Revelation 14:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Fear God, he says, and do not fear the antichrist, who cannot destroy your souls together with your bodies. Resist him with boldness, for the Judgment and recompense are near, while he has authority only for a short time.

Although from the beginning of the Christian faith, as we know, it has been said that the Kingdom of God is near, here he proclaims that the hour of His judgment is very near and has even already come.

He first permits such preaching as must be accessible to all. The Lord also speaks of this: "And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world, and then the end will come" (Mt 24:14).

To show what that period of time brings when the distress of the last persecution draws near, he quickly adds, as if saying that the beast's temporal power is slight.

The Lord should rather be feared, whom all His creation, mentioned by John, acknowledges as eternal.

Does this Angel, who with a loud voice urges men to give glory to God and who has the eternal Gospel, not call to mind those preachers of Christianity? Despite threats, sufferings, privations, and persecutions, they firmly and openly preached faith in Christ.

They persuaded the pagans to renounce the worship of their many-faced and soulless idols. The words of such preachers are called the eternal Gospel because they contain the word of God, which, according to the Apostle, abides forever (cf. 1 Pet 1:23-25).

At the wondrous sounds of the song of the "blameless," the Apostle saw three Angels soaring in heaven. One proclaimed to men the "eternal Gospel" and seemed to say: "Fear God, and do not fear the antichrist, who cannot destroy your souls together with your bodies.

Resist him with boldness, for judgment and recompense are near, while he has authority only for a short time" (St. Andrew).