SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/28/2015
8:02 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Grape Harvest PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Revelation 14:17-20
Message of the
verses: “17 And another angel came out of
the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 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 sharp sickle, saying, "Put
in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth,
because her grapes are ripe."
19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from
the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 And
the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine
press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.”
We mentioned that the sub-sections for this harvest will
be the same as those of the grain harvest so we will first be looking at the
reaper, then the ripeness, and finally the reaping. It is doubtful we will get
to look at all of these in this SD.
John MacArthur writes the following as a way of
introduction to this subject: “The
vision of the grain harvest is followed by the vision of the grape harvest,
which does not speak of the bowl judgments but of the judgment that takes place
at the battle of Armageddon. The vintage
judgment is more dramatic because of the imagery of the winepress.”
The Reaper (Revelation 14:17): “17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in
heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.”
Unlike the grain harvest the reaper in this vision is not
the Son of Man, but is an angel which is the fifth one mentioned in this 14th
chapter of Revelation. The angel comes
out of the temple which is heaven which is like we saw the fourth angel come as
described in verse 15. Just as Christ
had a sharp sickle so this fifth angel also has a sharp sickle too. As we have been studying the book of
Revelation we have seen that angels have prominent roles in what is going on in
this book. We will remember that it was
angels who summoned the four horsemen, and they also sounded the seven trumpet
judgments and also defeating Satan and his demon hosts. There will be angels who will pour out the
last judgments, the bowl judgments as we will see eventually when we study
chapter sixteen. An angel will announce
the Battle of Armageddon “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried
out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven,
"Come, assemble for the great supper of God (Rev. 19:17).” It will also be an angel who will bind Satan
after Christ returns to the earth “1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key
of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon,
the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand
years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him,
so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years
were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time (Rev.
20:1-3).” Angels will also assist the
Lord Jesus Christ in His final judgment:
“and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end
of the age; and the reapers are angels (Matthew 13:39).” “"So it will be at the end of the age;
the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous
(Matthew 13 49).” “And to give relief to
you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed
from heaven with His
mighty angels in flaming fire (2 Thess. 2:7).”
The Ripeness (Rev. 14:18): “18 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 sharp sickle, saying, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the
clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.’”
We now look at the sixth angel that is mentioned in the
14th chapter and as it is written this angel has power over fire and
he came out from the altar. John
MacArthur writes “That title is closely connected with the fact that he came
out from the altar. This heavenly altar
has already been mentioned in 6:9-11: ‘9
When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of
those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the
testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice,
saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging
and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" 11 And there was
given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest
for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their
brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.’ It most likely is emblematic of the Old
Testament brass incense altar (Ex. 40:5), where twice daily priests burned
incense to be offered in the Holy Place as a picture of the people’s prayers,
since the martyrs underneath it are view praying and prayer is associated with incense
(5:8; Ps 141:2; Luke 1:10). Those
martyred saints are praying for God to take vengeance on their tormenters and
send His wrath.
“The altar is also described in 8:3-5: ‘3 Another angel came and stood at the altar,
holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might
add it to the prayers of
all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of
the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the
angel’s hand. 5 Then the
angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and
threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and
flashes of lightning and an earthquake.’
Every morning and evening the Old Testament priests would take hot coals
from the brazen altar (upon which sacrifices were offered) and bring them to
the incense altar. There they would
ignite the incense (Ex. 30:7-8; 2 Chron. 29:11), which would rise toward
heaven, symbolizing the prayers of God’s people (5:8). At that same time, the people outside would
be praying (Luke 1:10).”
“Mt 6:10 ’Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth
as it is in heaven. Lu 11:2 And He said
to them, "When you pray, say: ’Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom
come.” Remember these verses as being a
part of what we call the Lord ’s Prayer when actually it should be called the
Disciple’s prayer, well I think as we look at what is going on in Revelation
14:18 we see that this prayer is being answered as John MacArthur
explains: “That angel had power over the
altar’s fire (the definite article is present in the Greek text, which
literally reads ‘the fire’) indicates that he had been ministering at the
heavenly counterpart to the earthly incense altar. Unlike the angel in verse 17, this angel does
not come from the throne of God, but from the altar associated with the prayers
of the saints. His appearance means that
the time had come for those prayers to be answered. The time had come for God to take fire associated
with intercession and use it for the destruction of His enemies and the enemies
of His people.”
Now as we look at this passage we can see the unrepentant
sinners are the grapes that are on the vine mentioned in this passage, and they
are cut off with the sharp sickle of the angel.
We mentioned in our last SD about the word ripe as meaning over ripe or
even rotten and I gave an illustration from my childhood days of working on the
farm. Well the illustration of that
story goes better with this word ripe for this word refers to something fully
ripe and in its prime as it pictures the earth’s wicked and unregenerate people
as bursting with the juice of wickedness which is ready to come to harvest.
We will save the last sub-section, the reaping for our
last SD in the 14th chapter of Revelation, a chapter that we began
on the 5th of July, a chapter that is very important in better
understanding about angels and also their role in judgment, the final judgment that
will come upon this earth when it is ripe for being harvested.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As a believer in
Jesus Christ and as being a part of His church there are times when my prayers
reflect on the Lord saving people as it should, but there are also times on
praying like the souls under the altar that God would judge the sinful people
who are causing great harm to the people of the Lord. As I reflect upon some of the things that I
have been learning from the book of Revelation I believe that both prayers will
be answered.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust the Lord to give me the
wisdom on how to pray.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “He struck the rock instead of
speaking to it” (Numbers 20:7-13).
Today’s Bible
question: “What does on eat who feeds
the flock?”
Answer in our next SD.
7/28/2015 8:56 AM
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