Revelation 14:1-5

Revelation 14:1-Deuteronomy :. After the horror and tragedy of the last two chapters, we have another pause in the movement of the drama, a new vision of heaven and the bliss of the redeemed.

Revelation 14:1 . the Lamb: this chapter recalls the vision in ch. 5 ( cf. Revelation 5:6).— mount Zion: Zion is the Christian Acropolis, but whether the reference here is to the earthly or heavenly Zion cannot be determined. For the 144 , 000 , cf. Revelation 7:4, where possibly the number covers only Jewish Christians. Here there is no suggestion of any such limitation, for in Revelation 14:3 they are described as “ they that had been purchased out of the earth.”— name . . . on their foreheads: cf. Revelation 7:3 f. and contrast the mark on the foreheads of the worshippers of the beast ( Revelation 13:16).

Revelation 14:2 . many waters: cf. Revelation 1:15.

Revelation 14:3 . a new song: cf. Revelation 5:9.— four . . . elders: Revelation 4:4 ; Revelation 4:6 *.

Revelation 14:4 . they are virgins: the term virgin is in the masculine, and should be translated “ celibates.” Whether it is to be taken literally here is disputed. As Swete says, “ No condemnation of marriage, no exclusion of the married from the highest blessings of the Christian life, finds a place in the NT.” And if we were to press the meaning of the word “ virgin” or “ celibate” here, this passage is an exception to the general teaching of the NT. Moreover, the imagery used in chs. 21 f. throws a halo of sanctity over marriage. The probability is therefore that the words here describe not celibates but men who had kept the marriage-bond inviolate.