Chapter 14
[Revelation 14:1] -- And I looked, and behold, the Lamb stood on Mount Zion. That is, the Lord Jesus Christ, provided an example of virtue and protection to His Church, which is laboring under the burden of its struggles. By showing His body, which was both powerful enough to confound the dragon and marked with the seal, He demonstrates that the Church, shining with its usual brightness and joy in its number, should not fear having succumbed to the fury of the beast. Note that the beast stands on the sand of the sea, while the Lamb stands on Mount Zion.
[Revelation 14:1] -- And with him one hundred forty-four thousand. This finite number should be understood as representing an infinite number, apt for the mystery's secret meaning, and fitting for the examination of virgins, who love God with all their heart, soul, and mind (Matthew XXII), and who are also consecrated in integrity to Him with their bodies, which consist of four qualities. For three times three makes nine, and four times four makes sixteen. Sixteen times nine completes one hundred forty-four. Therefore, when such a perfect multitude is seen among those who are on Mount Zion with the Lamb, there should be no doubt about the rest of the members of the Church.
[Revelation 14:1] -- Having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. He shows the contrast with the mark on the forehead of the beast’s followers, saying that God and Christ are written on the foreheads of the Church.
[Revelation 14:2] -- And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters. The great voice of the saints, the great devotion of charity, which he reports hearing from heaven, while he had predicted that those who issued the voice stood on Mount Zion. To show that Mount Zion signifies the Church, raised to the joy of sublime contemplation to overcome the burdens of pressures, celebrating the struggles of their King with praise and imitation. This is truly to sing to the Lamb standing.
[Revelation 14:2] -- And the voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. Since all the saints who crucify their flesh with its vices and desires (Galatians V) are God's harpists, praising Him with the psaltery and harp (Psalm CL), how much more so are those who, with the privilege of evangelical chastity, make themselves a whole burnt offering to the Lord, uniquely denying themselves, and taking up their cross (Luke IX), following the Lamb wherever he goes (Revelation XIV)?
[Revelation 14:3] -- And they sang as it were a new song before the throne. The old song was: Blessed is he who has his seat in Zion and his household in Jerusalem. The new song is: Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear (Galatians IV). And also, The Lord says, I will give to eunuchs a place and a name better than sons and daughters, in my house and within my walls (Isaiah LVI).
[Revelation 14:3] -- And no one could learn that song except, etc. To sing the song of the Lamb uniquely is to rejoice with him forever, even in the incorruption of the flesh, above all the faithful. Although the other chosen can hear the song, they cannot sing it, for while they rejoice in the exaltation of the virgins through love, they do not rise to their rewards.
[Revelation 14:4] -- For they are virgins, etc. Blessed Augustine beautifully expounded on these matters by admonishing the virgins. "Proceed," he says, "holy sons and daughters of God, males and females, celibate and unmarried, proceed perseveringly to the end. Praise the Lord more sweetly, whom you think of more abundantly. Hope more happily in Him to whom you serve more fervently. Love more ardently Him to whom you attend more diligently. With girded loins and burning lamps, wait for the Lord when He comes from the wedding. You will bring to the wedding of the Lamb a new song, which you will sing on your harps, such as no one can sing except you. For thus did one who was beloved by the Lamb above others, who was accustomed to recline on His breast, see you in the Apocalypse, twelve times twelve thousand of the holy harpists of unblemished virginity in body, and inviolate truth in heart. Follow the Lamb, for indeed the flesh of the Lamb is also virgin. Follow Him in the virginity of heart and flesh wherever He goes. For what does it mean to follow if not to imitate? For Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you might follow in His footsteps" (1 Pet. 2).
[Revelation 14:4] -- These were purchased from among all as first fruits to God and the Lamb. From that holy and immaculate flock of the Church, as holier and purer sacrifices for the merits of their will, they are chosen by the Holy Spirit: what the Apostle says about them, not having a command from the Lord (1 Cor. 7), he beseeches them to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and pleasing to God (Rom. 12).
[Revelation 14:5] -- And in their mouth was found no lie. It is not by the merit of chastity alone that virgins are joined to the divine company, unless they have also led an immaculate life free from all contagion of sin. Tychonius interprets this vision not specifically of virgins, but generally of the whole Church, which the Apostle espoused to one husband to present as a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11), concluding thus: He did not say, "No lie was in their mouth," but "was not found." As the Apostle says: "And such were some of you, but you were washed" (1 Cor. 6). And the iniquity of the wicked shall not harm him on the day he turns from his iniquity (Ezek. 33), and he can be a virgin, and deceit not be found in his mouth. For he calls virgins those who are chaste and modest.
