The Great Harvest

Has anybody been to a high school cross-country meet before?

It's a lot of fun.

What happens is you go and you're there to support a runner or a team of runners,

and they're running this 3.1-mile kind of course,

and what you do is you go to different points on the course,

and you get ahead of the runners, and you see them coming,

and you're like, you run, run, run, keep up, keep up, don't stop,

don't freak out, keep going, press on,

and then they run by you, and then you go to the next point,

and you see them coming, and you're like, don't stop, run, run, run,

persevere, endure, do it, do it, do it,

and then you run to the end where the final push is going on,

and that's usually the hardest point of the journey,

tribulation, things get intense,

and you say, keep going, don't stop, press on,

Sunday after Sunday, the book of Revelation is cheering us faithful saints on.

It's saying, keep going, stay focused on Jesus.

Even when things get hard, press on, don't give up, Sunday after Sunday.

Revelation is an ongoing encouragement for Christians who are suffering.

Keep going on, but the passage that we're looking at this morning,

Revelation 14, 14 through 20,

it's not only encouragement to suffering saints,

it's a wake-up call.

Bling, bling, bling.

Bling, bling.

Hello?

Good morning, this is Comfort in Sweets.

This is your 5.30 a.m. wake-up call, Mr. Salvati.

Thank you.

Click.

If you've ever received one of those wake-up calls before,

your next two questions are this.

Where am I?

And what am I doing here?

Revelation 14, 14 through 20,

is going to be a wake-up call for many of us

in which we need to ask the question,

where am I and what am I doing here?

You see, this passage that we're looking at this morning,

this passage is all about the return of Jesus Christ

and the great and final harvest of souls that He brings with Him.

It's an encouragement for those who are suffering,

and it's a wake-up call for those who have fallen asleep.

It's good news for everybody,

because we wouldn't want you to be asleep when Jesus comes,

now wouldn't we?

So here's how we're going to proceed.

We're going to ask four questions of this passage,

and we're going to then answer them.

Question number one,

who is this one coming on a cloud,

because that's quite a ride?

Question two,

what will happen when this one riding on a cloud gets here?

Question three,

what is God's wrath,

and why is it so awful,

and is it fair?

Question four,

how do we respond to this,

this vision of Jesus coming

and bringing with Him

full and final judgment of all?

Like I said,

for Christians suffering on account of Jesus,

the coming of Jesus,

and the coming harvest,

that's good news.

But if you've been lulled to sleep by the world,

this is a wake-up call,

and that's good news too.

So let's look at verse 14.

We're going to do a close-up.

Imagine the camera closing,

kind of bringing,

focusing in on verse 14 of chapter 14.

And we read this,

Then I looked,

and behold,

a white cloud,

and seated on the cloud,

one like a son of man,

with a golden crown on his head,

and a sharp sickle in his hand.

Who is this one coming on a cloud?

One like a son of man.

And when you read,

one like a son of man,

don't think comparison,

like,

like,

think title.

Son of man.

It's a title.

It's a messianic title.

It's Christ's title.

It's the title of a king.

It was Jesus' favorite title of himself

all throughout the days he walked on earth

and all throughout the Gospels.

Remember this,

Mark 10, 45?

Talking of himself.

The son of man

came not to be served,

but to serve,

and to give his life

as a ransom for many.

He came to give his life

as an offering

to fully satisfy God's wrath for sinners.

Behind this title,

son of man,

is Daniel chapter 7,

Daniel 7:13–14

verses 13 through 14.

And here's what's going on in that passage.

One like a son of man

goes to the ancient of days on a cloud.

And the ancient of days

then gives this one,

like a son of man,

all authority

over all peoples,

all nations,

all languages,

an everlasting dominion

to create a kingdom

that will never be destroyed.

The son of man

is a title of a king.

God's king.

And what we see here

is the king

coming back to earth.

And did you notice

he's wearing a gold crown?

That's no ordinary crown.

That's the crown of a victor.

If your name is Stephen,

you're named after this crown.

It's a victor's crown.

What it means is

this king coming on this cloud

is victorious.

And we already learn

from chapter 12

that he's conquered

through his death and resurrection.

