The Two Harvests

So here are the two harvests in Revelation 14:14 and following to the end. The first harvest is the grain harvest, the second harvest is the grape harvest. This is true to the agricultural pattern of Israel, the grain comes first, then the grapes. The grain harvest, I believe, is the harvest of salvation. The grape harvest is the grapes of wrath, the harvest of judgment. They follow one another very swiftly. We’ll read about the grain harvest first in Revelation 14, beginning in verse 14:

“And 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...”

Not a royal crown but like the gold medal in the Olympic games, the wreath that was put on the head of the victor.

“...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.’”

Actually, the Greek says “the harvest of the earth is dry.” If it’s left any longer it will perish.

I believe that that’s what God is in the process of doing, casting in the sickle and reaping the harvest. All around the earth in nations that thirty years ago would not have opened to the gospel, would not have listened to the gospel, are crying out for the gospel. The most unexpected nations: the Soviet Union, Southeast Asia, China. Some of which we’ve heard about. Do you know why that is? The harvest hour, the harvest is being reaped now.

One thing I learned even in six months on a farm is when the harvest comes everybody is busy. No one sits at home. Everybody is out in the field doing something to gather the harvest before it’s lost. I believe that’s how it should be with the church. I don’t believe there should be one idle person in the church because it’s the harvest hour.

Then we have the next harvest. This is the harvest of judgment and it follows immediately on the harvest of mercy.

“Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar who had power over fire and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, ‘Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine and the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.’ So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.”

When I’m speaking to an American audience I have to explain what I mean by wrath. W-R-A-T-H. I know you call it wrath but I just can’t bring myself to do that. But bear in mind that God is not only a God of mercy, He’s a God of wrath. The two go together. Paul said in Romans, “Behold therefore the goodness and the severity of God.” If you deface one side of a coin, the coin is worthless. And the truth about God is a two faced coin. On one side goodness and the other side severity. If you obliterate the severity you have a worthless coin. You have a message that has no relevance.

“The winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress up to the horses’ bridles for 1,600 furlongs.”

Which my Bible tells me in the margin is 184 miles.

A lot of people interpret the book of Revelation allegorically. I would like to ask them is this allegorical blood or is it real blood? What is allegorical blood, I don’t understand. It doesn’t have any meaning to me. I believe it means precisely what it says in simple language.

Now, really being involved in the harvest depends to a large extent on your personal vision. We’ve had people speaking here this morning who brought tears to my eyes because they were gripped with a vision. They saw what many people don’t see. They saw the harvest. They knew the condition of the harvest field. Jesus said to His disciples after He had had this interview with the woman of Samaria at the well in verses 35 and 36 of John 4:

“Do you not say there are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest.”

Jesus saw things in a different way from those apostles. Then He goes on to speak:

“He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.”

How do you see the world today? When you look out do you say another four months and then we’ll do something or do you see the world as Jesus sees it, the fields are white or ready for harvest? I have preached and traveled for nearly fifty years. I have never lived in a time when there was greater hunger for the gospel than there is now. In the most improbable places! We have contacts with Indonesia where my material is being given out. An unofficial estimate is that within a few years the majority of the people of Indonesian will be Christians. It’s regarded as a Muslim nation. They don’t let out the details, you have to find them. Fifty years ago there was virtually no response whatever in Indonesia to the gospel. Some of you don’t even know where Indonesia is. It’s the largest Muslim nation in the world, it has about 185 million people. It extends much further than the extent of the United States. Perhaps some of you would do well to make a little study of Indonesia. It could be a really crucial nation in the developments of the next few years.

I’m just so blessed that sixteen of my books have been translated and printed and circulated in Indonesia. I’m staggered because I had nothing to do with it. Most of it is being done by one little woman. You know, women don’t find it easy in a Muslim society.

If there’s one thing I admire in women, it’s courage. I’ve known a lot of courageous women. My first wife was a lioness. My second wife is not exactly a lioness but she has guts, too.

Then I want to read some words of Jesus a little further on in John’s gospel in John 9:4. Just one verse and I think the more accurate version begins with “we” and not with “I” because of the different texts.

“We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work.”

I believe that. I believe it is still day but the day is declining fast. I believe there’s a night coming when no one will be able to work. I have such a sense of urgency to get the job done while there is still light.

I don’t know whether you’ve ever noticed but the last people to preach the gospel in the book of Revelation are angels flying in heaven. Because I believe there’ll be no longer any possibility of preaching the gospel by human beings on earth. I believe that time is coming. It’s night and it’s very close. I talk to people about what will happen in ten years. None of us knows what will happen in ten years. The world is changing every year. The economic situation may have totally changed before the end of this particular century, this millennia. The money that you have now, by the end of this century will be absolutely worthless. You have two options. You can invest now in the kingdom of God and have an eternal bank account or you may end up with just worthless money.