Revelation 4:4
Surrounding the throne I saw twenty-four other thrones on which twenty-foiur elders* sat, dressed in white garments and with gold crowns on their heads.
Footnote: Twenty-four elders: these represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles.
Revelation 6:9
When he broke open the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slaightered because of the witness they bore to the word of God.
Revelation 7:9
After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
Revelation 7:13-17
Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and there did they come from?”
I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.”
He aid to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
“For this reason they stand before God’s throne and worship him day and night in the temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat stike them. For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them, and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 14:1, 3-5
Then I looked and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads....They were singing [what seemed to be] a new hymn before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn this hymn except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been ransomed from the earth. These are they who were not defiled with women; they are virgins* and these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been ransomed as the firstfruits of the human race for God and the Lamb. On their lips no deceit* has been found; they are unblemished.*
Footnotes: virgins: metaphorically, because they never indulged in any idolatrous practices, which are considered in the Old Testament ot be adultery and fornication. Parallel passages indiate that they 144,000 whose foreheads are sealed represent all Christian people.
No deceit: because they did not deny Christ or do homage to the beast. Lying is chracteristic of the opponents of Christ, but the Suffering Servant spoke no falsehood.
Unblemished: a cultic term taken from the vocabulary of sacrificial ritual.
Revelation 19:1
...I head what sounded like the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven....
Revelation 19:4-6
The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, “Amen. Alleluia.”
A voice coming from the throne said:
“Praise our God, all you his servants, [and] you who revere him, small and great.”
Then I heard something like the sound of a great multitude or the sound of rushing water or mighty peals of thunder, as they said: “Alleluia!”....
Revelation 20:4-5
Then I saw thrones; those who sat on them were entrusted with judgment. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image nor had accepted the mark on their foreheads or hands. They came to life and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were over.
“Footnotes: virgins: metaphorically, because they never indulged in any idolatrous practices, which are considered in the Old Testament ot be adultery and fornication. Parallel passages indiate that they 144,000 whose foreheads are sealed represent all Christian people.”
Then are the “great multitude” not Christian also? The 144,000 group are said to sing a new song which no one else could sing and are called the “first fruits” of those ransomed by Christ’s sacrifice.