"14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.
And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles."
As we look around us today, it is not difficult to see that unregenerate man has no fear of God. He has no grasp of the holiness of God and furthermore, he has absolutely no
understanding of the depth of his own depravity, nor of the wrath of God
that abides upon those who are without Christ. Even as we read these coming judgements in the Word of God, they serve as warnings to man. The problem is, that man believes that all of his problems are because he is deprived, not because he is depraved. As sure as the sun rises in the East, so, too, is the coming day of the judgement of God.
After a brief interlude, to comfort the saints, John returns to the subject of God’s divine wrath poured out upon the earth. The imagery we see here is a picture as it relates to the last judgment, God’s final wrath. Because of his profound spiritual blindness, man cannot see the impending judgment of God. In fact, sinners literally scoff at the idea of God and His coming judgment. A harvest by which God reaps the earth and by the way of the seven last plagues, the seven bowl judgments which are poured out on the earth.
It is in these final verses we have the declaration of the defeat of the beast and his corrupt world system which had appeared to be so successful in chapter 13. We have already seen that the seven seals have been opened and the seven trumpets have blown. The abomination of desolations has taken place, by the Antichrist in the temple of Jerusalem. Satan has been ruling the earth, with the aid of the Antichrist and the false prophet, with an iron fist. This is going to be the unprecedented worst time in the world’s history.
Jesus speaking about the time of harvest said in Matthew 13, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. o just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age."
So let's begin with verse 14. "And I looked and behold, a white cloud and sitting on the cloud was one like a Son of Man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand." John says, "And I looked," as we previously noted, that is a familiar phrase throughout Revelation, we've already seen it a number of times. Then he add the exclamation "and behold," in this vision, John sees "a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man." White is a symbol of holiness and the cloud symbolizes the presence, majesty and glory of God.
In an almost parallel passage in chapter 7, Daniel said "I kept looking in the night visions, and behold with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man." The Son of Man surrounded by clouds, demonstrates His magnificent majesty. And His coming is the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. Here we see the Son of Man depicted sitting on the white cloud, ready to take the dominion that Daniel promised.
Then, John sees Him "having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand." This is the crown of the victor, not the royal crown. The image we see here is the Son of Man coming to conquer His enemies. This crown is like a wreath, leafed in gold and is worn on festive occasions, like athletic events and war. This is "stephanos." This crown was very popular in the New Testament, particularly with the apostle Paul.
Notice John sees the reaper. Jesus is not seen here in His sovereign ruling position here, this is His victorious posture, riding out of heaven, on a cloud to come conquering with a sharp sickle in His hand. A sickle has a long wooden handle with a curved, razor sharpened blade and it would cut the grain right at ground level. Here we see the Lord Jesus Christ, sitting on a white cloud awaiting His final orders to come and take His sickle and begin the grain harvest, the final judgment. This emphasizes that no one can stop this judgment until the work is done.
Then in verse 15, John sees "And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe." The phrase "the earth is ripe," indicates the time is now, there is no more grace, it means the earth has passed the point of any usefulness. The loud voice is to demonstrate urgency and authority from God. Verse 16 says "Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped." The world will be reaped according to its own sowing. I find it very striking to discover that the sickle is mentioned twelve times in the Bible, and seven of these are mentioned in our verses here! The harvest symbolizes the final bowl judgments upon the earth.
Verse 17, John tells us "And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle." This is the fifth angel in the visions of chapter 14 and he also is an agent for God’s judgment. Notice "came out of the temple" calls our attention to the fact that this angel comes from the very presence of the Father. He comes from the heavenly temple, which refers to the dwelling place of God. This marks the same thought as in verse 15. By the way, this tells us this is not the temple of the tribulation in Jerusalem. This temple is in heaven, not on earth. Keep in mind, these angels are the instruments of judgment. As we have noted previously, angels play a very prominent role in Revelation.
Verse 18, "Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe." Notice this is angel is a little different. This angel come out from the alter and is the one who has power over fire. This angel is not so coming from the throne of God as the first angel did. This angel is coming from the alter, to see that the prayers of the saints are answered.
Here, we have not a grain harvest, but a grape harvest of judgment symbolizing the slaughter that will occur at Armageddon. This is a terrifying and also glorious scene, here we have the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ pictured as a magnificent resplendent reaper gathering a harvest of divine judgment. The prophet Daniel saw this as well. This imagery is rooted in the Old Testament tabernacle and in the temple of Israel.
We have already seen the reaper and the ripeness and now we see the reaping in verses 19 and 20. "So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles." As a footnote, a wine press is a large carved wheel hewn out of stone, and the grapes would be trampled under the feet, and the juice from the upper basin would flow through a little rock trough down to a lower basin where the juice would be harvested for consumption.
Here, the splattering of the juice here is a dramatic and very graphic imagery of what God will do when He assembles the armies who are still alive when the final return of Christ comes, at the battle of Armageddon.
According to the prophets Isaiah, Zechariah and Joel the Antichrist will amass his forces and launch one final assault against Israel. It is not unrealistic to assume there will be millions and millions fighting in this battle. But we know that Christ will utterly destroy them all. This won't really be a battle, it will be a massacre executed by the Lord Jesus Himself. The carnage of human flesh will be the worst the world has ever known.
We see from verse 20, the battle will be around Jerusalem.I do not believe this will literally be a two-hundred-mile-long lake of blood four feet deep. With the imagery of the wine press, I believe there will be a trough running right down the central valley of Israel that is four-feet deep in blood. This battle field that will extend from the plain of Esdraelon, that stretches out from Mount Megiddo which is about 60 to 65 miles north of Jerusalem, all the way down to the ancient region of Edom and the capital city of Bozrah in Eden, at the southern part of Israel, even below the Dead Sea.
The description of the Lord’s return is given in chapter 19. We'll look at that when we get there. Though this is speaking about a future event in the past tense to underscore the fact that it is absolutely going to happen. It isn't any wonder that the Bible says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God."
In Closing..
Beloved, we have a nation full of people who desperately need to hear the truth and we hold that information in our hands. As bad as the world is now, it isn’t going to get better, it’s going to get worse. Much, much worse. And, they don’t have a clue what's going to happen. I want you to understand that. It's up to us to tell them. Allow me to remind you, that if it were it not for His grace we, too, would be recipients of his wrath.
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen