Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

14:1
14
THE KING ON MOUNT ZION
St. John has just revealed the evil triad of enemies
facing the early Church: the Dragon, the Sea Beast,
and the Land Beast. He has made it clear that these
enemies are implacable, that the conflict with them
will require faithfulness unto death. The question again
naturally arises: Will the Church survive such an allout
attack? In this closing section of the fourth major
division of his prophecy, therefore, John again addresses
these fears of his audience. The action of the book
comes to a halt as the apostle gives comfort and
provides reasons for confidence in the coming victory
of the Church over all her opposition. “The revelation
of the three great foes, the dragon, the beast from the
sea, and the beast from the land, is followed
immediately by a sevenfold disclosure of victory and
judgment in the heavens. The purpose of these visions
and voices from heaven is obviously to show that the
powers of the heavens are mightier than those of the
infernal serpent and his associates. The trinity of
hostile forces, armed with many lying wonders, might
seem from a human point of view invincible. But John,
like the young servant of Elisha when confronted with
the horses and chariots and immense host of the king of
Syria, is here admonished that they which are with the
persecuted Church are more and mightier than they
which make war against her (comp. 2 Kings 6:15-17).” 1
The Lamb with His Fair Army (14:1-5)
1 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.
2 And I heard a Voice from heaven, like the sound of many
waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the Voice
which I heard was like harpists playing on their harps.
3 And they sing a New Song before the Throne and before
the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could
learn the Song except the one hundred and forty-four
thousand who had been purchased from the Land.
4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with
women, for they are chaste men. These are the ones who
follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been
purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to
the Lamb.
5 And no lie was found in their mouth, for they are
blameless.
1 We are back in Psalm 2 again: St. John has shown us
the heathen raging against the Lord and against His
Christ, rebelling against the authority of the Godhead;
and now the Lord says: “But as for Me, I have installed
My King upon Zion, My holy mountain,” guaranteeing
that the nations will submit to His all-embracing rule.
In opposition to the Beasts rising from Sea and Land,
the Lamb is standing (cf. 5:6) on Mount Zion, already
enthroned as King of kings, the Ruler of all nations.
The Mountain-imagery of the Bible is clearly a
reference to the original Holy Mountain, the location
of the Garden of Eden (Ezek. 28:13-14). The prophetic
promises of the restoration of the Mountain to the
earth (Isa. 2:2-4; Dan. 2:32-35, 44-45; Mic. 4:1-4), as
well as the numerous redemptive activities on mountains
(Gen. 22:2; Ex. 19:16-19; 2 Chron. 3:1; Matt.
28:16-20), signified the fulfillment and consummation
of Paradise through the Messiah’s atonement, when
God’s Kingdom would fill the earth (Isa. 11:9). 2 The
Lamb standing on the Mountain is a symbol of Christ’s
victory over all His enemies, with His people restored
to Eden and fellowship with God. The fact that the
Mountain is Zion (mentioned seven times in the New
Testament: Matt. 21:5; John 12:15; Rom. 9:33; 11:26;
Heb. 12:22; 1 Pet. 2:6) serves to highlight this victory,
for Zion is the special “holy mountain” of Jerusalem,
the symbol of God’s presence with His people and His
victorious reign over the earth, when all kingdoms are
gathered together to serve Him in the New Covenant
(cf. Ps. 9:1-20; 14:7; 20:1-2; 48:1-14; 69:35; 87:1-3;
99:1-9; 102:13-22; Isa. 24:21-23; 51-52; 59:16-20; Jer.
31:10-37; Zech. 9:9-17). 3
The Lamb is thus not alone on Zion, for his people
share in His victory. They are there with Him, the one
hundred and forty-four thousand, the Remnant of
Israel ordered for battle according to the thousands of
her tribes (see on 7:4-8). We saw that the Mark of the
Beast (13:16-17) was the parody of the divine sealing of
the true Israel (7:2-8); now St. John reminds us of the
original sealing, the mark of God’s ownership and
protection of His obedient people. That the 144,000
are regarded as members of the Church, and not
ultimately as a separate category of ethnic Israelites, is
underscored by John’s combination of previous imagery.
We were told before that the 144,000 are sealed on
their foreheads (7:3), while it is all Christ’s overcomers
who have His name and the name of His Father
written on their foreheads (3:12). The 144,000,
1. Milton Terry, Biblical Apocalyptic: A Study of the Most Notable Revelations of
God and of Christ in the Canonical Scriptures (New York: Eaton and Mains,
1898), p. 402.
2. See David Chilton, Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion (Ft.
Worth, TX: Dominion Press, 1985), pp. 29-32.
3. Once we understand that the Garden of Eden was on a mountain, we can
more easily understand the basis for the amazing agreement among the
mythologies of the different cultures. All cultures originated from the
dispersal at Mount Ararat, and later at Babel; and they took with them the
memories of the original Paradise. Thus, in every ancient culture, there are
myths of the dwelling-place of God on the Cosmic Mountain (e.g., Mount
Olympus), and of man’s expulsion from Paradise, and his attempts to return
(e.g., the almost universal preoccupation with building tower-gardens,
pyramids, and mounds; cf. the “groves” and “high places” of apostate Israel).
See R. J. Rushdoony, The One and the Many: Studies in the Philosophy of Order
and Ultimacy (Tyler, TX: Thoburn Press, [1971] 1978), pp. 36-53; cf. Mircea
Eliade, The Myth of the Eternal Return: or, Cosmos and History (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1954, 1971), pp. 12-17.
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