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Revelation 14:14-16
Revelation 14:14 (NKJV) states, “14Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.” This is believed by many scholars to be Jesus, but some disagree due to the fact that a command is given by an angel and that angels would never give commands to God/Jesus. But this angel (Revelation 14:15) is not giving a command but simply making an announcement, as is one of the main duties of angels in the Bible. In Matthew 1 an angel brings word/an announcement to Joseph concerning the birth of Jesus; an angel brought word/an announcement to Zacharias concerning the birth of his son John (the Baptists) in Luke 1. Angels are messengers of God, and that is what the angel in Revelation 14:15 is doing; delivering a message that the time has come to harvest the earth. Once the announcement is made, Jesus (the One who sat on the cloud), “thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped” (Revelation 14:16).
This is the announcement of the harvest of the earth.
We have followed the procession of the evils of the earth/beasts of the dragon, the proclamation of the gospel to all the earth, the condemnation/destruction of the devil and his ways, along with the call to repentance for all who will believe in the LORD. Now, the harvest has come and is believed to be the time in which God will remove and sift the peoples of the earth taking the disobedient out of the faithful. In Matthew 13:37-43 Jesus explains the parable of the tares as the Bible teaches us, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” It is not clear in Revelation 14:14-16 of who exactly is being reaped in the harvest, but as we continue we will see that from this point on, the righteous do not seem to be on the earth any longer, until the new Jerusalem descends out of heaven from God (Revelation 21:9-21).
Dear LORD,
Your Word teaches us of a great harvest when the righteous will be eternally separated from the unrighteous. For the righteous will be a reward of eternal salvation; for the unrighteous will be eternal condemnation. Please touch our hearts so that we would open them to the way, the truth, and the life that is only found in Christ Jesus (John 14:6). In Jesus name I pray, amen.