Revelation 14. Revelation 14. And you might
put a marker there for just a moment. We are going to be back here
for our lesson tonight. But there are a couple other
verses that I want to read. We are past the halfway point
in our study of the book of Revelation when it comes to chapters. And
when we started this study some time ago, there were a couple
of verses that we made mention that I just want to review tonight.
And hopefully we're still on track. That's our goal to be
on track. The first verse I want to look
at, and just put your finger in there in Revelation 14, the
first verse I'd like to look at is Revelation chapter one
and verse one. Revelation chapter one and verse
one. This verse is the key verse of the entire book. Now in my Bible, it says the
revelation to John. I've had a number of them say
the revelation of John. It's not the revelation of John.
It might be a revelation to John, but it's never of John. And the
first verse of this book gives us the entire key to the whole
book. If we keep in mind this verse,
we'll not be taken astray. we will be on the right track. Now we can say, I don't understand
this passage, but it will never deviate from this verse. We may
not understand what's being said, but it will not deviate from
this verse. This verse shares us the revelation
of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto us his servant's things which must
shortly come to pass, and he sent and signified it by his
angel unto his servant John. the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Now, we found that that word revelation is found in other
places in the New Testament. It's not translated that way,
but the original word is there, and we find that that original
word shares with us a whole lot different view than is commonly
held with regard to this book. When I use the word apocalypse,
most people say that's the end of the world. That means there's
going to be wars, apocalypse. And people have used it that
way. But let's go to one other verse that shares with us how
this word could have been translated. And when we look at this book
in that manner, we find that it is the same thing. The revelation
of Jesus Christ. Turn with me to the book of Luke
chapter two. Luke chapter two has the same
word found in it, only translated a little bit different. And this
has a lot different meaning than end of the world or war or other
things that oftentimes this word apocalypse is translated in people's
minds. Luke chapter two, verse 32, In that verse of scripture is
the same word we find over in Revelation chapter 1 verse 1.
Translated different and the word here is lighten. A light
to lighten. Open up to show, to give light
to, to make understandable, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the
glory of thy people Israel. Now this is a comment made about
the Lord Jesus Christ. When he comes into people's lives,
he opens up their understanding. He causes them to understand
the scriptures. So when we use the word apocalypse
in that sense, it means to enlighten. The enlightenment of the Lord
Jesus Christ or the light of the Lord Jesus Christ is how
it could be used here in the book of Revelation. Now there
are instances in this book that share with us that there will
be, and they have been, and there always will be calamities on
this earth. If we keep in mind that the Lord
shares with us in those times, there will be trials, but let
me show you Christ the Savior. And that's the way he concludes
every trial. I will show you Christ. I will show you the Savior. I will show you the sufficiency
of the Savior. It's kind of like the disciples
being on that ship when it was crossing the sea. Jesus went
down into the hole there and fell asleep. And the wind came
up and the waves came up and it was boisterous, about to shake
that ship apart. And they went down and they awakened
the Savior and said, don't you care we perish? And he got up
and hushed the sea. And they walked away and said,
what manner of man is this? that even the winds and the waves
obey his voice. Now, that actually happened,
but it happens to us daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. Tempests and
trials come along, and we don't have to waken the Savior. He
already knows the issues that we face. He's not gonna let the
ship go down with him on it. So, a light to lighten the Gentiles. He is the master. He is the Almighty. Now, there's two other verses
that I want to look at. When we started this study some time
ago, 30 months ago, we looked at two verses, and you must believe
these two verses if you're ever going to have any understanding
about the book of Revelation. You must understand and believe
them. Now, we may not understand them. I apologize for saying that,
but we must believe them. All right, the first verse that
we took you to was Matthew 28. Matthew 28, verses 16, 17, and
18. Now it is imperative, and this
goes with the whole Bible. You must believe this, though
we are a long ways from understanding it. We must believe that what
Jesus said, what God said, what the Holy Spirit said, what God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have to say
about God. We must believe it, and if we
don't, we are an unbeliever. I've said this before, how much
do we have to not believe to be an unbeliever? Well, this
is a serious thing if we don't believe this. We are really an
unbeliever. Matthew chapter 28, verse 16,
17, and 18, the scriptures share this. Then the 11 disciples went
away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Now how
is he going to handle their doubt? Same way he handles ours. Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Now that's how he handles our
doubt. That's how he handled their doubt, and this is what
we must believe. We must believe that Jesus Christ
presently has all power or all authority in heaven and on earth,
and we're not waiting for him to accumulate it some farther
date. It must be believed. Now, we
may not understand that, and I don't understand all power.
