Christ With Sickle and Trumpet Over the Grain HarvestBible World
14:16Revelation 14:16
And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
The verse shows One like the Son of man seated on a white cloud with a golden crown and a sharp sickle, who at the angel's loud cry from the temple that the harvest is ripe thrusts His sickle upon the earth and the earth is reaped. That reaping is Christ's glorious return to gather His people, raising the sleeping saints and joining them with the living changed saints to meet Him in the air. It comes immediately after the final threefold warning message has been proclaimed to ripen the world for the harvest. The harvest gathers the earth's people for one of two ends, the righteous as sheaves for the heavenly garner and the wicked as fagots for the fires of the last day. This gathering of the ripe harvest is distinct from what follows it, the gathering of the fully ripe clusters of the vine of the earth and their casting into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Vision of the Reaping
The One like the Son of man is seated on a white cloud with a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand, and at the loud cry of another angel out of the temple that the time to reap has come because the harvest of the earth is ripe, He thrusts His sickle on the earth and the earth is reaped. The reaping follows the revelation of the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus and the blessing on the dead who die in the Lord who rest from their labors with their works following them, and it comes after the third angel's warning against worshiping the beast and his image and receiving his mark. It belongs to the present truth of the third angel's message to be unitedly proclaimed and meditated upon together with the verses that follow through Revelation 14:20 and with Revelation 15.
The reaping occurs while demon-worship, violence, crime, robbery of God and men, greed, avarice and sensuality fill the earth and the whole world stands on the brink of perdition under a hanging cloud of judicial wrath containing what destroyed Sodom. While that wrath hangs, God's commandment-keeping people stand separate with the seal of the living God on their foreheads in the patience of the saints keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. The reaping belongs to the solemn time when God's wrath breaks upon the world, revealing the outcome for those who have built their house on sand.
The reaping of the ripe harvest is a decisive act of judgment distinct from what follows it: the gathering of the clusters of the vine of the earth when fully ripe and their casting into the great winepress of the wrath of God trodden without the city. The earth is reaped when the harvest is ripe, and the later gathering of the earth's fully ripe grapes is for the winepress of God's wrath. The gathering of the righteous harvest is the final harvest bringing deliverance, resurrection and judgment.
The reaping is Christ's glorious return to gather His people, raising the sleeping saints and gathering them with the living changed saints to meet Him in the air. His coming on the cloud is marked by glory and fire and a searching gaze that reveals who is ready to stand. The cloud first appears in the east small and black, about half as large as a man's hand, known as the sign of the Son of man, then draws nearer growing lighter and more glorious till it is a great white cloud with bottom like fire, a rainbow over it and ten thousand angels around it singing. Upon it sits the Son of man with white curly hair lying on His shoulders, many crowns on His head, feet like fire, eyes as a flame of fire searching His children through and through, a sharp sickle in His right hand and a silver trumpet in His left. His coming brings awful silence and the cry over whether robes are spotless, answered by the promise that those with clean hands and pure hearts shall stand and His grace is sufficient, then descending wrapped in flames, sounding the trumpet, gazing on the graves, crying awake to those sleeping in the dust, and sending a mighty earthquake that opens the graves so the dead come up clothed with immortality while the 144,000 sealed living saints are changed and caught up together with them.
Prophetic Place and Timing
The reaping comes immediately after the final threefold warning message has been proclaimed, for that threefold message is the last message before the coming of the Lord and its truths distinguish His church at that time. The harvest is the culmination of the work of warning and reform that prepares people to stand in the day of God. Within the chapter the reaping follows the revelation of the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and the blessing pronounced on the dead who die in the Lord, who rest from their labors with their works following them. It stands in contrast to what comes later, the gathering of the earth's fully ripe grapes for the winepress of God's wrath. It belongs to the events of Revelation 14:13-18, acting on the angel's cry from the temple that the time to reap has come because the harvest is ripe.
