Revelation 14:14, commentary and pictures

The verse shows One like the Son of man seated on a white cloud with a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand, beginning the reaping of the earth's ripe harvest at the loud cry of an angel from the temple. It comes immediately after the threefold warning message and the sight of God's commandment-keeping people with the patience of the saints and the faith of Jesus, and after the blessing on those who die in the Lord from henceforth and rest from their labors until the harvest comes. It marks the Lord's coming in glory to reap after His closing work of atonement in the most holy place is finished and every case is decided, when He lays aside priestly garments for kingly robes and takes His seat on the cloud before the plagues are poured out. As He descends escorted by angels His trumpet sounds, the graves open amid earthquake, the dead arise clothed with immortality, and the living saints are changed in a moment and caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air and enter the cloud. The closing message ripens the harvest for two opposite ends, the righteous gathered as sheaves for the heavenly garner unto eternal life and the wicked gathered as clusters cast into the winepress of God's wrath, so the verse is present truth to be proclaimed with a loud voice to every nation while probation still lasts and all fitting up for the day of the Lord's anger must be done.

Cloud Crown and Sickle

The verse opens a harvest scene with One like the Son of man seated upon a white cloud, wearing a golden crown on His head and holding a sharp sickle in His hand, ready to reap when the earth's harvest is ripe at an angel's command. The crown marks kingship and the sickle marks readiness for the reaping that follows in the next verses.

Upon that cloud He sits with many crowns upon His head, with white curly hair lying upon His shoulders, with feet having the appearance of fire, and with eyes as a flame of fire that search His children through and through. In His right hand is a sharp sickle and in His left a silver trumpet. His searching gaze brings paleness to faces and blackness to those rejected, with the cry who shall be able to stand and whether robes are spotless, and His answer that those with clean hands and a pure heart shall stand because His grace is sufficient brings light and joy.

The cloud itself is the sign of the Son of man in heaven. It first appears in the east as a small black cloud about half as large as a man's hand, then as it draws nearer it becomes lighter and brighter and more glorious until it is a great white cloud. Its bottom appears like fire, a rainbow is over it, and around it are ten thousand angels singing a most lovely song. At first He is not visible upon it, but as it draws near the earth His person is seen.

He takes that seat only after finishing His priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary. Then He lays aside His priestly garments and puts on kingly robes and a crown, a crown of glory and not of thorns, and the garments of vengeance, before riding forth on the cloud with the sharp sickle. That great white cloud is not in the holy place but entirely separate from the holy and most holy, entirely separate from the sanctuary, and He takes His place upon it before the plagues are poured out.

Context Before the Harvest

Revelation 14:14 stands immediately after the threefold warning message and after the sight of God's commandment-keeping people who have the patience of the saints and the faith of Jesus. That faith is faith in Christ as the sinner's only hope, with His righteousness kept before the sinner, and those people are seen with the seal of the living God upon their foreheads amid a world filled with violence and perdition. The vision follows the third angel's warning against worship of the beast, and it shows One like the Son of man seated on a white cloud, crowned with a golden crown and holding a sharp sickle to reap when the harvest of the earth is ripe. Addressed by an angel announcing that the time to reap has come, He reaps the earth, in contrast with the later gathering of the fully ripe grapes for God's wrath.

The same appearing follows immediately after the blessing pronounced upon those who die in the Lord from henceforth. They rest from their labors and their works follow them, resting in hope free from pain, worry and anxiety until the time of indignation has passed and the reaping comes. Their rest and faithful works will be better understood in the light of the coming harvest, toward which the work of the three angels' messages advances while fresh workers continue the work. In that setting the crowned Son of man on the white cloud with the sharp sickle is commanded by the angel's loud cry from the temple to thrust in the sickle because the harvest is ripe, and the earth is reaped.

Harvest Reaping Foretold

The crowned figure like the Son of man seated on the white cloud is addressed by an angel coming out of the temple who cries with a loud voice to thrust in the sickle and reap because the time to reap has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe, and He thrusts in His sickle and the earth is reaped. The vision introduces the earth's harvest and stands in contrast with the later gathering of the fully ripe grapes for God's wrath. It comes immediately after the sight of the commandment-keeping people of God amid a world facing perdition, and immediately after the blessing on those who die in the Lord from henceforth who rest from their labors and whose works follow them. Its nearness explains that blessing, for one who was the Lord's child rests from labor free from pain, worry and anxiety until that reaping comes, so there is no need for sorrowing mourning when the Lord removes a worker by death with perilous times just before us.

The closing message ripens the harvest of the earth for two opposite ends. The righteous are as sheaves gathered for the heavenly garner and eternal life, while the wicked are as clusters of the vine of the earth gathered and cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God trodden without the city, as fagots bound for the fires of the last day. This coming harvest and judgment with its final division of humanity is given as the reason for being Seventh-day Adventists. The vision was shown on Patmos in figures and symbols revealing the history of the Christian world to the very close of time, with the position, dangers, conflicts and final deliverance of God's people, so that those turning from error to truth may understand the perils and conflicts before them.