I don't understand much about power. Someone explain to me
how an electric motor works, or how an internal combustion
engine works. Now, I know the philosophy, and I've seen it,
and I've tore it apart, but just to have that junk of metal push
us down the road. But when it says, all power,
all authority is given unto me, Jesus said this in heaven and
in earth. We have to have that as part of our resume when we
go to any other part of the Bible, and I will say in particular,
when we go to the book of Revelation. He is not a God waiting to get
power. Now, the second passage that
we took you to before we began this study was found in the book
of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6 shares with
us some very important information with regard to God, with regard
to His Son, and with regard to the Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy chapter
6, we read these words, and these words are imperative that we
believe. They must be revealed to us.
And I will say this, when God regenerates His people, when
He brings them out of darkness and shows them the light of the
Lord Jesus, They will not argue with God's word. They will not argue with God's
word. 2 Timothy 6, 1 Timothy, excuse me, 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy 6, verse 15. The scripture says this, which
in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate,
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, who only hath immortality,
dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no
man has seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. He is the blessed and only
potentate and then it goes on to say the king of kings and
lord of lords. Now he can't get any more than
that. He will never acquire any higher than that. He is the absolute
lord of all lords and he is the absolute king of all kings. He
can't get any more. So when we go to the book of
Revelation, we're going to be introduced again and again to
this one who has all power and all authority. We're not waiting
for him to get some. And he has the blessed title
of King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So when we look at the
book of Revelation, we're looking at the revelation of this One
who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and we're looking at
the revelation of this One who is the blessed and only potentate,
and we're looking at this One, the revelation of Him who hath
all power and all authority. We're looking at God the Son,
the Savior of His people. The victor over sin, death, hell,
and the grave. The one who has set his people
free. The one who enjoins himself to
his people. He is their head, they are his
body. And he has all power. And in
that, we enjoy all power and all authority. And in that, we
enjoy him being king of kings and lord of lords. All right,
going back over here to the book of Revelation chapter 14. Revelation
chapter 14, we have, not down to about verse 14. Chapter 14 and verse 14, and
every time we've gone somewhere in this book, we have seen the
markers left to us with regard to that title, to that name,
to that power and that authority. He's never succumbed. He's never
given up, he's never gone over, and he's never been caught off
guard. He's always known all that he would ever do. He's purposed
it from the foundation of the world. It's interesting, and
I mentioned Sunday that we have a couple of young people in our
group that are going to be in a play. They have been practicing
that play for a month already. The person in charge has been
in there pushing them to practice this play, and she wants it to
be good when you and I, if we go see it, go see it. Now, I've
just said that because God had it all laid out. There's already
a script, and he being King of Kings and Lord of Lords has laid
it out. Everything else besides his people,
his elect, his church, everything else is just there for props. Just there for props. They're
the paintings. They're the valleys that move
us towards the direction of the Lord. Everything else is just
props. He is the director and every
one of his people are the actors and actresses and everything
else, everyone else, every bit else are props. and that's for
his glory. All right, read here with me,
Revelation chapter 14, and I'm gonna start reading with verse
13, and we're gonna spend a little time on verses 14 and 15. And
I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord. Now, I could underscore that
twice. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Those that die in the Lord, they're
blessed. Those who die out of Christ shall
hear these words. Depart from me, ye workers of
iniquity, for I never knew you. That's the words. But blessed
are they who die in the Lord. What a wonderful thought. We're
all going to go through the valley of the shadow of death. And blessed
are they who die in the Lord. It says there, yea, saith the
Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works
to follow them. And I looked, and behold, a white
cloud. And upon the cloud sat one 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 has come
for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And I'm
gonna stop there, I'm gonna spend a little time on that. A white cloud. Now, we may wanna
look at that as literal, but please, let's move beyond that. This is a spiritual statement
about a spiritual being. Turn with me, if you would, over
to the book of Matthew. Here it actually happened, but
it represents something much different than just a cloud.