[Revelation 14:6] -- And I saw another angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the eternal gospel. Since he had described the uncertain and varied struggle of the church militant in the world with the dragon, it remains to show a worthy reward for each army, and to reveal what penalties follow the wicked and what rewards follow the good. The preacher, therefore, traversing through the midst of the church, bears the gospel of the eternal kingdom.
[Revelation 14:6] -- To preach to those who dwell on the earth. It is fitting that those who are lifted by a heavenly flight should also elevate earthly minds from the seat of their lethargy through preaching.
[Revelation 14:6] -- And over every nation, etc. He says, this gospel will be preached in the whole world, and then the end will come.
[Revelation 14:7] -- Fear God and give Him glory, etc. The more you look out for your salvation, he says, the more imminent the reward awaits you, which cannot be changed eternally, fearing the Lord, the creator of the world, and not the temporal tyranny of the beast.
[Revelation 14:8] -- And another angel followed, saying: Fallen, fallen is that great Babylon. He says that the ruined city of the devil has already fallen. Either in the manner of Scripture, which usually places the past for what it knows will inevitably be fulfilled. Or because the proud are then cast down by the Lord when they are puffed up by the devil, as the Psalmist says: You cast them down when they were lifted up (Ps. 73).
[Revelation 14:8] -- She has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The city of the impious, gathered from all nations, inebriates the nations, that is, her members, with the wine of error. But the city of the Lord, exercising the vineyard of Sorec, does not want to be inebriated with the wine in which is debauchery (Eph. 5), lest it be deprived of the promised denarius of life.
[Revelation 14:9] -- And the third angel: If anyone worships the beast and its image. That is, the devil, and the head of the slain calf.
[Revelation 14:9] -- And receive a mark on his forehead, etc. By saying on the forehead or on the hand, he signifies that the devil marks some by a wicked profession, and others only by their deeds.
[Revelation 14:10] -- And he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, etc. By saying, "And he also shall drink," he shows that there is another who drinks, so that he does not separate the one who, although visibly not mingling with the nations, yet under the name of Christ worships the same beast. Justly, however, those who offer the cup of the wrath of fornication are struck down by the cup of the Lord, not so that, according to Jeremiah, they may vomit out the malice of their hearts and be cleansed, but so that they perish condemned, falling into eternal death.
[Revelation 14:10] -- And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, etc. The saints reigning with the Lord can always see the punishment of the wicked, so that they may give greater thanks to their Redeemer, and sing the mercies of the Lord forever. For the torments of the wicked seen do not sadden those agreeing with the just Judge, just as the rest of Lazarus, seen buried in the flames, could not refresh the rich man.
[Revelation 14:11] -- And they have no rest day nor night, etc. They say that a lion spares a prostrate man, but this beast is fiercer than a lion, the more it is worshipped, the greater punishments it inflicts.
[Revelation 14:11] -- And if anyone receives the mark of his name. Saint Augustine interprets the beast as the impious city, its image as the simulation of piety, that is, the false appearance of Christians, and the mark as the sign of a crime, which he says is worshipped, submitted to, and consented to.
[Revelation 14:12] -- Here is the patience of the saints. Although the beast rages, yet the temporary suffering does not sadden the saints, which is to be rewarded with eternal happiness, while on the contrary, the persecutors, temporarily prideful, see themselves suffering eternal punishment with the beast.
[Revelation 14:13] -- And I heard a voice from heaven saying: Write. How beautiful is the concord of the preachers. Behold, one declares the kingdom of the Lord is coming, another says the city of the devil has fallen; one preaches the flames of the impious, another the rest of the blessed, which emits its voice both from heaven and commands it to be recorded as worthy of eternal memory. For the just rejoice because their names are written in heaven; the impious, however, are blotted out from the book of the living.
[Revelation 14:13] -- Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. I give thanks to you, Jesus, who bless those in heaven who die in you on earth. How much more those who happily give their lives for your faith and in your faith!
[Revelation 14:13] -- From now on, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, etc. Just as he had said that the wicked have no rest perpetually, so on the contrary, he teaches that the faithful, aided by their former works, from now on, that is, from the time of death, rest. For when He gives sleep to His beloved, this is the inheritance of the Lord (Ps. 127). But because of the cold, the sluggard will not plow; he will beg in summer, and it will not be given to him.
