In his sermon titled 'Comfort One Another With These Words,' Scott Brown explores Revelation 14:14-20, emphasizing the imagery of the final harvest as a metaphor for the final judgment. Brown highlights the presence and roles of angels in this divine process, where they assist in executing God's judgment. He differentiates between two types of people: those who follow Christ and those who do not, suggesting that this division aligns with a biblical view of anthropology. The sermon underlines the importance of these events as both a warning and a source of comfort for believers, urging them to find solace in the promise of Christ's return. Brown further interprets the symbolism of the sharp sickle as an instrument of divine reaping, marking the end of time and the fulfillment of God's promise to gather His followers. He concludes by encouraging his congregation to reflect on these themes, reminding them to comfort one another with the hope of eternal life and the ultimate justice of God.

Please open your Bibles to the inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter than honey Word of God. To Revelation 14, find verse 14. I'll be reading to verse 20. Then I looked and behold a white cloud and on the cloud sat one like the son of man, having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud.

Thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time has come for you to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. So he who sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, who had the power over fire. And he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.

So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God and the wine press was trampled outside the city and blood came out of the wine press up to the horses' bridles up for 1, 600 furlongs. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, we thank you for laying holy words, true words before us to move us, to help us, to get through all the things that you've laid before us here. Pray that you give us understanding of these wonderful words. Amen.

Please be seated. Well as we've said many times in this church, our understanding of where this church is going is that God shepherds his church by his word. And if you want to know where this church is going, then you should look and see what we're preaching on, because that's where our church is going. And as we are standing before this passage today, you know, my belief is that the Lord desires to shepherd this church, this local church, Hope Baptist Church, by reminding us of the final judgment. I assume that we need it.

God is faithful to meet us at our point of need. You're here, God brought you here, these words are for you and for me. And we're here to be not just reviewing the final judgment, but to be calibrated by it, to be shaped by it. And these are pictures of the ingathering of saints and sinners at the end of the age. This is the final judgment.

And there's a day that's coming when all will be over And there will be a harvest. You know, I was walking this morning in the beautiful morning hours today. And I was looking at all the beautiful things around me. And I thought, you know, there's a day when Deborah and I will be gathered. Our children will be gathered.

Our grandchildren will be gathered. All of you will be gathered on that one day, that day is coming. And the time has come, that's what we read in verse 15. The harvest of the earth is ripe. That's what we read in this text.

So I was walking and I thought, I'm surrounded by all this beauty. And I thought God is luring me. He's luring me. He's showing me beauty here. And the beauty in heaven far excels this and I was looking at all these things that I've just So treasured to look at with my eyes and I thought God you are so kind You're gonna take me to a place far far better than this Well, this is such a blessing.

That's why Paul told the Thessalonian church in 1 Thessalonians 418, he said, therefore comfort one another with these words. With what words? The words of the final judgment. And I wanted to just make a few comments about interpreting these verses. The first three verses of Revelation teach us how to interpret the entire book.

It's a book of symbols and it's a book that reveals Jesus Christ. Those are the two primary things. Whatever verses you're reading in Revelation, recognize that there will most likely be symbols there, but there's also a Revelation of Jesus Christ. Every word in this book points to him. And with every chapter, with every paragraph, we can say, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

And so these verses here, they actually mark the fourth vision in the Book of Revelation. As we've said, there are seven visions. Each of them ends in the second coming this one does too that is finalized next Sunday in the first four verses of chapter 15 these are cycles of history that end in the second coming they describe the kinds of things that happened from the resurrection until the time of the second coming of Jesus Christ and this this section here stands just before the outpouring of the seven bowls of wrath and just after the seven trumpets. So there's just been this interlude and this fourth vision of the seven visions that are in Revelation. Okay, I wanna make some observations about this text.

Are you ready? I have five of them. And the first thing that you notice in this chapter is that there are many angels. This chapter speaks of six angels. And in the next chapter, there's an announcement of seven angels.

We've just been immersing ourselves in the whole doctrine of angelology. But the first angel in this chapter was right at the beginning. This angel had an everlasting gospel that was preached throughout the Earth. The second angel announced the fall of Babylon, flying about saying Babylon has fallen, has fallen. Praise God.

All the harmful things of this world running rampant will be put down. Praise God for that. It's only a matter of time. And then the third angel brought about the announcement of God's judgment against those who bear the mark of the beast, which is the mark of the world. And then the fourth angel is before us here in chapter 14.