In Matthew chapter 17, one of the great experiences that a
few disciples ever got to witness is found here. Not all of his
disciples got to witness it. And I find no record anywhere
that those who did not get to go had a fallen out with those
who got to go. Peter, James, and John got to
go up on a mountain and see some things that the others did not
see. We call it the Mount of Transfiguration,
where Jesus was transfigured before them. And it tells us
here in Matthew chapter 17 that these events took place and that
he was so glorious He was brighter, his clothes
shone brighter, his face was brighter. It was an event that
these three saw, and they saw it in almost unbelief. It was so beautiful and grand
and glorious. He said that there were some
there that would not see death until they had seen the Lord
come in His glory. And the next week, He takes them
on a mountain and transfigures in front of them, and sure enough,
they saw the Lord in His glory before they saw death. Now, it
doesn't mean He came back the second time. It means He transfigured
Himself in front of them. And in verse 5 of chapter 17,
it says, While He yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed
them. Behold a voice out of the cloud
which said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased,
hear ye him. What a symbol of the presence
of God. God the Father spoke out of that
cloud. It was a bright cloud, I am convinced. And it was a cloud that was so
bright that you couldn't see through it. It hid those others. I am thankful for the glory of
God that it hides us from Moses. The glory of God hides us from
Moses. Now why is that important? Because
Moses represented the law. The glory of God hides us from
the law. It is a glorious thing to be
in Christ. Blessed are those who die in
the Lord, for the law shall not affect them, shall not come upon
them, shall not have anything to do with them. The glory of
God hides us. The glory of his purpose hides
us. The glory of the gospel hides
us. The glory of the cross hides us. Everything about God is glorious. And it is bright, so very bright,
that we are in awe struck when the glory of God is demonstrated
to us. Here, the Son of Man, as well
as the Son of Man, comes out on this bright cloud as John
sees it, comes out on the glory of God, His glory, the glory
of the Godhead, the glory of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. Brightness beyond compare. In his transfigured
glory, he appears. And on his head, it tells us
there in the book of Revelation, is a golden crown. He is King
of Kings and Lord of Lords, and the Lord spends a lot of time
sharing that with us. He's not just anybody. And he's not just somebody. He
is the Son of God. And he's glorious in his apparel. He is glorious in his glory.
And God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit invest
a lot of time with the church sharing that very thing about
God. And then it tells us here in
this verse of scripture, verse 14, that he has something in
his hand. It's a sickle, and it's a sharp sickle. Now, I've
had people tell me that that's his judgment sickle. I'm sorry. I cannot agree with that. What
does it say here? Go back to the book of Revelation
chapter 14, and it shares with us there, I looked. Verse 14, I looked, there's a
hole, a white cloud, and upon the cloud sat one as the son
of man, having on his head a crown, a golden crown, and in his hand
a sharp sickle. Now this sickle has a purpose.
It's a purpose of harvesting. Now, one year down there in that
area where I grew up, the grain is just almost ready to harvest,
and a hailstorm came through. ruined acres and acres and acres
of that almost ready to harvest wheat. Now, we know that if wheat
isn't harvested and it falls back to the ground, it's susceptible
to a lot of critters coming by. The geese loved it. And one farmer
bought a bunch of hogs and they loved it. But it wasn't put into
the barn. It was not kept for its intended
purpose. Now, we love to see the Savior
come through with a sharp sickle. Because He is intent in harvesting
His vintage. He is intent on harvesting His
grain. And He is going to do it. He
is going to not lose one grape. And he will not lose one kernel
of wheat. That's his promise. I will lose
none. Now, there's some things about
this one that is, that shares with us this sharpsicle. Number
one, I find out who actually does the harvesting. Now, people
can tell me that they've done it, but there's only one that
carries the sharpsicle. There's only one that actually
does the harvesting, and that's God. And when we attempt to wrangle
that sickle out of his hand, we are on ground we can't be
on. That sickle belongs to him. It's
his sickle. He is the harvester, if you please. He is the Lord of the harvest.
And we're going to go over there and see a verse where it declares
that very thing. He's the one that goes out and
reaps the harvest. Now, we do find that we are in
a very small way. In fact, we're just termed as
hoes and hoses in the scripture. One plants and another waters.
