{"id":943,"date":"2018-04-08T09:16:42","date_gmt":"2018-04-08T17:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=943"},"modified":"2018-04-08T09:16:42","modified_gmt":"2018-04-08T17:16:42","slug":"devotion-revelation-1417-20-just-rewards-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=943","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Revelation 14:17-20 Just Rewards Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revelation 14:17-20<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/b><\/span>Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.\u00a018\u00a0Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar\u00a0and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, \u201cTake your sharp sickle\u00a0and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth\u2019s vine, because its grapes are ripe.\u201d\u00a019\u00a0The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God\u2019s wrath.\u00a020\u00a0They were trampled in the winepress outside the city,\u00a0and blood\u00a0flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses\u2019 bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.<\/i><\/p>\n

Nahum 1:3<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0<\/span>The\u00a0Lord\u00a0is slow to anger\u00a0but great in power; the\u00a0Lord\u00a0will not leave the guilty unpunished.\u00a0\u00a0His way is in the whirlwind\u00a0and the storm, and clouds\u00a0are the dust of his feet.<\/i><\/p>\n

2 Peter 3:9<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0<\/span>The Lord is not slack concerning\u00a0His\u00a0promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.<\/i><\/p>\n

Another angel came out of the temple with a sharp sickle. A sickle was a tool with a curved blade that was used in agriculture\u00a0<\/span>for harvesting, or reaping, grain crops or cutting succulent forage chiefly for feeding livestock, either freshly cut or dried as hay.\u00a0\u00a0At times of war it could be used as a weapon.\u00a0\u00a0At the End Times it is used to separate the evil from the children of God (Joel 3:13<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43<\/b>\u00a0tells of when Jesus told the parable of the wheat and the tares.\u00a0\u00a0In\u00a0Matthew 13:24-30\u00a0<\/b>Jesus tells the parable and in\u00a0Vs 36-43<\/b>\u00a0He explains the parable.\u00a0\u00a0When the evil are separated from the good, it is the evil ones who are removed first (with the sickle).\u00a0\u00a0That leaves the ones who have been made clean by the blood Christ to shine (Vs 41-43<\/b>).<\/p>\n

The harvest referred to in\u00a0Revelation 14:14-16<\/b>\u00a0is not the harvesting of the saints to Christ.\u00a0\u00a0The sickle is a tool of severe and eternal judgment.\u00a0\u00a0This tool is not applied to the redeemed of Christ.\u00a0\u00a0This tool, as in\u00a0Matthew 13<\/b>\u00a0is applied to the wicked.\u00a0\u00a0The time of these sickles (Revelation 14:14-16\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0Vs 17-20<\/b>) being swung are at the very end of times, they are the preceding breath of God coming to punish the unrighteous.\u00a0\u00a0In\u00a0Vs 14-16<\/b>\u00a0the angel proclaims that \u201cfor the harvest of the earth is ripe.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The word translated here does mean ripe, and is better understood as \u201coverripe.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Let us note the importance of that.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The time for punishment of those who chose evil rather than righteousness has come.\u00a0\u00a0What is being stated is verification of\u00a02 Peter 3:9<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0Ezekiel 18:23<\/b>.\u00a0\u00a0The wonderful truth of God\u2019s love for mankind as revealed in\u00a0John 3:16<\/b>\u00a0shines brightly.\u00a0\u00a0So the first swing of the sickle is to harvest in evil and the clear meaning is that this harvest is overdue.\u00a0\u00a0God has given mankind every opportunity to repent, and beyond.\u00a0\u00a0He has resisted this day until this day could no longer be delayed.\u00a0\u00a0The evil of man has overflown the banks and flooded the world.\u00a0\u00a0It is time.\u00a0\u00a0God calls for the angel to cut down the evil.\u00a0\u00a0He has gathered those who would be His foe.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Where He has gathered them to is the final battle when the evil once again rise up against Jesus in another futile attempt to overthrow Him.\u00a0\u00a0This will be explained later in Revelation.<\/p>\n

While\u00a0Vs 14-16\u00a0<\/b>represents the grain harvest itself (the gathering of the tares)\u00a0Vs 17-20\u00a0<\/b>represents the severity of the judgement.\u00a0\u00a0Here the word for ripe is different than the preceding.\u00a0\u00a0This word does not carry the meaning of being \u201coverripe\u201d but rather fully ripe.\u00a0\u00a0It signifies that the time has come.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is has reached its fullness and it\u00a0is time to be picked, or, dealt with.<\/p>\n

Since\u00a0Vs 14-16<\/b>\u00a0represents the separating of the evil from the good, what do\u00a0Vs 17-20<\/b>\u00a0represent? The harvest this time is not grain, but grapes.\u00a0\u00a0This harvested swath represents the wrath of God in the form of wine that those who take the mark of the beast shall receive with unadulterated potency.\u00a0\u00a0Think of The Battle Hymn of the Republic lines \u201cMine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0God has always warned mankind of the consequences of sin.\u00a0\u00a0Adam and Eve died as God had said they would if they sinned.\u00a0\u00a0When Adam decided to sin with Eve they both died.\u00a0\u00a0The instantly died spiritually.\u00a0\u00a0They began to die physically.\u00a0\u00a0The righteousness of God and justice demands, the payment of sin.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What Jesus suffered was the demands of righteousness and justice.\u00a0\u00a0He bore the wrath of God so that we did not have to.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus drank the undiluted wrath of God that we all deserved so that we would not have to.\u00a0\u00a0Indeed, Jesus is our Savior and Lord; He is our Hero!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!\u00a0\u00a0The field of evil was ripe.\u00a0\u00a0No more time would pass.\u00a0\u00a0Adam and Eve received the recompense for their sins.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The people of Noah\u2019s time who would not repent suffered the recompense for their sins.\u00a0\u00a0Nineveh called upon the mercy of God and received it, but returned to their evil ways and eventually received the recompense for their sins.\u00a0\u00a0Ananias and Sapphira received a timely recompense for their sin.\u00a0\u00a0Galatians 6:7<\/b>\u00a0warns us that man does not outsmart God and that God does not forget to bring justice.\u00a0\u00a0Joel 3:13<\/b>\u00a0assures that the time of God\u2019s wrath against evil, will surely come.\u00a0\u00a0These verses speak of that time.\u00a0\u00a0At that time all who call on the name of the Lord have been saved.\u00a0\u00a0Those who have not been saved shall receive the eternity they so earnestly fought against God to have.<\/p>\n

Family and People let us heed the words of Jesus that all who have ears should hear (and learn and obey) (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0Revelation 3:6, 13, 22<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0Now, grace is free for us to receive.\u00a0\u00a0There is soon coming a time when grace will pass and eternal judgment will come to those who rejected the grace offered to mankind through Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0The other side of that coin is, again, that all the promises of God to His children, are now fully realized.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Family, let us receive and live in the grace of God and then let us testify to the world about the love and goodness of God.\u00a0\u00a0We are not those who will harvested by the sickle, but are those who will gently gathered by angels unto to God.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.<\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Inline<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revelation 14:17-20\u00a0–\u00a0\u00a0Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.\u00a018\u00a0Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar\u00a0and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, \u201cTake your sharp sickle\u00a0and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth\u2019s vine, because…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[705,2082,100,101,94,2484,90,17,711],"class_list":["post-943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-ezekiel","tag-joel","tag-john","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-nahum","tag-peter","tag-psalm","tag-revelation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":944,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943\/revisions\/944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}