The Reapers

Revelation 14 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

14 Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. ² And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. ³ And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. ⁴ These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. ⁵ And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.

⁶ And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; ⁷ and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”

⁸ And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.”

⁹ Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” ¹² Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

¹³ And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”

The Reapers

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.

¹⁷ And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 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.” ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ 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.

In today’s text we see the reaping of the end time harvest. It brings to mind the parable Jesus told in Matthew 13:24-30;36-43.

²⁴ Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. ²⁷ The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ ²⁸ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹ But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

The Tares Explained

³⁶ Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” ³⁷ And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, ³⁸ 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; ³⁹ and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰ So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, ⁴² and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Jesus says: “the harvest is the end of the age” What we see in both the parable of tares and the Revelation account of reaping the earth is that the harvest at the end of the age will include the reaping of everything, both good and evil which has been sown and grown in men. It may seem in this time that unbelievers and evil people escape the judgment and justice of their actions, but surely the time of judgment, justice and even the wrath of God against sin will come. The psalmist says:    Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers. ² For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.¹² The wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth.
¹³ The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming.        Indeed the day of justice, judgment and the wrath of God will come. This concept the idea that a loving and just God would send someone to an eternal punishment is questioned by unbelievers and is offensive to our current culture which promotes tolerance and inclusion of all lifestyles and choices.

Our culture and current world philosophies say there are many ways to God and heaven. That may sound nice and be easier to promote than the truth of God’s word. Jesus says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)

There is a harvest which is coming, the final end time reaping of everything which has been sown and grown in men. We also though live in a time of harvest. In Matthew 9:35-38, it says:        Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

³⁶ Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then He *said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. ³⁸ Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

The time of Jesus return and the final judgment is unknown to men. We know the reason for the delay in His coming. 2 Peter 3:7-9 says:     But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. ⁸ But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

The church today has allowed itself to buy into the world philosophy that we are just to love our neighbor and accept him for what he is and how he chooses to live. The truth is, that’s not love. Love is caring enough to tell the truth. Love is going, as Jesus did, and teaching and proclaiming the gospel (good news) of the kingdom. True love is to go into the plentiful harvest of souls in the world today and to proclaim the truth. God’s love is this:     God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)  We can love and tolerate the world to the time of the final harvest or we can follow the commission of Jesus who says: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶ He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16)

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, I like You Jesus, seeing the people, that they are distressed, dispirited, like sheep without a shepherd, I like You feel compassion for them. I do beseech You, the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into Your harvest. I pray that You would send and empower me.    Amen.