THE COMING OF THE REAPER by Francis M. Wilcox

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal., Kansas City, and New York · Nov 29, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, Nos. 48, 49.

THE COMING OF THE REAPER

By Francis M. Wilcox

By Francis M. Wilcox, Boulder, Colo.

IN nature, seed-time and harvest are the seasons of rejoicing. One is the time of springing hope; the other, of glad fruition. With joyful anticipation the husbandman sows the seed. The seed springs forth,—first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. During this period of evolution and progress, the seed-sower watches with eager anxiety the development of each stage, to see if the harvest will repay the work of toil. If the seed sown is good, if it has been tended with care, refreshed by dew and rain, and warmed by the sun, an abundant harvest is the result. The harvest brings the day of reward for the seed-sowing and labor. In nature, as a man sows, so shall he reap. The husbandman who plants good seed will reap the good as a harvest. If he sows wheat, wheat will be garnered. If he sows tares, the baneful results of their influence will be seen in the time of the harvest gathering.

As this is true in nature, so it is just as true in the spiritual world. Day by day, year by year, and century by century, through all the ages of the past, men have been sowing seed, good or ill, as the case may be, according to the life and influence of each. God will reward every man according to the fruit of his doings. Jer. 17:10. "He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." The mercy of Christ the Lord in so long bearing patiently with sinful men has been taken by them as evidence of His indifference to the heinous character of their evil-doings. But such is not the case. Says the wise man, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Says the Lord through David, "These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes." The delay of God is but an evidence of His love. Unwilling that any should perish, but desirous that all should come to repentance, He delays the execution of His righteous judgments, multiplying to every soul the opportunities for receiving His grace.

But in God's great purpose, and in His own time, there will come the awakening. As in the end of the year there comes the harvest in the realm of nature, so in the end of this earth's history will come the harvest of the world. The grain will become ready for the sickle, the clusters of grapes for the press, the tares and chaff for the burning. "Every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." Says our Saviour, in Matt. 13:39, "The harvest is the end of the world."

Christ is the sower of the seed: "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man." Matt. 13:37. In the end of the world Christ comes as the reaper. "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. 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. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." Rev. 14:14-16. The cloud upon which the Son of man is represented as sitting is doubtless made up of the angelic host. These heavenly messengers, in the parable of our Lord as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, are likewise termed the reapers: "The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels." They are thus termed because of their association with Christ in His gathering work.

In the day of harvest, the two classes who have grown together, represented by the tares and the wheat, whose every-day experiences perhaps have been most closely intermingled, will be separated. The wicked shall be given to the burning flame and destroyed. Says our Lord: "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

“THE SON OF MAN SHALL SEND FORTH HIS ANGELS, AND THEY SHALL GATHER”—

But the destruction of sin and sinners is the contemplation of the dark side of the picture. There is a brighter view, a purer scene, and a more entrancing vision. While the Reaper comes to gather out of His kingdom "all things that offend, and them which do iniquity," He comes likewise to gather the wheat into His garner. His promise to His waiting church is, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself," and, true to His promise, He comes to take His children home. When the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, then it is that the "righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matt. 13:43. When the Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem, and the heaven and the earth shall shake, then shall the Lord be the strength of His people, and the hope of His children Israel. Joel 3:16. "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth." With faces lit up with His glory, with hearts full to bursting with His love, and with tongues tremulous with emotion, they shall say in that day, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."

The great harvest day hastens on apace. Soon He who shall come will come, and will not tarry. Soon to every man will be given according to his works. Dear reader, to which class will you belong at the coming of the Reaper? Will you be numbered with the tares, or garnered with the wheat? Now, in the day of salvation, while the Spirit still appeals, and while mercy still lingers, your decision should be made. "To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart." "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." In the harvest-time it will be too late to sow. From the decision of that hour there will be no appeal. Here in this world an adverse decision in a lower court may be repealed by a higher. Now in these days, when truth is fallen in the street, and justice standeth afar off, the judge may be bought or the jury may be bribed; but not so in the day of the final settlement of all accounts. Says the prophet, "Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath." Wealth will not avail; worldly position will not influence; power will not intimidate. One thing and one only will furnish a passport into the heavenly kingdom, and that is the righteousness of Christ the Lord. Robed in His spotless purity, possessing His perfect character, the recipient will be enabled to pass the grand review, and enter unabashed into the presence of the Holy One. The Judge, beholding him, will see but a reproduction of His own dear Son.

The possession of God's righteousness places salvation within the reach of every soul. Had God made the condition of salvation the possession of worldly power, or of riches, or of education, how few would have been enabled to avail themselves of the proffered grace! But God has made the condition so simple that every soul may accept of the proffered salvation. "Whosoever will" may come and "take the water of life freely;" and the simple condition of coming is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The same exercise of faith by the king on his throne and the peasant in the field; by the man of poverty or the man of wealth; by the learned or the illiterate; by the black or the white, will bring the salvation of God. But this faith in the Lord Jesus is not a mere sentiment, nor a mental assent to the fact that He died for the human family. It is an inwrought principle of the life, a faith that makes a personal application of His sacrifice to the individual heart and life. It is a faith which works "effectually in them that believe," that manifests itself in love, purifying the heart and life.

May you, dear reader, experience the transforming power of this faith in your life, so that the coming of the Reaper shall be welcomed by you with glad acclaim. May you sow the good seed, which will bear a harvest unto everlasting life. We may sow in tears, but if we sow in love and faith we shall reap with joy. May ours be the wise sowing, the joyful reaping, and the glad gathering in the great day of harvest.