He announces a grain harvest at the hands of the Son of Man. He has a golden crown and a sharp sickle. And then the fifth angel comes out of the altar with a sharp sickle announcing the final end. And then the final angel comes out of the temple and tells the other angel to reap the grape harvest of the wicked. And they are ripe for harvest.

So The angels of God have been anticipating this day. They've not known the time. They are ministering spirits to render service to those who will inherit salvation. That's what we learn in Hebrews chapter one verse 14. They're messengers.

Boy, in Revelation, they're always bringing about a message. It's incredible. And here you have six of them in one chapter bringing a message. And then you have seven more in the following chapters in the outpouring of the bulls of wrath. God is collaborating with heavenly beings.

There's interaction. And you have the obedient son of God who hears the voice of an angel from God the Father from the throne saying now's time so that's what we have here so there are there are angels here and as you can see in the in in the outline in front of you we're going to speak of the harvester the Lord Jesus in verse 14 we're going to speak of the wheat harvest verses 15 and 16 and then thirdly we're going to speak of the the grape harvest the harvest of the wrath of God in verses 17 to 20. Now the second observation is that this is a harvest scene. All the language is harvest language. You know, isn't this the season of harvest festivals?

They're all over the place. In fact, I was talking to one little child in our church and they said, my daddy's gonna take us to a harvest festival and we're gonna pass out tracts. Somebody said that to me just last week. So as with so many things, Life on earth experienced points to life in heaven and points to things to come. You know, when Jesus Christ said, I am the light of the world, I'm the door, I'm the shepherd, he was using things on the earth to point to greater things.

And this harvest is the same thing. Farmers all over America are harvesting. My grandsons are harvesting in Nebraska right now. But this is the final harvest. There are many harvests that have already taken place, but there's one harvest that will end all the other harvests, and that's the harvest that we're talking about in this passage of Scripture.

The world will not continue as it is forever. Your life will not continue on as it is. There's a harvest coming. And this really speaks of the Christian view of time. Christians think differently about history and These eras of history will give way to this final moment, which the Lord is calling a harvest.

And if you have time, I would just encourage you to read today chapter 32 in the Baptist Confession, speaks of this harvest, the last judgment. It gives a very careful description of this last harvest. I'll just read a very short portion of it in the Baptist confession. God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ to whom all power and judgment is given by the Father. In that day the apostate angels will be judged So also all people who have lived on the earth will appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds, and to receive a reckoning according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.

Now the confession goes on to say that God's purpose for this is to manifest his glory in his mercy towards sinners and also his justice in the eternal damnation of the reprobate and the wicked and the disobedient. So this is a harvest scene. Third observation, there are only two types of people in view here. This is the Christian view of mankind. This is a picture of kind of a practical illustration of biblical anthropology, man made in the image of God.

And there really are only two types of people in the world. In the same way that there are two types of soils, as we read about in the Gospels, the soils are people. There are two types of crops here in this passage. This has to do with fruit. And there are two kinds of harvests.

There's the harvest of those who love the Lord and there's the harvest of those who did not love him. There are only two categories of people. This is biblical anthropology. You know it's all the rage, it's all the rage for people to focus on the colors of people's skins. This is totally corrupt.

This is actually a satanic view of mankind. There are no black people in this scene. There are no white people in this scene. There are no yellow people in this scene. And I just think it reminds me of the corruption of the social justice movement that demands that we treat people differently because of the colors of their skins and these intersectional relationships other than human beings created in the image of God.

I was just with some young men this weekend reading a book written by Owen Strand about that. It was brilliant and he was really speaking about this corruption, these fake designations of people. They're fake because they're not the way that God categorizes anyone and there are only two types of people, sheep and goats and to treat one another any differently is to completely contradict a biblical anthropology and the whole theory of nature of man. It's racist to divide mankind according to color of skin. And we are of one blood, we have the same problem, we have the same solution it's Jesus Christ and his blood but the woke movement does not recognize biblical anthropology they've they've embraced a racist anthropology and don't don't any of us embrace that anthropology.

So the fourth observation, well the third observation was there are only two types of people in view. And then the fourth observation is notice the mechanics of the harvest. There are angels, there are three angels announcing the final judgment. And the Father, God the Father launches the harvest by deploying an angel to announce to Christ that the time is now. That's sort of the mechanics of this final judgment.

And then the fifth observation, well, and this should be obvious to all of us, This is an announcement. This is fair warning. This is a pre-announcement. This is a heads up. This is coming.

