SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/27/2015
8:22 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 of the
Grain Harvest
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
14:15-16
Message of the
verses: In Today’s Spiritual Diary
we will be looking at the second and third sub-sections of the “Grain Harvest.” We looked at who the Reaper was in our last
SD and found out it was the Lord Jesus Christ, and we also found out that these
last verses of chapter fourteen contained two different times of harvest, the
grain harvest, and the grape harvest.
Next we found out that as we will be looking at these different harvests
the grain harvest represents the last judgments or the bowl judgments, while
the grape harvest represents Armageddon.
Lastly we found out that each of these harvest can be described with the
same sub-points, the reaper, the ripeness, and the reaping.
The Ripeness (Revelation 14:15): “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 to
reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.’”
The angel mentioned in this verse is the fourth angel
that is mentioned in chapter fourteen as we remember an angel was also
mentioned in verses 6, 8, and 9. As
promised we are seeing many of the things that are done in the book of
Revelation are done by angels, both good and bad. When we looked at the first three angels we
saw judgment coming while this angel speaks of the execution of that
judgment. Next we see that the angel
came out of the heavenly temple, the temple in heaven and he announces the
judgment to begin in a loud voice. We
have spoken of loud things happening in the book of Revelation in earlier SD’s,
and so this is another thing that happens that is loud, and this conveys both
urgency and power, and also the authority that was delegated to this angel from
God. As we further look at the verse the
angel cried out “to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Put in your sickle and reap, for
the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.’” Now this messages comes from God the Father
and is then delivered to God the Son and that message is to commence the
judgment. I know that when we get to the
word “ripe” and explain the meaning of that word that it is a bit different
than the example that I am about to give, but I want to give this example
anyway. When I was a teenager I worked
on different farms to help the farmers bring in some of their crops, mostly
helping with the bailing of hay and then straw at times too. When the hay is cut it has to lie in the
field for a while in order to have it dry out a bit before it can be put into
bails, for if it is bailed too early and put into the barn it can actually get
so hot in the barn that it can burn the barn down, so it is important for the
farmer to know when the hay is ready to be bailed. As far as the grain the farmer has to know
exactly when he can harvest it and he will take a sample of the grain to have
it tested to see how much moisture is in it, and when that is right the grain
is ready to be harvested. We will see
that the earth is actually past ready to be harvested for it is over ripe which
is what the meaning of that word means, and we can attribute that to the grace
of God. I have given the example of what
we find in Genesis 15:16 in many of my Spiritual Diaries and that verse says “"Then
in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite
is not yet complete."” God is
speaking to Abraham telling him that his offspring will go into Egypt and then
come back to the land he was living in at that time and one of the reasons that
it will take 400 years for them to return is that the iniquity of the Amorite
people is not yet complete, we could say it is not yet ripe for
harvesting. God has waited a very long
time to judge the world, and as we see in this verse it is time for that
judgment to come for the iniquity of those unbelievers living on the earth at
that time will be complete or ripe.
We have mentioned that Jesus came the first time to
planet earth as a Savior and as a Servant, but this time He will come as a
judge to exercise the right to judge that the Father has delegated to Him. Let us look at John 5:22 and then 27 and then
we will look at Acts 10:42 and 17:31. “22 "For not even the Father judges anyone,
but He has given all judgment to the Son,”
“27 and He gave Him authority to
execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.” “42 “And He ordered us to preach to the
people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by
God as Judge of the living and the dead.”
“31 because He has fixed a day in
which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has
appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the
dead."”
John MacArthur write the following on the word ripe: “In fact the verb translated ‘is ripe’
actually means ‘dried up,’ ‘withered,’ ‘overripe,’ or ‘rotten.’ The grain (the earth) pictured here has
passed the point of any usefulness and is fit only to be ‘gathered up and
burned with fire’ (Matthew 13:40).”
The Reaping (Revelation 14:16): “16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His
sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.”
I think that it is best that I quote the paragraph that
John MacArthur has written for this verse in his commentary. “Here is one of the most tragic and sobering
statements in all of Scripture. Simply,
and without fanfare, it records the executing of divine judgment. The frightening details of that judgment are
unfolded in chapter 16: loathsome and
malignant sores on the worshipers of Antichrist (v. 2), the death of all life
in the world’s oceans (v. 3), the turning of the world’s rivers and springs of
water into blood (v 4), the intensifying of the sun’s heat until it scorches
people (v 8), painful darkness over all of the Antichrist’s kingdom (v 10), the
drying up of the Euphrates River in preparation for a massive invasion by the
kings of the east (v 12), and the most powerful destructive earthquake in
history (v 18). Those seven rapid-fire
bowl judgments mark the first phase of the final reaping of the earth.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have mentioned
the following verse from 2 Peter in this section in other SD’s but it is good
to use it for this one too. Since all
these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to
be in holy conduct and godliness.” (2
Peter 3:11)
My Steps of Faith for Today: Remembering what kind of person I should be
as seen in the verse above, I pray that I will be that kind of person.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “John.”
Today’s Bible
question: “How did Moses disobey God
when the water came from the rock at Meribah?”
Answer in our next SD.
7/27/2015 9:05 AM
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