The Harvest Begins-Lent 23, 2022

Let’s recap for a moment in our study of “Revelation in 40”.  Seven churches received warnings and encouragement for the Last Days.  They were instructed to overcome.  And there were those who did so, overcoming “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Revelation 12:11)

Revelation 14:13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” 14 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.

Uh-oh.  A sharp sickle.
First, the one like a “son of man” takes a whack.

Revelation 14:15 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, however, doesn’t seem so bad.
More like a reaping of a fine harvest at the end of the age.

But then an angel does it. And this harvest is ripe but not good.
That’s because they’re grapes destined for the great winepress of God’s wrath.

Revelation 14:17 “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.”

Thoughts for today:

This horrific and graphic picture of the scale of a harvest for wrath says a lot about the Last Days.  The distance of 1,600 stadia is approximately 180 miles.  Just to help us visualize it, that’s about the distance from Chicago to Indianapolis.  The height of a horse’s bridle is around 4-6 feet.  The amount of blood is astronomical…more than the population on the earth, I’d imagine.

When we’re told in Scripture about the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14) and how “not many” will enter, how many of us think that just about everyone we know will be going to heaven and the idea of any being left out is casually ignored? Do you think of destruction on this scale?

At this point in Revelation when the earth is harvested, it appears only to reflect those living at the end of the age, either to glory with Christ or to the winepress of God’s wrath. What about all humanity who ever lived?  Does one’s death insulate a person from the wrath of God? 

Those who are already dead don’t have anything they could do about it prior to the harvest.  What about you?  As long as you have breath in your body and Jesus has not returned, you still have a choice.  That Eternal Choice.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.