Revelation 14:14-20

If Christ Condemns You Who Can Save You?

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on October 20, 2019 at Beacon Church

I think I’ve told you this story before, but not long ago when I was down at seminary for some classes, on a bathroom break, I was washing my hands at the sink and complaining to a classmate about the professor we had just been listening to. I was really just being picky—complaining about things in his lecture that shouldn’t have bothered me, but they did. My friend caught my eye and I turned around to see our professor standing right behind me waiting for the sink. Which meant he had been there in the bathroom the entire time I was complaining about him. He was the last person I expected to be standing right there in that moment.

Now there are two particular Old Testament passages we find alluded to in these verses in Revelation 14:14-20. One is part of a prophecy in Daniel 7, the other is in Joel 3. As happens all the way through Revelation, the Old Testament Scriptures provide the themes and scenes that make up the vision John saw. This often helps us interpret the meaning of what John writes, when we make the connection to an Old Testament passage. What’s interesting is that in both Daniel 7:9 and Joel 3:12, God sits to judge the world.

• As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat;  (Dan. 7:9 ESV)

• Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. (Joel 3:12 ESV)

But in Revelation 14:14, the first thing John sees is a depiction of Jesus sitting on a cloud. “Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand,” (Rev. 14:14 ESV). And He’s ready to judge the world. You know, when most people imagine standing before their Maker one day, Jesus Christ is not who they expect to face.

Jesus is the last person many people will see

John’s vision here combines aspects of Daniel 7 and Joel 3 in a way that is incredibly intimidating. The first thing John sees in this part of his vision is a white cloud, with someone sitting on it—it means sitting like on a throne—and He’s described in words that come straight from Daniel 7:13. Daniel describes the whole scene like this:

13 "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.  14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.  (Dan. 7:13-14 ESV)

This name, “the Son of Man” was Jesus’ very favourite way to refer to Himself. In the four Gospels, Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man 81 times. Let me give you two examples:

• "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats."  (Mat 25:31-32 ESV)

• "And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."  64 Jesus said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.""  (Mat 26:63-64 ESV)

Jesus was the last person that High Priest expected to see on Judgement Day. And I suppose Jesus is the last person that High Priest will see on Judgement Day. The sickle in His hand is an image from Joel 3:13 which I’ll read in minute. Some ancient cultures have a scary myth about the Grim Reaper who harvests the souls of the dead. I think it’s a lot more frightening to discover that the incarnate Son of God Himself is both Judge and Executioner.

14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.  15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe."  16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped. (Rev. 14:14-16 ESV)

The Son of Man reaps the wheat harvest after being told to do so by an angel. That seems a bit out of order until you learn it’s worded this way to preserve the wording of Joel 3:13. “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great,” (Joel 3:13 ESV). The command comes from God in Joel 3, and by showing the angel coming out of the Temple it’s implied he is carrying this command, in Revelation 14:15, from God the Father to His Son. Showing the angel coming out of the Temple helps us to keep in mind that this is a heavenly scene, not a prediction of how earthly events will happen. Revelation goes back and forth between scenes that predict earthly events and heavenly scenes that explain what’s happening on earth. That also helps us to understand why there are two harvest scenes here: the wheat harvest reaped by the One sitting on the cloud in verses 14-16, and the grape harvest reaped by  another angel in verses 17-19. These are two heavenly scenes explaining the earthly events that are about to start happening. The two harvests are not redundant--each tells us something really important about why Jesus is getting ready to judge the world. This first harvest of the wheat focuses powerfully on Jesus as Judge—the ascended Son of Man, enthroned, crowned as victor (that’s what this kind of crown means: it’s a crown of golden leaves like an athlete’s wreath, but Roman Emperors sometimes wore it after a great victory), and holding a sharp sickle. Jesus will claim His Kingdom and bring justice to the earth.

Justice is the last thing most people will get

The second harvest scene is a grape harvest.

17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.  18 And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe."  19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.  20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.  (Rev. 14:17-20 ESV)

The Son of Man picture comes from Daniel 7, but the sharp sickles, the harvest, and the treading of the winepress come from Joel 3. And again, if it’s even possible, the imagery from Joel makes this prophecy even more frightening. In Joel 3, if I read a little of the context, we can see that the Lord sits to judge the nations He has gathered to the Valley of Decision—in Hebrew it’s “the Valley of Jehoshaphat”.

11 Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD.  12 Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.  13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.  14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.  (Joel 3:11-14 ESV)

Verse 13 ended ominously, “for their evil is great.” The Bible never shows a God who is soft on sin. God is holy. Sin is evil. Evil must be punished. Have you ever considered that Jesus died for you not because God is soft on sin, but because of how seriously God takes sin? Why else would the Son of God have to die to save people like you and me? Our evil is great. That makes God’s salvation in Jesus even more amazing. Verses 6-7 contains a call for people to repent and fear God and be saved. But most people will refuse to obey that call, and the justice they will receive is deserved.

This heavenly scene prepares John’s readers to understand the earthly events about to be unleashed by the seven angels with bowls of wrath in chapters 15 and 16. Those seven bowls contain the seven final judgements the angels pour out onto the world, and each one comes with specific predictions of things that happen on earth as a result. These seven bowls of wrath result from the angel blowing the seventh trumpet. And this gets a little confusing I’m afraid. But it’s a bit like when you click your mouse on a folder on your computer screen, and it opens up to show seven more folders inside; you click the last one and you find seven more folders inside. Revelation’s earthly predictions all started when the Lamb opened the seven seals in chapter 6; the seventh opened up to seven angels with seven trumpets to blow; the seventh opens up to seven final angels with seven bowls of wrath to pour out. That comes next in chapter 15: the results of the seventh trumpet.

