ACC ~ Revelation 14 v9 - 13

OVERVIEW:

Those who worship the beastlike antichrist and lead an ungodly life like his will drink a cup of judgment that is devoid of divine mercy and that brings darkness and derangement to those under the wrath of God (OECUMENIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA). Among these are included the heretics who withdraw from the church because of their evil belief, those who live according to a depravity of morals, and the arrogant Jews who condemned the Lamb (PRIMASIUS). The angels and the saints will witness this torment and give thanks to their Redeemer for his mercy (PRIMASIUS, BEDE). The variety of punishments delivered from this cup will correspond to the variety of evils freely chosen by those who did them (ANDREW OF CAESAREA). Nonetheless, the goodness of God is many times greater than is his wrath; otherwise no one would stand before his righteous anger. God’s mercy hems in the exercise of his justice, and, therefore, those who suffer this eternal torment do not suffer in a physical manner but suffer the absence of the blessings of God (OECUMENIUS). For this reason, their weeping and lamentation rise forever like smoke. In view of this eventual punishment of the wicked, the saints are exhorted to keep inviolate the commandments of God and to remain steadfast in their faith and love of God (OECUMENIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA). By persevering in this momentary suffering, they will escape eternal fellowship with the beast (PRIMASIUS) even as they behold the eternal penalties of their persecutors (BEDE). Just as the impious never have rest, so the martyrs and all who have died to the world will rest eternally from the time of their deaths (OECUMENIUS, PRIMASIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA, BEDE). This is also true of those priests and bishops who have labored faithfully in the vineyard of God (PRIMASIUS). Since we must endure to the end in contests with invisible powers, it is necessary that we pray unceasingly to God, “Incline our hearts, O Lord, and turn our eyes from every vanity” (ANDREW OF CAESAREA).

14:9-10 | A Third Angel Followed

GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IS CONSTRAINED BY HIS MERCY. OECUMENIUS: The third angel forbids people to worship the beast and to receive its mark. For to worship any other as God rather than he who really and truly is God is most unholy. “And he also shall drink the wine of God’s wrath poured unmixed into the cup of his anger.” The holy David mentioned this cup and this wine when he said, “There is a cup in the hand of the Lord, full of unmixed wine; and he has turned it from side to side, but its dregs have not been wholly poured out; all the sinners of the earth shall drink [them].” He calls the wrath of God “wine,” not using this metaphor because of the gladness elicited by wine but because of the darkness and the derangement that oppress those brought under the wrath of God. And, it says, it is “poured out unmixed,” that is, utterly poured out. For the wrath of God is poured out along with his benevolence and goodness, wholly poured out. For there is not an equal measure of wrath and goodness, but the benevolence of God is many times greater. Indeed, were the righteous anger and the goodness of God in equal measure, no one would be able to withstand it. Aware of this, the prophet said, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?” And the same writer indicated that goodness is much greater in the cup of God than is his righteous anger, when he said, “Merciful is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.” In this passage he placed God’s righteousness in the middle, so that hemmed in by mercy on either side, his righteousness would not work its way without constraint. For it is characteristic of justice to meet each according to his merit. Having mentioned wine, and by this referring to God’s wrath, he continues the metaphor and calls the “cup” what is given from the hand of God to sinners. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.9-12.

MERITING THE WINE OF DIVINE WRATH. PRIMASIUS: Certain heretics withdraw from us because of their evil belief, while with a different depravity of morals, others turn aside from our traditions, and in addition there are yet others ordained to perish from both faith and morals. Here in summary fashion he includes all those among the living who have the inscription of the beast on their forehead or on their hand. Here the cup of wrath must not only be understood as the one of which the Lord spoke, “He must endure God’s wrath” showing original sin, but also the cup that he mentions to the arrogant Jews, when he says, “You will die in your sin,” indicating the merit obtained through their accursed actions. … It says that they will be tormented in the sight of the Lamb for whose condemnation they suffer, whom they haughtily condemned and over whose members they inappropriately pretended to be masters. They will also be tormented in the sight of his angels who know by God’s revelation that they are paying a just penalty. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.9-10.

SHARING THE CUP DEVOID OF DIVINE MERCY. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: It says that should anyone bow down to the beastlike antichrist and pursue an ungodly life like his, and should anyone proclaim him to be God in word and deed—for the mark given on the forehead and upon the hand would show this—that person will share with [the antichrist] in the drinking of the revenge-filled cup, which is unmixed and devoid of any divine mercy because of the justice of the judgment. And this cup is of wine poured from different punishments because of the diversity and variety of evils that were freely chosen. He aptly calls this torment the “wine of wrath,” since it follows upon the wine of godlessness, which inebriates those who drink of it, for “in that way by which one sins shall one also be punished.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.9-10.

THE SAINTS WILL GIVE PRAISE TO THEIR REDEEMER. BEDE: [He will be tormented in the sight of the holy angels.] The saints who reign with the Lord are always able to observe the punishment of the wicked, so that they might give the greater thanks to their Redeemer and sing forever of the mercies of the Lord. For the torments of the wicked that are seen do not distress those who are in agreement with the just Judge, just as the rest of Lazarus that was seen was able to give no refreshment to the rich man who was buried in the flames. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 14.10.

14:11 | No Rest Day or Night

DEPRIVED OF THE BLESSINGS OF GOD. OECUMENIUS: Perhaps someone might say, “How can you say that the mercy of God is many times greater in the judgment at that time, when the vision tells us that the torments of those who are punished are little short of everlasting?” For why does it say, “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night?” To such a person one might respond, “O, sir, what is suffered is indeed eternal, but it is not suffering according to merit. If someone is deserving of fire and darkness, why is he condemned to the darkness? Such a one is tormented only in this, that he does not share in the good things of God, and he suffers only this, but he is not also tormented physically.” By the phrase “the smoke of their torment goes up” he refers to the heaving breath of the sinners that they exhale from below in their lamentations over their situation. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.9-12.

