“And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with him an
hundred forty and four thousand; having his Father’s name written in their
foreheads.—And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters.”
Please turn back now to the beginning of the subject 19th page, you will
see it is the Father’s name written in their foreheads—i. e., they are now
sealed—got through with their patient waiting time, and are marked with
the name of God; see iii: 10-12. In the 2d verse is the voice; this I
understand is God speaking after the saints are sealed, or Christ and the
saints; see i: 15, and xix: 6, as presented on the 96th page.
“And they sung as it were a new song before the throne—no man could sing
that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed
from the earth.” [Margin says, _bought_.] Now mark! these were bought from
the earth, and they sung a song that no man could learn. This must have
been one which they had learned in their united experience, something like
the song of Moses on the banks of deliverance from the Egyptians. No other
people could have sung the song because it was the song of their
deliverance, for as I have stated these first five verses show this
144,000 in their immortal state, “redeemed from the earth,” (not out of
it.) “These are they which were not defiled with women.” “The woman which
thou sawest is the great city which reigneth over the kings of the
earth.”—xvii: 18, called Babylon, (the nominal churches). These, then,
were the same ones that had come out of the churches; see 8-11 verses, and
xv: 2 verse. If the other view is insisted upon, then _all_ of this
144,000 must be men and the women would have no part in that number—no
matter where they are said to come from—“_for they are virgins_.” Being
clear of the harlot mother and her children; and of those in the parable
of the ten virgins that went into the marriage of the Bridegroom makes
them emphatically so. “_These are they which follow the lamb whithersoever
he goeth._” The above shows that they did follow him, and John shows that
they do now in their glorified state; see xix chapter, 14th verse.
“_These_ WERE _redeemed from among men being the first fruits unto God and
to the lamb_.”—4th verse. Redeemed or bought from among men (not from
among the dead) nor from out of the earth, but from “among men and from
the earth.” The first fruits cannot be until the harvest, and that cannot
be until Jesus comes to reap it with his sharp sickle, see 14th and 15th
verses; remember too, that the description John is here giving, is the
144,000 with Jesus, after he has reaped the harvest of the earth.
See how perfectly it harmonizes with the type of Jesus being the first
fruits, to God, or handful of the _first_ harvest of barley to represent
his resurrection; since which time he has been laboring with his Father
for this very harvest. To have the figure harmonize the fruit must come at
the harvest time, not the seed time. This is the first fruits unto God and
to the Lamb conjointly. The dead saints are no where that I know of
represented as fruits, before the resurrection. This then is the
harmonious view; but we will look at the view which the Bible Advocate and
others, have shown, that the 144,000 shown here, were the saints that came
out of their graves after the resurrection.—Matt. xxvii: 52, 53; and we
are told that “Eph. iv: 8, is to the point.” “When he ascended upon high
he led captivity captive”—[Margin says, a _multitude of captives_,] but
this marginal reading so much relied on for their proof by the mark thus
(||,) shows it to be the view of the bible translators. Now to get the
clear view, turn to the 68th Ps. 18th verse, from where Paul quoted. Here
the marginal reading marked thus [Heb.] shows it to be the original, the
inspired word. Now let us read—“Thou hast led captivity captive—thou hast
received gifts in _the man_, (in Jesus) yea, for the rebellious also.”
This changes the meaning, and would make this multitude of captives
rebellious saints. Surely Jesus took no such present as this to his
Father; therefore there will be no more necessity for straining the plain
text in Cor. xv: 20, 23. This text is clear, emphatic, and repeated; which
distinctly teaches Christ the first fruits of them that slept;
_afterwards_ they that are Christ’s at his coming, when both the dead and
living will be the first fruits to God and the lamb conjointly. To
harmonize the type, the saints at Christ’s second coming are the next or
second fruits to God at the second or last harvest in the 7th month, the
revolution, or ingathering of the year, the feast of Tabernacles. Another
writer J. Porter, states, that Jesus took these saints that arose at
Jerusalem right up to his Father, and then received his power, and
returned the same day; and he might also have added, travelled with the
two to Emmaus, seven and a half miles; and as others will have it, was
back time enough to keep the whole day with his disciples, for the first
Sabbath after his resurrection. If we really want the truth, God will give
it to us, but not by rejecting other truths.
Now let us see whether the description of character given in these five
verses of the 144,000, will apply to the saints that arose in Jerusalem at
the resurrection. In the first place, these were never numbered.
Second—The record is entirely silent about their being united in their
trials and experience, to sing a peculiar song of their own. Third—These
were not redeemed from among men, on the earth, but out from among the
dead. Fourth,—They could not be the first fruit before the harvest, for
Paul says, “Christ the first fruits, _afterwards_ they that are Christ’s
at his coming,” (second coming,) not them that were his at his going away
at his first advent,—first harvest. That would be a clear perversion of
the text; we must wait for the second harvest for the next fruit, 7th
month. Fifth—To say that they were virgins, and not defiled with women, is
only admitting what we know nothing about. Sixth—John saw the messenger
that sealed, and says the number was 144,000; all this, was sixty years
after what transpired at Jerusalem. This is out of the limits of his
vision; and what will, and does forever, destroy this erroneous view, is,
that the four winds are to be holden by the four Angel nations, until the
whole number were sealed, and they have not let go yet; unless it can be
proved that it was done 1800 years ago. That old Jerusalem was called a
holy place; see Exo ix: 8; Acts vi: 13; also the testimony of Jesus, Matt.
xxiv: 15. Lastly—If it is objected that these are the living saints to be
redeemed at the second advent, then we fail to find them described in this
vision, which would destroy the chain of wonders which he saw respecting
the living and the dead, with the varied and changing scenes through which
they were continually passing. Now, how simple, plain, and harmonious
these verses appear when we apply them down at the end of all things,
where they were seen in this vision, and where they most certainly belong.
The 5th verse shows them without fault before the throne, clearly in their
redeemed and immortal state. Here then is the true description of their
characters. In the next seven verses from 6 to 13, John describes