And that's why when I was walking this morning, I just thought of Deborah and I there's a day that we're going to be harvested and this is this is telling us that there is something that is going to happen that has not happened yet And it hasn't happened yet because God has mercy on people who have not turned to him. That's why it hasn't happened yet. There are more to be gathered into his barns. And so, now these words, They're speaking of Christ coming to gather the sheep to himself. But what's so prominent here, particularly in the second section, is that God is finally going to rid creation of the abuser and those who have accepted his philosophy.

God is going to rid creation of all these things. And if you do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, if you do not walk with him and seek him with your whole heart, God will rid you. He will rid creation of you. So in many ways, this is a terrifying section. But these words take us into the future because we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so tells the Apostle Paul to the churches.

Now, if you've been here before, you know that my greatest delight is to bring you biblical messages that will help you to delight in the Lord Jesus. I want you to delight in him and to find your joy in him, all your hope in him. But when you bring a passage like this, a final judgment, it's it can be very difficult. How do you manage yourself emotionally to bring such a message? And I think the Holy Spirit is the one who can work that out.

But it's a challenging section because God has not concealed his intention. He's going to bring his work of judgment to pass. He is opening the door to show us what's behind the door of your life and my life. And if you're here today, you either believe that or you don't. It either terrifies you or it warms your heart.

So, you know, this is actually, God has given many warnings about this. Remember Enoch in the Old Testament? Enoch's life overlapped Adam by 22 years. And Enoch prophesied of what we read here in Revelation. I'll just read this to you in Jude 14.

Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also saying, behold, the Lord comes with 10 thousands of his saints to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way and of the harsh things which the ungodly sinners have spoken against him. This was prophesied thousands of years ago that God would deal with ungodly sinners who have spoken against him. So many people speak against him and they have no idea what's coming. In Psalm 50 we learn that this is a day like no other. This day was not only prophesied by Enoch but in the prophets, in the Psalms, and of course in the Gospels.

The Lord Jesus Christ spoke of this, some say more than any other subject, the coming judgment in hell. But in Psalm 50, we learn that it's A day is coming and it's like no other day. Psalm 50 verse three, our God shall come and shall not keep silent. A fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous around him. He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge the people.

Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. Let the heavens declare his righteousness for God himself is judged. There's never been a day like this day. And first Thessalonians four we're given graphic details. There's stunning details that are revealed to the Thessalonian church.

And Paul tells them why he is telling them these things. He says in 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive will remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord." And then he says, therefore comfort one another with these words. And then in the next chapter Paul continues to warn the church about what is coming and this but here he speaks about the suddenness of the day that it will take you by surprise in first Thessalonians 5 2 for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord So comes as a thief in the night when they say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you brethren are not in darkness, so that the day should overtake you as a thief.

You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do. Let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.

But let those who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet of hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him. And then he repeats the same thing that he said in the previous chapter and he said therefore comfort each other and edify one another just as you also are doing well that's what we should do as we wait is to comfort one another and to edify one another being devoted to his church. You know, when Paul was speaking to the Athenian philosophers, He assured them of the certainty of that day in Acts chapter 17, that there's a day that's fixed. And he said, truly these times of ignorance God overlooked their sins, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

Because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness By the man whom he has ordained he has given assurance of this to all By raising him from the dead And here we find that this day Has been fixed but it's it's proven that it will take place because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus told us that no one knows the day or the hour in Matthew 24 verse 36, but of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, but my father only. Now that statement I think is clarified in this passage where the angels come from the throne of God the Father and they announce that the time is now. They tell Jesus that now is the time to reap. So I think that that's how this works, that even the Lord Jesus was not informed by his father because he would be the one to come and reap his sons and his daughters off the earth.

In St. Corinthians 5, we learn that everyone will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And it'll be a day of exposure. Your secret sins will be revealed. It'll be a day of separations.

The wheat and the chaff will be separated. You may be separated from loved ones, children, wives, husbands, friends. It'll be a day of separation which should just give us such motivation to make sure that we haven't kept our mouth shut with the gospel. In 1 John chapter 4 verse 17, we're really told of the believers calmness on that day because they've not been appointed to judgment. Says this, love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.

Because as he is, so are we in this world." What he's saying is that if you love the Lord, you'll enter that day with boldness. You'll be so thankful for that day. You'll hear that trumpet sound and it will be joy to you and you'll fall into the arms, into the everlasting arms of your savior who loved you and who cared for you. So that's the kind of day, Well, the believers have an advocate at the final judgment, having been cleansed and washed and justified. Well, let's take a look at the harvester.

