(tm)The Harvest of the Earth
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The closing days of the Church Age will be a time of reaping. The wheat and the tares will have come to maturity. The Lord will gather His wheat into His barn but the wicked will be bound over to the fire.
The Lord will receive to Himself His firstfruits, His Bride. The sealed remnant are His firstfruits (Leviticus 23:10—the barley wave offering), marking the beginning of the harvest of the earth. They are that "cake of barley bread," Gideon and his three hundred, so to speak, who are the first to put the enemy to flight (Judges 7:13,14).
Then will come the harvesting of the Lord’s wheat—the great multitude of the blood-washed taken from every nation under the heaven.
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. 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. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. (Revelation 14:14-16)
The one "like unto the Son of man" is the Lord Jesus, who has come to gather the fruit of the earth. The fruit of the earth consists of the great multitude of the faithful who have refused to worship the Antichrist. Their names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life. They have chosen death rather than to worship someone or some thing other than the true God. Therefore God will bring them up to His throne and bless them forever.
The harvest of the wicked is described as follows:
And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. (Revelation 14:17-20)
The reaping of the righteous and the wicked includes the defining of the two categories. One of the undesirable aspects of the present hour is that there is not a clear line of demarcation between righteousness and wickedness. In order for the way of the Lord to be made straight, a line of separation must be drawn between righteousness and wickedness. We need to know what is righteous and who and what is wicked. The Lord will show us plainly in that Day.
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:41,42)
The righteous are those who keep the commandments of Jesus. The unrighteous are those who do not keep the commandments of Jesus.
The burning sun of the great tribulation will result in the maturing of righteousness and the maturing of lawlessness. The environment of the earth will become such that the righteous will be forced to be clearly righteous and the wicked will be forced to be clearly wicked.
Let us remind the reader that the several judgments are not sequential in time. It is not that after the seals come the trumpets, and after the trumpets comes the reaping, and after the reaping come the bowls of wrath, and after the bowls of wrath comes the judgment on Babylon. Such a chronological interpretation causes endless confusion and contradictions.
Rather, the Lord is pointing out that the end of the age is a time of harvest. The Lord will reward each individual according to his works. Those who do not worship the Beast or his image will be raised in the first resurrection (Revelation 20:4-6). Those who wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb will be brought up to the throne of God where they will serve Him day and night in His temple.
The wicked will be gathered by the angel who has power over fire and will be cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Antichrist will put the righteous to death, sending them up to love, joy, and peace around the throne of God. Satan and wicked people, although they do not intend to do so, always send those who love God to places of peace and joy. But the Lord will slay the wicked until their blood flows as from the winepress—and this is just the beginning of their torment.
So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:49,50).
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