NOTES for Rev 14:1-13
As is evident, the division of the universe into the Kingdom and the outer darkness at the end of time reaches its logical completion, that final battle of the forces of light with the forces of darkness, about which not only Yahwists and Christians knew, but which some other spiritually sensitive people also sensed, and which was shown to John with his own eyes. The people of God in his vision, and the 144 thousand chosen ones symbolize the people of God, stand opposed to those who willingly or unwillingly find themselves on the side of the forces of darkness, supporting the two beasts mentioned in the book, from the sea and from the earth.
It would seem that this is not entirely fair: there is a difference between voluntary participation in a war on the side of the forces of darkness and involuntary participation, for example through weakness or ignorance. But in this case the situation turns out to be such that each person's choice is absolutely objective and absolutely significant. The picture shown to the apostle is still symbolic, and in historical reality the matter will hardly concern a clash of two armies, earthly or heavenly. In history and in a concrete biography everything is usually much more prosaic and ordinary, but therefore much clearer.
Everyone wages his own war, wins or loses his own battles, and at every concrete moment in a concrete battle everything is clear to each person. If, of course, the person truly wants this clarity. Even in an ordinary earthly war, the question of courage or cowardice, when it concerns an ordinary soldier, comes down not to understanding and awareness of all the grand strategic plans, one's own or the enemy's, but to how the person will act in the specific place where he has found himself. Whether he will do what he must, or evade it, with a plausible pretext or without one.
Such too is genuine spiritual life, made up not so much of high flights and deep experiences as of a sequence of the choices and decisions we make and accept every day. And as a rule, this concrete reality is clear to us, if only we want clarity. Therefore in that very last battle it will not be possible to end up on the wrong side by accident. And that means the choice will indeed be fully conscious and final. Even if someone does not want to choose and prefers to remain "like everyone else." For refusal to choose is also a choice. But not at all the Kingdom.