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Revelation 14:3
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3 And [kai] they sung [ado] as it were [hos] a new [kainos] song [ode] before [enopion] the throne, [thronos] and [kai] before [enopion] the four [tessares] beasts, [zoon] and [kai] the elders: [presbuteros] and [kai] no man [oudeis] could [dunamai] learn [manthano] that song [ode] but [ei me] the hundred [hekaton] and forty [tessarakonta] and four [tessares] thousand, [chilias] which [ho] were redeemed [agorazo] from [apo] the earth. [ge] KJV-Interlinear
3 And they sang 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 earth. NASB
These 144,000 are distinguished separate and apart from the masses of people who will live, and die, during the Tribulation, as they will be one of the thrusts of doctrinal teaching, especially the gospel of Christ, as it is evangelized throughout the world, and by them, masses of people will be saved.
Remember that when the Tribulation begins, the entire population of the world will be unbelievers only. All believers will disappear from the earth at the Rapture, so the world in the Tribulation starts without believers.
These 144,000 will find Christ in some way. They will either already have heard the gospel, will already have heard the various prophecies, will already be aware of the events that are associated with the end days, and so forth.
Whatever it is that will come back into their memory, even if it is only the event of the Rapture and they see firsthand that believers are indeed gone, and they were not a part of that. These 144,000 will believe in Christ and they will be hot, as it were, for doctrine, fully moved by the events that are unfolding before them.
Remember also, that in the first half of the Tribulation, one-fourth, of the worlds population will die at the hands of the anti-christs policies. There will also, be catastrophe after catastrophe. And all of these things combined, should cause any normal person to turn to Christ, or at least to God in general.
But that will not be the case. Most people will reject God more and more, and even revert to turning against believers in the harshest of fashions.
Anytime a person believes in Christ, they are also set apart from the world. No longer unbelievers, but now born again into the family of God, and distinguished from the rest of the world. And whether or not you sing or hum or just have a happy feeling, your life takes on a new song, that of salvation and eternal life.
In heaven there will be people and angels beyond counting, who will be singing that new song, and this is a picture of 144,000 people who will be living in the world, and faced with the most horrendous conditions ever in history. And yet they will remain focused on not themselves, but on their mission, which is the evangelization of the world, so that many more will be saved and snatched out of the hands of evil.
Yes, most will die, but then all believers go to heaven and have a destiny in eternity, which is far better than any unbeliever who will find himself in the Lake of Fire.
Remember too, that God did not put any of us here on earth to remain here forever. This life is just the preparatory portion for getting us ready for the next life. If it were for anything else, then your lifespan would be far longer. But we all eventually leave this world. How many folks do you know that remain alive from the earliest part of last century, or the century before that or before that? None.
Since Adam and Eve, billions, and probably trillions of people have been born and died before us. How are we any different? We are not.
Therefore, the new song.
And the new song is before who? The hosts who are in heaven. John identifies those who are in heaven, not those who are on earth.
This chapter is one of celebration and victory. The 144,000 evangelists will be successful, even though they are martyred. The world looks at success in the environment of the world – possessions, privilege, credentials, status and so forth. But those things of the world are empty, because they are temporary and disappear for everyone eventually, when people die.
But in heaven, those things of success, go on forever, and more than that, they are an integral part of ones essence. Which means that they are even more valuable, and more personal and more intimate to ones self.
And who does not learn this new song? Unbelievers.
They do not learn it, because they reject it. And they reject it because they are full of hate and arrogance and evil.
Look to Satan to see the attributes of evil. Whether terrorists, or criminals, or self righteous people, all unbelievers take, or want, or want to prevent others from having anything, including life, property, happiness, etc.
Their agenda is destruction and ruin.
And history reveals the results of their agenda. The ultimate revealing will come in the Tribulation, when humanity will literally try to kill itself off completely.
The tribulation will begin with unbelievers only. Many will eventually believe in Christ, and from the earth they came (unbeliever status), and into a new song they will go (salvation, eternal life, and destiny beyond imagination).
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