The Sealing of the 144,000
Section II: On Chapter 7 — Of the Consolation of the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant After Past Tribulations
I. VERSE 1. After these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds, that they should not blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor on any tree.
After having described the persecution of Diocletian, the Apostle speaks of the consolation which was granted to the Church of God in the time of Constantine the Great, son of Helen. This chapter must be considered under two aspects, and contains two parts. First, we see described the consolation granted to the Church militant, as may be observed in verse 2: And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God, etc. Second, this chapter depicts the consolation of the Church triumphant, as follows in verse 9: After this, I saw a great multitude, etc., with palms in their hands.
§ 1. On the Consolation and Deliverance of the Church Militant from the Yoke and Persecutions of Tyrants. Chapter 7, Verses 1–8
I. VERSE 1. After these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds, that they should not blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor on any tree. These words allow us to glimpse a short continuation of the preceding persecution, through the four emperors who then reigned in the four parts of the Roman Empire: Galerius, Maxentius, Maximinus, and Licinius.
This is why the Apostle says: After these things — that is, after the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, who laid down the reins of the empire — I saw four angels; that is, the four emperors and persecutors of the Church named above, standing, dominating or reigning, on the four corners of the earth, in the four parts of the Roman Empire, which extended almost to the ends of the world. I saw them holding the four winds, that they should not blow upon the earth — that is, preventing all the doctors of the Church from preaching the Gospel and the word of God.
This wind is spoken of in the Canticle of Canticles 4:16: "Arise, O north wind, and come, O south wind, blow through my garden, and let the aromatical spices thereof flow." For just as the earth is made fruitful by the winds, so the garden of the Church militant is made fruitful by the breath of preaching. I saw them holding the four winds, that they should not blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor on any tree. Here the Apostle takes the container for the contained. For some of the Christians dwelt in deserts, others in islands, and others, finally, in forests, for fear of persecution. Now all these places are designated by these words: sea, earth, and trees.
II. VERSE 2. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun. Saint John now describes the repression of these four tyrants by the Emperor Constantine the Great, in the year of Christ 312. And I saw another angel — that is, an angel opposed to the first ones. This was Constantine the Great, who ascended from the rising of the sun — who rose to the empire by the disposition of Christ, who is the Sun of justice, in order to restore peace to the Church.
For while Maxentius, who had killed Severus, was exercising his tyranny at Rome, the nobility called Constantine, son of Constantius Chlorus, then governor in Gaul, to deliver the city from the servitude of Maxentius. This angel who ascended from the rising of the sun had the sign of the living God — that is, the sign of Christ.
It is indeed related in ecclesiastical history, Book IX, that Constantine, coming to Rome to oppose the tyranny of Maxentius, often meditated on what measures he should take in this war; and although he had not yet received Baptism, he nevertheless prayed to God to obtain victory. Then, lifting his eyes toward heaven, he saw the standard of the Cross shining in the air. And as this extraordinary vision struck him with astonishment, he heard the angels surrounding the Cross say to him: "By this sign thou shalt conquer." From that moment, being assured that he would obtain victory, he had the sign of the Cross placed upon the standards of his soldiers, just as it had appeared to him; and advancing in this way against Maxentius, he conquered him, defeated him, and remained triumphant.
VERSE 3. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying: Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads. These words describe the power, great piety, and burning zeal of Constantine the Great for the Christian religion.
And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels — that is, to those four persecutors and their ministers established in the four parts of the empire. He ordered them, and all the subjects of the empire, to close the temples of paganism and to renounce idols, in order to embrace the faith of the Christians. Moreover, he ordered churches to be built throughout the whole earth. He himself caused to be built at Rome the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, together with several other sacred buildings which he adorned at great expense and filled with immense riches.
He enacted laws against the worship of idols, silenced the false oracles, prevented the erection of new images, and put an end to secret sacrifices. He forbade gladiatorial combats in the cities, no longer allowing them to be further defiled by human blood. The adoration of the Nile by effeminate men was no longer tolerated. This is why he forbade the putting to death of hermaphrodites as guilty of adultery. He also gave laws to the governors of the provinces for the sanctification of Sunday and for the honouring of the feasts of the martyrs.
