Revelation 14
14
The Lamb’s Companions.#Now follows a tender and consoling vision of the Lamb and his companions. 1Then I looked and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion,#Mount Zion: in Jerusalem, the traditional place where the true remnant, the Israel of faith, is to be gathered in the messianic reign; cf. 2 Kgs 19:30–31; Jl 3:5; Ob 17; Mi 4:6–8; Zep 3:12–20. A hundred and forty-four thousand: see note on Rev 7:4–9. His Father’s name…foreheads: in contrast to the pagans who were marked with the name or number of the beast (Rev 13:16–17). and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.#Jl 3:5; Ob 17; Acts 2:21. 2I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of rushing water or a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. 3They 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.#Ps 33:3; 96:1; 98:1; Is 42:10. 4These are they who were not defiled with women; they are virgins#Virgins: metaphorically, because they never indulged in any idolatrous practices, which are considered in the Old Testament to be adultery and fornication (Rev 2:14–15, 20–22; 17:1–6; cf. Ez 16:1–58; 23:1–49). The parallel passages (Rev 7:3; 22:4) indicate that the 144,000 whose foreheads are sealed represent all Christian people. 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.#Jer 2:2; Jas 1:18. 5On their lips no deceit#No deceit: because they did not deny Christ or do homage to the beast. Lying is characteristic of the opponents of Christ (Jn 8:44), but the Suffering Servant spoke no falsehood (Is 53:9; 1 Pt 2:22). Unblemished: a cultic term taken from the vocabulary of sacrificial ritual. has been found; they are unblemished.#Zep 3:13.
The Three Angels.#Three angels proclaim imminent judgment on the pagan world, calling all peoples to worship God the creator. Babylon (Rome) will fall, and its supporters will be tormented forever. 6Then I saw another angel flying high overhead, with everlasting good news#Everlasting good news: that God’s eternal reign is about to begin; see note on Rev 10:7. to announce to those who dwell on earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. 7He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for his time has come to sit in judgment. Worship him who made heaven and earth and sea and springs of water.”#2:10; Mt 10:28.
8A second angel followed, saying:
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great,#18:2–3; Is 21:9; Jer 51:8 / Is 51:17; Jer 25:15–17.
that made all the nations drink
the wine of her licentious passion.”#This verse anticipates the lengthy dirge over Babylon (Rome) in Rev 18:1–19:4. The oracle of Is 21:9 to Babylon is applied here.
9A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice, “Anyone who worships the beast or its image, or accepts its mark on forehead or hand, 10will also drink the wine of God’s fury,#The wine of God’s fury: image taken from Is 51:17; Jer 25:15–16; 49:12; 51:7; Ez 23:31–34. Eternal punishment in the fiery pool of burning sulfur (or “fire and brimstone”; cf. Gn 19:24) is also reserved for the Devil, the beast, and the false prophet (Rev 19:20; 20:10; 21:8). poured full strength into the cup of his wrath, and will be tormented in burning sulfur before the holy angels and before the Lamb. 11The smoke of the fire that torments them will rise forever and ever, and there will be no relief day or night for those who worship the beast or its image or accept the mark of its name.”#19:3. 12Here is what sustains the holy ones who keep God’s commandments#12:17. and their faith in Jesus.#In addition to faith in Jesus, the seer insists upon the necessity and value of works, as in Rev 2:23; 20:12–13; 22:12; cf. Mt 16:27; Rom 2:6.
13#Mt 11:28–29; 2 Thes 1:7; Heb 4:10. I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” said the Spirit, “let them find rest from their labors, for their works accompany them.”#See note on Rev 1:3. According to Jewish thought, people’s actions followed them as witnesses before the court of God.
The Harvest of the Earth.#The reaping of the harvest symbolizes the gathering of the elect in the final judgment, while the reaping and treading of the grapes symbolizes the doom of the ungodly (cf. Jl 4:12–13; Is 63:1–6) that will come in Rev 19:11–21. 14Then I looked and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud one who looked like a son of man, with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.#1:7; Dn 7:13. 15Another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap the harvest, for the time to reap has come, because the earth’s harvest is fully ripe.”#Jl 4:13; Mt 13:36–43. 16So the one who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
17Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven who also had a sharp sickle. 18Then another angel [came] from the altar,#Altar: there was only one altar in the heavenly temple; see notes above on Rev 6:9; 8:3; 11:1. [who] was in charge of the fire, and cried out in a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and cut the clusters from the earth’s vines, for its grapes are ripe.” 19So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth’s vintage. He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury.#19:15; Is 63:1–6. 20The wine press was trodden outside the city and blood poured out of the wine press to the height of a horse’s bridle for two hundred miles.#Two hundred miles: literally sixteen hundred stades. The stadion, a Greek unit of measurement, was about 607 feet in length, approximately the length of a furlong.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Ḥazon (Revelation) 14
14
1And I looked and saw a Lamb standing on Mount Tsiyon, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s Name#Some texts read: having His Name and His Father’s Name. written upon their foreheads.
2And I heard a voice out of the heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder, and I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps.
3And they sang a renewed song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the elders. And no one was able to learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth.
4They are those who were not defiled with women, for they are maidens. They are those following the Lamb wherever He leads them on. They were redeemed from among men, being first-fruits to Elohim and to the Lamb.
5And in their mouth was found no falsehood, for they are blameless before the throne of Elohim.
6And I saw another messenger flying in mid-heaven, holding the everlasting Good News to announce to those dwelling on the earth, even to every nation and tribe and tongue and people,
7saying with a loud voice, “Fear Elohim and give esteem to Him, because the hour of His judgment has come. And worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and sea, and fountains of water.”
8And another messenger followed, saying, “Baḇel is fallen, is fallen,#Isa. 21:9#See also Jer. 51:8 that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her whoring.”
9And a third messenger followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark upon his forehead or upon his hand,
10he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of Elohim, which is poured out undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he shall be tortured with fire and sulphur before the set-apart messengers and before the Lamb.
11“And the smoke of their torture goes up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night, those worshipping the beast and his image, also if anyone receives the mark of his name.”
12Here is the endurance of the set-apart ones,#See also Rev. 12:17 here are those guarding the commands of Elohim and the belief of יהושע.
13And I heard a voice out of the heaven saying to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Master from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “in order that they rest from their labours, and their works follow with them.”
14And I looked and saw a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was One like the Son of Aḏam,#Dan. 7:13 having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.
15And another messenger came out of the Dwelling Place, crying with a loud voice to the One sitting on the cloud, “Send Your sickle and reap, because the hour has come for You to reap, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.”
16And the One sitting on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.
17And another messenger came out of the Dwelling Place which is in the heaven, and he too held a sharp sickle.
18And another messenger came out from the slaughter-place, having authority over the fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him having the sharp sickle, saying, “Send your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.”
19And the messenger thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of Elohim.
20And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the bridles of the horses, for about one thousand six hundred stadia#Approx. 296 kilometres or 184 miles.
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