[Revelation 14:14] -- And I saw, and behold, a white cloud, etc. Thus far the voice of the heralds having been sent forth, now it remains to show the person of the Judge Himself. He who comes to judgment covers the glory of His divinity with the cloud of flesh, so that the impious may see whom they pierced (John 19).
[Revelation 14:14] -- Having on His head a golden crown. What this crown is, he described earlier in the appearance of the woman: And on her head a crown of twelve stars (Rev. 12). Although it can also signify the victory of the one who reigns.
[Revelation 14:14] -- And in His hand a sharp sickle. Namely, the judicial sentence of separating, which cannot be avoided. For we are within it, wherever we may try to flee. For in the sickle, whatever is enclosed falls within.
[Revelation 14:15] -- And another angel came out of the temple, crying, etc. The angels, whom we read as reapers of the earth in the Gospel, and who are all sent into service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation (Heb. 1), daily report to the Lord the individual merits of the Church.
[Revelation 14:15] -- Put in your sickle, and reap, etc. Behold, he says, with iniquity abounding, the love of many has grown cold (Matt. 24), and with the heat of evil pressing, the harvest of the world has almost ceased to live. Therefore, lest the already ripe grains fall, for the sake of the elect, the days are shortened (Ibid.), and gather the tares and chaff for the flames, but store the heavenly fruit in the blessed barns (Matt. 13).
[Revelation 14:17] -- And another angel, etc., having a sharp sickle himself. If Christ is seen as the reaper in the white cloud, who is the grape gatherer, if not the same, elegantly repeated for the dual fruit of the Church? For He who sowed the good seed in His field (Matt. XIII), also planted a vineyard in a fertile place, but both cultivations degenerated due to the negligence of the keepers.
[Revelation 14:18] -- And another angel came out from the altar, who has power over fire, etc. There is a dual office of angels, as Jerome says. Some are to grant rewards to the just, others to preside over individual torments. As it is said: He makes His angels spirits, etc. The two angels who proclaim the ripe harvest and mature vineyard can be understood as the prayers of the Church, which daily with great desire prays for the Lord's kingdom to come, saying,
[Revelation 14:18] -- Send forth your sharp sickle, etc. Just as the harvest, so too the vintage is partly earthly, partly heavenly. The ripeness of both indicates the end of the age.
[Revelation 14:18] -- For the grapes are ripe. That is, sins are consummated. Although the perfection of the good can also be called ripeness. For, as the holy Pope Gregory says, "however much the end of the world hangs upon its own order, finding each more perverse, it is revealed that they are deservedly oppressed by its ruins."
[Revelation 14:19] -- And the angel thrust his sickle into the earth, etc. He who has the harvesting sickle, also has the grape gathering sickle. For there is one judgment and it will occur at one time. But in the harvest and vintage, the beginning and the end of the same oppression are shown.
[Revelation 14:19] -- And he cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God, etc. If this harvest and vintage pertains only to the wicked, the winepress signifies punishment. But if also to the good, the treading of the winepress and the threshing floor's tribulation crushes the useless, while proving the useful. As the Apostle says, precious metals are proven by fire, but wood, hay, and stubble are consumed (I Cor. III). Both of these are conducted outside the heavenly Jerusalem. The winepress of wrath is so called in the manner of speaking by which it is said: The Lord delivered him in the evil day (Psalm XL).
[Revelation 14:20] -- And blood came out of the winepress, etc. Vengeance came out even to the rulers of the peoples. For vengeance for the blood of the saints poured out has reached even to the devil and his angels in the final struggle. As it is written: In blood you sinned, and blood will pursue you. It was said above concerning the horses:
[Revelation 14:20] -- For a distance of sixteen hundred stadia. That is, through all four parts of the world. For fourfoldness is compounded four times, as in the four-faced quadriform and wheels. Four times four hundred is sixteen hundred. Tyconius interprets the reaper and the grape gatherer as the Church, shining forth after the flames of persecutions, holding the power to bind and to loose. The angel from the temple or altar giving the command of the Lord, not with a clear voice, but by the suggestion of the Holy Spirit, who works in His body, teaching that it is now time for the wicked to be anathematized, having power over fire, namely that which comes from the mouth of the witnesses, and consumes their enemies. Thus far concerning the conflict of the Church and the ripe end of the struggle for both.