He threw down

the ancient devil,

the serpent of old,

the dragon.

And now he's coming back

to complete what he started.

And did you notice his ride?

He's coming on a cloud.

Again, it's a reference

to Daniel chapter 7.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

If you started,

if we read through

the book of Revelation

in one sitting,

if we read it here

this morning,

we would have started

in Revelation 1

and in verse 7,

John says about Jesus,

he is one

who is coming

on the clouds.

And so,

if we were to read

what we're reading now

in light of 1.7,

we'd be like,

oh,

that's the guy.

Jesus.

Acts chapter 1,

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Jesus,

after his death,

after his resurrection,

after he does

his great commission,

he tells his disciples

that they're going to be

his witnesses to Judea

in Jerusalem,

Judea,

Samaria,

and to the ends

of the age.

After he gets done

doing that,

he ascends into heaven

on a cloud.

His disciples are like,

what?

Two angels show up

and they say in 1.11,

men of Galilee,

why do you stand

looking into heaven?

This Jesus

who was taken up

from you into heaven

will come in the same way

you saw him go into heaven

on a cloud

coming back.

The king.

Let's put this in perspective.

Let's just say

you're throwing

a final four party

at your house.

People start coming.

They're showing up

in their rides.

Subaru pulls up,

hey, come on in.

Ford, yeah, hey, buddy,

come on in.

Toyota, nice car,

come on in.

And then someone

shows up on a cloud.

They drop in on a cloud.

You're going to be thinking,

you're not from around here,

are you?

Jesus is set apart.

He's riding on a cloud.

He's coming from heaven.

We're getting a close up.

John's giving us

a close up

of the returning Christ.

And did you notice

he's seated?

It's the position

of a judge.

Judges at this time,

even today,

they do their judging

in a seated position.

And did you notice

the sickle in his hand?

It's a curved,

crescent-shaped blade

attached to a handle

that's used for harvesting.

thing.

The victorious king

who's going to judge

riding on this ride

is coming back

to harvest.

It's a picture of judgment.

So in Revelation 14, 14,

we are given this close up

of the returning king,

Jesus,

ready to harvest

the earth.

But let's pan out

for a second

because you've got

to see something.

Remember in Revelation 4,

14, 1 through 5

last week,

I pointed out

that in this section,

we see

the 144,000,

those with the name

of the lamb

on their foreheads

gathered around the lamb,

they're worshiping him.

We have a picture

of the redeemed

worshiping the lamb.

Now if you flip over

to chapter 15,

verses 2 through 4,

what you see is

people mingled around

worshiping with harps,

God,

and they're singing

the song of Moses

and the song of the lamb.

So on either side

of this passage,

Jesus,

the son of man coming,

you have

the redeemed singing

of the lamb.

Now if you move

in one step

in verses,

chapter 14,

verses 6 through 11,

you have three angels

announcing judgment.

If you look at

chapter 14,

15 through 20,

you have three angels

enacting judgment.

So what you have is this,

you have the redeemed

singing the praises

of the lamb,

and then you have

three angels,

six angels,

announcing,

declaring,

enacting judgment.

And in the middle

of them

is the son of man.

It draws your gaze

to him.

Have you ever been

on 75th street

and you're driving

by the Goodwill

building by Hillcrest?

Do you know

what I'm talking about?

And you're driving

by and you're looking,

what is up with

that wonky roof

on there?

It's like this

inverted roof.

And so the eaves

of the roof,

the roof line,

it draws your attention

to the center,

which brings your eye

down to that column,

which is the entrance

of the building.

The structure of that

draws your attention

to the entrance

of Goodwill.

The structure of this passage

draws your attention

to the son of man

coming,

who's going to judge all

and he's in the middle

of those being judged

and those who are

singing his praises.

He's coming.

He's coming.

And he's bringing

judgment with him.

But I gotta bring you

out one more.

Let's pan out one more.

Because there's a reason

why God through John

is reminding us

that Jesus is coming

as the returning king

to judge everyone.

Remember chapter 12

and 13?

