14:1 looked. Before the resumption of his account of the chronological events of the successive judgments, John is given another parenthetical insight to the background of these events. In this case, he is translated forward in time to the end of the tribulation period, when the triumphant Lamb will assemble with His 144,000 chosen Israelites on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. It is even possible that this will be the same assembly (or a precursive type thereof) as described in Hebrews 12:22-23. With the beast setting out to kill all Jews and all Christians, it is good for the Lord to give John (and us) a quick foretaste of the outcome of such Satanic fury. The Lamb indeed not only has the right to open the great title deed, but also the power to expel all the false pretenders to His rule, and all those redeemed by His blood will eventually stand with Him in triumph on Mt. Zion.

14:1 an hundred forty and four thousand. The 144,000 are not the “chosen few” (as some cults claim) or any others except the sealed Israelites, 12,000 from each tribe, as listed in Revelation 7:4-8. The seal placed in their foreheads, here revealed to have been simply the name of the heavenly Father, will indeed preserve them safe through all the judgments and persecutions of the tribulation period as they carry out their ministry of witness and teaching during those terrible years.