He reserved certain rights in all the cities concerning the tribute they had to pay, and assigned the revenues from these rights to the churches and clergy of each place, assuring their possession of them in perpetuity. The decision of difficulties raised by civil tribunals against the Church was devolved to the bishops, and he willed that their sentences should have the force of law. He also gave the bishops full jurisdiction over their clerics, established ecclesiastical immunities everywhere, favoured letters and learning, instituted several schools, and founded libraries. He granted many privileges and immunities to professors, and endowed their chairs with considerable revenues.
It was in this way that this emperor cried with a loud voice, saying: Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees — by preventing and ruining the faith and religion of Christ. And it was in this way that he restrained the power of the four tyrants and of their ministers, so that it was no longer possible for them to harm Christians. For he fought against Maxentius and killed him. Licinius, who cruelly mistreated the faithful at Alexandria and in Egypt, suffered the same fate; and the two other tyrants had to yield to his power.
Thus, as much as the Church of Jesus Christ had previously been in abjection, desolation, and adversity, so much was she honoured, exalted, and consoled by the great Constantine, a prince as pious as he was powerful, whose reign lasted thirty-three years.
Hurt not the earth, etc., till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads. These words signify the public practice of holy Baptism, which Constantine himself received from Saint Sylvester, and which he introduced throughout the empire by his decrees as much as by his example. Finally, he relegated to hell and completely ruined the idols, defiled by so many horrors and falsehoods.
It must be observed here that these words, till we sign, cited in the text, must not be taken in a restricted sense, but in an unlimited one, as when one says: "This man did not repent as long as he lived," by which one understands that he died without doing penance, since one can no longer repent after death. Thus this passage, till we sign in their foreheads, etc., must be understood in this sense: that these four tyrants were never again to harm the Christians.
III. VERSE 4. And I heard the number of them that were signed: a hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel. Here one sees the result of this repression of the tyrants, which was the multiplication of Christians under the reign of Constantine the Great.
And I heard, in imagination and in spirit, the number of them that were signed — that is, the number of the baptised and of the believers — was a hundred forty-four thousand. The Apostle cites a determined number for an undetermined number, as often occurs in Holy Scripture. For the number of baptisms throughout the empire far surpassed this figure at that period of the Church.
Of every tribe of the children of Israel. The name of Israel now belongs, in its true sense, to all the nations regenerated in Jesus Christ by Baptism, according to these words of Osee 2:24: "And I will say to that which was not my people: Thou art my people." One may also cite here another passage, from Isaiah 44:3: "I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy stock. And they shall spring up among the herbs, as willows beside the running waters. One shall say: I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand: To the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel." Now this passage applies to the nations converted to Jesus Christ.
Likewise the Apostle says in Romans 2:28–29: "For it is not he is a Jew, who is so outwardly; nor is that circumcision, which is outwardly in the flesh: But he is a Jew, who is one inwardly," by the faith of Jesus Christ and by the spiritual circumcision of the heart.
Of the tribe of Juda were twelve thousand signed. In consequence of what has just been said, one must understand literally by these twelve tribes the twelve Apostles of the New Testament, who correspond to and are assimilated to the twelve patriarchs of the Old. For just as, through the patriarchs, all the generations of Israel descend from Jacob according to the flesh, so also, through the Apostles, all the generations of Christians descend from Jesus Christ according to the second promise and according to the spirit. And in place of the tribe of Dan, of whom it is said that Antichrist will be born, the Apostle here places the tribe of Joseph, just as Saint Matthias obtained the place of Judas the prevaricator.
§ 2. On the Consolation of the Church Triumphant After Past Tribulations, and on the Victories Won by the Holy Martyrs in the Persecutions. Chapter 7, Verses 9–17
VERSE 9. After this, I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, etc. In these words and those which follow, the Apostle describes and reveals the blessed state of all the holy martyrs existing in the Church triumphant, who, in the time of Diocletian and of the tyrants who preceded him, passed to eternal life through many tribulations and through a cruel death. The purpose which Saint John proposes in this description is to strengthen and console the Christian soldiers who will still have to suffer, until the consummation of the ages, for the faith, for justice, and for the glory of God in the Church militant.