The anti-trinity,

the dragon,

thrown down,

ticked off,

declares war

and wages war

on the saints

in chapter 13

through the beast

and the false prophet,

power,

propaganda,

seeking to mislead

the nations

and to cause conflict

and hardship

for God's saints.

Do you remember that?

And then here,

well let me,

chapter 13 verse 14,

we have those

following the beast,

they're singing his praises,

they're boasting in him,

they're saying,

who is like the beast?

Who can fight against him?

Chapter 14 answers that.

Who is like the beast?

The son of man?

Coming on a ride

of a cloud?

He's not on earth,

he's coming from heaven?

And when he comes,

he's bringing judgment?

The first time

the son of man came,

he threw the dragon down

through his death

and resurrection.

The second time

the son of man comes,

he's going to throw

the dragon

into the lake of fire?

He's going to throw

the dragon

if you read chapter 12

and 13

and you start getting scared,

chapter 14 is like,

hey,

he's coming.

Your king is coming.

The hero

of all time

is coming.

And he's going to make

all wrongs

right.

So if you are

reading this

in the first century

and you're feeling

the pinch

of publicly identifying

yourself with Jesus,

you're catching heat

for it,

this is a well-timed vision

to put courage

in your heart.

He's coming

and when he comes,

he will vindicate you

in his judgment.

But it's also

a bit of a wake-up call

because many of us

can get lulled

into the sleep

of thinking

that there's

no judgment coming,

that it's just

one day

after the other

of comfort

and pleasure,

nothing to worry about.

He's coming.

Bling, bling, bling.

It's a wake-up call.

What will happen

when he comes?

Jesus is coming.

What will happen

when he comes?

We find that

in verses 15 through 20.

And what we see here

is that the entire

population of the earth

that is on this planet,

when Jesus comes back,

they will be harvested

with two separate harvests,

with two different reapers,

two different crops,

two different destinations.

Christians.

Now, not all

Christian scholars

agree on the nature

of these harvests.

Some Christians think

that this is just

one harvest,

a judgment

of putting people

into the winepress

of God's wrath.

Others, like myself,

believe there's

two different harvests

going on,

and I'm going to make

that case for you

right now.

In verses 15 and 16,

we see the first harvest.

In verses 17 through 20,

we see the second harvest.

I want to help you

see the difference

in terms of the reaper,

the crop,

and the destination.

In verses,

in verse 15,

you can't help but see,

verse 16, excuse me,

that the reaper

is the son of man.

Jesus.

There's this angel

that tells him

to put in his sickle

to reap,

for the hour to reap

has come.

So he,

the son of man

who sat on the cloud,

swung his sickle

across the earth,

and the earth

was reaped.

Now, if you look

at verse 17,

then another angel

came out of the temple

in heaven,

and he too had

a sharp sickle.

Verse 18,

another angel

comes out and tells him

to put in your sickle.

Verse 19,

so the angel

swung his sickle

across the earth

and gathered

the grape harvest.

We've got two different

reapers,

two different harvests.

We've got two

different crops.

Did you notice

in verse 15,

we read this,

the angel telling

the son of man,

put in your sickle

and reap,

for the hour to reap

has come,

for the harvest

of the earth

is fully ripe.

You see those words

fully ripe?

The Greek word

underneath that

literally means

to ripen

until dry

in the ear.

Speaking of a grain

harvest,

of wheat.

And if you flip

down to chapter 18,

we read this angel

from the altar

is telling this other

angel with the sickle,

put in your sickle

and gather the clusters

from the vine of the earth,

for its grapes

are ripe.

That Greek word

for ripe

actually occurs

only here in the New Testament

and what it means

is to come

to its full prime.

Let's like plump

and ripe.

It's the very opposite

of being dried

in the ear.

Two different crops.

We've got grain,

we've got grapes.

The grain represents

those who belong

to the lamb.

the grapes represents

those who have

spurned the lamb.

Destination.

In verses 15 and 16,

you don't read anything

about where this

grain harvest goes.

But it's already

been referenced.

Look at 1414.

those who are singing

around the lamb,

they are the

first fruits

of God

and the lamb.

They are the initial

harvest

of God,

of the lamb.

