Verse 2: „For true and just are his judgments, who hath judged the great harlot, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath revenged the blood of his servants, at her hands.‟ In Latin, it is ambiguous: the prostitute corrupted the land with her prostitution, and secondly, the Lord God avenged the blood of His servants at her hands. So, God’s judgment on the prostitute was doubly just: she had corrupted the land and shed the blood of God’s servants. The Lord God revenged the blood of His servants.

Verse 3: „And again they said: Alleluia. And her smoke ascendeth for ever and ever.‟ The Alleluia goes on forever; in heaven, the saints will be crying Alleluia for eternity. The Alleluia is eternal, and the smoke of Babylon’s damnation also rises eternally.

The Psalms constantly affirm good for the good and bad for the bad. It is an expression of faith that there is a God in command of the universe who will punish the wicked and reward the good. This is something that many things in this life seem to contradict, but it is essential to keep hold of to get to heaven. During this life, for the mass of people, what life is really about seems to be hidden. Blessed are those few who see and then live in accordance, who live against the grain of this whole life. This is what the Apocalypse is saying all the time: live against the grain of this life, against everything that other men hold to be worth living for and dying for. They trample the world beneath their feet purely to obtain the joys of heaven. But you have to believe in heaven to get there because there is so little apparent in this life that seems to support it. That is what the Psalms are all about, and this is obviously what the Apocalypse is also all about. Live for eternity, live for God, because after death, things shall not be the same way as they seemed before death. So, in heaven, they will be crying Alleluia while all earthly materialism, prosperity, success, and skyscrapers will be going up in eternal smoke—an eternal monument to the stupidity of materialism and the wrath of God.

Saint Augustine says, „The whole occupation of the blessed will be to cry out, ‚Alleluia,’ Amen.‟ „Alleluia‟ expresses rejoicing in the truth seen. „Amen‟ expresses joy in possessing the truth. „Alleluia,‟ rejoicing in the truth seen— that is the Beatific Vision, the visio quae facit beatum.

Verse 5: „And a voice came out from the throne, saying: Give praise to our God, all ye his servants; and you that fear him, little and great.‟ Only those who fear God can praise Him. God rejects the praise of lips proceeding from a corrupt heart. All those Protestants, modernists, and liberals who claim they believe in God, love God, and praise God, but have no fear of God, no sense of the real God in their hearts or minds—their supposed praise is liable to be just so much illusion. How can anybody have any knowledge at all of the real God without having at least a filial fear? And most of us begin with a servile fear. The idea, „it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God‟ (Hebrews 10:31), is often forgotten today in favor of a misunderstood „love.‟ Saint Paul himself, who was caught up to heaven—whether in the body or out of the body, God knows (2 Corinthians 12:2-3)—still expressed the fear of God.

Saint Paul recounts his raptures in 2 Corinthians because the Corinthians had been questioning his apostleship. The whole of 2 Corinthians is a defense of the ministers of the New Testament, and then of Saint Paul in particular. But Saint Paul’s boasting finally comes to rest in his infirmities. He says, „If I must glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity‟ (2 Corinthians 11:30), because Christ’s power comes into play when there is deficiency on the part of the apostle. When the apostle is completely self-sufficient, God hangs back. So, although Saint Paul was rapt up to heaven and saw secrets unlawful to utter, he still implies it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Nobody who has any real idea of God can say anything else. He is terrifying. Of course, He is love, but both are true. Today, the fearfulness of God is often forgotten, and love is completely misunderstood, as if He will just forgive everything, no matter what we do wrong. That is absolute nonsense.

So, „all ye his servants; and you that fear him, little and great.‟ „Little and great‟ refers to the doctors and the simple souls, the little souls and the great souls, so to speak. But of course, even the great ones had better be like children if they want to enter the Kingdom of God.

Saint Thomas Aquinas sometimes distinguishes between titles like Deus, which belong to God absolutely, and Dominus, which belongs to Him relatively—relative to those creatures over whom He is Lord. He would be Deus if He had never created anyone, but He is Dominus only by having created, in relation to His creatures. Omnipotence is an absolute title. Saint Thomas derives God’s omnipotence from His being Pure Act (Summa Theologiae, Prima Pars, Question 3, then Question 25). Pure Act has total, absolute, and complete clout. Question 3 on the simplicity of God is decisive for the whole treatise on God; practically all the rest flows from it, and Question 3 flows from Question 2 on the existence of God. God is omnipotent; it belongs to His very being.

