Revelation 14:14-16 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Revelation now makes a big shift from the death of those in the Lord to the coming of the Son of Man on the clouds. This passage has many allusions to other parts of the Bible. Jesus talked of his coming on the clouds in fulfillment of Daniel 7. Jesus is described here as the victorious king who was incarnated as a man. He comes to harvest with a sickle which symbolizes his second coming. Jesus told the parable of the wheat and tares in Matthew 13:24-30. This reaping also symbolizes the judgment that will come when Jesus returns.
This passage serves as a shout of victory for the followers of the Lamb but a shout of warning for those who follow the Beast. The day will come when Jesus returns. People of the world may ignore this, reject it, ridicule it, but it will happen. It will be a surprise to many because they have been caught up in their own lives, being consumed by the deceitful promises of the devil and what this world offers.
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