But God gives the increase. We have a very small, insignificant
part in this, and that is preaching the gospel through the foolishness. That's what the Holy Spirit put
out. Through the foolishness of preaching, God saves those
that believe. is a very insignificant thing. Now, he has chosen people that
he has saved by his grace as instruments to scatter the seed,
but he is the one with the sickle in his hand. Turn with me, if
you would, back to the book of Mark, chapter four. Mark, chapter four. Mark, chapter four, we have reference
to this same word. Mark chapter 4, verse 26. In his hand is a sharp sickle. Mark chapter 4, verse 26. He is giving us an illustration. These are red words. These are the Lord's words. He
says here in Mark chapter 4, verse 26, And he said, so is
the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground,
and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should
spring and grow up. Now notice the next four words.
He knoweth not how. Now, I've been down here in the
Malin area. And that old potato farmer told
me, now, we're not going to start digging up these potatoes to
see if they're sprouting. We're going to wait until they
come through the ground. He lied to me. Boy, he had those potatoes
in the ground just a week or so, and he started digging them
up to see if they're sprouting out of that old potato. And oh,
the joy. Now, you, I don't know how. Do you know how? A potato brings forth that potato,
or a tomato seed brings forth a tree. We throw the seed into
the ground. We care for it. We weed it. But
how does it do? Now, that's the same thing we
say about the word of God. How does it do? We know the word. We read it.
We preach it. But how does it do? Well, that's what they said here.
He knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth
fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the
full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought
forth, or ripe, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because
the harvest is come. Now this is the good man of the
ground. This is the master over the field. God has a sickle in his hand. It is his sickle and he is the
one that is about to use it. to harvest all his grapes and
to harvest all his grain. He is going to do it, and he
is going to do it by his choice. Now, if he misses, and I say this, God doesn't miss
any of his, but if there are grapes left on the vines at the
choice of those who went through to harvest, what happens to them? shrivel up, drop off, become
bird's food or whatever. Now, if God had left all the
grapes alone, what would have happened to him? They'd have
all done the same thing. He doesn't have to do anything
for the grapes to drop on the ground. He has to do something
to save some grapes. He doesn't have to do anything
for every descendant of Adam to end up in hell. He has to
do something to get some from going there. We naturally are
going there. The grapes are going to drop
off naturally. The grains are going to fall
out of the head naturally. If we don't get in there and
harvest the grapes or harvest the grain, it's going to fall
on the ground. Now, God, if he had just left
the vintage go, they'd have all fallen on the ground and there
would have been no hope. But God got involved in harvesting
some grapes before the foundation of the world, and those will
be delivered, and they will be his, and he will do with them
whatsoever he pleases. But those that are left, they're
doing what come naturally anyway. Everyone would have been lost
if he hadn't got involved with his sharpsicle. Now when he comes
through, he takes those that belong to him, and the rest he
leaves, and they shall fall on the ground, and they shall rot,
and they shall stink, and the flies will get them. We know
that, what happens around here. Now it says another angel here,
go back over here to the book of Revelation, another angel.
All right, as we go through here, angel means messenger, and in
the first few chapters of this book, chapters two and chapters
three, seven times it mentions the word angel, and in those
passages of scripture, that angel is the pastor of those churches.
Chapter two, turn there with me if you would. Chapter two. Chapter two in verse one. Unto
the angel of the church of Ephesus write, unto the pastor. These letters were written to
the churches, addressed to the pastor, and he was to deliver
them faithfully unto his congregation. Chapter 2, verse 12, the angel
of the church at Pergamos. Now, as we go through here, we
find seven times that term is used with regard to the pastor
of those seven churches. They have opportunity. God has
sent to them. He has favored them. He has paid
special grace to them to let them have his word. Well, if
you don't think it takes special grace for God to let us have
his word, it is a gracious act of a gracious God for us to have
his word. And it is doubly gracious if
he would let us see it. Now, I shared today, I had some
kids, they can take and they can sound out words and you ask
them what it means and they have no concept of what the word means.
And that's the way it is about God's word if we don't have his
spirit. We have no concept of what it means. We can sound out
the words. Now, when the Lord reveals himself
to us, his word becomes special because in it is the revelation
of Jesus Christ. It becomes the message of God's
grace in Christ Jesus. It becomes a message of the gospel
of the Son of God. It becomes the message of how
we are delivered from the consequences of Adam's fall. and our own sin. It becomes a message of hope. It becomes a message of peace.
