Memory Text: “Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like 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 who sat on the cloud, ‘Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe’” (Revelation 14:14, 15, NKJV).
Is the harvest ripe? The better question is: are the harvests ripe, because Revelation fourteen tells of two harvests. Just as there are two general resurrections of the dead (John 5:28–29; Acts 24:15; Rev. 20:5-6), so there are also two harvests.
First comes Jesus’ harvest which, like the first resurrection, is the one we fervently want to be included within, because it means eternal life:
“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. 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.’ So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.” Revelation 14:14-15
The Son of Man
John, the Seer of Patmos, “the disciple that Jesus loved (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20),” sees someone who looks like “a son of man,” sitting on a cloud. John is describing Jesus Christ using Daniel’s prophetic term (Daniel 7:13-14) which was also what Stephen, under inspiration, called Christ (Acts 7:56). Perhaps most surprisingly, “son of man” was Jesus’ favorite term for himself. (Mark 2:10-11; 8:31; 14:62; Mat. 9:6; Luke 5:24; 9:22)
Why does Jesus so often call Himself the son of man?
At first blush, what seems most important to us about Jesus Christ is exactly that He was not just another man; Jesus was the Son of God. (Isa. 9:6; John 1:1; Luke 1:35; Mat. 14:33) He was the only man in history who was both fully God, as well as fully human. Yet Jesus did not go around referring to Himself as the son of God. Quite the opposite, he kept that under His hat, so to speak, allowing it to be revealed to select ones at certain times. For example, when Peter testified that Jesus was the Son of God, “Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.’” Mat. 16:17.
I have often wondered about Jesus’ use the term “son of man.” It seems strange that He would describe Himself as being, in effect, just like everybody else, for we are all sons of men, all human beings. But, of course, it is exactly to emphasize what Jesus has in common with the rest of us that He calls Himself the son of man.
The author of Hebrews makes it beautifully clear that Jesus Christ could not effectively serve as our example, our helper, our substitutionary sacrifice, our advocate, and our heavenly high priest and mediator if He did not share in our humanity:
“For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. Heb. 2:17-18.
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Heb. 4:15.
“He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.” Heb. 5:2
In 1995, Joan Osborne released a pop song asking, “What if God was one of us?” It became a huge hit. Of course, the Christian religion is premised on exactly the fact that God was one of us. Jesus Christ was one of us, is one of us, and will always be one of us.
I noted above that, at first blush, what seemed most important about Jesus is that He was the son of God. But after one has accepted by faith the truth that Jesus was God, then the most astonishing thing becomes His decision to become one of us, to become Immanuel, “God with us,” to save as many of us as He could.
An amazing mystery of love, one we will study throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity, is that Jesus, who was God from eternity, consented to become a man, born of a human woman, suffering all the pain and weakness of humanity, and dying a painful death.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Philip. 2:5-8.
The description “son of man” highlights this most amazing aspect of Jesus’ love for fallen sinners. Jesus was a divine being, part of the Godhead in heaven:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1.
Yet the divine Word consented to be born a human being so that He could save us. Through his sinless life and substitutionary death, the son of man brought heaven--eternal life in a sinless paradise--within my grasp and yours! It is too wonderful to fully comprehend, which is why we’ll need eternity to comprehend it. But, for now, the phrase “son of man” should ever be a most precious sound, bringing joy and gratitude to our hearts.
The Harvest is Ripe
Note that the son of man is not in the temple, or heavenly sanctuary, but is sitting on a cloud. This introduces a timing element: if Jesus is not in the sanctuary, then the investigative judgement has ended, probation has closed, and Jesus has pronounced,
“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22:11-12
Probation is closed, the investigative judgment is finished, and everyone’s eternal destiny has been determined and fixed. The redeemed are, indeed, living without a mediator because Christ’s mediatorial role has come to an end. But, contrary to what some conservative Adventists imply, we cannot be lost during this time because our eternal destiny has already been determined. The truth that we are to live without a mediator between the close of probation and the Second Coming can be a terror to no one who understands the prophecies.
A surprising aspect of the memory passage is that the angel coming out of the temple cries with a loud voice at Jesus, saying, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” This is surprising because we are not used to seeing anyone yelling orders at Jesus. What is up with this rude angel?
One possible interpretation is that the angel coming out of the temple and crying out to the son of man symbolizes the prayers of the saints. In biblical typology, incense represents prayers (Psalm 141:2; Rev. 5:8). The altar of incense was a fixture in the earthly sanctuary, on which the priest was to burn incense twice a day, in the morning and in the evening (Ex. 30:7-8). The earthly sanctuary has its anti-typical counterpart in heaven (Heb. 8:5), and John was shown an angel with a censor burning incense to mingle with the prayers of the saints (Rev. 8:3-4). Clearly, our prayers ascend to the heavenly sanctuary, but when Jesus leaves the sanctuary they will still follow him, in this case, out of the temple to where He is seated on the cloud.
The saints of God are under terrible duress at this time. They are crying out to Jesus, “Hurry up and come gather in your harvest!” Uriah Smith suggests that their prayer is that of Luke 18:7-8:
And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
And, finally, Jesus acts in answer to the prayers. “So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.” The redeemed are at long last gathered from the earth and taken up to heaven to be with the Lord.
The Bad Reaping
There is another reaping, a second reaping, corresponding to the second resurrection. We do not want to be any part of this:
“Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 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.’ The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 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.” Rev. 14:17-20.
Blood as high as a horse’s bridle, for 180 miles
A horse’s bridle is typically five feet or more off the ground. A stadion was 607 feet or 185 meters, so 1,600 stadia equals 184 miles or 296 kilometers. So the blood was five feet deep for 184 miles. That is awful a lot of blood. It vividly conveys the reality that most of the world’s inhabitants will not be saved.
Interestingly, it is not the son of man, Jesus, who carries out this second reaping. Jesus does the good reaping of verse 15, but He is not here depicted as being the one who reaps the grapes into the winepress of God’s wrath.