Reaping and Then Reaping - Revelation 14:14-20
Revelation 14:14-20 · Vern Peterman · Sep 13, 2009
Revelation (2009), No. 37
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926142546564

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay. Nancy and I have been having fun continuing to massage things into all the nooks and crannies. At the same time, having our two guests from Uganda. And they're headed back tomorrow to Uganda. Two-day trip, by the way. So, just the fact that they're headed back tomorrow doesn't mean they'll be, you know, home anytime soon. at the top of page six, excuse me, the first page of six pages here.

Revelation chapter 14 is a chapter, we call it a preview, because essentially what it is, it's looking at the chapters ahead and taking a look at the things that are about to be put in more detail, kind of in advance, looking ahead. And I've actually been emailing back and forth with Jessica Johnson some on this point.

The Bible at places does that, where it gives you a big picture, and then goes into the details. And one example of that would be in the first chapter of Genesis, where it says, in six days God created the heavens and the earth, and it describes those six days. And then it also goes through then in the starting of chapter 2 to give you the detail in Genesis chapter 2 about the sixth day. More detail rather than just summarizing God made them male and female, it tells you how God went about making them male and female and gives you an account of that day, basically taking up the whole chapter to give you all the detail.

And so this chapter is like this, it's giving us a preview of what is about to take place and then gives you the details in the subsequent chapters. And basically the chapters it's giving a preview on is chapters about 16 through 19 and maybe a little bit of an insight into chapter 20. So basically several chapters are previewed here in chapter 14. And then before we step into the passage though, there are some things to kind of bring our perspective up to date on. And one of the things that is possible to do as we're going through Revelation, because after all you look at it, we're going through chapter after chapter of, oh, not always, but frequently, very horrific events. I mean, ghastly, horrible events.

Not the sort of thing any of us would want to sign up for, right? Hey, any of you'd like to go through the tribulation? Here, sign up for this, right? I mean, you just wouldn't sign up for it. You know, if somebody said, you know, hey, here's your vacation, your vacation's going to last for seven years, and it's going to look like this, you'd say, hey, I think I'll pass on that one, you know? And the Lord says, okay, you get a pass. It's not something you would sign up for.

But, as we look at it, we've got a few bullet points here that I think are important. A lot of people will say, why would God bring such horrific events upon the earth? As a matter of fact, telling us centuries in advance here with John's writing. what these things are, and John drawing upon prophets from centuries before his time. So the Lord has revealed these horrific events, not just centuries, but millennia ahead of time. And the Lord, full knowing that, why would the Lord allow these things and bring them about Why would the Lord do that? And I think one of the things that we don't realize is that sin is an awful, terrible thing. Sin is really, really awful. As human beings, the inclination among people is to compare themselves to others and to say, I'm not so bad. I'm not so bad. And it was interesting at the college that Nancy and I went to, one of the people on the newspaper staff at the college did an interesting survey, I think it was about spring of one of the years I was there, and he reported it.

And the interesting thing in his survey, he asked people just a straightforward question, are you good enough to go to heaven. Are you above average in righteousness? That's the way he put the question to them. And what's interesting is that 85% of the people said they were above average.

I don't know how that works out mathematically. That somehow seems a little askew. People seem to overestimate their righteousness. But it was interesting. Of course, the question is really the wrong question, isn't it? Sort of. Unless the people are willing to say, actually I'm not good enough. Then that would be an honest answer. Right?

That would be a true answer. That I'm not good enough to go to heaven, that that's really the wrong question. The question is, is Jesus good enough to go to heaven? And am I going with him? because he paid the price for my sin. That's the true question.

Compared to God's perfect and absolute and infinite and eternal holiness, sin is wretched indeed. Sin is wretched indeed. So, I think that's just an important perspective for us to have, just to realize and recognize how awful, how horrible sin is. It can only be understood in the presence of God.