EVERLASTING BLISS OR EVERLASTING TORMENT. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: We must understand this smoke to be either the sighing of those being tormented, which arises from below along with their lamentation, or the smoke that comes from the fire that torments the fallen. It says that it “goes up forever and ever,” and by this we learn that even as the bliss of the righteous is everlasting, so also is the torment of the sinners. … He says “day and night,” not as though the condition of the future age in which the ungodly will have no rest will be measured by the sun, but he rather accommodates himself to the custom in the present time, which is reckoned in nights and days. Or it might be that the “day” is to be regarded as the life of the saints and the “night” as the torment of the impure, which those who do the works of the devil and blaspheme against Christ in the manner of the apostate beast will attain. For through the doing of these things they make an image [of the beast] and engrave his name upon their hearts as though it were precious. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.11.

THE ANTICHRIST INFLICTS SUFFERING. BEDE: They say that a lion will spare a man who is lying on the ground. But this beast is more ferocious than a lion, for the more he is adored, the more he inflicts sufferings. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 14.11.

14:12 | A Call for the Endurance

THE SAINTS WILL ENDURE. OECUMENIUS: “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints,” it says. This will be manifested at this time of the antichrist and in this ordeal. For however great is the danger and the tribulation at that time, so great is the need for endurance. Then the passage continues as though in response to a question. And who are those, it says, whom you call holy and patient? “Those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” For when the tribulations and death have come, such persons as these will regard all things as second in importance to faith and to the love of God. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.9-12.

THOSE WHO ENDURE ESCAPE FELLOWSHIP WITH THE BEAST. PRIMASIUS: The Lord says, “He who endures to the end will be saved,” and the apostle says, “You have need of endurance.” So also in this passage it says that the endurance of the saints consists in this, that those who persevere to the end escape the fellowship of the beast and the mark of its name. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.12.

THE SAINTS ENDURE IN FAITH. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: While the impious will be tormented eternally in the coming age, the saints here below show their patient endurance, keeping inviolate the commandments of God and their faith in Christ during the present time, which is quickly passing away. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.12.

MOMENTARY SUFFERING. BEDE: Although the beast will be ferocious, nonetheless this momentary suffering, which will be rewarded with eternal bliss, will not distress the saints. For the saints will see their persecutors, who were arrogant for a short while, suffering eternal penalties along with the beast. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 14.12.

14:13 | “Blessed Are the Dead Who Die in the Lord”

THE CROWN OF MARTYRDOM. OECUMENIUS: He blesses those who did not choose to worship the image of the beast or to receive the mark on their foreheads and upon their hands, and who for this reason were killed. Being crowned with the crown of martyrdom, these attain to the same lot with the martyrs. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.13.

FAITHFUL CLERGY WILL RECEIVE A SPECIAL REST FROM THEIR LABORS. PRIMASIUS: Those are said to die in the Lord who showed themselves approved in both their faith and their life. And for that reason they deserved to be called out from there. And so the text continues: “ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labors.’” As … he says that those impious have no rest day or night, now he says that the faithful deserved the rest from their good works. Indeed, since he had made mention of the wicked, it was necessary also to mention the fullness of the bliss of those who are good. And since this [bliss] exists among the leaders and the people, he in summary fashion includes both, speaking first in an indefinite manner, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” However, on behalf of those who work in the vineyard, he says they rest from their labors and so manifestly declares happiness to all so that he might promise to those who work in the vineyard a special fruit of rest after their labor. Therefore the apostle says, “We beseech you that you respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and that you esteem them more highly in love because of their work.” And he speaks even about himself, “I worked harder than any of them.” “For their deeds follow them,” it says. Concerning these the prophet says, “Establish the works of our hands over us.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.13.

A REST FROM THEIR LABORS. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: The voice from heaven does not bless all the dead, but only those who die in the Lord, who have died to the world and so carry about the dying of Jesus in the body and suffer with Christ. For these persons the departure from the body is truly a rest from their labor. Moreover, the obedience of their works is the reason for their unfading crowns and the rewards of glory that are the prizes given in great measure to those who prevail in the contests that the contestants of Christ, our God, endure to the end against invisible powers. “For the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed” to those who please God, as the apostle says. It is necessary also that we who yearn for such glory should pray unceasingly to God, saying, “Incline our hearts, O Lord, to your testimonies, and turn our eyes from every vanity,” and “enter not into judgment with your servants, for no living creature will be righteous before you.” Rather, visit us with your bountiful mercies, for the might and the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours, namely, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.13.

THE VOICE FROM HEAVEN AND THE SPIRIT ARE HARMONIOUS. BEDE: The harmony of those who speak is beautiful. For observe how the one announces that the kingdom of the Lord is come, the other announces the fall of the city of the devil. One indicates the flames of the wicked, while another announces the rest of the blessed. This last one projects his voice from heaven and commands that it is worthy to be committed to writing to be eternally remembered. For the righteous rejoice that their names are written in heaven, while the impious are blotted out of the book of the living. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” I thank you, Jesus, that you bless those in heaven who on earth die in you. How much more, then, those who place their happy souls both in you and in your faith? … Just as he had said that the impious never have any rest, so he teaches … that the faithful, assisted by their previous works, will rest “from henceforth,” that is, from the time of death. For “when he shall have given sleep to his beloved, this is the inheritance of the Lord.” However, “the sluggard would not plow in the cold, therefore he will beg at the time of harvest, but nothing will be given him.” EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 14.13.