144,000 on Mount Zion
1 I was given another vision: The Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, surrounded by one hundred and forty-four thousand people who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
2 A sound reverberated in heaven like the sound of the roaring of waves or deafening thunder; it was like a chorus of singers, accompanied by their harps.
3 They sing a new song before the throne, in the pre sence of the four living creatures and the elders, a song which no one can learn except the hundred and forty-four thou sand who have been taken from the earth.
4 They are those who were not de filed with women but were chaste; these are given to follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They are the first taken from humankind who are al ready of God and the Lamb.
5 No deceit has been found in them; they are faultless.
6 Then I saw another angel, flying high in the sky, sent to proclaim the definitive good news to the inhabitants of the earth, to every nation, race, language and people.
7 He cried out with a loud voice, “Give God glory and honor, for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and all the waters.”
8 Another angel followed him, crying out, “Fallen is Babylon the great, fallen the prostitute who has made all the nations drunk with her un leashed prostitution!”
9 A third angel then followed, shouting aloud, “If anyone worships the beast or its image or has his forehead or hand branded,
10 he will also drink the wine of God’s anger which has been prepared, undiluted, in the cup of his fury: he will be tortured by fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb.”
11 The smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; for there is no rest, day or night, for those who worshiped the beast and its image, and for those who were branded with the mark of its name.
12 This is the time for patient endurance among the holy ones, for those who keep the com mandments of God and faith in Jesus.
13 I heard someone from heaven say, “Write this: Happy from now on are the dead who have died in the Lord. The Spirit says: Let them rest from their labors; their good deeds go with them.”
14 Then I had this vision. I saw a white cloud and the one sitting on it like a son of man, wearing a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
15 An angel came out of the sanctuary, calling loudly to the one sitting on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for harvest time has come and the har vest of the earth is ripe.”
16 He who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle at the earth and reaped the harvest.
17 Then another angel, who also had a sharp sickle, came out of the heavenly sanctuary.
18 Still another angel, the one who has charge of the altar fire, emerged and shouted to the first who held the sharp sickle, “Swing your sharp sickle and reap the bunches of the vine of the earth for they are fully ripe.”
19 So the angel swung his sickle and gathered in the vintage, throwing all the grapes into the great winepress of the anger of God.
20 The grapes were trodden outside the city and blood flowed from the winepress, to the height of the horses’ bridles and over an area of sixteen hundred furlongs.
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Comments Revelation, Chapter 14
• 14.1 Facing the forces that Satan gathers in the Roman empire are the forces of Christ. The Beast must take advantage of the time granted to it, because Christ already rules and the judgment that will put an end to the persecuting power is being prepared.
The Lamb was standing on Mount Zion. Zion represents the Church, both the earthly and the heavenly Church. Christ rules in the Church in the very midst of those who are persecuted. Repression, chains and death do not reach the secret temple of every person, where Christ communicates his life and his presence.
The 144,000 point to the Christians in the Roman empire who remain firm in their faith. They are “the first redeemed” and they represent the believers of future centuries.
Some people who take everything literally state that the saved will number 144,000. Why do they not read 7:4-9 where 144,000 represents the elect “of the Jewish people,” without mentioning a great crowd, impossible to count, from among all the other peoples?
They were chaste. In 7:9 the Christians were represented by martyrs; here John says virgins, and the word has two meanings, the same as the word adultery elsewhere: on one hand, they did not worship the Beast; and on the other hand, they were freed from the tyranny of sex.
They sing a new song. When the Lord saved Israel at the Red Sea, the people sang the Canticle of Moses (Ex 15:1). Now, believers and martyrs sing the New Song to celebrate their liberation from hatred, from their own weakness and from the fear of death, through Christ.
• 6. Evangelization eventually prepares the fall of the City and its idols (v. 8), foretold as lasting good news, but, for the time being, repression is unleashed against the witnesses of Jesus (v. 9).
The persecuting empire is called Babylon: in the Bible, this name symbolizes a power hostile to God. Its ruin will show how God judges unjust structures.
When major crises and the most atrocious wars occur, many people say, “This is the end of the world.” So, when the Roman empire collapsed three hundred years after John, many people thought it was the end of civilization. With time, however, people saw that a larger field was opening up to the proclamation of the Gospel.
If anyone worships the beast… (v. 9). Here are stressed the strongest words in the Gospel on the necessity of proclaiming one’s faith (Mt 10:28-33).
Happy from now on are the dead who have died in the Lord. John sees the victorious martyrs and other witnesses of Christ, and he encourages them by saying that, from the moment of their death, they already enjoy a share in the promised happiness. Their happiness will be complete at the resurrection: Phil 1:23 and 2 Cor 5:8.