Are you referring to the gospel coalition article that I linked? There is no need for secret knowledge..... The article makes it clear that the reference in Revelation 14:4 is not referring to literal virginity so the 144,000 certainly does include all the Jewish patriarchs and the apostles who were married and had children. As Robert Mounce wrote in his commentary, the setting is Mount Zion from above and the reference is to all the faithful who bear the Name of the.Lamb and the Father on their foreheads which is a clear contrast to the previous chapter reference to the beast and those sealed with the mark of the beast on their foreheads. Hence two groups are being differentiated - those who choose to follow the lies of the devil and those who are the redeemed who sing the great song of redemption. The 144000 "...are to be taken as the entire body of the redeemed.." (Mounce, pp267-8).
The allusion to not being defiled by women is not that they are literally virgins but t is used to describe freedom from idolatry and faithfulness to the Lord. This is a common motif in the old testament - Israel is described as the virgin of Israel (Jer 18:13; Amos 5:2) or the virgin daughter of Zion (2 Kings 19:20; Lam. 2:13) which is particularly applicable to Rev 14:4 since the 144000 are depicted to be on Mount Zion! Virginity here is contrasted against harlotry that is defined not as having had sex with the opposite gender but as unfaithfulness to the covenant wth the Lord that Israel had (Jer 3:6; Hos 3:5).
In the New Testament Jesus had also used this same allusion in His parable of the ten virgins who await the bridegroom in Matthew 25:1-13 which is particularly pertinent here as He is the Bridegroom and in Rev 14 He is with His people who had waited in readiness for Him throughout the different ages of salvation history. The Apostle Paul also took up the same imagery in 2 Cor 11:2 - clearly Paul did not mean that the Corinthian believers
were all celibate but he defined his mission as presenting them as a pure virgin to Christ. This is precisely why the Church is alluded to as the bride of Christ in the new testament and in rev 21:9 who have remained faithful and undefiled from the world system polluted by the beast. Harlotry and fornication are allusions to unfaithfulness to the Lord and idolatry (17:2). Thus the church is to be presented as a pure bride to the Lord when He returns.
There is more in rev 14:4 - for instance the ref to following the Lamb wherever he goes is a clear allusion to discipleship and the commands of Jesus in Mark 8:54 and others for His disciples to follow Him. Which is yet again another indication that the 144000 are referring to the redeemed.
For more please see Mounce pp270-1 and other good commentaries and articles. Unfortunately there are many writers and preachers who in their sincerity interpret Revelation without adequately taking into account the genre and the purpose of the book and what the rest of Scriptures say and they end up inadvertently imposing an unnatural system onto the Bible.
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