You know, I've walked through these passages just to give a sense of the whole backdrop of what these verses are speaking of. But there's this vision of the harvester. This is the Lord Jesus, verse 14. Then I looked and behold a white cloud, and on the cloud sat one like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharpsicle." The vision really begins with a picture of Christ and who he is. I'm going to give you five marks of this harvester, the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, he's the son of man. This is Christ's most favorite terminology to speak of himself, son of man. He is the incarnate Son of God. He's the resurrected Son of God and He's appearing here, He's appearing as a human, as an incarnate Savior. You know, the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 26, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven.

So this, first of all, he is the incarnate resurrected son of God Appearing in his incarnate incarnate form Secondly, he's glorious. He's he's enthroned in a white cloud again you know, this is not what he looks like, it's what he is like. It's stunning. It's absolutely stunning. The word cloud is used for glory all over in the Bible.

You have the cloud in Egypt, you have the cloud in the temple, you have the cloud in the transfiguration, a cloud receives him in his ascension as we read in Acts chapter 1 verse 9 at the very beginning of our preaching session on Revelation. In Revelation 1, behold, he is coming with clouds. He rides on the clouds. And there's a great, the clouds really indicate an enthronement. Did you see the clouds last night behind the moon?

In front of the moon? It was so beautiful last night. I just stared at it. I couldn't get my eyes off the beauty of the clouds being illuminated last night by the moon. And I thought, there's the Lord, you know, figuratively in the clouds.

It was so beautiful. I think that's the picture. The cloud is white. Christ is pure and white. White is a symbol of purity and righteousness.

And the redeemed are dressed in white. The bride is dressed in white and he's sitting on a white cloud. This speaks of his purity. The third observation is that he's sitting. He's sitting.

Now this refers to his finished work. He sat down at the right hand of God and while the redeemed are dressed in their white robes, Christ is seated at the right hand of God and he's seated, he's calm. The earth seems to be raging but he's unfettered and settled governing all things in the world. Because the war is over and mankind has been set. The fourth observation is that He is the power, having on his head a golden crown.

Note there are no competitors. He's above all powers and principalities. The demons always knew he would win, but he has a crown. And then fifthly, he's ready to reap. He has a sharp sickle in his hand, it's a sharp sickle.

The sickle is gonna take everything. Ever worked with a dull tool, a dull cutting tool? It doesn't take everything. That is not this kind of tool. This is a sharp sickle that takes everything.

Nothing can resist him. So This begins with a picture of the harvester. And in the final judgment, the incarnate risen Lord Jesus Christ, pure, holy, stunningly beautiful. He is finishing his work of redemption in the final harvest. That's what we see here in him.

And then you see the harvest itself. Now, if you have an outline in front of you, you'll see verses 15 and 16 refer to the harvest of believers in the world. And that's where another angel comes in. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, Thrust in your sickle and reap for the time has come for you to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe and so he thrust his sickle to the earth and the earth was reaped. You know, no man knows the time, but here the time has come.

No one knows the day or the hour. Jesus said to his disciples, it is not for you to know times and seasons, that the Father is fixed by his own authority, but you shall be filled with the Holy Spirit. So, the harvest is ripe. The word that is used here is to make dry. It's different compared to the ripeness of the unbelievers.

The word here speaks of a dry grain harvest. The harvest is ready. When we get to the unbelievers, the word for ripe is for full grown and mature. So my understanding of this is that this refers to the wheat harvest, the harvest of believers, And the next harvest is obviously the harvest of the unbelievers. Isn't God a patient farmer?

Hasn't he waited? Did he wait a long time for you? Did he wait a long time for me? Years. He waited years before he finally turned my heart.

But God is a very kind harvester. He doesn't come too soon. He doesn't come too late. And he's patient. Behold your God.

Now this angel is announcing really the central matter of the kingdom of God. In Mark chapter 4 verse 26, it's really very interesting. You have all these comparisons in the Bible. The harvest in Mark four is compared to the kingdom of God. And so The context is the gospel seed is sown.

And then Jesus says the kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. That's the kingdom of God. The seed is scattered on the ground. You know, when the Word of God is preached or read or communicated, every Sunday morning the seed is scattered on the ground. That's what we're doing here.

We're scattering seed on the ground, hoping that there's soil that will take the seed. And you never know what kind of soil is out there. You may be throwing the seed out into good soil, but you might be throwing it out into bad soil. And then time passes, verse 27 in that chapter, and he should sleep by night and rise by day and the seed should sprout and grow. He himself does not know how.

In other words, he's talking about some receive the word with joy and they begin to grow and they sprout and they increase and Then some seeds yield crops verse 28 in Mark 4 for the earth yields crops by itself First the blade This is the picture of the growth of the Christian life. First the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head, but when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. That's like the Christian life. The Lord opens your heart, and you have the blade, the first growth, very tender, and then the head, stronger and stronger, and then the Lord takes you home. That's the picture of the Christian life.

Now Jesus told lots of parables about this, the wheat and the tares, you're familiar with that, the fish in the dragnet, You have the good fish and the bad fish. And who are the Wheat here? Those are the ones who believe. Those are the ones who build their whole lives around the Lord and his ways. If you haven't built your whole life around the Lord and his ways, you're probably not wheat.

It's those who delight in the Lord because they've been born again. Their affections have changed. They follow the Lord wherever he goes to borrow a statement from the previous section. They're led by the Spirit. They love the Lord.

They seek the Lord. They love his word. They go after the preaching. They love his church. They're passionate for the glory and the building after the local church.

That's who these people are. And They're known by their deeds, by their fruit. Now we're also told that the wheat and the tares grow together. You all have always have both kinds. And then The angel comes and says it's time to reap.

Now, who's doing the gathering? Notice there are two different gatherers in these two different sections. Jesus Christ personally reaps his own. But that's not who reaps the wicked. The angel reaps the wicked.

But Christ gathers himself to his people. The one who changed your heart will gather you up. The one who forgave your sins, he's the one who will gather you up. The one who comforted you, he's the one who will gather you, the one that taught you your whole life along. He's the one who will gather you, the one who carried you, the one who loved you.

He's the one who's coming for you and he has a sharp sickle and and he will leave none behind. But Christ is the one who takes in the harvest of his children whom he loves. Rest on that. Isn't that beautiful? And then we turn to the grape harvest, the second harvest, in verses 17 through 20.

Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, also having a sharp sickle. Got that? An angel comes out of the temple with a sharp sickle. Then in the next verse, and another angel came out of the altar who had the power over fire and he cries out to the other angel, the first angel, who had the sharp sickle. And he says, thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe." So, these are grapes.

Perhaps the imagery comes from Isaiah chapter five, where God does everything necessary to prepare for a wonderful vineyard. He appoints it beautifully. He lavishly creates this vineyard. But the only thing that come out are stinky grapes because they rejected all of his abundance. So it could be that imagery here.

But here's the moment. Here's the moment when the deconstructors will be deconstructed. You know, there's a big deconstruction movement about today where people are finally waking up and saying, I don't even want to be a Christian. They never were. Some of them had big ministries and now they're deconstructing.

This is the day of their deconstruction. Luke 317, John the Baptist prophesies the deconstruction. His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn. But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. Matthew chapter 13 speaks of the same thing.

He describes the kingdom like a man who sows seed for harvest, but but the wicked and the righteous live together. This is the wheat and the chaff. He says, let them both grow together until the harvest and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers first gather the tears and bind them in bundles and burn them and but gather the wheat into my barn You know, this is this is a time when wickedness will increase. The Bible makes it very clear. Again, we're talking about the end of the age.

We're talking about the second coming. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, 3 through 7, It's very clear that it'll be a time of falling away. Let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. In first Timothy four, one through three, we learn why so many will depart from the faith. We learn why it's because of deception.

Now the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. In 2nd Timothy 3, 1 through 5, we're told that there'll be perilous times because of the depravity. There'll be dangerous times because of the depravity. Depravity has so gripped the world that in the last days perilous times will come for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away, for of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins led away by various lusts always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

In 1st Peter 3 we're told that people will start to say that the promise of his coming is a lie, knowing this first that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts saying, where is the promise of his coming? It's a time like that. And God is dealing with the injustice of the devil in his own time. We live in a time of the public celebration of sodomy, the celebration of transgenderism in public libraries, the demand for stores to have transgender homosexual sections in their toy stores for kids. Lego has their now gender neutral toy initiative.

Just this week, DC Comics announced that Superman's son is gay while they're talking about truth and justice and they've eliminated the American way. The lies of the injustice. We see it everywhere. We see some of the most ridiculous things we've ever seen. You remember in the Olympics there's this 43 year old man pretending to be a woman calling himself a laurel, a transgender, weight lifter.