The verse is part of the message of Revelation 14, which is the everlasting gospel and the whole gospel to be proclaimed everywhere and throughout the world. These prophecies test the world and prepare a people to stand in the great day of God, their prophetic meaning explained through God's chosen servants. In the last days its full meaning must be ascertained and all transactions brought into accordance with the Word of God. The verse stands among the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 that are being fulfilled as the last message of warning that all are to hear. It belongs to the special movement under the messages of Revelation 14, which relates to the past and the future and to Christ's closing work in heaven and His people's work on earth.
The first and second angels' messages were proclaimed in years past, and the third angel's message is now being given to fallen churches. That third angel's message includes the other two messages of Revelation 14, and its proclamation makes prominent the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Together with light on the sanctuary question and the Sabbath truth it was present truth given after the disappointment to the cities of the East, carried from city to city and from town to town, shining light on the pathway of scattered believers concerning the near advent of the Lord, which some received gladly while others turned from the light and lost their hold on God and on His truth. The prophecy of Revelation 13 and 14 is the basis for expecting that all classes except the little flock will unite to exalt Sunday and enforce it by stringent laws.
The chapter gives God's warning message for this time, with special messages of warning that have called God's people out from the world. Those who have heard that message are called to come to their senses and to show genuine faith and spirituality, to come out from worldly practices, and to gain an experience very different from that of the Jewish nation who rejected Christ. Its warnings are not to be treated as secondary to medical missionary work. The harvest message of the angel following the third angel is now to be given to all parts of the world, lighting the whole earth with the glory of God as the Lord's one more call of mercy to the world. While human perversity diverts the work from its true bearing, the light must struggle amid the darkness of those who feel competent to do a work God has not appointed them to do. With the verses that follow through Revelation 14:20 and with Revelation 15 it is to be the subject of meditation, belonging to the present truth of the third angel's message to be unitedly proclaimed. The reaping belongs to a series in which the angels represent five distinct messages given before the advent, with the angel who reaps the earth representing one of those messages.
Harvest Meaning and Mission
The harvest is the gathering of the earth's people at His coming, the final result of the closing messages which ripen the harvest of the earth for its final reaping. It comes immediately after the threefold warning message has been proclaimed, as the culmination of the work of warning and reform that prepares people to stand in the day of God. That closing message ripens all people for one of two ends.
The two ends are the righteous gathered as sheaves for the heavenly garner and the wicked gathered as fagots for the fires of the last day. The harvest brings to a close the position, dangers, conflicts, and final deliverance of the people of God, with the triumph of those who gain the victory over the beast and over his image by unyielding firmness in adhering to the commandments of God against oppressive powers that seek to force them to disobedience. In the last days there is left only a remnant who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. The vision was opened especially for the last church to show the position, dangers, conflicts, and final deliverance of the people of God, so that those turning from error to truth are instructed concerning the perils and conflicts before them and none need be in darkness about what is coming upon the earth.
The gathering of the righteous is the harvest of the final harvest, followed by the gathering of the clusters of the vine of the earth and their casting into the great winepress of the wrath of God trodden without the city. This coming harvest with its deliverance, resurrection, and judgment is the reason for the name Seventh-day Adventist. Christ Himself puts in the sickle and reaps the harvest of the earth at the last great day, for the husbandman who puts in the sickle because the harvest is come can be no other than Christ. The sower of the seed represents those who labor in His stead, and unlike the sower who knows not how the seed springs and grows, Christ does not sleep over His charge but watches it day and night and is not ignorant of how it grows.
The reaping is connected with carrying the church's work forward with speed and directness in proclaiming the everlasting gospel on earth and rescuing people from destruction through Christ's followers' work. Its image applies to missionary work, with prayers likened to sharp sickles going out with the laborers in the harvest field. The reaping belongs with the call to the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus and with the blessing on the dead who die in the Lord who rest from their labors with their works following them. It gives words of comfort to those grieving the death of a faithful believer, assuring that one who died in the Lord without great suffering now rests from labor with works following and rests before the perilous times ahead and before the final reaping.