They are the ones

in heaven

singing to the lamb.

The second harvest,

we read of their destination.

So the angel

swung his sickle

across the earth

and gathered

the grape harvest

of the earth

and threw it

into the great

winepress

of the wrath

of God.

And the winepress

was trodden

outside the city

and blood flowed

with the winepress

as high as

a horse's bridle.

That's what goes

around a horse's head.

Five,

six feet

for a 1600 stadia.

that's 184 miles.

Lake Michigan

is about

118 miles wide.

Gives you a sense

of volume.

The final destination

for those

of the grape harvest

is the winepress

of the wrath

of God.

What will happen

when the Son of Man

comes?

He's going

to harvest

the earth.

He is going

to sweep

His sickle

across the earth

and gather

unto Himself

all those

who've called

upon His name.

All those

written in the

Lamb's book of life

before the foundation

of the world.

All those

who've endured

to the very end

for the glory

of His name.

That's who

He's reaping.

They're the ones

that are singing

around the throne

of the Lamb.

The Lamb

and the second

harvest

the harvest

of grapes

are all those

who opposed

the Lamb.

All those

who follow

after the beast.

All those

who are giving

allegiance to

something

anything but

the Lamb.

Even themselves.

Two harvests

two judgments

two reapers

two crops

two destinations.

what will happen

when the Son

of Man comes?

The earth

will be judged.

When you

start seeing

God's wrath

show up

what does that

do to you?

I'm going to

come back to that

in a second.

but let me

just make

two points

in application

of this

harvest.

Jesus

coming

and harvesting

His own

is good news

for suffering

saints.

It's good news

because

A.

it tells you

Jesus

is coming.

Second

He knows

His own.

He's coming

for us.

And what

this also

does for us

it helps

us to remember

that vengeance

belongs

to the

Lord.

He will

carry out

His justice

on His

time.

We can

trust Him

for that.

If you're

catching hate

for being a

follower of

Jesus and

you want

to fight

back

and trust

it to the

Lord.

He's coming.

He's coming

for His

saints.

It's good news

for suffering

saints

and it's a

wake up call

for those

who are

maybe adrift

maybe asleep

you're hitting

the snooze

button

you don't

really care

about Jesus

you may

profess

Jesus

but what

you're

practicing

is opposed

to Jesus

this is

your wake

up call.

Judgment

is coming.

this corresponds

with Jesus

teaching in

Matthew 13

of the

parable of

the wheat

in the weeds.

He explains

that parable

in verses

36 and

forward and

what he says

is at the

end of the

age there

will be a

great harvest

that separates

the sons of

the kingdom

from the

sons of

the evil

one and

that is

exactly what

we're seeing

here in

chapter 14.

the sons of

the kingdom

are the

grain harvest

and the

sons of

the evil

one are

the grape

harvest.

It really

does beg the

question

if Jesus

were to come

back this

afternoon

what harvest

would you be

gathered in?

Would you be

gathered in the

grain harvest

or would you

be gathered in

the grape

harvest?

The difference

is Jesus.

Do you

belong to

him?

Has his

blood covered

you and

satisfied God's

wrath?

Have you

decided to

follow Jesus?

If you

have grain

harvest, if

you haven't

grape harvest,

you're destined

for the wine

press of God's

wrath.

But I have

some good news

for you.

God's

wrath.

But in

order to get

there, I

got to answer

a really

difficult

question.

What is

God's wrath?

And why is

it so awful?

Why does it

not seem

fair?

Why would

God send

and punish

with everlasting

torment an

image bearer

of his?

Why would

he do

that?

That doesn't

sound loving,

does it?

When you

think about

the wrath of

God, when you

hear about

people having

to drink down

to the dregs of

the wrath of

God's wine,

when you hear

about the

fire in the

sulfur that

will torment

people for

everlasting

days without

remission,

when you

hear the

winepress of

God's wrath,

where do

you go?

Where do

you go?

J.I.

Packer in

his book

Knowing God,

chapter 15,

the wrath

of God.

He defines

God's wrath

as this.

His,

God's right

and necessary

reaction to

objective moral

evil.

