From Generation Word’s Monday Night Bible Study through Revelation
Mount Zion & 144,000 (Revelation 14:1)

Revelation 14:1: “There before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000 who had his name and his father’s name written on their foreheads.”

The location of Mount Zion could be in the earthly city of Jerusalem (“David captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David”) or in heaven (“you have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem”, Heb.12:22). This must be determined from the context.

We know that the Lamb is Jesus, the 144,000 are the 12,000 from the 12 tribes in Revelation 7. The names on their foreheads is the seal given at the beginning of the tribulation.

The two questions we ask here are:
1) Where is Mount Zion’s location?
2) When does this happen?

Scripture determines the place & time Jesus meets the 144,000 on Zion.

3,000 years ago Psalm 2:12 showed God warning the rulers of the earth that his Anointed Ruler would rule their nations in the future. He says, “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” This tells of the inevitable future when the Anointed One (Jesus) rules the earth from Mt. Zion.

Great verses in Isaiah 24:21-23 refer to this time and this location. “In that day. . .the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before its elders, gloriously.” The time is the reign of the Lord (the Lamb). The location is Mount Zion and it says it is “in Jerusalem.” The “elders” refer to the 144,000 of Revelation 14:1 that are with Jesus on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

The 144,000 were sealed and protected during the 7 year tribulation. The 144,000 are a distinct group that differ from the multitudes that will be martyred during the tribulation.

Joel 2:32-3:1 says, “. . .on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance as the Lord has said among the survivors whom the Lord calls.” Mount Zion is in Jerusalem where Jesus Christ will stand after his return to the earth and his slaughter at Armageddon. The 144,000 are those that bore testimony to the world and against the antichrist for seven years. The 144,000 will meet the Lord in Jerusalem at the end of the 7 years and usher in the Millennial reign of Christ.

According to Zechariah 14:4-10, Jerusalem and Mt. Zion will become a mountain as a result of the earthquake that splits the Mount of Olives in half when Jesus returns. “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives . . .the Mount of Olives will be split in two . . . Jerusalem will be raised up.” Ezekiel saw this elevated city of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 40:2, “God. . .set me on a very high mountain on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city.” The temple was on that mountain. Isaiah 2:2 says, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills.”