Revelation 14:1 indicates that the one hundred forty-four thousand have the name of the Lamb and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. They are in contrast to those who worship the beast and have the name of the beast written on their foreheads (13:16-17). That these early overcomers have the name of the Lamb and the name of the Father written on their foreheads signifies that they are one with the Lamb and with the Father and that they belong to the Lamb and to the Father. It also signifies that the overcomers have become the same as the Lamb and the Father. This corresponds with Revelation 3:12, which says that the Lord Jesus will write His new name upon the overcomer. This indicates that eventually the overcomers become Christ. Likewise, the overcomers’ bearing the name of Christ, the Lamb, and His Father implies the union and mingling of the redeeming Triune God and His redeemed people. This is exceedingly profound.
Revelation 14:4 goes on to say, “These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He may go. These were purchased from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.” The firstfruits are the faithful followers of the Lamb. It is not that the Lamb follows us but that we follow Him wherever He goes. The overcomers’ following the Lamb wherever He may go indicates that they constantly enjoy and experience Him. They follow Jesus and are not defiled by the earthly things. We all must learn the lesson of following Him wherever He goes.
Revelation 14 does not say that the firstfruits will be raptured. This is because these overcomers followed the Lamb all the time. Because they were always with the Lamb, having followed the Lamb wherever He went, they are seen in Revelation 14 standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion. Because they are already in the Lord’s presence, the rapture will not come as a surprise to them. They are living in the heavens today, and they will be standing with the Lamb in the heavens on Mount Zion in the future.
The condition for growing quickly to be one of the firstfruits is to follow the Lamb. Wherever He goes, we follow Him, and by following Him we grow more quickly. Then we will be the firstfruits.
These one hundred forty-four thousand as the firstfruits have grown unto maturity ahead of others. Their faster ripening is the result of their receiving the most supply from the Lord. By following the Lamb “wherever He may go,” this supply has been their portion. Some of us are satisfied with the supply that we receive from the meetings. Apart from the meetings, when we are at home, we may not seek any supply. Of course, the supply from the meetings is better than nothing. But there are some who are continually with the Lord, following Him all day and every day, and these receive a greater supply. Wherever they are and whatever their situation may be, they grow. This implies that the Lamb whom they follow is ministering the life supply to them.
The principle in becoming the firstfruits is that we must follow the Lamb wherever He goes. However, following the Lamb is not an outward matter, as though we follow the Lamb as our example. It is not that since the Lamb was patient and humble, we must imitate His patience and humility, or that because the Lamb was absolutely for God, we must also be absolutely for Him. This is a natural understanding of following the Lamb. If the element of the Lamb does not get into us, we will be unable to follow Him. Unless we are lambs, it is impossible to follow the Lamb. To follow the Lamb means to allow the Lamb to get into us. When the element of the Lamb is constituted into our being, we will actually be a part of the Lamb. We will be unable to be what we were before because we have been transformed. Our transformed being is the firstfruit. We need to allow the element of Christ to saturate and permeate our being, constituting us with this element. Although we need to pray more, if we simply pray in a common way, we will not be supplied. We need to constantly be open to the Lord. We must permit the element of Christ, the divine constituent of Christ, to work in us continually to saturate and permeate our whole being.
Revelation 14:4 is a strong verse related to growing in Christ as a lamb. Those who are faithful follow the Lamb wherever He goes. To follow Christ as the Lamb is to raise Him as a lamb for a burnt offering. We may raise Christ as a lamb in our daily life by living Him as the Lamb.
The lamb typifies Christ as the One who is obedient to God. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was absolutely obedient to God. Philippians 2:8 says that He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Christ’s death on the cross was the highest expression of His obedience. In the words of Romans 5:18 and 19, in the sight of God that obedience is regarded as a righteous act. The “one righteous act” is in particular ascribed to that single act of Christ in which He was obedient to God unto the death of the cross.
As a lamb, Christ was not only obedient to God but also meek before man. Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed, and it was He who was afflicted, / Yet He did not open His mouth; / Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter / And like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers, / So He did not open His mouth.” According to the Bible, to be meek means to not resist or fight against what happens to us. Rather, it is to suffer attack and oppression. Meekness is a characteristic of lambs. Unlike dogs and cats, which fight back, lambs do not resist. The four Gospels reveal that Christ was obedient and also meek.
We should live Christ by taking Him as the Lamb. To live by Him as the Lamb means that in so many things we take Him as the One who is obedient to God. We have this One as our obedient life, even as our obedience to God, and He lives in us a life of obedience. Actually, it is not we who are obedient; it is Christ who is the obedient One living in us, Christ the Lamb by whom we live. Eventually, we will raise Christ as a flock of lambs. This does not mean, of course, that there is more than one Christ. Christ is uniquely one, but in our experience we may have Him in many ways.
In Exodus 29 the lamb is not for propitiation; rather, the lamb is a burnt offering as food for God. It was offered to God for Him to eat. Many Christians have never heard that Christ may be offered not only for propitiation but also as food for God’s eating. For this reason, Exodus 29 does not mention blood with respect to the lambs. The blood is for redeeming, for propitiation, and for atonement; it is not for eating. But the lambs offered as the burnt offering were wholly for God to eat (vv. 38-42).
God eats His food with fire. When God comes to eat the food that we have prepared for Him, He will eat it by His holy, consuming fire. The way to raise Christ as a lamb for a burnt offering is for the whole lamb to be burned. This means that it is absolutely for God. No part of the lamb of the burnt offering was for the offerer or for the priests. The lamb was God’s food and was entirely for His eating. We need to live by Christ as the Lamb, as the One obedient to God and meek before man. Then in the meetings we will have Christ as many lambs to offer to God as food for His satisfaction.