Revelation 14:1

And with him one hundred forty-four thousand. This finite number should be understood as representing an infinite number, apt for the mystery's secret meaning, and fitting for the examination of virgins, who love God with all their heart, soul, and mind (Matthew XXII), and who …

Having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. He shows the contrast with the mark on the forehead of the beast's followers, saying that God and Christ are written on the foreheads of the Church.

How Christ appears: as a Lamb standing upon mount Zion. Mount Zion is the gospel church. Christ is with his church and in the midst of her in all her troubles, and therefore she is not consumed.

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb,....

As the 144,000 of Israel are "the first-fruits" (Re 14:4), so "the harvest" (Re 14:15) is the general assembly of Gentile saints to be translated by Christ as His first act in assuming His kingdom, prior to His judgment (Re 16:17-21, the last seven vials) on the Antichristian world, in executing which His saints shall share.

THE SCENE of this marvellous and magnificent vision is laid upon Mount Sion; by which we are to understand, not Mount Sion upon earth, but Mount Sion which is above, “Jerusalem, the mother of us all.” To the Hebrew mind Mount Sion was a type of heaven, and very justly so. Among all the mountains of the earth none was to be found so famous as Sion. It was there that patriarch Abraham drew his knife to slay his son; it was there, too, in commemoration of that great triumph of faith, Solomon built a majestic temple, “beautiful for situation and the joy of the whole earth.” That Mount Sion was the centre of all the devotions of the Jews. “Up to her courts, with joys unknown, The sacred tribes repaired.” Between the wings of the cherubim Jehovah dwelt; on the one altar there all the sacrifices were offered to high heaven. They loved Mount Sion, and often did they sing, when they drew nigh to her, in their annual pilgrimages, “How amiable are thy tabernacles O Lord God of hosts, my King and my God!” Sion is now desolate; she hath been ravished by the enemy; she hath been utterly destroyed; her vail hath been rent asunder, and the virgin daughter of Sion is now sitting in sackcloth and ashes; but, nevertheless, to the Jewish mind it must ever, in its ancient state, remain the best and sweetest type of heaven.

A Lamb stood on the mount Sion - This represents Jesus Christ in his sacrificial office; mount Sion was a type of the Christian Church. And with him a hundred forty and four thousand - Representing those who were converted to Christianity from among the Jews. See Rev 7:4. His Father’s name written in their foreheads - They were professedly, openly, and practically, the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. Different sects of idolaters have the peculiar mark of their god on their foreheads. This is practised in the east to the present day, and the mark is called the sectarial mark. Between eighty and ninety different figures are found on the foreheads of different Hindoo deities and their followers. Almost every MS. of importance, as well as most of the versions and many of the fathers, read this clause thus: Having His Name and his Father’s name written upon their foreheads. This is undoubtedly the true reading, and is properly received by Griesbach into the text.

And I looked - My attention was drawn to a new vision. The eye was turned away from the beast and his image to the heavenly world - the Mount Zion above. And, lo, a Lamb - See the notes on Rev 5:6. Stood on the mount Zion - That is, in heaven. See the notes on Heb 12: