29. Harvest with a sharp sickle

From the sermon on November 6, 1988, Thanksgiving worship service

“I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one ‘like a son of man’ with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 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.’ So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested” (Rev. 14:14 -16).

Today is Thanksgiving Day, so I would like to talk about the

spiritual harvesting written above. John saw one ‘like a son of man’ on a white cloud. The son of man is Jesus Christ. David prophesied that when Jesus came to this world, he would identify himself as ‘the son of man’ (Ps. 8:4) and Jesus exactly followed David’s prophecy. So, ‘like a son of man’ implies that the person resembles Jesus Christ, but is not Jesus Christ himself.

Because the clouds were considered the mediator between the sky and the earth, the person like a son of man will play the role of mediator between God and humanity.

The one like a son of man had a sharp sickle in his hand. The angel who came out of the temple let him take his sickle and harvest the ripe grain, so there is a close relationship between the angel and the one with the sickle. The angel cannot do anything by himself and neither can the one who has the sickle. The angel must call the one to harvest the crop which is ripe.

The ‘one’ is not Jesus Christ. Then who is this ‘one’ working with the angel who comes from the temple? He wears a gold crown on his head. That tells us that the one is the Overcomer. The crown is given for his triumph.