The reaping is the execution of judicial wrath upon a world filled with violence and crime, robbery of God and man, greed, avarice, sensuality and demon-worship, standing on the brink of perdition. After the revealing of God's commandment-keeping people with the seal of the living God upon their foreheads and the blessing on those who die in the Lord, the white cloud appears bearing One like the Son of man with a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand to reap the ripe harvest. That coming brings the cloud of wrath containing the elements that destroyed Sodom.

Christ is the husbandman who puts in the sickle because the harvest is come at the last great day. The sower of the seed and the reaper are not the same, for the sower represents those who labor in Christ's stead while only Christ does the final reaping. Unlike the sower who sleeps and rises night and day not knowing how the seed springs and grows, Christ does not sleep over His charge but watches it day and night and is not ignorant of how it grows.

Christ's Glorious Return

The verse marks the Lord's coming in glory to reap the earth's harvest immediately after the threefold warning message has been proclaimed. That coming follows the final message distinguishing His church and warning of approaching judgment, with the first angel's announcement of judgment standing immediately before His advent when every case has been decided. It is the Lord's appearing to reap, preceded by the last message of mercy committed to His servants after His entrance into the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to perform the closing work of atonement.

When that closing work is finished and Michael stands up, He lays aside priestly garments and puts on kingly robes and garments of vengeance before taking His seat on the cloud. He comes to the door of the tabernacle and confesses the sins of Israel upon the head of the scapegoat, then takes His place upon the great white cloud entirely separate from the holy and most holy place, entirely separate from the sanctuary. The sickle marks the time when the saints make their special day-and-night cry for deliverance from Jacob's trouble, represented by the angel calling to Him to reap, and He takes His seat before the plagues are poured out upon the wicked.

The cloud with the Son of man upon it appears close upon God speaking the day and hour of Jesus' coming and delivering the everlasting covenant to His people. That deliverance comes as the faithful cry to God for rescue from the time of trouble, with sentences spoken one at a time and pausing while the words roll through the earth amid shaken sky, mountains and sea, and when that proclamation is finished the cloud appears. Then comes perfect and entire deliverance at the close of the time of trouble, with the signs acted over again, the day and hour made known, the sea boiling like a pot, the faces of God's people shining like Moses', and God's people caught up on the white cloud.

The sign first appears in the east as a small black cloud about half as large as a man's hand, gazed on in solemn silence, drawing nearer and becoming lighter, brighter and more glorious until it is a great white cloud. Its bottom appears like fire, a rainbow is over it, and around it are ten thousand angels singing a most lovely song, with a retinue crying Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty while wheels and wings cry Holy and saints in the cloud cry Glory, Alleluia. At first He is not seen on it, but as it draws near the earth His lovely person is beheld, seated as the Son of man with many crowns on His head, white curly hair lying on His shoulders, feet having the appearance of fire, a sharp sickle in His right hand and a silver trumpet in His left. After an awful silence He speaks comfort, then His silver trumpet sounds as He descends on the cloud wrapped in flames of fire escorted by angels, gazes on the graves of the sleeping saints, raises eyes and hands to heaven and cries Awake, Awake, Awake, ye that sleep in the dust, and arise.

The graves open amid a mighty earthquake, the voice of the Son of God calls forth the sleeping saints clothed with glorious immortality, and the living 144,000 recognize resurrected friends and in the same moment are changed and caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. All enter the cloud or chariot together, which rolls upward to the Holy City where He opens the gates of the Golden City and leads in those who kept the commandments and have right to the tree of life, ascending to the sea of glass. His eyes as a flame of fire search His children through and through, so all faces gather paleness and those rejected gather blackness, growing fearful and hiding from His face and the wrath of the Lamb while crying who shall be able to stand and whether robes are spotless. He answers that those with clean hands and a pure heart shall stand because His grace is sufficient, at which their faces light with joy and the angels sing again on a higher note as the cloud draws still nearer the earth, and He wears a crown of glory, not thorns.

At that coming He takes His place on the great white cloud with His reward to give to everyone according as his works shall be. Character is then fixed and no longer made over new, the holy remaining holy still and the filthy remaining filthy still, so all fitting up, hewing and squaring with the last blow must be done on earth in the hours of probation by repentance, seeking meekness and righteousness, and putting away selfishness and covetousness to be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. After the expected time passed, some disappointed believers misapplied the scene as already fulfilled, making Jesus now upon the cloud with golden crown and sharp sickle their substitute hope, while others made old Jerusalem called the age-to-come their substitute. That use is error that loses the power and light of the third angel's message, denies that He still ministers in the Most Holy for the saints, and leaves a person in an unready state if His work were really finished and probation closed.