He was recognized as the sportswoman of the year this week by some publications. This is insane. This is what's happening around us. God is putting it into it. And he's finally going to rid creation of all the foolishness.

So who are these? These are the ones who are dull to the Lord, the ones who don't see progress in sanctification. They're the ones who go to church, but it doesn't move them. They go to sleep in church. They don't love the saints.

They find their pleasure in worldly entertainers, not in the Lord as much. They listen and they listen and they sit and they sit and they don't obey. That's who he's talking about here. And they're standing naked before God in this judgment. You know, I heard a sermon by Paul Washer a while back.

He preached this a long time ago. He says in the sermon that he often finds himself tempted while he's preaching to go into the crowd and shake the people who aren't listening, the slouching people with the slouching shoulders, that he just wants to go out and shake them, the ones who are passing notes, the ones who are nudging, the ones who are walking around, the ones who are talking, the ones who are jabbering, that he would just like to grab them by the neck as a great temptation. Maybe there's somebody like that today who's not listening, doesn't really care, they're just waiting, they're looking at the time, waiting for the fun stuff to start sometime later on today when you get clear of this place. Maybe that's possible, even today. And you're talking and laughing and nudging and walking around and passing notes.

Well that's this day of judgment is for you. I mean frankly and will the Will the frivolous excuses ever stop? Will you continue to come and slouch unconcerned? Will you continue to say there's still time? Will you continue to think that you'll start following Christ someday later because you still want to have so much fun?

That's just absolutely ridiculous. Will it end? Will you keep delaying? Will you be born again? Now this angel that came out had the power over fire because the angels are executing much of the judgment that's going on and he has a sharp sickle and he thrusts it to the earth and he threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God the great winepress It's great.

It's massive. And it's a wine press and it's a wine press for wrath. And there's a treading down of the grapes. That's stomping. The grapes are stomped.

They're stomped into oblivion until the blood of the grapes runs. The term treading in the Bible is to not just to stomp, but to stomp contentiously, to despise. Now, crushed, destroyed. And it's outside the city, the wine press was trampled outside the city and blood came out of the wine press up to the horses bridles for 1, 600 furlongs. So God will enact a stomping, a contemptuous stomping of the unbeliever.

And these are not a lot of nice people who just don't follow the Lord. And the blood is running like a river, 1600 furlongs, 184 miles long. The distance is the distance from the north to the south of Israel. Now you can expect that I would say the numbers in Revelation are symbolic. I think this number is symbolic.

It has to do with just how massive and complete it is. The numbers are symbolic in Revelation. The number three is symbolic, four is symbolic of the world. The number seven is symbolic, 12, 24, 144, 000 is symbolic. Now, the number here is four times four times 100.

It's the square of 40, and I think it refers to the whole the whole earth in Revelation. The global reach of the judgment and the blood is flowing. I don't think this is a battle of Armageddon, we'll get there later. So again, we'll get there later. So, are you ready?

Are you ready for the harvest? That's the question I think the Lord wants our church to grapple with. And what are the implications of that readiness in your life? And is it possible that it should change anything in my life or your life? You know, in Matthew 24, there's tremendous detail given to describe the day.

Matthew 24, But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, but my father only. But as in the days of Noah so will be the coming of the Son of Man be. For As in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of Man be? Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left.

Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect. Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in due season.

Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him at an hour that he is not aware of and will cut him in two and appoint him is a portion with the hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And then in the very next chapter we find this great separation of the sheep and the goats When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him He will sit on the throne of his glory All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats, and he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. And the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my father, Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in I Was naked and you closed me. I was sick and you visited me. I Was in prison and you came to me he's speaking about the Saints treatment of the Saints Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you?

Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, assuredly I say to you in as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me. Then he will also also say to those on his left hand, depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.

I was a stranger and you did not take me in. Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they will also answer him saying, Lord when did we see you hungry or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them saying, assuredly I say to you inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." So as we encounter these verses about the final harvest, this is a revelation of Jesus Christ and God for some reason means to shepherd our hearts as a church, as a local church here, by reminding us all of the final harvest that is coming that will replace all the other harvests that have gone before.

And so the apostle Paul told the church, therefore, comfort one another with these words. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it. Would you pray with me? Lord, you've laid before us such startling things. They are comforting and they're heartrending at the same time.

They're convicting. Lord we see we see how far we fall short in our love for you and our service toward you and yet we look to you. Lord I pray that you would drive all these things deep within our hearts so that we might know how to obey them today. Amen.