Revelation 14:12-20

Verse 12 “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

Now we are told that here....finally.... at this moment in time..... this is where the patience of the saints will pay off and be rewarded. They have had to endure much (those that are still alive) to get to this point. Note that these saints are described somewhat differently from the saints who first appeared on the sea of glass earlier. That group washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb to make them white and came out of the tribulation. This group is a group of which it is said that they keep the commandments of God along with having faith in Christ. That is not to say that Christians do not keep the commandments, but Gentile Christians tend to stay away from the Old Testament, having their faith and lives revolve pretty much solely around the New Testament. Many feel the Old Testament is irrelevant, as they believe the Law is passe since we are under grace. Today's Christians for the most part do break one of the commandments continually. They do not keep the Sabbath as defined by God. I have discussed that the ten commandments do not precisely specify the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath, it only specifies it as being one day out of seven, and we have no way of really knowing which day of the week is actually the seventh day from the time of creation. That said, it still is true that Sunday is not the Sabbath according to Judaism or Christ. He expected the Sabbath, as kept by the Jews, to still be kept when He returned. I still believe that keeping the spirit of the commandment is more important than which day of the week you are able to observe (some jobs such as doctors, police, etc. require work every day of the week thereby giving days off on various days of the week), but Christians do not even keep the spirit of that commandment. They seem to be as busy on that day as any other. Multiple services, meetings, and rehearsals seem to be the norm for most churches. Nobody actually rests on that day. If you ask a Christian about the Ten Commandments, they will refer to the verse where Christ condenses the entire ten to two - love God, and love your neighbor, thereby skirting the issue. It seems that it is felt that those two do not include the commandment about the Sabbath, but that is not true. The Sabbath fits in with the loving God half of the two. They tend to dismiss that commandment as no longer being valid. Even though the Bible does not teach that Christ's resurrection did away with that commandment, that is how Christianity has rewritten it. That, however, is not how God feels about it. Christ said that if we love Him we would keep all of His commandments.

Getting back to the point, to this group of saints, the commandments of God are important. This would seem to indicate that this group comprises people who are either Messianic Jews or what I like to call Judaic Christians. That is Christians who have embraced both Old and New Testament teachings as was originally intended. (Yes, it was originally intended that had the Jews accepted Christ, the temple sacrifices and Judaism would have continued as the religion. Once more for emphasis, Judaism and sacrifices will be re-instituted during the millennium. Christianity as we practice it today will cease to exist. And again, no, that does not undo Christ‘s sacrifice on the cross.) The vast majority of Gentile Christians will have perished during the tribulation. They are mostly all gone by this time. What will be left are the Philadelphian Christians and Jews.

I realize how it may be perceived as to what all of this is implying. I am not advocating that Christians abandon the teachings of the New Testament and revert to Judaism as a means of salvation. That is absurd and strictly warned against by Paul. The laws do not save us. Plus, many rules have been lifted from our shoulders (such as what we can eat). And we are not actually talking about all of the laws here, we are talking the Ten Commandments. What I am saying is that we need to understand our Judaic roots and even possibly consider embracing certain parts of Judaism, such as celebrating the Scriptural holy days that God gave to His people. After all, the fall festivals are about Christ’s Second Coming. We only celebrate pagan holy days that have been sanitized for Christian consumption. (Sunday, Easter, and Christmas are all derived from pagan holy days.) I do not think God really appreciates that. (Yes, I am guilty of celebrating Christmas. I am also beginning to embrace Old Testament holy days, though. It is a work in progress.) The point is, this group is as concerned about God's commandments, holy days, etc. as they are about salvation by faith.

Verse 13 “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”

Again, from a superficial reading, one would think that this is speaking of the time of tribulation, as people die in the Lord during that time, whereas if we are at the end, why would any more be looking forward to dying? Well, if remembered, all Israel will be saved, but much of that occurs when they see Him whom they have pierced. (Zech. 12:10.) As that occurs at the time of the Second Coming and rapture, they will miss the rapture and have to go through God’s wrath. Many may not survive it, but they will be saved and will die in the Lord. Also there are Gentiles who have not taken the mark, and they may turn to the Lord also, yet die during God's wrath since "the rain falls on the just and unjust alike." Given that there are people from every nation going into the millennium, this would seem to be the case.

Verse 14-16 “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto 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 that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.”

Clearly this is a picture of the Second Coming and rapture. Christ (the Son of man) appearing in the clouds with His kingly crown (He has only been crowned after the 1260 days) on His head and a sickle in His hand reaps (harvests the wheat) the believers. Could there be a more clear description of the rapture? This is exactly how the parable describes it, letting the wheat and tares grow together until the harvest, then gathering the wheat followed by throwing the tares into the fire. Here is where the patience of the saints is rewarded. They have endured to the end and are finally getting out of it all. We have been told that he who endures to the end will be saved. This is the end. The last trump has sounded (chapter 11 at the end of the 1260 days, just before these events in chapter 14 unfold) announcing the bowl judgments. We are raptured at the last trump, just before God's wrath, as we are not appointed unto wrath. Here is the first reaping, the rapture. If there is any doubt of that, can it be anything else? There are not two raptures and this is clearly a reaping of God's saints. It is not a reaping of those alive that will go into the millennium. There is no Scripture that I have found that would indicate that a reaping of that sort takes place. The harvest and reaping always refers to God's saints being removed before His wrath, not the unsaved that will go into the millennium being gathered to a place of safety. The next group is being harvested to be thrown into God's wrath. If God's wrath had already been going on through the seals and trumpets, (pre-trib doctrine) it would be a little late to gather up the first group to protect them, and a little late to gather up the second group to throw them into it. Clearly God's wrath is just now going to fall. Now the second reaping is about to occur, but it is not one in which you would want to participate.

Verse 17-20 “And 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, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.”

After Christ raptures His people, an angel comes out. This angel has power over fire. Since God's wrath is about to fall it seems appropriate that he is the one who tells a second angel to reap the rest (the tares) of the world. The world is going to be purged by fire. A lot of that has already occurred, but there is more to come. The tares get thrown into the winepress of God‘s wrath. An important fall crop that corresponds to the fall festivals and Christ’s Second Coming is the grape harvest. This imagery is found in the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” when the lyrics say, “He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.” In particular this says that it is trodden outside of the city, meaning Jerusalem, and that the blood comes out of the winepress as high as a horse’s bridle.

Beginning with the reference to Jerusalem, this trampling may be looking forward at what is about to occur at Armageddon. When it says that the blood will be as high as a horse’s bridle, that does not necessarily mean that the blood will flow like a river that high. That is probably more blood than even Armageddon could supply. It more likely uses the imagery of what happens to grapes when they are pressed in a winepress. The juice shoots up as the grapes are stomped. In this case, the blood is shooting out of bodies all over to the height of a horse. This would make more sense. It would present a picture of fountains of blood spurting all over and be closer to the metaphor of pressing grapes in a winepress. A thousand and six hundred furlongs is distance of about 184 miles. That is the approximate length of Israel. There is going to be a bloodbath in Israel at the end.