Notice an interesting point in verse 6: „the Lord our God Almighty has reigned.‟ In Hebrew, it appears there are no tenses for verbs; you just have a verb. When translating into languages like Latin or Greek, you must put the verb into a future, past, or present tense. In Hebrew, it is timeless. This verse was written in Greek, but it reflects a Hebrew way of speaking. „The Lord God has reigned‟ would be just as true to say „He is reigning‟ and „He will reign.‟ It is a timeless statement. The Lord God is number one.

This is a cause for rejoicing. Looking around the world today, one might not think the Lord God is number one; one could easily think He has been pushed to one side. Blessed are those who keep believing that God is number one in this situation today. If you let go, like the great mass of men will under the Antichrist, or as they are letting go today, such people will at least have to convert if they are to save their souls. It is extraordinary that so few men live in light of what really matters, what is absolutely true. Most men live completely regardless. With recent affairs in Washington, it looks as though evil is triumphant. What does morality matter? The president can trample all over any of the Ten Commandments and be glorified for it. Why stick with the old morality? Decent people used to talk about the moral majority in America. Now, it looks like an immoral majority, and good men are discouraged. It looks as though there are no votes on the right, and people are corrupting because it is a question of morals. It is very grave. But still, Jesus is going to win. People forget that.

Verse 7: „Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath prepared herself.‟ This is the wedding of the Lamb with the Church immaculate, consisting of the elect souls. The bride, the Church, is cleansed of all vices of the old Adam. She has prepared herself and is decked out in God’s gifts. Saint Augustine says all merits are God’s gifts.

Verse 8: „And it was granted to her that she should clothe herself with fine linen, glittering and white. For the fine linen is the justifications of saints.‟ Linen is an earth-colored plant, whitened by repeated washing—a perfect image for the souls of the saints, all of whom have struggled to reach sanctity. The linen represents the souls of the saints purified of sin by the ascetic struggle, by repeated washing. As linen is whitened by repeated washing, the saints are saints by repeatedly struggling for virtue against the old Adam.

Saint Paul comments on this in 1 Corinthians 1:23-29: „We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness: But unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For see your vocation, brethren, that there are not many wise men according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble: But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the strong. And the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible, hath God chosen, and things that are not, that he might bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his sight.‟ So, it is neither wealth, nor learning, nor power, nor rank.

We had the same in the Epistle of James. „Do not the rich oppress you by might?‟ (James 2:6). „Do they not draw you before the judgment seats? Do they not blaspheme the good name that is invoked upon you?‟ The rich are not much use, so why look after them so much?

In the Old Testament, angels might accept men’s adoration of dulia (there is latria to God alone, hyperdulia to the Mother of God, and dulia to the saints). But not since the Incarnation, which so elevated human nature. Angels cannot accept the adoration of man since the Incarnation because our Lord took human nature, not angelic nature. So the angel does not accept John’s adoration. „Adore God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.‟ The spirit of prophecy in John testifies that he is an adoptive son of God through Jesus. Therefore, as an adoptive son of God, he should not be falling down at the feet of angels. John is prophesying with the whole Book of the Apocalypse; the Spirit of God is in him.

Verse 12: „And his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems, and he had a name written, which no man knoweth but himself.‟ The eyes of Jesus, like fire, burn away the sin of a soul. They melt its ice, its coldness. They light up its path. And they fire the soul with charity. The diadems are the many victories of Jesus over the world and the devil. He has a name written which nobody knows except Himself; the name of Jesus has a power which is fully known to God alone. Saint Bernardine of Siena especially promoted devotion to the name of Jesus.

Verse 13: „And he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood: and his name is called, THE WORD OF GOD.‟ The garment is the human flesh of Christ, sprinkled in His own blood. Yet still, this is God’s own Word. Though sprinkled in blood, appearing as a victim, He is the Word of God.

Verse 14: „And the armies which are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.‟ The armies are the martyrs actually in heaven and the Christians by desire in heaven. The white horses represent chastity. The linen represents justifications, as verse 8 told us. „White‟ means freedom from all error in the faith for the intelligence. „Clean‟ (or pure) means freedom from all concupiscence in morals for the will.

Verse 15: „And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp two-edged sword; that with it he may strike the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty.‟ The sword is the Word of God issuing from the Savior’s mouth. It is two-edged: to prune the good and to cut down the wicked. Our Lord talks about pruning the good in John 15:1-2: „I am the true vine; and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me, that beareth not fruit, he will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, he will purge [prune] it, that it may bring forth more fruit.‟ This is why even the good receive what looks like rough treatment, but it is for a completely different purpose.

Verse 16: „And he hath on his garment, and on his thigh written: KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.‟