Reaping The Earth’s Harvest, And The Grapes Of Wrath Series

By: Tom Lowe Date: 12/30/16

Title: Reaping the Earth’s Harvest, and the Grapes of Wrath (14:14-20)

Series: Verse By Verse Through Revelations

Revelation 14:14-20 (KJV)

14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

Introduction

(14:14-16) The Lord’s great parable of the wheat and the tares casts light on this harvest. Satan sows his tares among the wheat, and both wheat and tares grows together until the day of harvest. In the early stages, Satan’s tares are so much like the wheat that it is hard to tell them apart. But that is no longer the case! The black, ugly darnel[1] stands now in stark contrast with the golden grain of the wheat. The good seed and the bad are revealed by their fruits, and the time has come to separate the one from the other forever. The tares are to be bundled for the fire, and the wheat is to be harvested and stored in the barn of the millennial earth.

(14:17-20) The harvest is all about Christendom—or what is left of it, for the sphere of the harvest is religious. The vintage[2] has to do with the world and the mention of it makes it clear that the time of God’s vengeance has come. The harvest depicts the final separation of the false from the true; the vintage describes the final subjugation of the foes of the truth. The vintage pictures the Lord stepping down into the arena of Armageddon to trample down the beast and all those gathered to his standard in this final conflict of the age.

Commentary

14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

This is a judgment scene; for John sees “one like unto the Son of Man”[5] all set to separate the faithful from the unfaithful. This will be a time of joy for Christians who have been persecuted and martyred because they will receive their own long awaited reward. Christians should not fear the Last Judgment. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24).

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In the vision, someone “like unto the son of man” sits on a “white cloud” (Daniel 7:13-14). He is wearing a “crown” and holding a “sickle”[3]. Another angel then appears (14:15) to announce that it is the right time for the harvest. For John’s original readers this idea of it being the right time would have been meaningful. Since they are facing persecution, they would surely be eager to know when God is going to intervene on their behalf.

John mentioned that the reaper of the harvest appeared in his vision: “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.” The identity of the “one . . . like unto the son of man” has been debated by two groups.

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The first group says, “This is none other than the Lord Himself. He was the Sower in Matthew 13, now He is the Reaper. This interpretation is based upon the use of the name Son of Man, which often describes Jesus in the gospels.

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The second group focuses on the fact that this being is described as “like unto the Son of man” (meaning like a human being) which is more like the description of an angel. Then verse 15 begins by referring to another angel, as if an angel had just been mentioned. This group also believes that it is not Christ, but another angel, because in verse 15 the second angel gives the first a command (to begin harvesting), and they don’t believes that Christ would be commanded by an angel. Thus, this group concludes that this Sower/Reaper is an angel using his sickle to do God’s bidding by bringing in a harvest.