6. the Harvest of the Earth

We have had the “firstfruits” of the earth, now we have
the harvest of the earth {Rev. 14:15}.
This is reaped at the coming of the Lord. The prophetic testimony to Israel was, not only that when the Messiah came He would tread down the wicked as ashes under the soles of His feet, but that, as the Sun of righteousness, He would arise upon Israel with healing in His wings. Thus blessing to the elect nation, and judgment on the wicked, attends the revelation of the Lord from heaven. Isaiah says of this time,
The day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come {Isa. 63:4}.
We get some account of the former in the concluding action of this chapter, and it is more fully brought out in the nineteenth chapter.
The harvest of the earth
shows us the latter. It is the Son of man, making the cloud His chariot, as in Rev. 1:7, crowned with a golden crown, and having in His hand a sharp sickle, with which He gathers to His bosom the fruit of His own sowing. Angels are associated with the Lord in the work. It is evidently the end of the age of Matt. 13, when the wheat is gathered into the barn; and the next action shows us the tares under the wrath of God. There is no idea here of the resurrection of the dead, or of any being removed to heaven, but of gathering the living righteous — reaping the wheat. A separation between good and bad, and judgment on the latter, constitute the instruction of the last two scenes in this chapter. The Lord is coming to establish His millennial kingdom in righteousness. He will therefore sever the wicked from among the just, and take out of His kingdom them that offend and do iniquity, and cast them into a furnace of fire. The seer says,
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. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle, and the earth was reaped (Rev. 14:14-16).