The parable of the virgins
In the beginning of Matthew 25 is recorded a parable of Jesus. He spoke of 10 virgins who were invited to a wedding. They were to keep watch, but only half did. Half became so drowsy that they slept rather than went to the market to buy oil for their lamps. While they were out buying oil the bridegroom came and took the 5 who were ready into the wedding feast. When the 5 who had delayed arrived they found to their dismay that they were too late. They had to leave, to go home or do whatever disgraced wedding attendants do.
The concluding sentence of Revelation 14 starts with the following phrase, “No one could learn that song except…” So the song from heaven was not one that was known on earth. It was no pop song that comes on the radio at a restaurant someplace that your kids surprise you by already knowing. It was a song that no one new. Even the 144,000 people who were clearly aligned with the Lamb of God did not know it. They, though, could learn it and it seems they did.
Others, by implication, could not learn it. Why would that even be raised as an option? I think that some will see the advantage of following the lamb. Some will be scared and weighed down by the trouble of Beast Two’s tyranny. Life under Satan’s dictatorship will be a burdensome one. Men and women the world over will probably want to escape from it, but I think will find themselves like the virgins without oil for their lamps. Any effort to get into the kingdom of God will fall flat.
Those who after being invited to a relationship with Jesus Christ and responded with “not-now, maybe later” be it from actively saying that or just not acting upon the invitation will find it too late. The 5 failed virgins heard the gatekeeper say, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.” They cannot enter. They cannot learn the song. They have skipped the boat that would have taken them from death to life and now remain outside the connection to the celestial city.
Christ followers had been hunted nigh unto extinction all over the earth. Those killed had been translated to heaven and were among those singing the new song which was coming back down to earth.
Recall the c’est la vie of Revelation 13:10? See it toward the end of this Sunday School lesson. What was the Christian’s response to be to their being hunted down and killed? Patience and endurance. Well, those who had exercised faith, believing the words of God would find themselves rescued or in heaven leading the choir of those who had gone before calling out to those who have yet to cross the river into God’s kingdom.
The character of the 144,000
4 It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, 5 and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. (Revelation 14:4-5–ESV)
A word about 144,000 men
There are several traits of the 144,000 that are brought out here and one of the first can stem from the fact that these referenced are men, only. This issue ties tightly to the course of Western Civilization, especially from the 19th Century to the present where an international movement has rolled steadily onward boosting the roles of women in intellectual and societal circles.
It is important to realize that John is reporting what he saw and in some manner men were at the forefront of what was going on. A primary feature of any discussion regarding the 144,000 is whether it is literal or figurative. It can be argued with little difficulty that the 144,000 number posed in Revelation 7 was not merely 144,000, but a much larger number. In Revelation 7 it does not identify them specifically as men, but as it clearly connects the number to the male dominated 12 Jewish tribes it would be more difficult to explain the presence of women among those numbers than to say it was mixed.
What I find when I try to interpret this is whether or not I accept it at face value or whether I try to fit it to my culture. The key issues there are: 144,000 only or where there more? Is the 144,000 strictly young, unmarried men who have never had sexual intercourse with any women? Are the 144,000 men faithfully married men who are representatives of a larger sexually pure Jehovah movement on the earth that would have also included women?
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