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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadWilliam Burkitt Notes and Observations - Revelation 14:4 - 14:4
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St. John proceeds here in describing the true worshippers of God, which would not comply with antichristian idolatry:
1. He styles them virgins, thereby intimating that they are the chaste spouse of Christ, and the true church, who worship God alone with religious worship; and they have not defiled themselves with women, that is, spiritually committed whoredom, they have not been inveigled with the whore to commit spiritual fornication.
Where note, That idolatry is a filthy sin, it is as odious to God as whoredom and uncleanness, and an idolatrous church is a filthy shore, unworthy to claim the title of a mother, unless it be the mother of fornications.
2. They are said to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes; this is spoken in opposition to those who followed the beast, and denotes their imitation of Christ's example, and their firm adherence to the purity of his doctrine and worship, although it expose them to hazard and danger.
3. They are called the first-fruits unto God, and the Lamb, which denotes their paucity, like a few sheaves in comparison of the whole harvest; their sanctity, the first-fruits were holy to the Lord, and were his peculiar portion; also their safety and security, as the first-fruits were God's portion, so it was both sacrilegious and unsafe to rob God of his portion. By calling them the first-fruits which were holy to the Lord, we see the special interest and propriety that God has in his faithful servants and true worshippers beyond all others; they are his peculiar portion, his inheritance, his treasure, which he will ever take care of, and be concerned for.