Yeah, I think the thing is, we don't spend our days in the presence of the Lord, and even those who are not going to heaven, even those who are going to spend eternity in the lake of fire, Yeah, they are not, in their perspective, they're not putting themselves before the Lord. They're not in the presence of the Lord and recognizing His absolute holiness. The usual mistake is like people responded to that question in the college newspaper. Am I good enough to go to heaven? Am I better than average? Yes, Norm?

So the question was, what think you of Christ? And that was... Say that again? What think you of Christ? What think you of Christ, okay. And that takes words out of a tile shop. It's the question that Christ himself posed. Who do you say that I am? Because that's the biggest question. It's not, am I good enough to go to heaven? No, you're not. And neither am I. None of us is good enough to go to heaven on our own.

But the ultimate question is, what do you think of Christ? The ultimate question is Christ asking, who do you say that I am? Because that's the big question. Christ put it, what do other people say? And of course, people responded with, here's a variety of opinions. Here's the critical question, who do you say? Yeah, what think you of Christ?

And Christ himself asking each person the question, who do you say that I am? Those who, as we'll see in chapter 20, the last half of chapter 20 of Revelation, those who are there at the white throne judgment, it will be too late for them to answer that question. such as to save themselves. The people who show up at the White Throne Judgment will be those whose names are not in the Book of Life. And that will be shown to them.

Your name isn't here. You aren't here. You're not on this book of life, the list of those citizens of heaven. There's not a noobs column. Yeah, and there's not a noobs column. There's no chance for late registration. So the white throne judgment won't be a time when Jesus will say, you know, what do you think of me? It's too late for that. That's not the right time to try to answer that question.

Okay, let's turn to page 2 here, and this starts into the passage, verse 14 there. Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud sitting on, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

This verse is a combination of things that John has said before. and is also, alongside that, words and phrases that have been used sometimes in prior passages in Revelation, but also from the Old Testament. Remember, what's the figure we said? What percentage of the Book of Revelation is out of the Old Testament? Seventy percent, okay, is out of the Old Testament. And this is a prime example of that kind of thing.

By the way, I'd like to get some input or thoughts from you. I have a listing of all the Old Testament passages, almost all, the Old Testament passages that are referred to in Revelation and which verse that they go to. Is anybody interested in that? What I should do then is have a number of those printed up for you and I'll do that for next week and you can go ahead and take advantage of that. I'll have that as an appendix so that you'll see what the listing is. It's impressive.

You can see all the Old Testament passages and by the way it's not exhaustive but it's pretty lengthy so you might find that of real interest. One of the words, I looked and behold, is one that we've seen before, okay, in John, and it actually reflects what the Old Testament prophets said. I skip over that in the write-up here, and go one like a son of man, and dealing with the clouds. First of all, we saw in Revelation chapter 1, John wrote and he said, and I turned to see the voice, the source of the voice that was speaking with me, And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man."

And he goes on there with further descriptions. But then, as now, refers to Christ himself. It's obvious that Christ referred to himself while on earth as the Son of Man. A number of times, 79 times from Matthew to Acts 7.56 where he's quoted. And it was understood then to be a reference to the Messiah. When Jesus said, I am the Son of Man, or the Son of Man did this or does that, a great number of times, 79 times is a lot. When he made all those references, it was understood by those people that this is a reference to the Messiah. It wasn't anything where they puzzled over it. They said, okay, we know what that means.

In Daniel 7, 13 and 14, I kept looking in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. And this is the description of the second coming. It's interesting, I was talking to a rabbi a few years back and he talked about, you know, when Jesus, when the Messiah comes, we'll ask him whether this is his first coming or his second coming. And I said, well, yeah, it might be a little late. But nonetheless, that was an interesting way to put it. And so this passage here is clearly looked upon, and even by the Jews, as the Messiah. They don't believe it's the second coming, but rather the first. The passage also makes reference to clouds there, as we see in verse 14, and also in Revelation 14, 15, and 16.

