Revelation Chapter 14 Verse 14

 In the Bible, pure white always speaks of purity. Clouds always speak of

deity. Gold always speaks of royalty. And crowns always speak of

authority and honor.

 John says that this One who sat on the cloud was like unto the Son of man.

The Son of man is the title that Jesus used most for Himself. (Most used

title is Lord, second is Christ, third is Son of Man) In fact, Jesus is referred

to as the “Son of Man” 82 times throughout the scriptures. And that title is

absolutely significant. While the title, “Son of God,” is an overt focus on

the deity of Jesus Christ, the title, “Son of Man,” is an overt focus on His

humanity.

 How do we know that. Well, the prophet Ezekiel was called the “son of

man” 93 times in that Book, which him having only that title was his

identification by God as simply being human. So, think of this way. When

Jesus is referred to as Son of God, think God. When Jesus is referred to as

Son of Man, think man. Jesus, uniquely in all of eternity, One of One,

was fully God and at the same time fully man. Absolutely significant.

Why?

 Because that means in His humanity, being born under the law, (a lean

placed in the perfection of God against imperfect humanity), was qualified

in His full humanity to for humanity fulfill the law, fulfill the lean.

 Just as Paul wrote in Romans 5:17-19, “For if by one man’s offense death

reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of

grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus

Christ. Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all

men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act

the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one

man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s

obedience many will be made righteous.”

 So Son of Man, Jesus’ full humanity to uniquely qualify Him to fulfill

the lean of the law brought upon all of us through sin; And Son of God,

Jesus’ full perfection and deity that didn’t qualify Him to stand in our

place, but rather equipped Him, capacitated Him, enabled Him to fulfil, as

a man, for all men, the perfect law of God.

 He lived miraculously (totally to be expected on behalf of God Himself)

He lived every day, moment, second of His life in His humanity in

complete and pure perfection. So, the title Son of Man is Jesus’ preferred

title in His revelation of Himself during His earthly ministry and rightfully

so. Because for all men, all women, all humanity, He has acquired the

victory over sin and death.

 That’s why we see Him here wearing a crown. This is not a king’s crown.

That is a completely other word in the Greek. This is the word

“stephanos,” as opposed to the word for the permanent crown of a king or

a queen, “diadem.” This is the crown that would be given to a victorious

competitor for their triumph!

 And in His hand, a sharp sickle. Why? Because He only, Jesus only is the

deciding factor of the eternal fate of all people, all persons, of all time.

Ultimately my eternal fate, and yours, will not hinge upon the goodness of

our hearts, how good of a person each one of us was or is in life… Define

good!? If you make me a pizza and use the best ingredients and just throw

in a dash of doggie doodoo…, would you eat around it?! HA! One

molecule of bad makes the pizza bad. That’s a gross example…

 How much HIV are you willing to take? A molecule? How much cancer

are you ok with? How much yeast does it take to spread and infect the

entire lot of dough…? Just the smallest speck…. 1 Corinthians 5:6, “A

little leaven/yeast, leaven’s the whole lump.” In a life full of only perfect

goodness, which none of us are even capable of for a second (as the entire

lump has been leavened), but lets just say, an entire life of only perfect

goodness, and one smallest of sins disqualifies us for the standard of

perfection that defines the ultimate word “good.” So it is not, cannot be

the goodness of any life that qualifies any person ever for entrance into

heaven…

 It is only by the free gift of grace through the receiving, the accepting, the

placing your faith in the provided provision, Jesus Christ, who being fully

qualified and equipped has stood in your place, in my place and satisfied

the righteous requirement, the lean upon humanity, for perfection. So,

Jesus is the great Divider, the great Slicer, the great Categorizer… Those

that are His, one side. Those that aren’t His…, the other side. And the

sickle slices.

 Jesus spoke of this in Luke 12:51, brace yourself, Jesus said, “Do you

suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but

rather division.” That wasn’t that He was the great war bringer, but that

He Himself would be the Divider, the Hinge upon which all men are either

saved or lost. Where do the saved go? Heaven. Whose is heaven? God’s.

So how do you get to God? Only through Jesus. John 14:6, “I am the way,

the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (to heaven) except

through Me.” Matt, you’re so narrow! BRUH, I’m just READING! Ha!

