Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #40 of Revelation, chapter 14, and we will be reading Revelation14:14-15:

And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

I would like to mention something regarding our last study, in order that people not get the wrong idea.  In our last study we pointed out that the “sharp sickle” has one side.  That is typical for a sickle; it is not like a twoedged sword.  We emphasized that God is emphasizing in this passage that the Word of God is cutting to judgment; the emphasis in this passage is on the judgment of God.  But that does not mean that elsewhere God cannot refer to a twoedged sword in association with Judgment Day.  Actually, He does do that in Psalm 149, where we read of the saints, and it says in Psalm 149:6-7:

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;

Then it says in Psalm 149:10:

To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye JEHOVAH.

This fits very well with what it says in 1Corinthians 6:2:

Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?

This is exactly what is happening now as God’s people are being used by God as instruments of judgment.  Here, in Psalm 149 it mentions the twoedged sword, which is the Word of God.  It is simply not God’s focus in Psalm 149 to emphasize judgment as much as it does in Revelation 14, where the wrath of God is in focus in verse, after verse, after verse.  I just wanted to clear this up.

Okay, let us look at Revelation 14:15:

And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap…

This is the fourth time we are reading of an angel making an appearance in Revelation 14.  Back in verse 9, it said, “And the third angel followed them,” and that is the only time God gives the number and it is the third time in the chapter that God makes a reference to an angel.  That means we are to number these angels – we are to count them.  So this is the fourth angel and the number “four” points to “universality,” and that would relate to a worldwide judgment of the unsaved people of the earth.  It has to do with the four points of the compass. 

Another thing that we should consider is that this “angel” that came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice, issued a command.  Look at it again: “And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap.”  Who was sitting on the cloud?  Verse 14 told us that it was “one like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown,” and this is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of man and the King of kings.  He is the Omnipotent One and the Almighty, everlasting God.  And who are angels (if it were an angelic being) that are ministers to the heirs of righteousness to command anything of the Lord Jesus?  The answer is that no “angel” could ever issue this kind of command to Almighty God.  That cannot be.  God would not permit such a thing to happen and we can be absolutely certain that this reference to “another angel” is not a spirit being, one of the created angels, and it is certainly not a true believer (as we can also be called “messengers”).  It must be God Himself, the Angel of the Lord, or the Angel of JEHOVAH, as the Old Testament calls Him.  It is God, just as each of the previous “angels” was also God.  It is a command within the Godhead – God can command God.  There is nothing problematic with that.  God sent forth the Lord Jesus to do His will, we read, time and again, in the New Testament, and Christ obediently followed the commands of the Father.

Here the command within the Godhead is to “Thrust in they sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”  Now we want to carefully look at everything the Bible has to say and that is why we want to go, verse by verse, through the Bible.  It is a method of Bible study that does not allow us to avoid anything; we have to look at everything in each verse.   We cannot “pick and choose” what we might prefer as opposed to what God has said.  That is one excellent reason we go verse by verse. 

It is interesting that some people accuse EBible of being too much concerned with “judgment.”  We are fixated on it and we concentrate too much on judgment, some say.  Yet, we are going verse by verse through the Bible.  Yes, this is the Book of Revelation and it does have much to do with judgment, but when we went, verse by verse, through 2John or 3John, we ended up talking about judgment, too.  When we went through the Book of Esther, we ended up speaking of judgment.  Sometimes I wonder where these people would have us to go in the Bible, if they do not want to hear about the judgment of God.  Certainly, we could not study the Book of Jeremiah because it is all about the judgment of God.  We cannot study the Book of Isaiah because it, too, has a great deal to say about the judgment of God.  Can we study Ezekiel?  Well, we had better watch out because it has a number of chapters dealing with the judgment of God.  What about Daniel?  Daniel is that prophet that God gave many visions concerning the time of the end.  What about Joel?  Joel, chapter 1 is about the Great Tribulation; Joel, chapter 2, is about Judgment Day and Joel 3 is Judgment Day.  Where can we turn?  Where are we permitted to go?  Where would they have us to go? 

You can see why many churches and pastors and teachers of the Bible would prefer “topical studies.”  They prefer, week by week, to say, “What verse am I going to teach on?  This week it will be John 3:16: ‘God so loved the world.’  And next week let us talk about ‘joy’ and find some nice verses that deal with ‘joy.’  And the following week, I think the ‘peace’ of God is such a serene topic, so let us talk about the peace of God.”  So they “pick and choose” their verses and their subject matter and they go here and there. 

But whenever we settle down into a Book of the Bible (and I am pretty certain it would not matter which Book it was) and we begin to follow God’s methodology of comparing Scripture with Scripture, if it does not directly mention judgment, it will eventually lead us there.  That is because the Bible is a Book that does condemn mankind for his rebellion and transgression against the Law of God.  There is no escaping it and there is no getting around it.  We do not try to and we do not want to.  We want to go carefully through the Bible, verse by verse, and look at as many words as we can in each verse.  Sometimes it feels like we are going very slowly, but that is the way it is.  It is not speed reading or rushing through the Scriptures.  When we do take our time, we do notice very important teachings of the Bible that otherwise might not be recognized or discussed.  We might not have time for them or we might miss them. 

