The Spotless Ones — Andrew Forrest

REVELATION 14:1-5

Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, 3 and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 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.

God’s people—the church—are portrayed in John’s vision like a Messianic army. Note the detail about how they refrain from sex—just like David’s army in the Old Testament, they are a holy army. They have spiritual power and are facing off against the beast and his lies.

Here, they are gathered on Mount Zion—the traditional center of God’s power and presence in the Old Testament—as they make their stand against the beast.

They fight by their commitment to the truth; just like the sacrificial lambs in the Old Testament, they are “blameless” (literally, “spotless”).