It becomes a message of God dealing with his people. And that message
is tremendous for us. The church relishes and delights
in the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
there we find these angels, these messengers were given this by
the grace of God, these letters. Now over here in the chapter
14 and there in verse 15, we have an angel, a messenger. Now
I can just hear you in your prayer closets. I can hear you in your prayer
closets. Lord, drop your sickle down on
my children. What's this angel say? Verse
15, and another angel came out of the temple. Another angel
came out of the temple. That temple in the book of Revelation
is so often synonymous with the church. God's people coming out
of the body of Christ with this voice. Oh, God. What's it say? with a loud voice
to him that sat on the cloud, thrust in thy sickle and reap. I can hear you in your prayer
closet. You can hear me in my prayer closet. Oh, God, reach
down your sickle. Reach down your sickle of grace. May the gospel come to my family,
to my brothers, to my sisters. God, would you be merciful to
them. Everybody that knows Christ has
that in their prayer closet. Now, we don't know the fruit
that he's going to take off of the vines with his sickle, but
we know this, as long as they're still hanging there, there is
opportunity for us to cry unto God, take your sickle and reap
that vintage. And we're not wrong in doing
it. God's given us the grace to pray
unto an almighty God with a great sickle. And there were those
that would have said about us, there's no hope for them. But God had his own sickle and
his own vineyard and he is reaping the vintage that he chose. And he's doing it as he pleases. Now the seed's been planted.
The water has gone on, but the harvest is God's. He is the only
one that has a sickle. He is not given that to the church. He's not given that to a preacher.
He's not given that to anybody else. He carries it himself,
and he is the great husbandman that will harvest his own vintage. Turn with me, if you would, over
to the book of Matthew, chapter nine. Matthew, chapter nine. This sickle, God's gonna use
it. It's sharp. The word of God is
sharp, sharper than a two-edged sword. It's able to do things
that we can't do with the physical metal blade. The Word of God. Now notice here in Matthew chapter
9. Matthew chapter 9 verse 37. Matthew chapter 9 verse 37. Then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous,
but the labors are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest. Now who is that? That's the one
in heaven with a sharpsicle. And we, as ambassadors of Christ,
plead and pray, but knowing full well that if and when they're
ever saved, it was because of him. Don't put it down in your
book. It's not us. We didn't do it. We're just privileged to share
what he's given us. All right, goes on to say there
in Matthew 9, verse 38, pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that
he will send forth laborers into the harvest. Pray ye therefore
the Lord of the harvest, that he'll stick in his sickle, that
he'll harvest the crop. And our prayer, and it's consistent
with the word of God, Our prayer is that he does that to our family,
that he do that to our friends, that he do that to our neighbors.
But he's the one with the sickle. He's the one that's going to
operate it. All right? Every gospel preacher prays every
day. Every saint of God prays every
day. The great God who holds the sickle,
reap. Now we can only do that believing
that he's sovereign about it. We know you're sovereign, but
we pray, oh God, you'd reap. Gather in your harvest. We do
not know what will be his vintage, but we know it will be good. He doeth all things well. And
those that he leaves, he said to those on the left hand, Depart
from me, ye workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. And to
the rest of us, they all look the same. We can't tell the difference. We don't know the difference.
We can't see the difference. And boy, when we think we can,
we've made a big mistake. He's the only one that knows
the vintage that he's pulled in by his own sickle. All right,
going back to the book of Revelation for just a moment. Revelation chapter 14, the scripture
says there, and I looked, verse 14, behold a white cloud, glorious
bright cloud, a cloud like on the Mount of Transfiguration,
a cloud like that took the Lord up in Acts chapter 1. This brightness,
this glorious cloud, saw on it. Upon a 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, a messenger,
a minister, a part of the church, said, crying with a loud voice to him
that sat on a cloud, Thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the
time is come for thee to reap. for the harvest of the earth
is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on
the earth, and the earth was reaped. Glorious. There are some beautiful
things about fall, isn't there? The peaches, the pears, the cherries,
Those items that are reaped, the grapes, the grain, the beans
and the corn. And if we leave some on there
by our choice, it's by our choice. And that's what God has done.
He has a lot of grapes growing and it is His choice to go through
with His sickle. and reap those that his son laid
down his life for.