A Harvest of Mercy and Judgment

• I want to go on with the picture of harvest. I want to point out to you something that I haven’t yet touched on. There’s going to be more than one harvest. There’s going to be a harvest of mercy and there’s going to be a harvest of judgment. And they’re going to follow one another very quickly. They’re both depicted in the 14th chapter of Revelation.
• I realize there are things about Revelation that we don’t understand, I don’t understand. But I never let what I don’t understand keep me from acting on what I do understand. I don’t hang around wondering what’s the answer to a question that I don’t know the answer to, and failing to do what I know I ought to do.
• Remember what I said about the secret things and the things that are revealed? There are some secret things. I think there are some secrets about the exact interpretation of Revelation that none of us know. But, there are a lot of things that are revealed. I believe this truth of the two harvests is a clear revelation. Let’s look at them.
• It begins in Revelation 14:14. And first of all, we have the harvest of grain. You remember the order, the three harvests: the grain, the grapes and the olives. That order follows all through right here into the book of Revelation. And here we see, first of all, a picture of the harvest of grain. Which is the harvestof mercy, the ingathering of souls into the kingdom of God.
• John the revelator says: 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. I believe that must be Jesus. No one else could be described that way. It’s Jesus as the Lord of the harvest. You remember He said pray the Lord of the harvest? 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.’