God's right

and necessary

reaction to

objective moral

evil, and

objective moral

evil would

include idolatry,

living for

anything but

God.

God's wrath

is a

judicial

response

to evil,

because God

is a just

God.

His wrath

is an

outworking

of his

justice,

and God's

justice

is an

outworking

of his

moral

goodness.

God is

good in

all that

he does.

His ways

are good

and righteous

always.

So when you

walk in his

ways, you

experience his

goodness.

But when you

cross God,

you cross

his goodness,

you cross

his justice,

you provoke

his wrath.

And so in

order for God

to remain

morally good,

he must,

as an

exercise of

justice,

pour out

his wrath.

God

for God

not to

do that,

he would

cease to

be God.

We can't

make the

mistake of

our culture.

I'm convinced

this is

propaganda of

the false

prophet.

To think

that you can

pick and

choose the

attributes of

God that

you want

to fit

your lifestyle.

God says,

no,

I am

holy,

I am

just,

I am

good,

and I

am watching

all that

you are

doing.

The image

of a

wine press

is of

this

stoned

in pit

that has

channels

dug out

in the

bottom of

it.

And so

after a

grape harvest,

you put the

clusters of

grapes into

this stone

lined vat,

and then

you have

people trod

the grapes.

Their weight

pressing down

on the grapes

squeezes out

the juice.

The juice

falls to the

bottom of

the wine

press and

then travels

through those

little channels

out to the

bottom of

the wine

press where

there is

some kind

of hole

or spout,

and it

fills a

bucket,

wine skins,

and from

there you

make wine.

It's a

violent

picture.

And the

reason why

it's used

is because

the juice

that's

produced

looks a

lot like

blood.

It is

violent and

it is

gruesome.

And if

that weren't

enough,

if you read

ahead in

your Bible

to Revelation

19.15,

what you

read is

that the

returning

Christ is

the very

one who

is trotting

on the

fury of

the wrath

of the

wine

press of

God.

Jesus is

the executor

of God's

wrath.

what's

up with

this?

Does the

punishment

fit the

crime?

Why is

this so

awful?

Why is

it so

extreme?

Well,

instead of

trying to

say,

well,

there's

something

wrong with

the

understanding

of God,

how about

we take

this line?

There's

something

wrong with

our

understanding

of our

sin.

We

fail to

recognize

the

seriousness

of our

offense

against

God.

And as

we gather

the

seriousness

of our

sin

against

a

perfect,

matchless,

priceless

God,

God,

we're going

to begin

to understand

that this

punishment

fits the

crime of

rejecting

him.

This past

week,

Jenny and I

brought our

younger son,

Mark,

to New York

City.

And we did

it as a way

to honor

Mark's

grandparents,

who would have

took him,

but they

died.

And so we

brought him

in to honor

them.

We flew

in on

Monday,

and on

that first

day,

we made

a beeline

to the

Museum of

Modern Art.

And we

cruised up

to level

five,

and on

level five

are all

these

different

masterpieces.

This,

on level

five,

is where

Van Gogh's

Starry Night

is.

Beautiful.

But that's

not,

that's not

the work of

art that

stole the

show from

me.

The work

of art

that stole

the show,

you can put

it up there,

was this

piece.

This is

a Monet,

water

lilies.

And if

you've been

to Chicago

and seen

the water

lilies in

Chicago,

Monet's

work,

there's

these little

paintings.

And what

this is,

is this

panoramic,

there are

these like

three,

four by

eight drywall

sized panels

that are put

end to end

together,

and so you

stand in front

of it,

and it is

overwhelming.

It's

beautiful.

Monet's

use of

color is

lovely.

Recently,

there was a

Monet sold

in 2016,

it was a

fraction of

the size

of this

for 81

million dollars.

So I'm

guessing that

this Monet

on level

five of

the Museum

of Modern

Art in

New York

City is

going for

200,

250

million dollars,

a quarter

of a billion

dollars.

Unique,

one-of-a-kind,

unmatched

worth.

Could you

imagine this?

Yours truly.

I sneak a

hot dog from

a street

vendor into

the Museum

of Modern

Art.