The verse shows One like the Son of man seated on a white cloud with a golden crown and a sharp sickle, who at the angel's loud cry from the temple that the harvest is ripe thrusts His sickle upon the earth and the earth is reaped. That reaping is Christ's glorious return to gather His people, raising the sleeping saints and joining them with the living changed saints to meet Him in the air. It comes immediately after the final threefold warning message has been proclaimed to ripen the world for the harvest. The harvest gathers the earth's people for one of two ends, the righteous as sheaves for the heavenly garner and the wicked as fagots for the fires of the last day. This gathering of the ripe harvest is distinct from what follows it, the gathering of the fully ripe clusters of the vine of the earth and their casting into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Vision of the Reaping
The One like the Son of man is seated on a white cloud with a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand, and at the loud cry of another angel out of the temple that the time to reap has come because the harvest of the earth is ripe, He thrusts His sickle on the earth and the earth is reaped. The reaping follows the revelation of the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus and the blessing on the dead who die in the Lord who rest from their labors with their works following them, and it comes after the third angel's warning against worshiping the beast and his image and receiving his mark. It belongs to the present truth of the third angel's message to be unitedly proclaimed and meditated upon together with the verses that follow through Revelation 14:20 and with Revelation 15.
The reaping occurs while demon-worship, violence, crime, robbery of God and men, greed, avarice and sensuality fill the earth and the whole world stands on the brink of perdition under a hanging cloud of judicial wrath containing what destroyed Sodom. While that wrath hangs, God's commandment-keeping people stand separate with the seal of the living God on their foreheads in the patience of the saints keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. The reaping belongs to the solemn time when God's wrath breaks upon the world, revealing the outcome for those who have built their house on sand.
The reaping of the ripe harvest is a decisive act of judgment distinct from what follows it: the gathering of the clusters of the vine of the earth when fully ripe and their casting into the great winepress of the wrath of God trodden without the city. The earth is reaped when the harvest is ripe, and the later gathering of the earth's fully ripe grapes is for the winepress of God's wrath. The gathering of the righteous harvest is the final harvest bringing deliverance, resurrection and judgment.
The reaping is Christ's glorious return to gather His people, raising the sleeping saints and gathering them with the living changed saints to meet Him in the air. His coming on the cloud is marked by glory and fire and a searching gaze that reveals who is ready to stand. The cloud first appears in the east small and black, about half as large as a man's hand, known as the sign of the Son of man, then draws nearer growing lighter and more glorious till it is a great white cloud with bottom like fire, a rainbow over it and ten thousand angels around it singing. Upon it sits the Son of man with white curly hair lying on His shoulders, many crowns on His head, feet like fire, eyes as a flame of fire searching His children through and through, a sharp sickle in His right hand and a silver trumpet in His left. His coming brings awful silence and the cry over whether robes are spotless, answered by the promise that those with clean hands and pure hearts shall stand and His grace is sufficient, then descending wrapped in flames, sounding the trumpet, gazing on the graves, crying awake to those sleeping in the dust, and sending a mighty earthquake that opens the graves so the dead come up clothed with immortality while the 144,000 sealed living saints are changed and caught up together with them.
Prophetic Place and Timing
The reaping comes immediately after the final threefold warning message has been proclaimed, for that threefold message is the last message before the coming of the Lord and its truths distinguish His church at that time. The harvest is the culmination of the work of warning and reform that prepares people to stand in the day of God. Within the chapter the reaping follows the revelation of the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and the blessing pronounced on the dead who die in the Lord, who rest from their labors with their works following them. It stands in contrast to what comes later, the gathering of the earth's fully ripe grapes for the winepress of God's wrath. It belongs to the events of Revelation 14:13-18, acting on the angel's cry from the temple that the time to reap has come because the harvest is ripe.
