Skip to main content

Revelation 14:14-17 Reaping the earth - Day 357

Good afternoon faithful readers,

Writing this the morning after "rains of biblical proportions" from Ida last night  (Originally 9/2/21).  Of course, these rains were a drop in the bucket to Noah's day.  But they do make man look very small and helpless.  For those who believe in scientism, this must be very depressing.  The natural world has very little concern for man.  Thanks be to God who knows the hairs on our head.

Blessings,

Jeff

 Between the 7 trumpets and the 7 bowls.

From ESV study Bible notes:

Harvests of Earth and Vine. Two reapers appear in heaven, sharp sickles in hand. Angels emerge from the temple with God's directive, “Put in your sickle, and reap.” First “one like a son of man” gathers the grain of the earth, then an angel gathers grapes from the earth's vine, to be crushed in the “winepress of the wrath of God.” Although both harvests could signify either God's judgment on the wicked or Christ's gathering of his saints, probably the grain harvest shows the Son of Man's gathering of believers (cf. Matt. 13:30) and the grape harvest envisions the bloody destruction of the wicked. Cf. the Lord's gathering of nations in the valley of judgment because the harvest is ready for reaping (Joel 3:12–13).

Like we did with our previous devotion from Rev 6, let us look at this note and see if it makes sense.

1.  There are two different harvests.  One by the "one seated on the cloud like a son of man with a golden crown" Since he is not called and angel, certainly makes sense that this would be Jesus. It does seem odd that another angel would tell Jesus that "the hour to reap has come".  Why wouldn't He know this?  Or why wouldn't the Father tell the Son directly?  It is important to keep Christology straight.  After the incarnation, the two natures in one person does not end.  Christ remains fully God and fully man after the ascension.  His glorified body still has the wounds from the cross.  The two natures are not mixed or shared.  His human nature still isn't omniscient.  All this to say that his human nature would not know when the hour had  come.  The grain harvest imagery symbolizing the righteous seems to fit with the parables of wheat and tares.

The other harvest is by another angel who is given direction by still another angel.  The harvest is "grapes of wrath".  The imagery of blood and crushing fits with judgment of the wicked. 

While there are two harvests, they seem to be essentially coincident.  Trying to make the first "a secret return" seems to be a stretch.

So I would say that the ESV note is certainly supported by the passage.  Other interpretations may also be supported, but we can make sense of the ESV note.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Malachi 2:10-12 Here we go again!! Day 363

Good afternoon friends, As we draw to the end of the Old Testament, we see that Judah has rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but they are following in the footsteps of faithless fathers and not in the footsteps of Abraham and ultimately God.  The exile was a low point, but now a new low is about to happen.  The prophetic voice has once again become warning and not encouraging. Faithful reading and preaching of the word is all that keeps us from losing our way.  May we be faithful in our generation. Blessings, Jeff I am sure I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  The section summary, chapter and verse are not in the original language.  They are all rather modern inventions to help us.  For example, the section title here is "Judah profaned the Covenant".  That is OK as far as it goes, but which Covenant?  So let's take a look. Observations Starts with 3 questions but who is asking the questions and to whom are they addre...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 33:7-9 Thoughts on Davidic covenant - Day 362

Good morning faithful readers, The finish line is in sight!!!  One of the themes of scripture is that God is a covenant keeping God.  There are many between God and man. Adam, Noah, David are examples.  Covenants are more than promises.  They are made between a superior and inferior with conditions for each side and blessing and penalties based on keeping the conditions.  These are covenants of works which fallen man was unable to keep.  Thanks be to God that the Father made a covenant of grace with Christ, the second Adam, which he fully kept. Blessings, Jeff The promise in v8 was made to David when he had planned to build the temple and God promised to build him a house forever. (2 Sam 7:10).  Seems like there are only two possibilities about Manasseh's disobedience.  Either he knew of this covenant that God had made with his 13th great grandfather and chose to disregard it, or he didn't know of it and was unaware of the penalty.  Let's con...
Post a Comment
Read more