REVELATION SIMPLIFIED

 

CHAPTER 14.13

Gleanings from the Book of Revelation:

A Weekly Verse-by-Verse Bible Study Series

 

The

REVELATION TO JOHN

(The Apocalypse)

                                                                           

Chapter Fourteen

The Great Tribulation

A Parenthesis

The Seven Trumpets

Trumpet Number 7: Woe Number 3

 

 

(Verse 13)

 

And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

 

Blessedness

Amidst the anger of God being pronounced upon a society embedded in the Antichrist’s false religious system, His voice is heard from Heaven commanding John to write the second of the “Seven Beatitudes of Revelation.” [See Revelation Chapter 1.1 Study]

 

Beatitude, a word not found in the Bible, is defined as a prophetic benediction or blessing given to believers as a consolation, encouragement, and prayer for happiness. Blessed [Greek: Makarios, Strong’s G3107] connotes a consecration for being fortunately happy – A future blissful state with Jesus.

 

John writes:

Blessed are the dead which die [for the faith] in the Lord from henceforth… that they may rest from their labours; and their works (fruits, deeds) do follow them: Yea, saith the Spirit.

From this time forward, blessings, especially intended for those who die for their faith during the Tribulation, are pronounced for edification and consolation. This is a necessity for those to wait patiently and endure until the Lord’s Second Coming, for soon they will be in the blissful presence and peace of the Lord. The Holy Spirit emphatically reiterates the promise of having eternal rest from their labors and their righteousness following them.

 

 

(Verse 14)

 

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.

 

 

The Ripened Harvest

Verse 14 depicts the third of three distinct visions of John in Revelation 14:

1. The vision of the harvest of First Fruits (14:1-5)

2. The vision of the everlasting Gospel preached (14:6-13)

3. The vision of earth’s final harvest reaped (14:14-20)

 

Looking ahead, the very first thing John beholds is a white cloud. Once again white symbolizes the imagery of purity, glory, and majesty. This cloud is a thunderous nimbus cloud projecting a luminous Shekinah glory around something or someone as opposed to a thick, darkened vaporous scud cloud. This white cloud is also the same:

1. That went before the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness (cf. Exodus 13:21-22)

2. That was present at the giving of the Law (cf. Exodus 19:9)

3. That received Christ at His Ascension (cf. Acts 1 9)

 

And upon the cloud One sat (sitting down, seated) like unto the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown and in His hand a sharp sickle

Now, the Son of Man has three additional significant identifying features:

1. A white cloud upon which He is seated

Sitting in a cloud represents Jesus coming to earth. He is seated and waiting for the proper time to dispense the seven vial judgments. The One who once hung on the Cross of Calvary is now coming back to recompense wrath on those who executed Him. The phrase Son of Man is also a direct reference to Daniel’s vision:

Daniel 7:13b - I (Daniel) saw in the night visions, and, behold, One like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven.

 

This same Son of Man is fully described in Revelation 1:13 - 16:

Revelation 1:13 – And in the midst of the seven candlesticks One like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength.

 

2. A golden crown on His head

The second expression of the Son of Man is wearing a gold-leafed victor's crown (Stephanos). Gold, recall, is an indication of royalty. Hence, Jesus Christ has absolute reigning authority over the entire earth.

 

3. A sharp sickle in His hand

The imagery of this phrase is like an ancient farmer about to harvest his crop. Christ is depicted holding in His hand a sharp sickle. The sickle would usually have a wooden handle with a long curved razor-sharp blade ready to slash through the stalks at ground level. Its design shows:

1. Completeness

2. Speed

3. Severity

 

Additionally, these sickles continue to be used in remote Arab areas.

 

In articulating the Parable of the Growing Seed, said Jesus:

Mark 4:29 - But when the fruit (grain, crop) is brought forth (ready, ripe), immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest (time) is come.

 

 

(Verse 15)

 

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.

 

Interestingly, another angel appears and likens the harvest to the earth being ready for harvesting. Understand: The angel mightily crying out with a loud voice is not commanding the Son of Man, but pleading with Him, under His Father's delegation, to destroy the wicked. This will be the first final ingathering of humanity. Thrust in Greek indicates sending forth the sickle to reap (i.e., gathering in the crop that is ready to harvest).

 

The word for ripe is xērainō; meaning overripe to the point of shivering to dry up or withering away (literally, dried up). Dispensational interpretation pictures and insinuates the rotten condition of the world is ready to receive God’s righteous judgment.

 

(Verse 16)

 

And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

 

This verse records the time that has arrived for the execution of divine judgment upon the worshippers of Antichrist – Those who have rejected Christ and followed Satan's substitute and are willing to die for him. The harvest of the earth inflicted by the Son of Man is in view. This harvest is a precursor to the final harvest that ensues during the following verses 17 through 20.

