These are they who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
All Commentaries on Revelation 14:4 Go To Revelation 14
Bede
AD 735
virgins: The blessed Augustine has set forth this very beautifully in his exhortation to virgins, saying, "Go on, ye holy youths and maidens of God, ye men and women, celibate and unmarried, go on perseveringly unto the end. Praise the Lord more sweetly, Whom ye think of more frequently. Hope in Him more auspiciously, Whom ye serve more constantly. Love Him more ardently, Whom ye please more attentively. With loins girded, and lights burning, wait for the Lord, when He comes from the marriage. Ye will bring to the marriage of the Lamb a new song, which ye will sing upon your harps, such an one indeed as no one but ye will be able to utter. For so one saw you in the Apocalypse, who, above all others, was beloved of the Lamb, who was wont to lie upon His breast. He himself saw you, as twelve thousand holy harpers, of undefiled virginity of the body, of inviolate truth in the heart. Ye follow the Lamb, for virginal also is the flesh of the Lamb. Ye follow Him in virginity of heart and flesh, whithersoever He may go. For what is to follow, but to imitate? Because "Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that ye should follow His steps.'"
