“Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write: The dead who die in the Lord from now on are blessed.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “let them rest from their labors, for their works follow them!” Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and One like the Son of Man was seated on the cloud, with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. Another angel came out of the sanctuary, crying out in a loud voice to the One who was seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. Then another angel who also had a sharp sickle came out of the sanctuary in heaven. Yet another angel, who had authority over fire, came from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from earth’s vineyard, because its grapes have ripened.” So the angel swung his sickle toward earth and gathered the grapes from earth’s vineyard, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. Then the press was trampled outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press up to the horses’ bridles for about 180 miles.” (Revelation 14:13-20 HCSB)
By now, you are probably tired of me talking about context and contrasts. But these items are super important to our understanding of the passages we are studying. The scenes and symbols John has been seeing and then telling us about can be best understood in light of what he has already told us, his Old Testament background, and the things Jesus taught him about these OT passages and ideas. We try to interpret Scripture, but we must use Scripture to interpret Scripture and do so while submitting all of this to the authority of the Holy Spirit at work within us (see Jn. 14:26).
You may notice that I included the final verse (v. 13) from last week’s focal passage in this week’s passage. That verse is going to help us set the context for our discussion. If you’ll recall, our focus last week was on the idea that we are truly blessed and find ultimate happiness in God’s will for our lives, regardless of where His will might take us. Sometimes, His will leads us directly into conflict, pain, and even death that we would otherwise completely avoid. But a voice from heaven assures us: “The dead who die in the Lord from now on are blessed.” The Holy Spirit then gives a resounding response of “Yes, let them rest from their labors, for their works follow them!”
Christian faith is often defined by the world or non-believers as a set of religious beliefs, maxims, principles, or Biblical commands that we ascribe to. These beliefs are viewed loosely as just ideas that can easily be set aside when they’re inconvenient or culturally unpopular, or socially uncomfortable. In reality, Christian faith is much, much more than that. For a thought to move from just a mental concept or idea to an actual belief means that it has moved from the realm of possibility into the realm of truth, from the mind to the hands or feet. For faith to be real, it must translate from thoughts and beliefs into actions. The Apostle James describes this very idea in his epistle:
“If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.” (James 2:15-17 HCSB)
James is expecting Christians to recognize the need they see (food, shelter, support) and tie it to the command they know (loving your neighbor) and that moves faith from just belief into concrete actions. If faith is real (or alive as opposed to dead, in James’ words), then it MUST do something, not just believe it. Real faith expects – no, demands – obedience to the Word of God. Real faith is expectant belief, it is seeing the mountain that is standing in the way of God’s will and believing He will move it. But real faith is also aware that obedience to God’s will involves effort, struggle, opposition, and even death. John reminds us, even the LAMB who stands at the right hand of the Father bears the marks of that struggle, opposition, and death.
To give our lives in the pursuit and fulfillment of God’s will is the greatest honor and work afforded to man.
After reminding these churches of that honorable pursuit, John tells us of an earthly harvest that impacts everyone. First, we see One like the Son of Man seated on a cloud with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. Some scholars see this figure as an angel who has a human look (like a son of man), but I believe the crown is a dead giveaway that this is THE Son of Man, Jesus the Christ. In addition, the description ties back to Daniel’s vision (Dan. 7), the Psalmist (Ps. 110), and to Jesus’ own statement (Matt. 26:64). The harvest is ready, and the Lord of the harvest is sending out those who will reap the harvest.
At this point, another angel appears from “out of the sanctuary”, crying out to the One seated on the cloud: “Use your sickle and reap, for the time has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe (ready).” The angel came from the sanctuary (Gr: naos) or Holy of Holies, which is where the presence of God dwelt. This is the same place where the “prayers” of the saints are being continually offered up before God (see Rev. 5:8; 8:3) like incense. This tells us that the Father is now acting on His promise regarding their prayers; the time has come. “So, the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested (v. 16).”
At first glance, it would appear that we have two separate harvests in the text, this one and the one that follows (vs. 17-20). But there’s no reason these can’t be occurring simultaneously as one harvest. The imagery or symbolism in the two descriptions does indicate a different “type” of harvest. The first is a harvest of grain and the second is a harvest of grapes. We will deal more with the harvest of grapes in a bit. For now, I think the focus in the harvest is on the Son of Man and the harvest of the righteous.
We talked about the differences in dead and living faith, above. What often happens when you begin to talk about judgment of the righteous is folks want to turn to a discussion of actions and what constitutes righteous actions. To do so is to miss the very heart of the matter. Righteousness in scripture may be visible through human actions, but righteousness flows out of the heart. In other words, you’re not righteous because of what you do; you do right things because your heart is right before God. In other words, don’t get the order of these things backwards. You’re not made righteous by being right and doing good; you are made righteous by faith and you do good things because your heart is right before God. That is the entire point behind Jesus’ parable about fruit. You don’t get grapes from a thistle bush and you can’t harvest wheat from weeds.
What type of work do you do? Most of you know, I work in technology and computers. That’s how I make a living, and pastoral ministry is how I fulfill God’s call to ministry in my life. I’m not an artist, so don’t ask me to draw something or paint a picture. I’m not a plumber or auto mechanic, so don’t ask me to plumb your house or rebuild your car engine. The kind of work I do is based upon my skill set and training, and how well I do these things will tell you just how skilled I am and how well I’ve learned and retained my training.
