are the only ones who could learn this new song.

Those who hold to the 144 thousand being the Israelites mentioned in chapter seven tell us that the reason they alone could learn the song is that their experiences while suffering through the tribulation will be unique and the rewards well earned.

Whether this is the case or not, that they will earn their reward cannot be denied; few would likely volunteer for such a daunting task.

Revelation 14:1-3 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 1-15-17, updated on 8-31-22.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.