After this: these two words must be understood according to the order of the things revealed. I saw a great multitude of martyrs and saints who, in the first three centuries of the Church, came to heavenly glory. Which no man could number. The Apostle does not determine the number of these martyrs, in order to make us understand that it was immense, as is seen from what has been said above.
Of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues. He cites these four different kinds of multitudes in order to say that a crowd of men from all the nations which are upon the earth, in the four parts of the world, came by martyrdom to eternal life; and also to make us understand that no class of men is excluded from heavenly glory.
I saw this multitude standing before the throne. These words express the state of these saints who enjoy the beatific vision of God and the stability of eternal rest. And before the Lamb — that is, enjoying the presence of the humanity of Jesus Christ, whom they will be able to contemplate according to the full extent of their desires. They will moreover be clothed with white robes, etc.; that is, enriched with the glory, rewards, and special aureoles proportioned to their battles, their labours, and their merits. Finally, they will be standing before the throne... with palms in their hands, as a sign of their complete victory — a victory which can never be complete in the present life, since even the greatest saints always have to fight here below, whatever their state may be. One sees, therefore, from what has just been said, that in this description there can be question only of the state of the Church triumphant in heaven.
VERSE 10. And they cried with a loud voice. These words indicate the particular office of the saints in heaven, at the same time as the vehemence and ardour of the love with which they praise and glorify God and the Lamb, out of gratitude for their salvation, of which they are assured for all eternity, saying: Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb. That is, salvation, felicity, and all the goods which they enjoy come to them from God and from the Lamb.
II. VERSE 11. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and the ancients, and the four living creatures; and they fell down before the throne upon their faces, and adored God. There follows a general applause of all the holy angels concerning the salvation of these glorious martyrs. And all the angels stood, ready to execute every divine will, round about the throne, and the ancients, and the four living creatures.
These angels of the Church triumphant form three hierarchies, divided into nine choirs. They stood around the throne of God, and around the ancients — that is, the Prophets and the Apostles — and around the four living creatures, the four Evangelists and the Doctors, where they are continually ready to serve God their Creator, as the expression stood indicates. They fell down before the throne upon their faces, and adored God. These words express the most perfect submission, the respect, and the humility with which these angelic spirits adore, throughout all eternity, Jesus Christ, true God and man together, rendering Him all praise and all glory for the state of their beatitude, and expressing to Him their gratitude for the triumph of the holy martyrs, saying: Amen.
VERSE 12. Benediction, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honour, and power, and strength to our God, for ever and ever. Amen. This means that these angels bless God, praise Him, and glorify His strength, His Name, and His wisdom, with regard to His eternal attributes. They render Him thanksgiving for the tribulations which these holy martyrs endured, and which procured for them so great a glory.
Honour, in the public churches and upon the altars which were built throughout the universe after the last persecution of Diocletian. Power, by the miracles wrought in testimony of the faith. Strength, in the resistance to tyrants and persecutors of the Church. Finally, the admirable constancy of the holy martyrs, whose almost infinite multitude of both sexes triumphed over all torments and reached the heavenly kingdom. Now these holy angels declare that all these advantages must be attributed to the Lord, the unique source and ocean of all goods. Then they end with the word Amen — "So be it" — to express their ardent desire that it be accomplished in this way.
III. VERSE 13. And one of the ancients answered, and said to me: These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? and whence came they? It is with the greatest wisdom that one of the ancients here asks a question concerning these persons: who they are, and how they came to the state of beatitude. He asks this question for the consolation, joy, and hope of the just amid all the adversities which they will have to suffer on earth from the impious, by the permission of God. He asks it also to make us understand that martyrdom and the death of the just do not turn to their shame, but are, on the contrary, the passage to a state which is the union of every good and every glory.
Wisdom 3:1: "But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die, and their departure was taken for misery, and their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace." This is what the impious will themselves be forced to confess and deplore at the Last Judgment, to their eternal shame; but it will be too late.
