Encounter With God 29th September 2020 Devotional – Harvest Time
TOPIC: HARVEST TIME
Opening Prayer: Lord, bring on the great harvest.
Read REVELATION 14:14–20
Harvesting the Earth and Trampling the Winepress
14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man[a] with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.[b]
Footnotes
a Revelation 14:14 See Daniel 7:13.
b Revelation 14:20 That is, about 180 miles or about 300 kilometers
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate: Encounter With God 29th September 2020 Devotional
Remember that judgment is God’s “strange work” (Isa. 28:21) and that we should never speak of judgment without tears in our eyes. Pray to God for mercy.
Think Further
This is immensely solemn. The harvest represents the end. This is judgment day. There is no place for pomp, position or pretense. In Genesis the question is asked, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25). Now he is to be vindicated. Jesus used the harvest metaphor to illustrate spiritual truth: wheat would be gathered in; weeds would be burned (Matt. 13:24–30). A crowned figure, “like a son of man” (14) sits on a cloud with a sharp sickle in his hand, surveying all that lies below him. Behold the Lord Jesus!
The order to proceed is given, no doubt from God, via an angel emerging from the temple. The time has come to put in the sickle to use and to reap the harvest. God has appointed the Lord Jesus to be Judge of all the earth. However much Rome (in John’s day) or any contemporary source of power might preen and puff themselves up, their time is limited and their fall certain. How important, then, to make right choices now. These may not be big choices, but each one helps to shape our character and in the end our destiny. We need to learn to take careful steps on a daily basis to identify with the Lamb and his followers. Then by God’s grace we can be part of this immense harvest.
If the grain harvest speaks of the ingathering of the faithful, the second picture is more sobering. Grapes are being cut from the vine and taken to the winepress to extract the juice by force. This is not a picture of celebration but of judgment—the grapes symbolize the winepress of God’s wrath against evil throughout the whole earth and the destruction of all the wicked: “He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored” (Julia Ward Howe, 1819–1910).
Apply: We bless You that we have a Savior in Christ our Lord and that salvation is all of grace.
Closing Prayer: Lord, we are so thankful that you offer us a part in Your immense harvest.
ONE YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN
Isaiah 57,58 / Hebrews 10
Thanks for reading Today’s Daily Devotional by Scripture Union
Encounter With God 29th September 2020 Today Devotional