The verse is part of the message of Revelation 14, which is the everlasting gospel and the whole gospel to be proclaimed everywhere and throughout the world. These prophecies test the world and prepare a people to stand in the great day of God, their prophetic meaning explained through God's chosen servants. In the last days its full meaning must be ascertained and all transactions brought into accordance with the Word of God. The verse stands among the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 that are being fulfilled as the last message of warning that all are to hear. It belongs to the special movement under the messages of Revelation 14, which relates to the past and the future and to Christ's closing work in heaven and His people's work on earth.
The first and second angels' messages were proclaimed in years past, and the third angel's message is now being given to fallen churches. That third angel's message includes the other two messages of Revelation 14, and its proclamation makes prominent the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Together with light on the sanctuary question and the Sabbath truth it was present truth given after the disappointment to the cities of the East, carried from city to city and from town to town, shining light on the pathway of scattered believers concerning the near advent of the Lord, which some received gladly while others turned from the light and lost their hold on God and on His truth. The prophecy of Revelation 13 and 14 is the basis for expecting that all classes except the little flock will unite to exalt Sunday and enforce it by stringent laws.
The chapter gives God's warning message for this time, with special messages of warning that have called God's people out from the world. Those who have heard that message are called to come to their senses and to show genuine faith and spirituality, to come out from worldly practices, and to gain an experience very different from that of the Jewish nation who rejected Christ. Its warnings are not to be treated as secondary to medical missionary work. The harvest message of the angel following the third angel is now to be given to all parts of the world, lighting the whole earth with the glory of God as the Lord's one more call of mercy to the world. While human perversity diverts the work from its true bearing, the light must struggle amid the darkness of those who feel competent to do a work God has not appointed them to do. With the verses that follow through Revelation 14:20 and with Revelation 15 it is to be the subject of meditation, belonging to the present truth of the third angel's message to be unitedly proclaimed. The reaping belongs to a series in which the angels represent five distinct messages given before the advent, with the angel who reaps the earth representing one of those messages.
Harvest Meaning and Mission
The harvest is the gathering of the earth's people at His coming, the final result of the closing messages which ripen the harvest of the earth for its final reaping. It comes immediately after the threefold warning message has been proclaimed, as the culmination of the work of warning and reform that prepares people to stand in the day of God. That closing message ripens all people for one of two ends.
The two ends are the righteous gathered as sheaves for the heavenly garner and the wicked gathered as fagots for the fires of the last day. The harvest brings to a close the position, dangers, conflicts, and final deliverance of the people of God, with the triumph of those who gain the victory over the beast and over his image by unyielding firmness in adhering to the commandments of God against oppressive powers that seek to force them to disobedience. In the last days there is left only a remnant who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. The vision was opened especially for the last church to show the position, dangers, conflicts, and final deliverance of the people of God, so that those turning from error to truth are instructed concerning the perils and conflicts before them and none need be in darkness about what is coming upon the earth.
The gathering of the righteous is the harvest of the final harvest, followed by the gathering of the clusters of the vine of the earth and their casting into the great winepress of the wrath of God trodden without the city. This coming harvest with its deliverance, resurrection, and judgment is the reason for the name Seventh-day Adventist. Christ Himself puts in the sickle and reaps the harvest of the earth at the last great day, for the husbandman who puts in the sickle because the harvest is come can be no other than Christ. The sower of the seed represents those who labor in His stead, and unlike the sower who knows not how the seed springs and grows, Christ does not sleep over His charge but watches it day and night and is not ignorant of how it grows.
The reaping is connected with carrying the church's work forward with speed and directness in proclaiming the everlasting gospel on earth and rescuing people from destruction through Christ's followers' work. Its image applies to missionary work, with prayers likened to sharp sickles going out with the laborers in the harvest field. The reaping belongs with the call to the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus and with the blessing on the dead who die in the Lord who rest from their labors with their works following them. It gives words of comfort to those grieving the death of a faithful believer, assuring that one who died in the Lord without great suffering now rests from labor with works following and rests before the perilous times ahead and before the final reaping.