One like a son of man. The capitalization is in English. Some translations and locations you'll see it capitalized, sometimes not. That capitalization is in the English, the original text in Greek and Hebrew doesn't have capitalization in that way. In the early church, those in John's audience who were Jews and had become believers in Christ would hear or read this and instantly see this is Jesus the Messiah that John is writing about here.

He is the one on the white cloud portrayed as held in righteousness. He is the one who is like unto a son of man. John does not only draw from the book of Daniel, but also the Psalms. Here in Psalm 21, verses 3 and 4, and I give less context here, so I just have quoted verses 3 and 4. For you meet him, and these are uppercase U and H in English in recognition of the deity, with the blessings of good things, you set a crown of fine gold on his head. He has life of you, and you gave it to him, length of days, forever and ever.

The passage in Solomon is one that describes the Messiah as having a golden crown on his head. He has a right to reign. His golden crown speaks of his great value, worthiness, and uncorruptible character. And he, as we read when we get to Revelation 19, is the King of Kings. Okay, on to page 3. Let me step into something here that I think will be helpful.

What you see there is a picture of a Roman sickle. This is out of the Roman Empire era, so either within or close to the time of the New Testament. What you'll see is the sickle is there, the handle is rotted off, but it gets the picture. What John does when he makes reference here in The end of verse 14, 1414 here, is he talks about a sharp sickle in his hand. The reference to the sickle, as we'll see in subsequent passages there, comes from Joel, the book of Joel, which is, he's one of the minor prophets at the end of the Old Testament. verses 12 and 13. It's part of a larger passage in Joel about the tribulation period and the second coming of Christ as the Messiah. The Jews look at that passage as about the Messiah, they just don't look at it as the second coming of Christ.

But we're looking at it this morning with regard to the word sickle. John uses the word sickle seven times in Revelation 14, 14-20, as we'll see shortly. Sickles used for general harvesting purposes in those days, not just for wheat but also for cutting the grapes off the vine and a bunch of things. Any kind of harvesting that required cutting, they would use a sickle. And before we move into the verse, in order to have better insight into it, we cover several different key words here.

One of them is the word crown, and this is Stephanos, Victor's crown, not the diadem crown of royalty, although Christ certainly could claim that. We said crown, and with many crowns, right? Not the diadem crown of royalty, but in this case a victor's crown, one having won the victory. A victor's crown, a Stephanos crown, was used in New Testament times for one who took first place in an athletic competition. The next word that you see there is a word that means ripe. Now there are two different words that mean ripe here.

Two different Greek words, although it's translated in English pretty much the same way. And one is a withered harvest. Isn't that interesting? Ripe, but a withered harvest. And then the next one is ripe, but meaning fully ripe. See the difference there? Ripe but meaning fully ripe. So there's a distinction between the two words. In English it doesn't jump out at us because they don't translate them differently. It implies ripeness that is just at the right time. Harvesting at just the right time and so both of those are used.

The next word that is a key word here is the word thrust. Ebalen is the Greek and it's from the Greek word balo where we get our word to throw or to swing by force there. So it's interesting, this has the idea of not just kind of using this thing in a gentle way, but hacking. Hacking. This is a harvesting that is severe. The next one is Here's the same word translated differently, because of context, to cast, which is the same word, but it means to pitch forcefully. When an action is taken with force, with some speed, that word is used.

Top of page four. Now we'll look at having those insights here. And verse 15, And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe. Then he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Now, here's something I think is an interesting point to bring up. A number of you have no doubt heard of a mid-tribulation rapture. You've heard that teaching that the believers are taken out in the middle of the tribulation. The two primary places where that gets pointed to as the places, one, some mid-tribulation rapture teachers will teach that the two witnesses is the picture of the church being raptured. So they will look at it symbolically.

When we went through that, we talked about some of the reasons why that's not the case. First of all, it just says there's two. And it also, certainly other reasons that we've pointed out earlier, but another reason is lying dead in the streets of Jerusalem. For three days? That's just kind of weird. How's that supposed to symbolize the church? So, that's one place. This is another place.

