TWO SICKLES, TWO HARVESTS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a Son of man with a crown of gold on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to Him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So He who was seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

Another angel came out of the temple in Heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

Revelation 14:14-20

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The message in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation up to today’s passage has been about a choice that hinged on Jesus. The people of the earth could choose to believe in Jesus and therefore seal their eternal life in Heaven with their Savior and the Father God who sent Him to bear the sin of the world or they could choose to reject Jesus, favoring the world and its ways over Him while worshiping the things of Satan which included the two beasts who were doing his bidding during the three and a half year period of the Great Tribulation. This would punch their ticket to a future life of everlasting darkness, torment, and damnation in Hell.

Obviously one was the better and here’s what we found the Spirit from Heaven affirm about all those who would place their hope in Christ:

“Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” v.13

So the stage was set for what was coming for as we turn to verse 14 and read through the end of this chapter, we find two very different harvests happening that involve the people of the earth. Look again at those words here:

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a Son of man with a crown of gold on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to Him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So He who was seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

Another angel came out of the temple in Heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. Vv.14-20

Before I start, this passage, like other places in this book, has a variety of interpretations. The truth of the matter is that no one exactly understands what will happen in regard to many of the apocalyptic events and that’s okay. The Word of God often doesn’t reveal everything to its readers as He reserves some things to be revealed in His perfect time.

With this, here’s the best I can decipher what we’re reading, prayerfully allowing the Holy Spirit to lead me as I do with every message I write.

To begin, after meditating over the passage, I believe there are two separate harvests that will happen and both are driven by the choice to either follow or reject Jesus.

First, John shares a vision of “one like a Son of man” who was on “a white cloud” before him. The Son of man had “a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in His hand”.

Now, going back to the first chapter in this book, we find the following about Jesus:

“Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him” v.7

Further, John has used the title, “Son of man”, before to describe Jesus, twelve times to be exact in the Gospel that bears his name. It wouldn’t make sense for him to use it to describe any other person after attaching it to Jesus lest placing another at the level of the very Son of God Himself.

Additionally, when Jesus ascended, He sat at the right hand of God the Father after having been given “authority in Heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). Indeed, He was elevated to be the King of all kings and Lord of all lords, a truth that aligns with the Son of man wearing “a crown of god on his head”.

Finally, as we see in this first half of our passage, the Son of man has a symbolic “sharp sickle” in his hand to use in harvesting all those who placed their belief in Him from the earth. This act was instituted by the “angel” who emerged “out of the temple” to command the Son of man (Jesus) to “take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe”. In other words, the time for people to repent and turn to Jesus had ended. Those who placed their hope in Him would be “harvested” and saved from God’s wrath and judgment.

As for those who chose to turn down Jesus, we read where they had their own harvest, one with deadly circumstances. For the scriptures tell us that “another angel came out of the temple in Heaven” with his own “sharp sickle”. He received orders from “still another angel, who had charge of the fire” which “came from the altar” and “called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle”, commanding:

“Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.”

These grapes were none other than the non-believers on the earth and as “the angel swung his sickle on the earth” he “gathered” up those who refused to believe in Jesus (the grapes” and cast them into “the great winepress of God’s wrath”. There, they were “trampled in the winepress outside the city” and their “blood flowed out of the press” like a mighty wave that rose “as high as the horses’ bridles” for a “distance of 1,600 stadia”. The latter part of this is largely thought to be symbolic in nature but no can really say for sure. The point is that there will be a high price to be paid when the wrath of God is unleashed on the earth against those who chose to be His enemies.

As we have seen in many other places in Revelation up to this juncture, those who read this book and are in Christ Jesus can rest easy that they will miss out on the horrific events that will be sent on the world during the end times. I’m convinced that this is why we read these words at the very start of chapter one:

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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