Proclaiming Present Message

Revelation 14:14 belongs to the united first, second, and third angels' messages found from the sixth verse to the close, and together with the rest of the chapter it holds the whole everlasting gospel to be proclaimed throughout the world. It is part of the genuine truth to be made the burden of the message now given to the world, belonging with the third angel's warning against worshiping the beast and his image and receiving his mark, with the call to the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and with the blessing on the dead who die in the Lord. It gives the last message of warning and mercy for this last generation, to go with a loud voice to every nation and kindred and tongue to take out of them a people for His name, and its worldwide proclamation is the signal and triumphant fulfillment of the mustard seed parable when the little seed becomes a tree and the earth shall be lightened with His glory. The chapter's call to worship God as Creator especially calls for keeping the fourth commandment, the Sabbath, which is a sign of loyalty to the God who made heaven and earth, and the proclamation of the third angel's message which includes the other two makes that Sabbath prominent.

The verse is present truth and the message of the third angel, to be proclaimed by all who cooperate with God as the present work represented by the third angel. It comes after the warning against worshiping the beast and his image and receiving his mark, after the description of the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and after the blessing on the dead who die in the Lord that they may rest from their labors with their works following them. It shows one like the Son of man seated on a white cloud, crowned and holding a sharp sickle for reaping when the harvest of the earth is ripe, to whom another angel coming out of the temple cries with a loud voice to thrust in the sickle and reap because the time to reap has come. Together with the verses that follow it and chapter 15 it is to be made the subject of meditation, framing the closing work and the urgent preparation of the world for that message to be unitedly proclaimed everywhere with a loud voice.

The verse belongs to a sequence of proclamations that precede the Lord's coming, marking the coming that follows them, and to the special movement under the messages of Revelation 14 connected with the closing work of Christ in heaven and of His people on earth in relation to the past and the future. The earlier proclamation about the Lord's coming fulfilled prophecy even though those who gave it did not understand that other proclamations must come first. Through the light of its three messages Revelation 14 helps explain what was accomplished on the tenth day of the seventh month and supports patience and confidence in the movement.

God's warning message for the present time calls His people to live with genuine faith and spirituality and to stand apart from the world and come out from it, rather than treating that message as secondary to other work including medical missionary work. Those who have heard these special messages of warning must come to their senses and make their lives an expression of genuine faith and spirituality and keeping God's law, gaining an experience different from the self-satisfaction, unbelief and worldliness by which the Jewish nation rejected the prophecies of Christ's coming and did not receive Him. The coming harvest and judgment shown here, with One like the Son of man seated on a white cloud with a golden crown and a sharp sickle to reap the ripe harvest of the earth followed by the gathering of the clusters of the vine of the earth and casting them into the great winepress of the wrath of God trodden without the city, is given as the reason for being Seventh-day Adventists. The everlasting gospel connected with it is to reach every nation as a witness before the end, and giving it to the world helps hasten Christ's return, which does not mean that the whole world will be converted.

The vision was shown to John on Patmos in figures and symbols revealing the history of the Christian world to the very close of time, with the position, dangers, conflicts, and final deliverance of the people of God, so that those turning from error to truth may understand the perils and conflicts before them. It is part of the closing message that ripens the harvest of the earth for two opposite ends, either as sheaves gathered for the heavenly garner or as fagots bound for the fires of the last day. The portion in Revelation 14:14-20 is identified with the last two angels, whose messages are messages of prayer, and their meaning will be better understood when they are fulfilled.

Living Ready in Prayer

The nearness of the harvest gives comfort at the death of one who was the Lord's child, for such a one rests from labor free from pain and worry and anxiety until the reaping, and there is no need for sorrowing mourning when the Lord removes a worker by death with perilous times just before us. Those who die in the Lord from henceforth are blessed because they rest from their labors and their works follow them, and the meaning of that rest and faithfulness will be better understood when the harvest comes. God's faithful people may die with hope, resting from labor until the time of indignation has passed, while awaiting the appearing of one like the Son of man seated on a white cloud with a golden crown and a sharp sickle, coming immediately after that blessing and the call to the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. These scenes of the angel's cry from the temple to thrust in the sickle and reap because the harvest of the earth is ripe, when He thrusts in His sickle and the earth is reaped, are still to come.

Now in the hours of probation is the time to get ready, for at His coming in the clouds of heaven to take His place on the great white cloud He does not make people over new but character is then fixed, the holy remaining holy still and the filthy remaining filthy still. All fitting up and hewing and squaring with the last blow must be done here on earth, that sinners may be hid in the day of the Lord's anger when He comes with His reward to give to everyone according as his works shall be. Therefore now is the time to repent and seek meekness and righteousness and put away selfishness and covetousness.

The sharp sickle in the hand is prayer that goes out with the laborers into the great harvest field like sharp sickles, supporting their work and gathering souls and giving success to the labor. Believers are to send prayer with young ministers, with seasons of prayer and wrestling with God for them and for ministers and those weak in faith, that God will connect them with Himself and give them wisdom and grace and knowledge. Such fervent prayer asks that He will guard them from the snares of Satan and keep them pure in thought and holy in heart, holding up their hands in the harvest work. Fervent prayer and faith in God's promises can bring Pentecostal seasons even now, and prayerful believers will shine as a steady light before the world.

The scene of Christ's second coming with the Son of man seated on the great white cloud was experienced as a living reality.