Cuz when the trumpets blowin, 24 elders surround the throne
Only 144,000 gon' get home
Only 144,000 gon' get home
Only 144,000 gon' get it baby

from Common (Ft. Cee-Lo Green) – G.O.D. (Gaining One's Definition) Lyrics on Rap Genius

Meaning

This refers to Revelation 4:1-4. It describes GODS Throne surrounded by 24 lesser thrones seated with 24 elders:
1. After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
2. At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
3. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.
4. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads crowns of gold.

The “144,000 gon' get home,” is from Revelation 14:1-5:
1. Then I looked, and 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.
2. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.
3. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
4. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.
5. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.

(Note that this from the Book of Revelation, a work of which the author identifies himself in the text as “John the Divine”; Common stated earlier in the verse that his “bloodline is one with the divine”.)

To help improve the meaning of these lyrics, visit "G.O.D. (Gaining One's Definition)" by Common (Ft. Cee-Lo Green) Lyrics and leave a comment on the lyrics box