14:4–5 / In giving meaning to his description of the heavenly scene, John is concerned only to identify the 144,000. He does so with three statements, each a commentary on the conditions of Christian discipleship and the current crisis facing the people of God. The first statement casts the faithful remnant as a community of pure constituents: they are those who did not defile themselves with women. The interpreter must initially resolve two interrelated exegetical problems: what is (1) the meaning