Harvest of the Earth

In mid-March of this year, I started to feel fatigue, but it was nothing like the profound fatigue I have now.  Nevertheless, I wanted to plant a garden.  Providentially, I decided to plant too early in the Spring, normally not a wise move.  Although it was a struggle, I was able to plant tomato plants and carrots in my small garden.  There was some cold damage to the tomatoes, but we eventually reaped an unbelievable harvest of tomatoes.  The carrots were a disappointment.  They were very small and hard, nearly inedible.  Two harvests:  one good, one bad. 

The book of Revelation speaks of two harvests at the end of the world.  First it describes the devil’s animosity towards God’s people in Revelation 12, closing with the fearful threat to those living near the end, “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus” (Rev 12:17).  Revelation 13 then describes the form that rage takes in the devil’s attempt to force God’s people to violate the Sabbath commandment under worldwide threat of death.  Next, there is an interlude at the beginning of Revelation 14 in which God assures His people that they will be victorious if they endure to the end.  They will have their Father’s name on their foreheads and will sing the song of victory, the song of Moses and the Lamb.  But first those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes have a job to do:  proclaim the three angels’ messages described in Revelation 14:6-12. 

At the close of proclaiming the everlasting gospel of these messages, the harvest begins.  The first harvest is described as follows: 

Rev 14: 14-16 – I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. 

This is Jesus, Himself, gathering his people who have ripened into His image.  They have passed the great final test. 

The second harvest is described next: 

Rev 14:17-20 – Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. 

In both harvests the sentence of judgment, whether saved of lost, comes from the temple in heaven where the judgment took place beginning in 1844.  This second harvest also reaps those who were ripe, in this case they ripened into full rebellion against God.  Joel alludes to this harvest:  “Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.  Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow—so great is their wickedness!” 

In Matthew 13, Jesus describes the exact same two harvests in the parable of the wheat and the tares.  He says, “Let both grow together until the harvest” (Matt 13:30).  It was only after the two harvests were ripe that they could be distinguished one from the other.  They looked a lot alike.  At harvest time He says, “gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matt 13:30).  The wheat, God’s people, are treasured and protected in God’s barn. 

Today, it is impossible to determine who is wheat and who is a tare.  Many unreligious people seem to be good people, candidates for God’s kingdom.  Many active Christians have secret sins and are in rebellion against God.  However, in the end times, the people of the world begin collecting into just two groups, the saved and the lost, the wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goats.  Our assignment, before the close of probation, is to work to give the three angels’ messages to family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers so that they can be reaped in the good harvest.  It is also needful that we “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth” so that we, too, are not in rebellion and become candidates for the winepress of God’s wrath. 

The future course of the final events have been laid out before us in broad strokes.  We don’t know many of the details, but our responsibility lies plainly before us.  May we all commit to cooperating with God’s plan to reap a bountiful harvest of ripe Christians.