Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #42 of Revelation, chapter 14 and we are continuing to look at Revelation14:15:
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.
We spent some time looking at the world “thrust,” and we saw it is a Greek word translated overwhelmingly as “send,” as when the Messenger said, “Send in they sickle.” We also saw that God said, in John 4:38, “I sent you to reap,” and that word was a different Greek word for “send,” but it led us to Mark 4:29: “But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle,” and the Greek word translated as “putteth in” is a word that is also overwhelmingly translated as “send,” just as we have in Revelation 14:15. We have seen that God is, in a way, giving us another commission. We all have heard (or should have heard) of the Great Commission to go into the world with the Gospel to evangelize the earth; that was the commission to sow the seed of the Gospel, in order that people might hear and become saved.
But now the day of salvation has passed and the time of sowing has concluded; the 12-hour work day in the vineyard has come to a close. The time in which we were to sow the seed that the fruit might come forth has closed.
There is an interesting verse in Ecclesiastes 11:6 and earlier on when we first began to talk about the door being shut and that we were not to sow seed any longer, there were some people that went to this verse to try to prove that we are to continue to sow seed until the end of time or until the end of the world. Let me read what it says in the King James English and then I will read what it says literally in the Hebrew text. It makes a very big difference in the meaning. It says in our King James Bible, in Ecclesiastes 11:6:
In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
The evening is the night and some were saying, “See, we sow the seed in the morning and we do not withhold our hand from sowing seed in the evening.” It certainly appeared that God might be indicating that the sowing process goes on into the night – that is, until you look more closely. It reads this way in the Interlinear Bible: “Sow your seed in the morning and do not rest your hand until evening.” So you sow the seed until evening and that is in full agreement with what we learned about the 12-hour work day when the laborers hired at the 11th hour were hired at the end of the day and they only worked “one hour,” typifying the Great Tribulation. Jesus said, “Are there not twelve hours in a day?” We also read that Christ said, in John 9:4:
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
The 12-hour day is over and that last hour of work is the 11th to the 12th hour, or “one hour,” signifying the Great Tribulation and then comes the evening, spiritual “night.” This is what Ecclesiastes 11:6 is literally saying: “Sow your seed in the morning and do not rest your hand until evening,” or until the night. The day is over – the day of salvation has come to an end.
In Revelation 14, in our passage God is going to discuss the time period when the work day (the 12-hour day of salvation typified in the Bible) has ended and now it is time to reap. It is no longer the time to sow and the Bible calls this “harvest,” and here it says in Revelation 14:15:
Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
Send in thy sickle and reap for the harvest is ripe. We are going to be talking a lot about “harvest” in the remaining verses of Revelation 14, so let us take a quick look at what the Bible has to say about “harvest.” We know that Matthew, chapter 13, gives us a Scripture that is very important. It says in Matthew 13:39:
The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
The reapers are the “angels” or the “messengers,” and Jesus said, “I sent you to reap,” and we are the messengers of God – we are the reapers. But the “harvest” is the end of the world or the “end of the age,” and that is the time in which we live. So Revelation 14 is speaking of the final harvest in God’s salvation program of “times and seasons.” There were three periods of “rain” and there were three periods of “famine” and three periods of “harvest,” and this is the third and final period of “harvest.”
In the Book of Proverbs we find several verses that speak of harvest. For instance, it says in Proverbs 6:6-11:
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
God is speaking here of the ant and He tells us to consider her ways and to look to the ant and be wise. Notice that “wisdom” comes into play and wisdom has everything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ and the people of God that are made “wise” through salvation; we possess the spirit of Christ, who is the essence of wisdom and we become wise. What does the Bible tell us about the time of the end? It tells us that the “wise” will understand, but none of the wicked will understand. Therefore, we are to consider the ant and be wise.
Notice it says that the ant “Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.” These are synonymous statements. “Summer” and “harvest” is the same thing and “providing her meat” and “gathering her food” is the same thing. It is a form of Hebrew parallelism. It speaks of the ant being a gatherer and that is what reaping involves, as we “gather” the fruit of the field. As God is viewing it, it could also be “bundling tares,” which are not good fruit, or proclaiming the Word of God that will bring about a form of reaping of the wicked, as we see in Revelation, chapter 14.
But notice that the ant is referred to in association with wisdom because she works in harvest. The ant is busy gathering food during harvest. Now we can also see some relationship to what God says about “feeding His sheep.” In order to feed God’s sheep, we would have to gather the food and there is also that element in that parable where the door is shut and a man comes from his journey and goes to his friend’s house and requests some bread to share with a friend that is traveling with him on his journey. That is what God’s people are doing when they go to God and beseech Him for truth: “Help us to understand what you are doing in this time of judgment that we might share it with others.” So we are gathering food in that sense, as well as gathering the elect together. And, again, there is the element of gathering the wicked, in a certain sense, for burning.
Notice that it is contrasted here. God quickly speaks of the ant and her work which she is busy doing in gathering and He contrasts it with the sluggard who “sleeps.” It says in Proverbs 6:9:
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
There is the first reference to sleep. Then it says:
…when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Then it says in Proverbs 6:10:
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
So, there are five references to sleep and slumber in just these a couple of verses. Then God says, in Proverbs 6:11:
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth…
To be in “poverty,” or spiritually poor, is not a good thing at all, as we read in Proverbs 20:13:
Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.