And, here, in Revelation 14:15, where it says, “And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap,” we find a very interesting Greek word that is translated as “thrust.”  It is the Greek word “pempo” and it is Strong’s #3992 and it is found about 81 times.  (I counted them, line by line, in my Englishman’s Concordance.  That is why I say “about 81 times,” because I could have missed a time or two.)  If my count was correct, 79 times it is translated as “send” or “sent.”  For instance, it is the word that is used in Luke 16, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, where the rich man makes request of Father Abraham, in Luke 16:24:

And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

That request was denied.  It was not possible that it be granted because there is “a great gulf fixed.”  It is the judgment of this rich man, but there is no more possibility of salvation, as he requests a “little drop” of grace or mercy that the Word of God had brought, historically: “Can it be that even though I am in the grave, Lazarus might be ‘sent’ to bring me just a drop of water, just the slightest possibility of deliverance?”  But, no, it was not possible because of the “gulf” and there was no way for Lazarus to help him, and this passage is teaching us of the impossibility of salvation once God has brought about the condition of “hell,” which He did when He shut the door of heaven on May 21, 2011.  He guaranteed the destruction of every unsaved individual and, thereby, brought them into a condition of “death.”  “Hell” and “death” are synonymous and even though God’s people would desire to bring the Gospel and offer hope to people, we cannot.  There is an inability.  There is no way we can cross the “gulf” that God has fixed; everyone’s spiritual condition is established and permanently fixed by God: the righteous will remain righteous (like Lazarus) and the filthy will remain filthy (like the rich man). 

Anyway, the word “send” is also used in Luke 16:27:

I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house…

The Greek word “pempo” is always translated as “send” or “sent,” except in Revelation 14.  It also says in Luke 20:11-13:

And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out. Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.

In verses 11, 12 and 13 the word “send” is used.  God, typified by the lord of the vineyard, sent His servants and we know it is a picture of God sending His people into the world, like the prophets of old, and God has continued to do so in the New Testament.  In John, chapter 20, the Greek word “pempo” is used, in John 20:21:

Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

The word “send” is the Greek word “pempo.”  It is related to the Great Commission to go into the world with the Gospel and teach all creatures.  This word “pempo” has everything to do with being a messenger of God, one “sent” with the Word of God.  Why then would God use this word to refer to the sickle? “Thrust in thy sickle and reap.”  Literally, it says, “Send in thy sickle and reap.”  Why on earth would God use that particular word?  There obviously were other words He could choose.  We know the answer the Bible gives us is that it has always been God’s plan to utilize His elect people as instruments of reaping when Christ desires to reap.  It is just like in times past in the day of salvation when Christ desired to sow seed and we do read in the parable of the sower in Luke 13 that “a man went forth to sow seed.”  Who is that man?  It is the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is The Sower.  He did all the work.  He is the one who moved in His people to will and to do of His good pleasure and, yet, Christ is The Sower, so we also read in the Bible, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings.”  Christ sowed, personally and individually, His Word to the people of the world in order to seek and to save His lost sheep.  But even though we know the Bible uses that language about the “feet of him,” yet, it was not accomplished through Jesus alone.  The sending forth of the Gospel is a commandment of Christ and He is the one that moved within His people to obey His commandment, and Christ sowed through His elect, as they went forth and became missionaries in India, Africa and China, or as they went forth on tract trips to hand out Gospel literature.  So the Bible also says, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”  It is not a contradiction – it is one and the same.  We are the body of Christ.  As God’s people sowed the seed, Christ sowed the seed.

How is He going to accomplish His plan to reap the harvest?  How will Jesus use the “sickle” (or the “sent”) and do the reaping of the harvest of the earth?  He is going to do it exactly the same way that He sowed.  He is going to use His people.  I am sure there may be some listening and they are shaking their heads, saying, “Oh, no, here we go, another crazy idea from EBible Fellowship.  We are the reapers now.”

But I did not say that.  It is the Bible that is saying it.  Turn over to John 4:34:

Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

The word “sent” here is “pempo,” just like we saw in other places.  Then it goes on to say in John 4:35-36:

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

Here, notice it is joining together the ones that sow and the ones that reap.  We know full well that we were used by God to sow the seed of the Gospel.  Every time we shared a verse, spoke to a friend about the Bible, or handed out a tract, we were sowing the seed of the Gospel, spiritually.  It joins the two together – the one that sows and the one that reaps – by saying they “may rejoice together,” and, therefore, the ones reaping are, likewise, the true believers.

Then it goes on to say in John 4:37-38:

And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

Who did Christ send to reap?  He sent you and me.  “I sent you, children of God. I sent you to reap.”  We are the reapers.  We are the ones sent forth, according to this verse.  And what did our verse in Revelation 14:15 say?  It said, “Thrust in thy sickle, and reap.”  And the Greek word translated as “thrust” is “pempo,” which means “send.”  So, it says, “Send in they sickle, and reap.”  Send in the reapers.

I will just look at one other verse in this study and we will pick this up, Lord willing, in our next study.  In Matthew, chapter 13, in the parable of the sower, it says in Matthew 13:37-39:

He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

“Angels” can be translated as “messengers,” and here it should be translated as “messengers.”  And who qualifies as a messenger?  The one “sent” is a messenger of God, as it said in John 4:38: “I sent you to reap.”  Send in the sickle and reap.  God is sending the messengers, the saints of God (the elect), to perform the task of reaping the harvest in the Day of Judgment.