Wisdom 5:1: "Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that have afflicted them, and taken away their labours. These seeing it shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the suddenness of their unexpected salvation." "They shall say within themselves, repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit: These are they whom we had some time in derision, and for a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints."
And one of the ancients answered, and said to me, etc. This ancient is Saint Peter, the first among the prelates of the Church. These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? and whence came they?
VERSE 14. And I said to him: My Lord, thou knowest. Saint John immediately receives from Eternal Truth an answer full of instruction for us. And he said to me: These are they who are come out of great tribulation. That is, these are they who were the reproach of men upon earth, and who endured every kind of torment: wheels, fire, beasts, the sword, prison, and exile. They are also those who went out of this world by martyrdom in the times of the terrible tribulations of Diocletian, Maximian, and the other tyrants their predecessors.
And have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb. These words express the aureole of martyrdom which was granted to them because of the testimony they bore to the faith of Jesus Christ. For the blood of the martyrs is taken morally for the blood of the Lamb, because this blood is that of His members, in whom He suffers persecution, as He Himself says in Acts 9:4: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" It is also said that they washed and made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb, because all the merit and death of the saints are founded on the merits, death, and blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, in whom they are rooted, as the palm is in the vine, and to whom they are united as the fruit to the tree and as the plant to the seed.
VERSE 15. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night, etc. Here follows the worthy and full reward granted to them in proportion to their tribulations, expressed by these words: Therefore. These words also specify the eight beatitudes corresponding to the eight degrees of virtues difficult to attain, and to the eight principal victories which Christians must win in order to reach the heavenly kingdom. These are the eight rewards or beatitudes which Jesus Christ promised to His soldiers in Saint Matthew 5. This number eight also designates the universality and fullness of all the goods of heaven, as we shall see.
IV. The first degree of Christian virtues is poverty of spirit, with which the Christian must be armed, so as to be disposed to lose all temporal goods rather than deny the faith. He must also be disposed, in persecution, to distribute his goods to the poor, as Saint Lawrence and all the other martyrs did when tyrants persecuted the faithful in their temporal possessions. Now to this generous sacrifice of all temporal goods, Jesus Christ promises the kingdom of heaven, which is eternal stability in glory and happiness. For this reason Saint John adds here: Therefore they are before the throne of God, for eternity, and see Him face to face as He is.
The second degree is meekness, gentleness, and patience, with which the holy martyrs bore the yoke and endured the tyranny of the kings of the earth, after the example of Jesus Christ their Master. They allowed themselves to be immolated like lambs, without complaint, thus overcoming evil by good. Now it is in reward for this virtue that the second beatitude is promised to them. It consists in the possession of the earth — that is, in perfect liberty and in the eternal enjoyment of the sovereign good. For they will reign with Jesus Christ their Head for ever and ever, as they reign with Him upon earth, since to serve God is to reign.
This is why Saint John adds: And they serve him day and night in his temple — that is, they serve Him day and night in eternal rest, liberty, and felicity, praising their Creator, never again having anything to fear. Psalm 83:5: "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall praise thee for ever and ever." By the temple is here understood the empyrean, the palace of the eternal King, the incorruptible tabernacle in which God dwells with the saints and with the angels, as we shall see in chapter 21.
The third degree is the tears of the just and their groanings in adversities, instability, torments, temptations, and the innumerable miseries and calamities of this world. But, in return, there is promised to them a full consolation and a perfect felicity, which will consist in being with Jesus Christ and reigning with this Monarch, infinitely just, holy, and powerful, whose goodness, power, and kingdom will remain fixed and immutable throughout all eternity. This is why Saint John says: And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell over them. For they will no longer be subject to any earthly king in order to serve him, and their blessed state will no longer change for ever and ever. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, whose yoke is sweet and whose burden is light, will be their King. He will reign over them throughout all eternity, and they will no longer be able to be separated from Him.