Again, there is “sleep” and “poverty.” Then it says in Proverbs 24:33-34:
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.
This is saying the same thing as it did at the end of Proverbs 6, verse 11. So “sleep” and “poverty” go hand in hand. It says in Proverbs 10:15:
The rich man's wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.
So, to be destroyed is a man’s “poverty,” no matter how many material things they may have in this world. Spiritually, if they are not saved, then they are impoverished. When someone is sleeping spiritually in time of harvest, it is giving every evidence of someone that is not saved and, therefore, it is their “poverty” when they sleep in time of harvest.
A little earlier in Proverbs 10, we read in Proverbs 10:4-5:
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.
Here, again, God is speaking of the one that gathers in summer as being a wise son, because when you gather in summer, you are giving evidence of being a child of God. But why would not everyone be involved in gathering in summer, or in the harvest? Why would people that are in the churches not be involved in that? What have we learned since May 21, 2011? We have learned that it was the beginning of Judgment Day and the beginning of the final harvest, as God relates Judgment Day with harvest and it is a prolonged time period which will be 1,600 days, in all probability. And the 1,600th day from May 21, 2011 falls on October 7, 2015, which happens to be the last day of the feast of ingathering or the last day of the feast of harvest. I cannot get over that when I think about it. We understand that Revelation 14 is speaking of Judgment Day, which began on May 21, 2011, the date the Bible has locked in as the beginning of Judgment Day and, therefore, the beginning of the final harvest, and we go 1,600 days from that point and it brings us to the last day of harvest and the last day of Tabernacles next year in the year 2015.
Therefore, God has been revealing this information to us, continuing to open up the understanding of His people at this time of the end to reveal that we are no longer to sow the seed, but we are to reap. We are to prophesy again, but not a prophecy in which we have any expectation of anyone becoming saved, but, incredibly, a prophecy that is focused on gathering the elect, bundling the tares and bringing information forth from the Word of God that will act as “fire” to the unsaved, to the “wood, hay stubble.” All of this is going on and the Lord’s people are “gathering” in harvest time.
Are the churches involved in this? No, they would not have anything to do with it. Are some of those that “joined up” with the proclamation of May 21, 2011 involved in this? No, as soon as things did not go as expected, most of them left; they left behind not only the date of May 21, 2011, but they left the entire Biblical calendar of history behind and they left behind many faithful doctrines such as the end of the church age, Christ slain from the foundation of the world, annihilation and many other truths. They could not wait to go their ways: go back to the churches; go back to former doctrines; go back to the world. Are they conducting themselves as a wise son in harvest? No, they are not. Is it not true that it is a much more apt and fitting description of many of these people that their overall spiritual condition is one of sleeping? They say God is still saving and, yet, they are not doing anything about that; they are not coming together and going on tract trips all over the world, as they should be if they believe God is still saving; they are apparently not all that active in getting out Gospel tracts in their own towns and cities; they are not all that active anywhere at all and they certainly are not interested in discussing the Great Tribulation or the end of the world and a great many Biblical doctrines that the Lord graciously and kindly opened up to His people at the time of the end. What does that describe but a spiritual condition in which their eyes are closed? They are “sleeping,” but the reality is that it is the time of harvest. We read a chapter dealing with the Great Tribulation and the end of the world and God says in Mark 13:33-37:
Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
It is extremely significant that Christ, when speaking of His coming, refers to those that will be “sleeping.” But sleeping in what way? They are sleeping in the harvest. They will be a professed son that causes shame; they will be asleep and this will be their poverty because it will lead to their destruction. We are living at a time when we ought not to be inactive, but we should be as active as ever. We have a task. We have been commissioned to reap. We are “sent” forth into the world, into the harvest – the final harvest – to reap. A wise son will gather the fruit.
Lord willing, in our next study we are going to 1Thessalonians, chapter 5, to see how God speaks of the day of the Lord and how He talks about watching instead of sleeping.
But, as we close this study, let us go to Matthew 24. We know that Matthew 24:29 speaks of the time period immediately after the Tribulation, in Judgment Day, the time we live in and it speaks of Christ coming in the clouds, which has to do with “seeing” the judgment of God in the pages of the Scripture, and then it says in Matthew 24:31:
And he shall send his angels…
He will “send” His messengers and this is the word “apostello,” which is Strong’s #649, and it is the word we read in Matthew 13:39 when the Lord Jesus said that the reapers are the “angels” or the “messengers.” Here, in Matthew 24:31, it says He will send His messengers, the true believers: “I sent you to reap,” it said in John 4:38. Then it goes on to say in Matthew 24:31:
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
What is it describing when He sends His messengers to gather together His elect all across the world? The language of “the four winds” and “from one end of heaven to the other” means it is all the elect all over the world, when the great multitude was saved out of every tribe, nation and tongue. God sent His messengers to reap – that is what “gathering” is about. The reaping process is what is in view and it what God is referring to when He speaks of one being a wise man in harvest or an ant that gathers her food in harvest. The only other option is the one that “sleeps” in harvest and the one that sleeps in harvest is a son that causes shame.