REVELATION 14Revelation of Jesus | Revelation of JohnT: REVELATION 14:1-2014:1 CLIMAX: THE LAMB WITH THE 144,000THE FATHER’S NAME ON THEIR FOREHEADS14:2-5 REPRESENTATIVES OF THE LAMB14:6 THE FIRST ANGELTHE DAILY SACRIFICE14:7 FEAR GOD AND GIVE GLORY TO HIMTHE HOUR OF HIS JUDGMENTWHEN IN HISTORY?DIAGRAMS: DANIEL 7 AND 8, 70 WEEKS, 2300 DAYSWHO IS BEING JUDGED, AND WHY?WORSHIP THE CREATORDID JESUS ESTABLISH SUNDAY?14:8 THE SECOND ANGEL’S MESSAGE14:9-1 THE THIRD ANGEL’S MESSAGE14:1 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, FAITH OF JESUS14:13 MARTYRS DURING THE TIME OF TROUBLE?14:14-20 THE GREAT HARVEST

THE FATHER’S NAME ON THEIR FOREHEADS

“And I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1). Having the Father’s name written in our foreheads is much more than having our names written in the books of a church. First of all, God’s name is inseparable from His character;[1] to have the Father’s name written on their forehead means that the 144,000 reflect His character. God’s name also means His presence; from the Old Testament temple worship we learn that wherever God’s name is, His presence is there.[2] The earthly temples are long gone, but now God’s people are the temple of God: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God” (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19). The Father’s name written on the foreheads of the 144,000 means that He, through the Holy Spirit, is living in them and shining out of them.

God’s name on the forehead has a purpose: to reveal Him to those who do not know Him. By redeeming the 144,000 as “firstfruits” God declares Himself to the world. This is why His name is “in their foreheads,” the most visible part of of the body. God's people define His name to those around them: “You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like You…and who is like Your people, like Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make for Himself a name…For you have made Your people Israel Your very own people forever….So let Your name be magnified forever” (2 Samuel 7:22-26).

In Ezekiel 36 God promised a new heart and a new spirit to those who had previously profaned His name, so that through their new character His name would be glorified. “And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord’ says the Lord God, ‘when I am hallowed in you before their eyes….I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them…Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate” (Ezekiel 36:21-36). In other words, God, by making His people pure and holy, “makes for himself a name” which is “magnified” and “sanctified” in the eyes of “the nations” all around. This is what He does in and through the 144,000 at the end of time, symbolized by “having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.”

Continue to next section: 14:2-5 REPRESENTATIVES OF THE LAMB


[1] Moses heard God proclaim His own name. “The Lord...proclaimed the name of the Lord: ‘The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty…” (Exodus 34:6,7). His name is synonymous with His glory, holiness, strength, even His “jealous” desire for an exclusive love relationship with His bride. See Deuteronomy 32:3,4, Isaiah 59:19, 57:15, Psalms 54:1, Exodus 34:14.

[2] King Jehosaphat said to the children of Israel, “[We] have built you a sanctuary in it for your name…We will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple)…(2 Chronicles20:7-9). God told Moses, “You shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place, and there you shall go” (Deuteronomy 12:5,11, 14:23, 16:2). Solomon declared, “I have built a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel” and God replied, “I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually” (1 Kings 8:18-20, 9:3. See also 1 Kings 11:36, Jeremiah 3:17).