There are those who hold that the mid-tribulation rapture is this reaping. The only problem is, the description doesn't fit. The harvest is a rough, you know, hacking. And some of the ripeness, as we've noticed, is a withered harvest. That's rather odd.

The other thing is that it fits out of Joel 3 with a judgment scenario, as we'll see here shortly, a judgment scenario and not a, the Lord's taking his church home. So, very briefly, those are some reasons why I think it does not fit a mid-tribulation rapture timing.

So are you saying then that verse 15 and 16 are in conjunction and in association with 17, 18, and 19, that it's the same harvest? Ultimately, yes. I believe so. So they aren't two different harvests. Christ is doing one and the angel is doing another. but it's the same harvest. Ultimately, it's the same harvest because of the picture of the sickle, and we'll see here shortly the wine press.

Ultimately also because people, you hear about the Battle of Armageddon? It's not really a single battle. That's kind of a misnomer. As we look at it here, and we'll see some pictures, as we look at it here, there are actually multiple locations And we provided that picture previously, but we'll look at it again. There are multiple locations for this harvest to take place. And I think that's one of the reasons why this is looked at not as one singular sweep, but as multiple sweepings that involve different locations and different events, though close in time. It will be different peoples who will be involved at different stages.

Let me step through because I think it will help address your question. One of my thoughts was could it possibly be a difference in Jews and Gentiles as far as the harvest is concerned? Let's take a look at the passage and see if that fits. I would say it's probably better to look at the passage and see how this unfolds and I think we'd be able to answer your question.

Here we are at chapter 14. We're finishing up these angelic announcements. This is the chapter by chapter for the most part to outline the sequence that we see in the Book of Revelation. We've talked about the syncopation between the heavenly scene and the earthly scene, eight times alternating between the heavens and the earth, and we're here at the end of this syncopation that started in chapter 12 and finishes here in 14. We have here the three sevens, seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls or vials as the King James has it. And we're finishing up the last part of this interlude between the seven trumpets and the seven bowls that were by us. So that's going to give us some context here. Here is this sickle.

The handle, of course, is rotted away, but the iron blade has survived. Obviously, not in as good a condition as it was when it was new, but still Here is what I've called the campaign of Armageddon, and that is, by the way, not my own terminology. This map I got by permission from Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, and he shows the multiple locations where this devastation takes place. And essentially eight stages of this campaign of Armageddon is what he numbers here.

I gave you a smaller version of this. I think what I'm inclined to do when I give you the list of references from the Old Testament is give you a larger copy of this because I think it would be helpful and especially to be able to see the eight stages and have those down. Dr. Fruchenbaum put this together. He put it in a book and also presented it at a conference that I went to.

Here is Har Megiddo. That's the Hebrew or in the Greek version Armageddon that we more typically hear of. Har Megiddo means just simply Valley of Megiddo. And that's the entrance location. Let's look at some more details. This is what we looked at before with Basra Petra, where the Jews would take refuge. The Jews will take refuge there, and in partial answer to your question, the Jews will take refuge there. It will be the Gentiles who will be slaughtered at the southern location. there will be loss of life of Jews in the other northern areas, particularly around Jerusalem as one of the places where it's made known.

Yes? Vern, are you saying that Babylon is there to the west of Galilee? To the east of? Yes. Babylon's to the east, right? But you're showing with that arrow No, there it is to the east. Here's Galilee. Right up here is Galilee, right? Off to the east is Babylon. I'm saying there's battles in all those places and including, we'll see here, the Valley of Jehoshaphat and down in Basra and Petra. So you're talking about battles basically in three major areas in Israel and over in Babylon, which is now Iraq. So you're talking about huge events in all those locations. goes all the way to the Mediterranean Sea? Yes. So then those two arrows on the left actually could be coming out of the Mediterranean Sea? Yes. Yes. As a matter of fact, let's look at some pictures here pretty quick.

