How does Saint John contrast the immaculate company of the Lamb with the threefold angelic proclamation and eschatological harvest in Apocalypse 14?

Saint John beholds a radiant vision on Mount Sion: the Lamb standing surrounded by one hundred forty-four thousand redeemed souls, with His name and His Father’s name inscribed upon their foreheads. A sound reverberates from heaven like the roaring of many waters and mighty thunder, accompanied by the melodious voices of harpers playing upon their instruments. They sing a new canticle before the heavenly throne, the four living creatures, and the ancients—a celestial hymn that no one could say except those one hundred forty-four thousand purchased from the earth. These are spotless virgins who follow the Lamb wherever He leads, redeemed from among mankind as holy firstfruits unto God and the Lamb. In their mouths no deceit was ever found, for they stand immaculate before the throne of God.

John then sees an angel flying through mid-heaven, proclaiming the eternal Gospel to all inhabitants of the earth, summoning every nation, tribe, tongue, and people to fear God, give Him glory, and worship the Creator of heaven, earth, sea, and springs of water, because the hour of His judgment has arrived. A second angel follows, announcing that great Babylon has fallen—that corrupt entity which intoxicated all nations with the wine of her unchaste wrath. A Challoner annotation notes that Babylon may probably signify the wicked world in general, or every greatly sinful city punished when its iniquities are full, or a described city existing and destroyed toward the end of the world. A third angel follows with a severe warning: whoever adores the beast and its image or accepts its mark on forehead or hand shall drink the wine of God’s wrath, mingled with pure wine in its cup, tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb, with the smoke of their torment ascending forever without relief day or night. Here is the patient perseverance of the saints, who keep God's commandments and the faith of Jesus. A heavenly voice commands John to write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, to which the Spirit responds that they may rest from their labors, for their virtuous deeds follow them—a blessing Challoner notes is understood of martyrs who die for the Lord.

The vision transitions to the eschatological harvest of the earth. John sees a white cloud upon which sits one like the Son of man, wearing a golden crown and holding a sharp sickle. An angel comes out from the temple, crying with a loud voice that the hour to reap has arrived because the earth's harvest is fully ripe. The crowned Lord thrusts His sickle into the earth, and the harvest is gathered. Another angel bearing a sharp sickle emerges from the celestial temple, while an angel having authority over fire cries from the altar to gather the ripe clusters of the earth's vineyard. The angel swings his sickle, gathers the earthly vintage, and hurls it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. The winepress is trodden outside the city walls, and blood pours forth up to the horses' bridles for a distance of one thousand six hundred furlongs.