Revelation 14:12

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) Here is the patience . . .—Translate, Here is the patience of the saints (not “here are they,” but) who keep, &c. In this readiness to wait, to endure through much tribulation to the end, is the patience of the saints seen. There is a patient waiting for Christ shown by those who keep God’s commandments, who cleave to righteousness in spite of much temptation, and who refuse to pay homage to the god of this world because firm in the faith that Jesus is King.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:6-13 The progress of the Reformation appears to be here set forth. The four proclamations are plain in their meaning; that all Christians may be encouraged, in the time of trial, to be faithful to their Lord. The gospel is the great means whereby men are brought to fear God, and to give glory to him. The preaching of the everlasting gospel shakes the foundations of antichrist in the world, and hastens its downfal. If any persist in being subject to the beast, and in promoting his cause, they must expect to be for ever miserable in soul and body. The believer is to venture or suffer any thing in obeying the commandments of God, and professing the faith of Jesus. May God bestow this patience upon us. Observe the description of those that are and shall be blessed: such as die in the Lord; die in the cause of Christ, in a state of union with Christ; such as are found in Christ when death comes. They rest from all sin, temptation, sorrow, and persecution; for there the wicked cease from troubling, there the weary are at rest. Their works follow them: do not go before as their title, or purchase, but follow them as proofs of their having lived and died in the Lord: the remembrance of them will be pleasant, and the reward far above all their services and sufferings. This is made sure by the testimony of the Spirit, witnessing with their spirits, and the written word.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Here is the patience of the saints - See the notes on Revelation 13:10.

Here are they that keep the commandments of God - That is, in exercising such patience. Those who exercise that "patience" in these long-continued persecutions and trials, will show that they belong to those who keep the commandments of God, and are his true children. Or perhaps the meaning may be, "Here is a disclosure respecting the final destiny of these persecutors, which is adapted to comfort and sustain the saints in the trials which they will endure; an encouragement to constancy in obeying the commands of God, and in evincing the meek faith of the gospel."

And the faith of Jesus - To encourage persevering faith in the Saviour. In these times of trial it will be shown who are the friends of the Saviour; and in the prospect of the certain overthrow of all the enemies of God and his cause, there is a ground of encouragement for continued attachment to him.

The design of this portion of the chapter Revelation 14:9-12 is to encourage Christians in their trials by the assurance, that this formidable anti-Christian power would be overthrown, and that all the enemies of God would receive their just doom in the world of despair. Fearful as that doctrine is, and terrible as is the idea of the everlasting suffering of any of the creatures of God, yet the final overthrow of the wicked is necessary to the triumph of truth and holiness, and there is consolation in the belief that religion will ultimately triumph. The desire for its triumph necessarily supposes that the wicked will be overthrown and punished; and indeed it is the aim of all governments, and of all administrations of law, that the wicked shall be overthrown, and that truth and justice shall prevail. What would be more consolatory in a human government than the idea that all the wicked would be arrested and punished as they deserve? For what else is government instituted? For what else do magistrates and police-officers discharge the functions of their office?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. Here, &c.—resumed from Re 13:10; see on [2725]Re 13:10. In the fiery ordeal of persecution which awaits all who will not worship the beast, the faith and patience of the followers of God and Jesus shall be put to the test, and proved.

patience—Greek, "hupomene," "patient, persevering endurance." The second "here" is omitted in A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and Primasius. Translate, "Here is the endurance of the saints, who keep," &c.

the faith of Jesus—the faith which has Jesus for its object.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Here is the patience of the saints: God having in the former chapter shown his servant John the reign and rage of antichrist in his time of forty-two months, and in this chapter what shall be the end of him and all his adherents; here concludeth with telling him: This is a period of time wherein the patience of his holy ones will be tried, both in waiting for their deliverance, and also in their patient enduring antichrist’s oppression and tyranny.

Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus; and here will be the trial of men, whether they will keep to the faith of Christ, and obedience of God’s commandments, by coming out of, or keeping in, this spiritual Babylon: those that come out of her will show both; those that keep in that idolatrous communion will show neither.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Here is the patience of the saints,.... That which has required their patience, and about which it has been exercised, what they have been patiently waiting for, namely, the destruction of antichrist; and now it will be come, and patience will have its perfect work; see Revelation 13:10

here are they that keep the commandments of God; and not the inventions of men, and the traditions of antichrist, but the ordinances of the Gospel, as they were at first delivered, without any adulteration and corruption; and who kept them because they were enjoined by God, and from a principle of love to him, and with a view to his glory: these are distinguished from the worshippers of the beast, and were preserved throughout the apostasy; these are the witnesses who will now be risen, and the remnant of the woman's seed, with whom the dragon made war by the beast: and these are the hundred and forty and four thousand who are before described; these will be in a very glorious and comfortable church state; the word will be purely preached, and the ordinances truly administered, and the doctrines of the Gospel will be heartily embraced and professed: it follows,

and the faith of Jesus; meaning either the grace of faith, of which Jesus is the object, author, and finisher; and which these saints will have from him, and exercise upon him in a very strong and comfortable manner; and which, and the profession of it, they will hold fast to the end; or else the doctrine of faith, concerning the person, office, and grace of Jesus Christ, the faith once delivered to the saints, which they will have contended for, stood fast in, and now will hold in a pure conscience: these seem to be the words of John, declaring the faith, patience, and obedience of the saints of these times.

Geneva Study Bible

{8} Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

(8) The patience, sanctification and justification by faith: the results of which are rest, happiness and eternal glory in the heavenly fellowship of God and his angels.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Revelation 14:12. Here where the declaration of the judgment impending the worshippers of the beast occurs so definitely and solemnly (Revelation 14:6-11), the encouraging reference to the sources opened thereby to believers for the patience required of them (ἡ υπομ.) is still easier than in a similar connection, Revelation 13:10.

οἱ τηροῦντες. The construction is formless, as Revelation 1:5, Revelation 2:20. On the thought, cf. Revelation 12:17, Revelation 3:10. τὴν πίστιν Ἰησοῦ. “The faith in Jesus.” This, in fact, is parallel with the μαρτυρία Ἰησοῦ, Revelation 12:17, because faith on him (Ἰησ., gen. obj.) depends upon the testimony proceeding from Jesus (Ἰησ., gen. subj.).

Expositor's Greek Testament

Revelation 14:12. The prospect of this fearful and imminent retaliation is not only a warning to weak-minded Christians but a consolation to the loyal. To be a saint is to obey God and to believe in Jesus at all costs. Contemporary Jews took a similar encouragement: “if ye endure and persevere in his fear, and do not forget him, the times will change over you for good, and ye will see the consolation of Zion” (Apoc. Bar. xliv. 7). John’s words τηρ. τ. ἐντολὰς τ. θ. are an answer to the complaint and claim that God’s commandments were being neglected by every one except the Jews (cf. the plaintive cry of 4 Esd. 3:33: “I have gone hither and thither through the nations and seen their abundance, though they remember not thy commandments”; 32, “Is there any other nation that knoweth thee save Israel? yet their reward appeareth not, and their labour hath no fruit”).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. Here is the patience of the saints] See Revelation 13:10, and the end of the note there.

here are they] Should be omitted, reading of the saints that keep, &c. The construction, though not that of classical Greek, is that usual in cases of apposition in this Book.

Bengel's Gnomen

Revelation 14:12.[162] Οἱ τηροῦντες, that keep) Either the abstract and the concrete, patience and they that keep, are here joined together; or rather the nominative is used for the genitive, τῶν ἁγίων, οἱ τηροῦντες, of the saints who keep: comp. ch. Revelation 1:5, Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστίς.

[162] ὧδε, here) These words also belong to the proclamation of the third angel, which also contains a kind of antithesis to the threefold woe.—V. g.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus; here is the patience of the saints, they that keep, etc. The patience of the saints is exhibited in believing in, and waiting for, the due retribution which will overtake the wicked at the last, and in maintaining the conflict against the dragon who goes to war with those "who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus" (Revelation 12:17), the testimony which is the outcome of faith (see also on Revelation 13:10). Revelation 14:12

Vincent's Word Studies

Here are they

Omit here are, and read, are, Rev., the patience of the saints, they that keep.

The faith of Jesus

Which has Jesus for its object.