NOTES for Rev 7:2-4; Rev 7:9-14
Today we commemorate not one or two, or even twenty—we commemorate all the saints. The number one hundred and forty-four thousand named by John signifies not a specific quantity but fullness. Who are they, the saints? Where do they come from, and how do they attain holiness? Today's reading answers this question. First, they “came out of the great tribulation.” This is important for us when we say that keeping the commandments is very difficult. It was not easy for the saints. Their path was by no means strewn with roses. They passed through tribulation, but found the light of Christ. The second very important point concerns the source of holiness. In what did they wash their robes? In a virtuous life? No. In repentance? Not that either. In the Blood of the Lamb. Repentance by itself and virtue by itself would have no power if it were not for the Blood of Christ. He, and He alone, is the source of all holiness.