Here is a map of Israel and this northern area, see where that arrow is up top, is Har Megiddo or the Valley of Megiddo. We'll be taking a look at some photographs of it. starting at the port. The port city of Haifa is right up at the top at the entrance. So at Haifa or close to it would be where the Gentile armies would come and there would be huge slaughter.

At the other end of the valley, at the top end of the valley is Nazareth. Imagine Jesus when he's working, you know, doing his carpentry, looking down over this valley, and imagine him knowing what's going to eventually take place and looking down at this valley. And that's an awesome thought. That this is the place. He's right up at the head of the valley, in the place where he grew up, looking down at this valley where this huge slaughter would take place. Oh, excuse me, at the bottom end is Jerusalem, where that other lower red arrow is, and that is another place where there are a number of Old Testament prophetic predictions about another slaughter there.

We'll be taking a look at it briefly, and we'll also be looking at some pictures. One of the references we're going to see in this passage is reference to the wine press and even it talks in some of the Old Testament passages about the blood coming up to the horse's bridles and the idea is with this wine press they would sometimes violently stomp the grapes and if you did it real violently you'd have the grape juice splashing up way high. And so that reference to the horse's bridles is not a flow of blood, but a splash of blood reference. A violent stomping of the grapes or a violent battle.

Here is the passage we're looking at here and seven references to the word sickle. And it's the same Greek word as used in the Greek Old Testament for Joel chapter 3. So it matches perfectly. In four places he uses sharpsicle in this passage. So it's one, you know, sharp, sharpened for a full harvest. An aggressive harvest.

Here is Haifa and I have circled in the yellow circle the valley, Armageddon. Now it's interesting, in our times, even those people who are of the world hear Armageddon and they think of some ghastly And recently there was a Bruce Willis movie that was made into this Armageddon. And of course the way the movie was put out had nothing to do with Israel. Nothing to do with the end times particularly. But people in their minds still have this kind of ominous picture in their mind of Armageddon. But the Bible is not vague about it. The Bible is very specific about what's going to take place and even the location.

Here it is. That's the place right there. There it is. And it's been identified for centuries. Yes. If you want to get a feel for what that's like, you drive the gun barrel up on highway 285, and it's that exact same place for miles. It's just flat. Yeah.

A large, long valley, and the Lord says it's just going to be a slaughterhouse. This is Haifa as the port city, so if any troops are coming from the port, they would be in or near Haifa where they would come into that valley. Here is a herdsman with cattle overlooking Harma Ghetto with a little bit of the bay there. See that little part of the bay? Let me see if I can, right here. There's a little part of the bay there that is the port of Haifa. And that would be the place, that or close to it, would be the place where the ships would come in with their landing troops.

And here is Armageddon viewed from an ancient fortress that was stationed there from the time of Solomon. There was a fortress there, the Jews had a fortress. And there were other battles that took place in ancient times and even during the time of Napoleon. in that valley. But anyway, that's Har Megiddo or Valley of Megiddo. Here's viewed from the mountains looking down at the valley. This will be the Valley of Massacre. Here's another view from one of the rural locations there of the valley.

Now, as we step into Jerusalem, because Jerusalem is another one of those areas that will be included If you look at it, let's kind of step our way here. Here is the Temple Mount, which is currently, there's the Dome of the Rock. Right here is the gate that, according to tradition, in one passage in Ezekiel, will be the gate that Messiah Christ will come through. The book of Acts, chapter 1, and Zechariah, looking in chapters, I think it's about Chapter 14. Is that the East Gate? Yes, the East or Golden Gate. Eastern or Golden Gate.

Christ will land on the Mount of Olives, which is right up in here. You see this line here of trees? That line of trees is the tree line along an ancient pathway. It was the pathway most likely that Christ came across on what's called the Triumphal Entry. Imagine Christ coming across that pathway and what he is thinking about what's going to happen here.

