Revelation 14:1-5

Revelation 14:1-5, introduced as a foil to what precedes and as an anticipation of 21 22, is “a sort of Te Deum” (Wellhausen), a vision of the Lamb no longer as slain but triumphant (militant on the mount of Olives, Zechariah 14:3 f., against the nations = Revelation 11:8; Revelation 11:18), attended by the élite of the redeemed who had worshipped him, not the Emperor, during their life-time. The Jewish tradition underlying this oracle seems to have been cognate to that of En. Revelation 1:4 f. (Greek), reflected already in Revelation 7:1-8; it showed the rallying of the faithful remnant at mount Zion (Joel 2:32; Isaiah 11:9-12) after the throes of the latter days (cf. on Revelation 11:19). In terms of this John pictures the Christians who appear with Jesus their messiah upon earth (cf. Revelation 5:10; Revelation 20:4-6). Revelation 14:1-5 thus hint faintly and fragmentarily at the belief that, before the general judgment and recompense of the saints (Revelation 11:18; Revelation 20:11 f.), the vanguard who had borne the brunt of the struggle would enjoy a special bliss of their own. The prophet does not stop to elaborate this independent anticipation of Revelation 20:4-6, but hurries on (6 f.) to depict the negative side, viz., the downfall of the enemy. When Caligula first attempted to enforce his worship on the Jews, the pious flung themselves on the ground, “stretching out their throats” in their readiness to die sooner than let their God be profaned (Jos. Bell. ii. 10, 4; Ant. xviii. 8, 3). John desiderates an equally dauntless temper in Christians, though they could not hope to avert, as the Jews had done, the imperial propaganda of the false prophet (Revelation 13:16 f.; cf. 2 Thessalonians 2.). Martyrdom (Revelation 14:13, cf. Revelation 13:15) was all that the majority could expect. But loyalty would bring them ultimate triumph. The passage is not simply Christian but from the hand of the prophet himself.