The fourth degree is zeal for justice, to which is promised the perfect satisfaction of every desire and the fullness of all goods. For the just and the saints of God upon earth, seeing that this world is filled with evils, experience such affliction of spirit at being unable to remedy them that it may be compared to the burning of hunger and thirst. What great pain do they not suffer, in fact, when they consider the oppression of the poor, of wards and widows, and when they see the impious prevail over the just! They are witnesses of the folly of the wicked and of the contempt shown toward the wise. It is with sorrow that they contemplate all the good which is prevented from being realised: so many souls that perish, so many wars and unjust lawsuits; finally, they see themselves forced to recognise, without being able to remedy it, that there is neither justice, nor truth, nor fear of God, nor charity, nor good faith among most men.
Now it is to these just ones that Saint John applies these consoling words: VERSE 16. They shall no more hunger nor thirst. For they will be fully satisfied and filled in all their desires, knowing from above the decrees of the divine will. Psalm 16:15: "But as for me, I will appear before thy sight in justice: I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear." These just ones will then no longer be subject to bodily infirmities throughout all eternity.
The fifth degree of Christian virtues is to be merciful: loving the poor, the miserable, the afflicted, widows, and orphans; helping the needy; and showing oneself gentle, affable, beneficent, and compassionate toward one's neighbour in the charity of Jesus Christ. It is in reward for this virtue that the Apostle promises to those who have practised it the mercy of God, which will preserve them from the pains of hell and reassure them against every tribulation for ever and ever. For he adds: Neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat. That is, Jesus Christ, the Sun of justice, will torment in hell only the impious, the tyrants, and men without mercy; and none of the great and numerous tribulations of this age will trouble those who have shown mercy.
The sixth degree is a holy, immaculate, chaste, sober, and pious life in this world. This virtue will be rewarded by the eternal vision of God in His kingdom, into which nothing defiled can enter.
VERSE 17. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall rule them. By the Lamb one understands here the humanity of Christ, in which and through which, as in a burning light, the blessed will eternally contemplate the splendour of the Divinity. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne — that is, of heaven, according to Matthew 5, in which Our Lord Jesus Christ will manifest Himself glorious and admirable to all the saints. The Lamb... shall rule them, because it is through the humanity of Christ, placed between the Divinity and creatures, that the blessed will enjoy the beatific vision; and also because the just will be directed by the ineffable will of Jesus Christ, upon whom they will depend absolutely.
And the Lord will no longer permit them to be able to wander or to sin throughout all eternity. But they will remain perfectly united to their Creator in perfect rest, and will be, as it were, absorbed in Him in an ineffable manner. Now it is through the help of the humanity of Christ that they will eternally enjoy this infinite happiness. Therefore they will no longer have to fear losing the beatific vision, which they will enjoy with an ever-new delight, since there is nothing beyond it that one can possess.
The seventh degree is a certain liberty and holy peace upon the earth, by means of which the just rule over their evil affections and contain their passions in calm and subjection. From this they remain unshaken in calamities, adversities, and persecutions, never losing the calm and peace of the heart, and resting in God upon the testimony of their good conscience. The Apostle promises to these the divine sonship, by which the desires of the saints will be fully accomplished and satisfied, since there is nothing greater that they can possess, nothing more worthy that they can desire, nothing sweeter that they can enjoy, nothing more admirable that they can contemplate, than their God with all His perfections.
And he shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life. That is, to immortality and to the fullness of all goods and all possible desires. It is to express this variety and multiplicity of goods that Saint John speaks in the plural: He shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life. Consequently, we shall obtain this fullness of happiness and this divine sonship after the universal resurrection of bodies, when we shall be called the sons of God, and when we shall see our Creator face to face and as He is.
The eighth degree of virtues, finally, is to suffer persecutions, adversities, chains, prison, the loss of temporal goods, and even death itself, with patience and humility, for justice and for the faith of Jesus Christ. It is of this last degree that Saint John says: And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. That is, God will no longer permit against them any cause of affliction, but will grant them full and perfect consolation. As much as they suffered, so much will they be consoled. Thus none of them will complain of his past tribulations and adversities, since he will enjoy the eternal goods which those sufferings procured for him, in proportion to the evils he endured and the sacrifices he had to make.