This is the place, this valley between, is the valley where the blood will be splashed up to the horse's bridles. And, then if we look a little bit more closely, this is looking from the wall down into the valley. That's the valley of Jehoshaphat. That's the valley in and around Jerusalem where there will be another slaughter.

And the slaughter will take place because Christ, in Zechariah chapter 14, says He's God. will himself, his feet touch upon the Mount of Olives, whoops, excuse me, his feet will touch upon the Mount of Olives, up here, and he will fight against the armies.

So it's interesting, you wonder, well boy, how are the Israelites going to pull this off? They're not. Many of the Israelites will recognize the only way we're going to be saved from this massive Gentile invasion is by God himself. And that will bring many of them to salvation.

Yeah. Doesn't it say that the mount will be split? Yes, it says that. He touches that and it's going to be a route of escape, right? I don't remember where that's at. That's also in Zechariah. You can look at that. Zechariah 12-14 are the chapters that particularly describe these events. So then on that other picture, Yes. This one here.

I haven't looked at it particularly. There is a geologist friend of mine, Peter Irish. who looked at that and examined it, and he said there's already an earthquake fault that runs exactly as the Bible describes. I haven't looked to see exactly where that lands, and to show you on a picture. I do have a map of it.

So if it's a way of escape, then the people of Jerusalem would be able to go through that of the Mount of Olives here. Where would they end up? Good question. Over here, remember, because Jesus was at Bethphage and Bethany, which are over here, kind of behind the other side of the mountain, and then came over the Mount of Olives and then came over this path and then through this gate into the temple area. That was the path it came. When he comes again, Acts chapter 1 and Zechariah chapter 14, he will come again on the Mount of Olives.

Only at that time rather than coming as he did previously, he will come this time as one to defend Israel and fight against them. I mean, the Israelites, they're going to look at it and say, were dead. And they will recognize that their salvation came only because of God.

And they will turn to the Lord. Many will turn to the Lord. Is that true? Ultimately, they will turn to the Lord at that time and it will be a matter... I mean, the Jews over the centuries, many of them have said, now would be a good time for Messiah to come. This will be a time when a great many of them will be saying, now would be a good time for Messiah to come, even though I didn't believe in him five minutes ago.

You know? But is it true that someplace it says that they have to ask for him to come back? I'm trying to think. He literally, I've gone to several meetings. Yes. He specifically says that. Yeah. That they have to ask him to come back. He may be correct. I don't particularly offhand know what passage he's referring to. I've met him, I've read several of his books, and that doesn't come to mind. It doesn't mean you're not saying something. So I don't know the particular passage, but most certainly they will be in a place of turning to the Lord.

And I think they will recognize We cannot save ourselves. You get the Mossad, you get the Israeli military, you get the very best of the best, they're just going to recognize we're not going to be able to pull this off. We're doomed. And it will only be a recognition only God can save us. We are beyond help. Let's see. Okay, that's the end. I'll leave it there and let's continue on.

He's going to come back to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. So Armageddon is now many miles north of there. So back to the question I asked before, could the sickle and the angel be in the Armageddon or Armageddon? Could that be where that sickle is and the angel or Christ will be in Jerusalem?

Yeah, it's interesting. We see these various situations laid out. I don't know You know, early on you see, and the earth was reaped, you know, and then more specifically it starts coming down to things that look more like, specifically around Jerusalem and so it's almost as if there's a more general statement and then focusing in here and particularly around Jerusalem. So there is a zeroing in that takes place and that's why in total it's one reaping process of judgment. Judgment, I don't think Rapture fits it. Rapture doesn't fit here, although there are those who try to make it fit. But in fact what does happen is it gets closer and closer to Israel and specifically Jerusalem in the description here. Let me read verses 17 through 20, which finishes out the chapter.

And another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, and he also had a sharpsicle. And then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharpsicle, saying, Put in your sharpsicle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because your grapes are ripe. In other words, the time is full. These are fully ripe.