 

The Harvest

For the most part, Israel has been an agrarian economy. Per family, the distribution of their farmland was determined in two ways:

A. As much land as a yoke of oxen could plow in one day, equivalent to an acre of land (cf. 1 Samuel 14:14)

 

B. As much as was needed to plant a specified number of seeds (cf. Leviticus 27:16)

 

Farmers in antiquity lived in villages adjacent to their fields.

 

Feasts

Three primary crops produced by the land coincided with three major Jewish festivals:

1. The Feast of Passover (Pesach)

Leviticus 23:5 – In the fourteenth day of the first month [Nissan (March-April)] at even is the LORD'S Passover.

 

This Passover Festival would celebrate the Hebrew nation's deliverance from Egyptian bondage.

a.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMitzah)

The second feast began the next night on the fifteenth day of the same month

Leviticus 23:6 - And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

 

Unleavened bread eaten for seven days served as a reminder of the haste to which they fled Egypt.

 

b.   The Feast of First Fruits (Sfirat Haomer)

This third feast is celebrated on the eighth day (Sunday). The crop reaped was barley (cf. Ruth 1:22), and its first fruit is to be dedicated to God before any personal consumption.

Leviticus 23:10b – When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest.

 

2. The Feast of Pentecost (Harvest, Shavout)

Exactly fifty days after First Fruits, Pentecost marks the summer harvest [June – July] when the wheat ripens and is gathered.

 

3. The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)

Leviticus 23:34b – The fifteenth day of this seventh month (Tishri) shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.

 

Grapes ripen last in the fall [September – October]. This feast is when Israelites live in booths for eight days; celebrating the fact that God had provided shelter for them during their wilderness experience.

 

Prophetic Significance of the Feasts

1. Passover represents a new life in Christ – Salvation

Foreshadowed redemption found in God’s Messiah as our sacrificed Passover Lamb, by His blood, we shall be saved from His wrath through Him (cf. Romans 5:9; 3:24-25)

a.  Unleavened Bread – The sowing of the Gospel seed

Points to Messiah as a sacrifice for sin, also symbolic of spiritual cleansing of one’s heart (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8)

 

b.   First Fruits – Resurrection - Ingathering of His saints

Points to Messiah as to His Resurrection, the first fruits of the dead –-- A Blessing to those indwelt with the Holy Spirit --- Eternal security

Collectively these three feasts are known as Passover

 

2. Pentecost – The opposite fates of the faithful and wicked

Mainly, the harvest of spirited souls entering the Kingdom, adversely the wicked chaff burning in the Lake of Fire

 

3. Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) – The Rapture

Christ coming for His saints, God’s Calling with the Shofar

a.  Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) – Reconciliation

The Second Coming when the Jewish remnant receives Him as their Messiah

 

b.  Tabernacles – Entrance into the Kingdom

When once again Jesus will tabernacle with His people; ultimately, new Heaven and earth (Revelation 21:1-3)

Collectively these three feasts are Tabernacles

 

Threshing Floor

Usually, at the edge of a village or close to their fields, either on a nearby hill or a hard-level spot packed with clay, were located threshing floors. Here, sheaves of grain were spread out and separated from the tares. The threshing was done in three ways:

1. By beating the grain with a rod (cf. Isaiah 28:27)

 

2. By trampling them underfoot of oxen that pulled a wooden threshing sled with notched rims (cf. Deuteronomy 25:4)

 

 

3. By sifting the grain with round screen trays (cf. Luke 22:3)

 

A winnowing fork was used to separate the ripe kernels of grain. By tossing the grain into the air, the chaff would be blown away, gathered, and burned. It is important to note that booths were constructed for someone to lay and watch until the grain was removed from the danger of being robbed. Then, the remains would be gathered and stored in barns.

 

Prophetically: The threshing floor was used as a symbol for destruction (cf. 2 Kings 13:7); its dust thereof total devastation (cf. 2 Kings 13:7).

 

The Wheat and the Tare Harvest

In His Parable of the Weeds, Jesus Said:

Matthew 13:24-39 – Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. [Read also the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Matthew 25:31-46]

 

The harvest of the earth is appointed to the Son of Man. Wheat and tares are a mixture of good and evil in the world. Harvesting points to the end of the world where wheat is ripened to full salvation (i.e., the saints first selected, set apart, and sealed), while the ingathering of the wicked tares is burned to eternal destruction.

 

Conclusion

The above passages (Revelation 14:14-16) depict the aftermath of the upcoming seven bowl judgments. Scripture in the succeeding study alludes to the final grape harvest – A graphic depiction of Armageddon.

 

 

 QUESTIONS:

1.   What is the meaning of the second Beatitude?

2.   Differentiate between Christ’s First and Second Coming?

3.   What is the Son of Man appointed to do?

4.   What is the significance of a white cloud?

5.   Explain the harvest of the first fruits.

6.   What are the prophetic meanings of the wheat and the tares?

7.   What are the two eternal destinations to mankind?

 

 

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