Book of Common Prayer

The lamb’s elite warriors

14 As I watched, there was the lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name, and the name of his father, written on their foreheads. ² I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty thunder, and the voice I heard was like harpists playing on their harps. ³ And they are singing a new song before the throne, and before the four creatures and the elders. Nobody can learn that song except for the hundred and forty-four thousand who have been redeemed from the earth. ⁴ These are the ones who have never polluted themselves with women; they are celibate. They follow the lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from the human race as first fruits for God and the lamb, ⁵ and no lie has been found in their mouths. They are without blemish.

A call for endurance

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, carrying an eternal gospel to announce to those who live on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. ⁷ He spoke with a loud voice, and this is what he said: “Fear God! Give him glory! The time has come for his judgment! Worship the one who made heaven and earth and the sea and the springs of water!”

⁸ He was followed by another angel, and this is what he said: “Babylon the great has fallen! She has fallen! She is the one who made all the nations drink the wine of the anger that comes upon her fornication.”

⁹ They were followed by a third angel, who also spoke in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the monster and its image, or receives its mark on their forehead or their hand, ¹⁰ that person will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured neat into the cup of his anger, and they will be tortured in fire and sulfur before the holy angels and before the lamb. ¹¹ The smoke of their torture goes up forever and ever. Those who worship the monster and its image, and those who receive the mark of its name, will have no respite, day or night.”

¹² This demands patience from God’s holy people, who keep God’s commands and the faith of Jesus.

¹³ Then I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Write this: God’s blessing on the dead who from this time onward die in the Lord.”

“Yes,” says the spirit, “so that they may rest from their works, for the deeds they have done follow after them.”

Reading the signs of the times

⁴⁹ “I came to throw fire upon the earth,” Jesus continued, “and I wish it were already alight! ⁵⁰ I have a baptism to be baptized with, and I am under huge pressure until it’s happened!

⁵¹ “Do you suppose I’ve come to give peace to the earth? No, let me tell you, but rather division. ⁵² From now on, you see, families will be split down the middle: three against two in a family of five, and two against three, ⁵³ father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

⁵⁴ “When you see a cloud rising in the west,” he said to the crowds, “you say at once, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and rain it does. ⁵⁵ When you see the south wind getting up, you say, ‘It’s going to be very hot,’ and that’s what happens. ⁵⁶ You impostors! You know how to work out what the earth and the sky are telling you; why can’t you work out what’s going on at this very moment?

⁵⁷ “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what you ought to do? ⁵⁸ When you go with your accuser before a magistrate, do your best to reach a settlement with him. Otherwise he may drag you in front of the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the officer, and the officer will throw you into jail. ⁵⁹ Let me tell you, you won’t get out from there until you have paid the very last coin.”