So the angel swung a sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth and threw them, here's this Balo word, bang, it's a violent action, and threw them into the great winepress of the wrath of God. So this reaping, when you're talking about throwing them into the winepress, this is not a rapture. That's the same word that Satan has thrown to the earth. Same word. Balo. Yes. Same one. So you're talking about a violent action.

This is not a... The word for rapture in the Greek harpazo is a redeeming word. It's a different word altogether. This is, to me, is not a good fit, although there are some who hold to this is the mid-tribulation rapture. No, this reaping here isn't going to heaven. This reaping is the wrath of God. And verse 20, and the winepress was trodden outside the city. This is back to this picture here. Violently stomping here. Trodden outside the city. Which city? It's Jerusalem. And the blood came out from the winepress up to the horse's bridles for a distance of 200 miles.

Yes. So the term here that says, because her grapes are ripe, does not necessarily mean that there are a lot of people now that are believing that didn't believe before. Yeah, this isn't talking about believing. In other words, if the grapes are ripe, you ever heard the term grapes of wrath? That's what this is pointing to. This is grapes of wrath. This isn't grapes of people being saved. It's not ripe with belief. This is ripeness as in things are fully evil. These people also are aligned with the Antichrist. This is up to the top. These are fully ready.

But not in a good sense. Not in a good moral or spiritual sense. This one up in verse, the harvest of the earth is ripe. And this is of the entire earth. And the picture of this withered harvest is, yes it's a harvest, but while it doesn't convey the sense of everything is full up in time, it conveys that this is just bad. It's like, okay, we're going through this reaping, but this is all just really bad. Imagine you go out and harvest a bunch of wheat and the wheat's all rotted.

And there can be diseases and things like that. So you've got this harvest and it's horrible. Yes? Doesn't this also relate to that handout you gave me about the Restrainer who was taken out of the earth. So we have the earth without the Restrainer. That's right. That's right. And so that makes it this withered harvest. That's right.

One of the things we see in multiple locations, the moral and spiritual description of people during this time. When you're talking about this withered harvest where, okay, we've got this harvest going on, but it's just awful. You know, I've I've worked, when I was over in Northern California, I've worked out in the grape fields along with a lot of the workers typically out of Mexico. And sometimes you get something really bad.

You'll get fungus in there. you'll get a harvest where there just wasn't enough water. You'll get raisins instead of grapes. Yeah, you'll get raisins. Sometimes they'll just rot before things, especially if you get a lot of rains towards the time when it's supposed to be getting ripe. There can be some real problems. You can even get problems with animals in the vineyard. Yeah.

Some of your folks not What's interesting is the one that's described closer to Jerusalem is the one where this is full ripe and it's talking about full ripeness not in a good sense, but it's fully evil. And think about this. Israel is a land that God promised Abraham, right? And remember back when we studied Genesis chapter 12? The closer these people get to Israel, and even more, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the pivotal city on the earth.

The closer they get there, the worse it gets. So the withered harvest is, you're farther away, but when you get right there to Jerusalem, this is like the ultimate and the worst. So the ripeness is not a good thing, it's a very, very bad thing. The closer they get to Jerusalem. Full up with evil. Yeah, full up with evil and you're attacking, this is the place of places on planet Earth. Yes? We can't forget that the abomination of desolation to happen in the temple in Jerusalem. So couldn't that also be referring to that? Because that's evil in God's holy place.

It's the fullness of evil where it shouldn't be. This is the worst of the worst. And that's why I think that when you're talking in a general sense, the earth was reaped, you have this withered harvest, and now you get this word ripeness, not in a fully good sense, but ripeness, and it's the worst of the worst. It's as bad as it can get.

This abomination of desolation that Stan made reference to, Christ referred to it, Daniel referred to it, that takes place right there at the Temple Mount. We saw a picture. at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. That's the place. And think about all the things that have happened in Jerusalem. It's not only where David began his reign. That's where Christ will come again. That's where he was crucified. That's where he was resurrected. That's where he will reign from.

