The Christ in Prophecy Journal

The Mighty Angels of Revelation 14 Harvesting

MP3: The Mighty Angels of Revelation 13-14
Hosts: Nathan Jones & Vic Batista

The Harvest Angel

Vic Batista: We are closing Revelation 14 with a reaping of the earth in verses 14-20. Revelation 14:14-16 reads:

“Then 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. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.”

We see here at the end of Revelation 14 another incredible scene involving angels. What I’ll call the Harvest Angel exits out of the Temple to announce an important proclamation from the Father.

Nathan Jones: I think you know who the One like the Son of Man with the sickle is, right?

Vic Batista: In this case the verse says “One like the Son of Man, having on His head a gold crown” and that brings us back to the imagery in Revelation 1. It’s talking about Jesus.

Nathan Jones: Yes, this reaper is Jesus. For those who claim that the Tribulation is about the wrath of man and the wrath of Satan, but that the wrath of Jesus is yet to come, that is not the case. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, from the very beginning of the Tribulation it was He who opened the Seven Seals and released their judgments. Jesus then released the angels who blew the Seven Trumpet Judgments. And now here Jesus is again to continue bringing forth God’s wrath by reaping the earth of its inhabitants.

Here we are introduced to yet another angel. The Harvest Angel comes out of the heavenly temple with the command of God to give to Jesus Christ. The Harvest Angel says to the effect, “Okay, now is the time for you to reap the harvest of the earth.” It is weird to picture Jesus wearing a giant crown and holding a big sickle as if He is the Angel of Death. It’s interesting to read in the Bible the different references to Jesus Christ as well as the Angel of Death. Jesus was called the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, and the Angel of the Lord actually was the Angel of Death, meaning the Angel of Death is in truth Jesus Christ. That fact should cause people to change their mental picture of Jesus some, because whoever pictures Jesus as causing people’s deaths? But, the Bible says Jesus is the One who decides who lives and who dies and when.

Vic Batista: Later in Revelation 19 we’ll see Jesus coming back riding a horse and carrying a sword.

Nathan Jones: When Jesus was on the earth at the First Coming, He was passive like a lamb. He was purposefully weak. He never cried out while being tormented and tortured by the Sanhedrin and the Romans. Jesus was crucified, but He gave His own life up. So won’t the world be terrified when Jesus returns as the Conquering King wielding a sharp sickle and a crown and destroying the Antichrist’s armies around Him like a mighty warrior? There will be the true return of the King!

Vic Batista: I’m so glad that we are on His side!

Nathan Jones: This image of Jesus goes back earlier in Revelation 14 to the Gospel Angel whose message was to “fear God and give glory to Him.” People need a real fear of God. Fear in this case is another word for reverence, obedience, and respect. We need to fear Jesus Christ because He is ultimately powerful. God is after all the most powerful of all that exists. He is God. We have people trashing the name of Jesus. People mistakenly think that Jesus is impotent like a lamb and so is not important. They claim He has lost his power and so has no place in our world today. They couldn’t be more wrong, because this is the God of the Universe coming to bring judgment.

We need to fear #JesusChrist because He is ultimately powerful. He is #God! Click To Tweet

Vic Batista: I encourage those people who think so little of Jesus to read the Bible. Go back to Revelation 1 and read who Jesus really is, and Revelation 19 when He returns. It’s really an awesome picture! People need to take into account just who is on their side, fighting for them or against them?

Nathan Jones: Vic, you just can’t help flash-forwarding to the end of Revelation as chapter 14 is doing. You are very anxious to get to the end.

Vic Batista: I like to let the Bible interpret the Bible by giving people Scriptures where they can go and look up other references.

Nathan Jones: Right, I can understand why you are anxious to get to the end of Revelation. The flash-forward in this chapter is meant to give us hope, and clearly it has given you hope. And, we are supposed to receive hope after reading about so much carnage. God knows we need a break!

Vic Batista: So the Harvest Angel comes out of the Temple crying with a loud voice, “Thrust in your sickle, and reap for the time has come for you to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” And, verse 16 says, “So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.” What is going on here?

Nathan Jones: This again is a fast-forward to the end of the Tribulation. It’s comparing the Tribulation to being like a giant harvest. As a matter of fact, every age and every generation is a harvest. God grows people like wheat. You should want to be one of the harvest. Then there are the tares, and those are the weeds that are destroyed by being burned up. In every generation there is a harvest as God harvests people out of the age those who want to be with Him and have accepted His salvation in faith and have trusted in Him. Those harvested love the Lord and they want to live with the Him forever. That is the harvest for eternal life.

Now that we are reading into the Tribulation, another harvest is pictured. This harvest is for those whom the Lord is reaping out of the Tribulation who love Him and want to be with Him forever in Heaven. There will be a two-fold reaping. There is the bringing in of the grain into the storehouse, but also the destruction of the weeds which are burned up. Weeds are useless, so you get rid of them. The Lord is doing two things here. One, He is bringing those out of the Tribulation whom he shared the Gospel with and they choose Him as Savior. And two, for those who continue in rebellion to reject Jesus, they are the weeds who will soon will be burned up by the coming Bowl Judgments and finally Hell.

Vic Batista: Absolutely an amazing reaping is happening here! God is a God of love, but He also has to judge sin. We find that as we flash-back in a sense to Revelation 9, we’re shown many who will refuse to repent. They continue to live a certain lifestyle that is contrary to the Word of God, and God has something to say about that.

Nathan Jones: Yes, God is a God of justice. We are born under the wrath of God because of our sins. That is why it’s called salvation, for we are being saved from the wrath of God and from the punishment of God forever, which is Hell. Jesus died for our salvation to happen. Salvation shows not only the justice of God, but also the great love of God, which we are reading a lot about both now in Revelation.

In the thirty-third segment of our series “The Mighty Angels of Revelation,” we’ll continue in Revelation 14 as the great reaping of the world commences.

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

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