The Harvest of Judgment (Rev. 14:14-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

09/02/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  The harvest of Judgment

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelations 14:14-15

            Message of the verse:  “14  Then I saw the Son of Man sitting on a white cloud. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.  15  Then an angel came from the Temple and called out in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud, ‘Use the sickle, for the time has come for you to harvest; the crop is ripe on the earth.’”  (NLT)

            I am using the NLT because this is, to me, what the verse is truly saying, that is that John is writing about the Lord Jesus Christ.  I have also had the opportunity to look at an older devotion that I did on these verses to help me out with them.

            Sometimes when believers look at a harvest they think of people being saved such as Jesus spoke of in John chapter 4 where he told His disciples that the fields were ripe unto harvest, but this can also mean that the wicked have ripened with their wickedness in God’s eyes and it is time for their judgment. Genesis 15:16 gives this idea:  "Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."  In this verse God was speaking of the nation of Israel coming back to the Promised Land to remove these ungodly nations from there and the reason it would not be for four generations is because their iniquity was not ripe yet.

            It seems to me that these verses in Revelations are a picture of the judgment of those who will be alive at the end of the tribulation period and will be thrown into the lake of fire after judgment is pronounced on them.  Jesus spoke of separating the sheep and the goats in another portion of Scripture and this is probably the same event.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God always has to judge sin for He is righteous and cannot let sin go without dealing with it.  Peter writes in his letter that God must judge His own before He judges the world and so just because I am a believer and my sins have been paid for at the cross does not mean that God will not deal with me when I sin.  I must say as I look at that verse in Genesis 15:16 I cannot help but to look at the nation that I am living in and in light of 9/11 and also the latest Hurricane to bring disaster upon our nation it seems to me that God is judging our nation and we do deserve it.

The Word of God has brought conviction and challenge to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  To confess my sins and turn from them so that I will not have to be judged of God for them.  I want to keep a short list with my Lord.

Memory verse for the week:                 Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation; who shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?