 So, Son of Man, fully qualified. Son of God, fully equipped. Pure white

cloud, full purity. Golden crown, fully victorious. Sharp sickle, ultimate

and only One upon which all creation is divided/categorized…

Revelation Chapter 14 Verses 15 – 16

 Several Bible commentators believe that at this point in the Great

Tribulation men’s hearts have grown so hard that rebellion is fully

launched against God, and all those that will take the mark and worship

the beast have, and so the Old Testament saints that died in faith, the New

Testament Saints that had been raptured prior to the Tribulation and now

the Tribulations Saints who have come to faith during the Great

Tribulation (not taken the mark)…, their number is complete and therefore

the earth is fully reaped…

 As we continue through this Book and finish it out, we won’t see talk of

more folks coming to faith. We’ll only see God’s final judgment of the

earth and then the New Heaven and the New Earth.

 And, this speaks to the final battle. The Battle of Armageddon.

Revelation Chapter 14 Verses 17 – 20

 Interestingly, before we go into what this is revealing to us

eschatologically, this passage of scripture was the inspiration for the Battle

Hymn of the Republic. That song goes, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of

the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes

of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible

swift sword. His truth is marching on!” A lesser known verse in that song

goes, “He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He

is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat; Oh, be swift, my

soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on!”

 That song, based on these verses, was written by Julia Ward Howe in 1861

to give the Union cause in the Civil War a powerful inspiration to fight for

freedom. To battle for the abolition of slavery. Howe was intensely anti-

slavery. The north had abolished slavery in stages beginning in 1777 in

Vermont and then all northern states following by 1804. The civil war,

almost fifty years later, was a battle for freedom with an anthem from

these verses.

 It’s really what’s going on here. The world being subject to slavery under

the reign of the Antichrist, the Dragon, and not only for the Tribulation

period but since the fall… Back in verse 15, the angel’s message coming

forth from the temple in Heaven was, “The harvest of the earth is ripe.”

That word in the Greek for ripe means overly ripe. To the point of dryness

and the crop is no longer viable…

 Notice, as we look at these verses, these are not good vines. The grapes

aren’t used to make anything but to be trampled down, not taken to the

table of God but rather to the winepress of the wrath of God. The

winepress that is outside the city, and then we transition from wine to

blood showing that these aren’t grapes at all but they are those that are on

the earth.

 Jesus spoke of this time in Matthew 13, verses 24-30. “Another parable

He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who

sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and

sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had

sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the

servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good

seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An

enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to

go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the

tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until

the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First

gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but

gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

 This is the battle of Armageddon. Zechariah 12, Isaiah 34, Isaiah 63, the

entire Book of Joel… This battlefield will stretch from Megiddo in the

North, to Edom in the South, a distance of sixteen hundred furlongs or

approximately 200 miles.

 The peoples of the earth will gather in great derision, thinking that they

can overthrow God. All the people, nations, kings, under the authority and

orders of the Beast and the False Prophet, enough to fill 200 miles worth

of army. Psalm 2:1-5 says, “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot

a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take

counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let

us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.” He

who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.

Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep

displeasure.”

 Anytime anyone anywhere gathers against the King of Kings, the only

option is defeat, and the end of wickedness, is always removal. Watch

how fast this happens. Revelation 19, verses 17 – 21. Then I saw an angel

standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds

that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper

of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains,

the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them,

and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great. And I saw

the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to

make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then

the beast was captured (THAT’s IT – NO FIGHT AT ALL – THE

EARTH IS JUST REAPED), and with him the false prophet who worked

signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark

of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive

into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with

the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse.

And all the birds were filled with their flesh.

 They are cast outside the city. The city they battle for. The city they’ve

prepared to defend as it were with their horses and their bridles…, the

city they will lose. The same goes for us. The same choice is before us.

God desires for you to be saved from all of this, and for that matter, from

all that sin has to you. Removal, battle and war losses, personal defeat.

And just like it the time of the end is the time of today. The only way to

save the city, our city, is to turn to Him. Because not only is God

undefeated, He is indeed undefeatable!