The reason that matters for how we read these verses about the two harvests, is that the angel who gives the command for the grape harvest to begin, is the same angel who showed up just before the seven trumpets began. It was one of those scenes in heaven that introduced predictions of judgements on earth. Back in chapter 8:2 it says, “Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them,” (Rev. 8:2 ESV). Then verse 3 introduces a heavenly scene with an angel doing the job of the High Priest, who takes fire from the coals under the Altar of Burnt offering and throws the fire down to the earth. Then verse 6 goes back to the seven angels with trumpets: “Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them,” (Rev. 8:6 ESV). That High Priest angel is the one who ministered at the Altar; the one who had the fire. His first scene provided an explanation for the seven trumpets. Now he’s back, and on his command, for the same reasons as before, it’s time for the results of the seventh trumpet; it’s time for the seven bowls of wrath. These last judgements will bring the world to Judgement Day. And this final harvest scene with the Angel from the Altar helps John’s readers like us understand that God’s final justice is very fair.

Jesus will get justice at last

The main character in the wheat harvest is the Son of Man from Daniel 7; most of the wording for the command comes from Joel 3:13, which also provides the background for the grape harvest. But the reason John is shown a wheat harvest at all, and the reason he hears for the harvest to start, these also come from Joel. We already saw why Joel said the grapes deserved their fate: Joel 3:13 said, “…for their evil was great.” Now, in verse 15 we find a clue to why time is up for the wheat. “And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, ‘Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe,’" (Rev. 14:15 ESV). “…For the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” Daniel and Joel were prophets filled with the conviction that God deserved to be worshiped. Have you ever stopped to consider whether you treat God fairly? Between God and yourself, which of you is more deserving of honour, which of you of more respect? Maybe underline “fully ripe.”

The Greek word is “withered.” It’s possible it means the grain is “dry” as in ready to harvest, but in the Bible this word almost always means it’s dried up, withered, and dead. In Matthew 13 Jesus used this exact word about the seed that fell on rocky ground, "when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away." (Mat 13:6) And again in Mat 21:19, when he cursed the fruitless fig tree, Jesus said, ‘…"May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once." (Mat 21:19) That’s the same word the ESV translates here “fully ripe” but it means “withered” and lifeless. It’s not an accident John used this word “withered” to say time was up for the wheat. It’s a specific reference to another part of the Book of Joel, 1:17. “The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up,” (Joel 1:17 ESV). Granaries are storage houses for grain. This verse says the granaries are destroyed because the wheat failed to produce grain; it was all withered. The context of Joel 1 uses the word “withered” six times in 10 verses, and about both grain crops and grape crops: e.g., “Be ashamed, o tillers of the soil; wail, o vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. The vine dries up…” In Joel 1:13, the priests and “ministers of the altar” are called to repent and the reason why is also behind the withered grain harvest in Revelation 14. Because the priests failed to repent, the people failed to worship God. So while the grape harvest is ready because “their evil is great” (Joel 3:13), the wheat harvest is ready because it has withered and died without producing any grain. This means that Jesus is about to judge the nations because a) the whole earth was full of evil, and b) even the religious produced no fruit of genuine worship.

I’ll say more about this as we get into the next 3 chapters. But this is where the angel from the altar enters the picture:

And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe." (Rev. 14:18 ESV).

Keeping the connection with the fruitless worship in the Book of Joel, the wording “the angel from the altar” contains another allusion to Joel 1:13—“Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar…!” Why? “Because grain offering  and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.” The grain and drink offerings were supposed to be given twice a day in the Temple. Something is very wrong with the way people claim to be worshiping God.

The first time in Revelation we read about “one like a son of man” is in chapter 1, in the very first scene, which shows that Christ Jesus is with His people, like a High Priest ministering to His churches:

9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.  10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet  11 saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."  12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,  13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.  (Rev. 1:9-13 ESV)

That brings us to another scene with a high priest. Featuring the very angel from the grape harvest. See in 14:18, how this angel is described?

And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe." (Rev. 14:18 ESV).

He’s the one with authority over the fire—the fire from the altar. This angel is the one with the last word before the seven angels with the final seven bowls of wrath are introduced in chapter 15. And he’s the one whose heavenly action introduced the seven trumpets in chapter 8.

3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,  4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.  5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. (Rev. 8:3-5 ESV)

The Lamb was the sacrifice. The coals are what is left when the Lamb’s body is sacrificed and burned. The Lamb is Jesus Christ. But the missing heart of worship is and was the sacrifice of Christ that bought us peace with God and forgiveness of sins. That’s why this angel threw the fire to the earth just before the first of the seven trumpets—Christians at that time had developed a whole religion that tried to make themselves acceptable to God, but ignored what Jesus already did to make them acceptable; they tried to worship God but failed to depend on the sacrifice of the One who died to reconcile sinners to the Holy God! That’s why this angel, the angel from the altar, the one with the authority over the fire, commands the final harvest to begin: Because even religious Christians who should know better leave Christ out of their Christianity.

You might pay no attention to God your entire life, but God will pay attention to you at the end of days. God has set the time and place and there will be no mercy when time’s up. The One who died is the One who rules; The Saviour who could have saved you will be your Judge. If you didn’t receive His grace, you won’t receive His mercy. Verse 20 says the blood will flow like a river that's 1600 stadia long and as deep as a horse's bridle. The horse was an image of warfare in John's time, so this is a hint that this bloodshed will be in a great battle. The measurement, 1600 stadia, is about 300km. That just happens to be the approximate length of the main part of Israel from North to South.[i] These hints, the horse of battle, the length of Israel, and the allusion to Joel 3 and the Judgement by God on the nations gathered together in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, all suggest this is a preview of a great Judgement on the Last Day, and that it will take place in the land of Israel. God has planned it; He is prepared for that Day. Are you?