William Burkitt's Expository Notes

Revelation 14:2

St. John here describes the true worshippers of Christ in the midst of antichristian idolatry; where we have,

1. The acceptable worship they perform, prayer and praise, an heavenly exercise, which, like thunder, and the voice of many waters, sounds loud in the ears of God, and is certainly heard by him, and is melodious like the harp, and therefore as acceptable to him as the sweetest music is to us.

2. The persons described who perform this acceptable worship, such as were redeemed from the earth; where the earth is put for earthly-minded men, the false church; the meaning is, that God has fetched this small number of true worshippers, the hundred forty-four thousand, from among the false worshippers and impure ones, he hath rescued them from the world of idolaters, and from the superstitious multitude.

3. The persons described before whom this worship is performed, Before the throne, and before the four beasts and elders,-- before the throne, to show the reverence and sincerity wherewith they performed the same, as in the sight of the great and glorious God, and before the beasts and elders, that is, the whole congregation of the saints, according to that of the Psalmist, Psalms 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assemblies of his saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him.

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William Burkitt's Expository Notes

Revelation 14:2

Old Testament

New Testament