Harvest Time

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. (Revelation 14:15)

At this point in the Revelation account, we have come to the last half of the Tribulation. We have seen that in the midst of the terrible judgments coming upon the earth, God in His mercy continues to reach out to a lost and rebellious world by way of the 144,000 witnesses, the two Old Testament prophets brought back to earth to testify by way of wonders and miracles so that no one on earth will have an excuse for rejecting God. At the midpoint of the Tribulation, the Antichrist will desecrate the Temple in Jerusalem by claiming to be God and demanding that he be worshiped as God. At this time, the Antichrist is fully possessed by Satan, and God allows him to kill the two prophets, and the 144,000 who, up until this point have been protected by God. In the previous verses, we see the 144,000 in the heavenly Mount Zion with Jesus. However, God continues to show His mercy by sending His angels to proclaim the Gospel all around the earth so that all on earth (who have not yet accepted the “mark of the beast”) will have the opportunity to turn to Christ. Of that time Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14, emphasis mine).

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 Tribulation Witnesses

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. (Revelation 14:1)

Jesus warned, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place,[1] (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:15-22, emphasis mine).

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 The Beast and His Mouth

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. (Revelation 13:1)

At this point, John’s interlude continues as we anticipate the judgments that follow the seventh trumpet. In the last chapter, we saw the great celestial sign of the woman, representing the nation of Israel, giving birth to the male child, representing Jesus who would rule the nations with a rod of iron, and the dragon, representing Satan, who attempts to destroy the male child. However, the male child gets taken to heaven, so the dragon turns on the woman. John’s vision is both historical and futuristic. From the time that Jesus ascended into heaven, Satan has attempted to destroy God’s people – the Church and Israel. When the Church is removed at the Rapture, Satan will focus and intensify his efforts against the nation of Israel in order to thwart God’s plan to fulfill His covenant with the nation of Israel.

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The Woman and the Dragon

 

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. (Revelation 12:7-8)

The seventh trumpet has sounded, but before we see the judgments that follow, John gives us another behind-the-scenes look at events from a heavenly perspective. Chronologically, the seventh trumpet sounds at the final half of the remaining three-and-one-half years of what is known as the “Great Tribulation.” This, of course, is based on my understanding of the sequence of events, and I could certainly be wrong about that. One thing for certain is that those who have placed their trust in Christ will be witnesses to these events, like John, from a heavenly perspective. Before the seven-year Tribulation begins, the Church, i.e., those who have truly placed their faith and trust in Christ for salvation, will be “snatched up abruptly” (raptured) out of the world and taken to join Jesus in the air and dwell with Him forever.

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