The first thing we learn is that when Christ returns, not one single one of the elect will be missing. The hundred and forty-four thousand will be complete and perfectly made up. They had been sealed before the trumpets of warning are sounded as described in chapter 7. Those judgments included the permission given to the devil to persecute the church, and to the beast to establish his kingdom, and to the false prophet to perform miracles to persuade the world to trust in the beast. In spite of all these assaults, the number of those chosen by God and kept safe by him has not changed. God does not suffer casualties among his people. Christ does not go to war with the powers of darkness only to enjoy partial success. He is the general who does not lose any of his troops. There are several occasions in the Old Testament where Israel defeated her enemies without sustaining even a single loss herself. This is most obvious on those occasions when the Lord defeated Israel’s enemies without them even needing to fight, as with Jericho or under Gideon. How much more shall Christ in his battle with the devil, take care of every one of his own. Though they lose their lives, they have lost nothing for they win their souls. Here they are again at the end of time when history has run its course and the plan of God has been fully implemented. None of the elect is missing; none will be lost. All will be redeemed, all the people who have his Father’s name written in their foreheads. God’s seal is effective and is our security.
There is another reality beside the depressing scene of this world where the devil seems to make such headway and to suppress and even to finally overcome the visible church. That reality was always there and is now opened up to us. Faith sees it even before the end of the world when Christ shall appear. He keeps us also from the devil who vastly out-classes us in fighting ability. His ferocity against us is limited by God so that he can never do all that he wants to do. He boasts that he will bring us down and force us to return to his service, but he does not have as much power as he claims. God also keeps us from our own weakness. He is the author of our faith and the finisher of it. Faith is such an alien thing to the natural man and it is a miracle of grace that it appears in any heart. But it is a further miracle that it remains there throughout the Christian life. God guarantees this. He helps us to guard that which has been deposited in us.
The 144,000 stand on Mount Zion. This is the only verse in the book of Revelation in which Mount Zion is mentioned. Revelation is a book which could not exist on its own. It needs the rest of the Bible to shed light on its meaning and it assumes the rest of the Bible. Mount Zion is the term used by the prophets to describe the New Testament church. Hebrews 12:22 explains that we have come to Mount Zion which, in contrast to Mount Sinai which burned with fire, is a place that represents the grace of God and his willingness to receive sinners. The elect are therefore found standing on Mount Zion. They are the whole reason the Son of God came down to earth. His sufferings are behind him; he now experiences the joy that was set before him.