The Forth and Fifth Angel

j) Harvest Time has Come

   Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like 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 who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
   So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. 14:14-16 

The Grain Reaping Angel

   What he saw was a white cloud and on the cloud sat One like unto the Son of Man.  It is imperative to notice that John says that the one sitting on the cloud was like unto the Son of man and not that it was the Son of Man.  Wuest changes, the Son to son and in brackets he adds (human in appearance).  The American Standard has changed, the Son to a son. 

   Foster*** and McGee* disagree, and say that it was Christ; there are several clues in 14:15 that insist that it was not Christ sitting on the cloud.

   
    In 14:15, we have the words: another angel which, indicates that this one, sitting on the cloud, was also an angel and not Christ.

1.     The angel of 14:15 tells the angel of 14:14 what to do, Thrust in Your sickle and reap. No angel in heaven, just as no human on earth, is in a position to tell Christ what to do!                                                                 
2.     Christ was speaking of this time of reaping, and he said, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels….The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather. Mat. 13:39-41.  Based on the words of Christ, we must believe that the one sitting on the cloud was a reaping angel and not Christ.

  It might be appropriate here to remind ourselves that not all of these things happen in the sequence in which they are written here because some of them are concurrent.  However, it is apparent that they cannot be read at the same time and therefore it seems that the one that is read sooner is the one that is expected to happen sooner.  Paul told us that these things would happen in the blinking of an eye, and that, obviously, is much faster than it takes to read these few points, which according to Biblical teaching all seem to happen at once.

The Commanding Angel

     another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.   4:15  

    

   The time has come for the harvest; it is time to separate the wheat from the tares.  The sharp sickle in the hands of the angels will do the reaping.  The American Standard has changed the word, ripe, too, overripe.

   According to Matthew, Christ put that prophecy into these words.  The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. “The enemy who sowed them is the devil (the wicked one), the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 

   “Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, “and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Mat.13:38-43.

   Notice that the angels will gather all things that offend; there is a partial list of the things Christ finds offensive in Matthew 7: For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man. All those things will be cast into the furnace of fire.  

   The angels will also gather all those who practice lawlessness and they will also be cast into the furnace of fire.  There is a list of these in Rev. 21:8: But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

   About the word cowardly Clarke writes Those who, for fear of losing life or their property, either refused to receive the Christian religion, though convinced of its truth and importance; or, having received it, in times of persecution fell away, not being willing to risk their lives.
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*** Shadow of the Antichrist, Ivan Foster

* Through the Bible with Dr J Vernon McGee.