The Son of Man was the sower,1 and the Son of Man is the reaper. He had no place to lay down His head when He was referred to for the first time as the Son of Man.2 Now He is seated, enthroned, on the ‘cloud’ though not visible on earth. The consequence of the sending out of the sickle He was holding in His hand will soon become clear. David prophesies: “You… placed a crown of pure gold upon His head,” and: “Your hand will lay hold on all Your enemies; Your right hand will seize your foes.”3 A fourth angel appears now, from the Temple, where God is enthroned and dwells. The Son waits until the Father gives the command.4 And then what Joel prophesied takes place: “Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.”5 The press and the wine vats are mentioned, as well as the darkening of sun, moon and stars. Earth is ripe for judgment, completely ripe. When the measure of unrighteousness is full, the measure of God’s wrath is also full. The measure of the number of martyrs is full. The process of possessing the earth and the destruction of everything that resists God and His plan continues in increasing speed. The ‘harvest of the destruction’ has its place in the Bible just as the ‘ingathering of the saints’ does. This is the hour of judgment for those who live on earth. This is no joyful ingathering in the Heavenly barns. The earth is being mown with a sharp sickle. The field harvest and the wine harvest, mentioned in one breath in Joel 3:13 “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, tread, for the wine press is full; the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great” are both symbols of the judgment of the godless. The time of His judgment has come, the first angel said.6 The time to mow has arrived, the fourth angel says. The sixth angel will say that the grapes are ripe.7 “For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; the daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.”8 Does the angel’s call from the Temple come from the earthly Temple, the restored Temple in Jerusalem? The forecourt was occupied by Gentiles9 and the ‘abomination that causes desolation’,10 maybe the image of the ‘beast’, was erected somewhere within its confines. Referring to the two mosques standing on the Temple Mount, on the Temple square today, with extremist Muslim preaching of hatred and violence towards Jews and Christians? Or referring to apostate Christianity into which the spirit of anti-Christ has entered? People in the end-times will worship a ‘universal religion’ – with unity in diversity – as a melting pot of different religions. Nobody is allowed to claim the ‘truth’ for his or her religion. Tolerance, is the word. But those who will say ‘Thus saith the Lord’ and proclaim prophetic truth from the Bible by the Holy Spirit, criticising the ideologies of the world-leaders will be persecuted, arrested, tortured and killed. The ‘scarlet woman’, the ‘mother of harlots’, is drunk with the blood of the saints, Revelation 17. However, from there, from the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies of the Temple where the altar is also to be found, the Lord takes possession of the earth.11
The ‘dragon’ is thrown out of Heaven by Michael and his angels, and the battles flares up on earth. The ‘dragon’ creates the ‘beast’ and the ‘false prophet’, who creates the ‘image of the beast’, and their worldwide empire is set up. The ‘two witnesses’ resist them in Jerusalem. That is where the battle is concentrated in the end.12 ‘Babylon’ versus ‘Jerusalem’ – ‘satano-cracy’ wages war against theo-cracy. ‘Demo-cracy’ had already degenerated into ‘demon-cracy’ sometime earlier. The call now emanates from the Temple: “Mow the earth.” And the earth is mown: a horrible picture, in which a summary is given of the end-time judgments that come upon the earth under the trumpets and, soon, the vials.13
• Masses will die during the grain harvest and the wine harvest. This means being cut off forever. It also marks the ‘end of the age’, the close of the aioon. The ‘harvest’ is the ‘end of the age’, as Jesus explains:
• The ‘harvest’ is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.14 The end of this part of world-history, before the next part of world-history begins: the new aioon/age to come.15
Bible References:
1.Matthew 13:37 2.Matthew 8:20 3.Psalm 21 4.Matthew 24:36 5.Joel 3:13 6.Revelation 14:7 7.Revelation 14:18 8.Jeremiah 51:33 (Authorised Version) 9.Revelation 11:2 10.Matthew 24:15 11.Revelation 11:1 12.Joel 3:19–21; Zachariah 12:1–3; Matthew 24:15–22 13.Revelation 16 14.Matthew 13:39 15.Luke 20:35