And what does the Antichrist try to do? Come and slaughter the Jews. and wipe out the Jews in this city, the holiest of cities. The place that is the center of God's attention on planet Earth. And so, this describes an awful scene, because what they're doing is awful. God promised Abraham, here's one guy who was raised pagan. God's made a promise to that one guy, and throughout the rest of the time that this Earth has, He's going to keep it.

Yeah. And then you think about the passage that says, unless it would have been stopped, everything would have been destroyed. Yes. And then you compare that to Sodom and Gomorrah. Yeah. I mean, this is much worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, because it would have destroyed the entire earth if it would have been continued, but it was stopped short of doing that. Yeah.

So it's even worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember what God said He who blesses you, I will bless, and he who curses you, I will curse. Woe to the person who determines to be cursed of God. Woe to the people or the army that determines to be cursed of God by cursing God's people. That's a bad thing.

Yes? Do we have any feeling what the ratio of Gentile to Jew? series of battles that will be taking place, and we have, I know there's no direct reference to the United States of course, but there are certain things right now leading up to the fact that our military may be starting to see some reduction in power. and reduction in power means we lose our ascendancy as far as making health our jurisdiction. Norm's asking a question about U.S. involvement and the point is I don't think there's anything that explicitly points to U.S. involvement in these events. which means we either, I would say either take a minor part or perhaps no part at all. Or we don't exist. Don't exist or do exist and are not involved.

But our current, our prior position has been one of support of Israel for some decades and it may be that politically, militarily that just is not viable. into this time and really that would be a setup for this last time because think of it, the Jews will need to be in a place where they look at it and say nobody can save us and they're not going to count on the US or anybody else to come in.

It will be God who saves them. In Zechariah chapter 14 it says that the Messiah will touch down and God himself will save them. So this is Messiah who is God with his feet touching down on the Mount of Olives that will save them. This isn't because there's a whole bunch of F-16s that happen to come in at the last minute and take out the enemy. It will be God saving them and nothing else. No other way. It will be clearly a matter of the only hope that we have, only, Capital O underlined. The only hope that we have is in God.

And they will come to recognize that. Those who endure to the end and are saved. It will be a great moment. Because remember, what did Peter say to the Jews there in the early chapters of Acts? Repent! Well, this will be a moment when they will finally say, I guess I'd better repent. They'll be listening to that, I guess I'd better change my mind about this Jesus guy. Because right now, that's the only hope we've got. And aside from that, we're dead meat. We're gone. And God keeps saying, they did not listen to me, they did not listen to me.

And then in Revelations, it ends on those churches, he who has an ear, let him hear. I mean, what a connection. It's in Revelation the church is here, if anyone has an ear, let him hear. In the middle of Revelation we saw a passage not too long ago where it says, excuse me, he who has an ear, let him hear. And then in the middle of Revelation, in the middle of Tribulation, if anyone has an ear. So it's more of a might be. Yes?

The Jews that flee to Petra, the Jews that flee to Petra, are they the ones that are going to be saved? Significantly from what we read. God's major means of saving them. And it won't be because the Israelites are somehow real tricky that the attacking armies will be wiped out. It will be God defending them. Yep.

We've run well out of time. There's people standing waiting to get in here. So we need to stop, even though it's very interesting. I do have a couple of supplements to bring you next week. So I'll put that in my mental log book and bring it along with next week's lesson. Let's pray.

Thank you, Lord, for what you've revealed. We thank you that in the midst of this, though horrific events are to take place, perhaps as soon as a few years from now. Your faithfulness is evident. The promise that you made to that one formerly pagan man, Abraham, you are going to keep on into the very last days of this present heavens and earth and even on into eternity. We thank you for your faithfulness. We thank you that we can count upon your promises and upon who you are. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.