The last part of that verse from last week’s focal passage says, “let them rest from their labors, for their works follow them!” As a Christian, how well does your work describe your skills, training, and efforts as a believer? The works being referred to here are not our feeble attempts at doing more good than bad in our lives. That’s how most people view this idea of Christian faith and righteous deeds. If I do enough good (or more good than bad), then God will be pleased and let me into heaven. But that’s NOT what scripture teaches. Scripture teaches that the only way to please God is through faith, and we are never capable of doing enough to cover our own sin with good deeds. Faith in Jesus is NOT just believing He’s a great man who taught good things. Faith in Jesus is ALL about believing He is God’s unique (One and only) Son/Messiah and the only way of saving us from our sin. You don’t get to heaven by being good; you get to heaven by trusting Jesus to save you from your sin and take you there.
“Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:1-3 HCSB)
So, that brings us to the second half of this harvest scenario in our focal passage. The first part was the Son of Man harvesting grain and the second part is about another angel, the one who has authority over fire. This second “fire” angel calls out for the angel with a sharp sickle to “gather the clusters of grapes from earth’s vineyard, because its grapes have ripened.” So the angel with the sickle swings it, gathers the grapes and throws them into the “great winepress of God’s wrath.” I need to be very clear about this, so pay close attention. The grapes being harvested and thrown into the winepress of God’s wrath are those people who have rejected God, His Word, and His Son and who believe they are good enough to deserve God’s love and a place in His eternal paradise.
But God’s Word is clear on this: “as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God… For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:10-11, 23 HCSB)
I’ve only cited a few verses here, but I would encourage you to go read the entire chapter of Romans 3. We’ve all broken God’s eternal and universal law and our only hope is to fall before the one True, and Holy God and seek His mercy. He has responded to your cry for mercy: “They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24). I can promise you no one who truly seeks God with all his heart will ever miss Him (Jer. 29:13). When you seek Him, you will find Him. When you knock, the door will be opened. When in confession and repentance you throw yourself upon His mercy, you will find He forgives, cleanses and restores you to His eternal love.
If God is willing to hear our cry for mercy, then why would He ever need to pour out His wrath on people like John describes here? Because a cry for mercy is usually the last thing we’re willing to do. We are generally very, very prideful when it comes to admitting our sin and a cry for mercy is an admission of guilt and the need for God’s forgiveness and redemption. By definition, mercy is not giving someone the very thing they deserve. So a cry for mercy is to admit you deserve judgment and God’s wrath upon your sin. In my experience, most people are simply unwilling to go that far – to admit that simple fact. They really do think they’re good enough to deserve God’s love and a place in heaven. It’s a bit like the man who believes he’s the most humble person on the planet. The only one he’s fooling is himself.
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable about sheep and goats. He says that when “the Son of Man comes in His glory, with all the angels with Him,” then He will sit on His throne and gather the nations before Him and separate them like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He then describes how they are separated and He tells the sheep, “for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat” and He recounts several other things they’ve done to care for Him. They’re surprised by this and ask, “when did we do these things for you?” Jesus tells them that when they did these things for “one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it for Me.” However, the goats are told the opposite, they did none of these things for Him. They’re just as surprised as the sheep and ask Him when they failed to do these things for Him? Of course, He responds when they failed to do these things for “one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it NOT for Me.”
Many people think the focus of that parable is on doing good things to earn Jesus’ favorable response. To do so is to miss the key point of the parable. The key point is not that they’re rewarded for their actions. The key point is that the shepherd knows the difference between sheep and goats. Let me make this simple, they aren’t sheep because they did those things (feed Him, give Him something to drink, etc.) they did those things because they are sheep. In the same way, they aren’t goats because they failed to do those things, they failed to do those things because they are goats. Jesus isn’t judging them because they did or did not do these things, they are judged based on whether they are a sheep or a goat, their actions just expose who and what they are.
Now, back to our focal passage. Jesus and these angels are told to harvest the [people of the] earth. This harvest is another symbol in a long line of symbols that John has given us in Revelation. A few of the previous symbols dealt with men and women who had either taken the mark of the beast or refused to take it and suffered the consequences. Let me state this very clearly, those who took the mark of the beast were not judged just because of a mark. They were judged because of their response to God and His sovereign authority and that mark was simply the result of that choice. Likewise, those who refused to take the mark were not accepted by God simply because they refused a mark. They refused the mark because of their faith in God and what that faith relationship demanded of them. Just who is God over your life? It becomes apparent based on whose will you ultimately pursue and whom you are willing to obey and follow, just like the sheep and goats in the Matthew parable cited above.
You and I are going to be judged based on our response to God and His authority. He knows our hearts and our actions simply flow out of our heart felt response to Him and His will. We either desire His will or we desire our own. That’s really what this entire vision from John is all about. God deserves our love and obedience and He knows us better than we even know ourselves. Ultimately, He knows what we need but also knows why we often choose the opposite, why we choose the lie over the truth. Most often, the core issue is not belief in God as much as it is submission to God. If you go back and consider the whole situation John describes regarding the dragon and the two beasts, it all comes down to who will you trust and who are going to follow? We think we know better than God does what is best for us and our lives. When God says “don’t do that” or “don’t choose that” because it will destroy you then we question His wisdom and doubt His truth and choose our will over His will.
Our response to God is often, “Stand back, God. I’ve got this. I know what’s best for me in this situation, You don’t.”
In the end, if God tells us that sin will destroy and even kill us then why would we be surprised by judgment? In essence, God is just giving us what we keep insisting we want. We don’t want His will, we won’t walk His way, but we insist on our own will, we go our own way, and it brings the death and destruction He warned us about.
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