I'm walking

on level

five.

I stand

in front

of this

Monet,

and I'm

like,

yeah,

this is

pretty cool.

I'm a

little hungry

though.

Pull out

my hot dog,

pull out

my ketchup

packet,

and start

to try to

open my

ketchup

packet.

It's

not opening.

So I

put my

hot dog in

my armpit

to keep

it warm,

and then

I start

working the

ketchup packet

to see if I

can open it,

and I realize

the only way

that this is

going to

open,

if I squeeze

the bottom

real hard.

I squeeze

the bottom

real hard

while I'm

standing in

front of

the Monet,

and what

happens?

Ketchup

all over

the Monet!

Could you

imagine that?

I can

imagine that!

The gallery

goes aghast.

Woo!

Woo!

I pull

out,

I got it

with me,

I pull

out my

cheapo

vendor

napkin,

and I'm

like,

it's just

ketchup!

It's no

big deal!

And I

just make

it worse,

don't I?

The museum

curator runs

out,

what are

you doing?

It's just

ketchup!

It's a

five-cent

ketchup

pack!

And

she says,

you have

no idea.

You have

no idea

what you've

done to

that Monet.

That's a

quarter of

a billion

dollars,

and you

defaced it

with your

five-cent

ketchup

pack!

God is

so much

more valuable

than a

Monet that

was worth

a quarter

of a billion

dollars.

God is

one of a

kind,

matchless

in his

value,

unsurpassed

sin is

worth,

priceless

in his

manifold

attributes

of

perfection

and

holiness.

And what

we do

is we

pop our

little

ketchup

packets

of sin

and deface

and defame

his

character.

And we

say,

it's just

ketchup!

It's just

a little

sin!

Having

no idea

of the

matchless

worth

and glory

of the

one

true

God.

And in

his

economy

of

things,

just

one

little

sin

packet

is

eternally

treasonous

in his

sight.

That's how

glorious

he is.

we fail

to recognize

the

seriousness

of our

offense

to God.

But when

we start

to recognize

and we

start to

understand

God's

glorious

unmatched

worth,

all of

who he

is in

his

holiness,

his

perfections,

his moral

glory,

he does

nothing wrong.

He's always

right,

always

just.

When we

start to

recognize

that and

then we

start to

see our

sin in

light of

that,

now you're

starting to

feel the

weight of

sin from

God's

perspective.

When we

sin against

God,

it is

always

a capital

offense.

For the

wages of

sin is

death.

When we

sin against

a holy

eternal

God,

there is

always a

holy

eternal

consequence

for that

sin.

If you

are

unwilling

to

forsake

your

sin

to

follow

Jesus,

you

are

forsaking

Jesus

in order

to follow

after your

sin.

Did you

follow that?

If you're

unwilling to

forsake your

sin to

follow Jesus,

you are

forsaking

Jesus to

follow after

your sin.

You are

saying,

my sin

is worth

more to

me than

your glory,

Lord Jesus.

slap.

It's an

offense.

sacrifice.

And one

of the

things that

you become

clear of

as you

work your

way to

the book

of

Revelation

is that

as God

discloses

his wrath

and he

does that

gradually,

incrementally,

starting with

the seals

and one

quarter of

the earth,

then the

trumpets

and into

one third

of the

earth,

and then

eventually

the bulls,

which will

hit in a

couple weeks,

all the

earth,

he pours

his wrath

out on.

Every time

he pours

his wrath

out,

you think

people are

going to

repent,

but they

don't.

You see

it in

Revelation

Revelation 9:20–21

9,

verses 20

through 21,

the six

trumpets,

the people

will not

repent.

The fourth

bull,

16,

9,

scorching

with heat,

the people

curse God,

and do

not repent.

The fifth

bull,

16,

10,

11,

it's

poured out,

the people

curse God

and do

not repent.

The seventh

bull,

poured out,

thrown down,

the people

don't like it

and they

reject God,

they do not

repent.

According to the

book of Revelation,

everyone who

will be thrown

into the wine

press of God's

wrath and

crushed by the

very feet of

Christ,

they themselves

refuse to

repent of

their sin and

give God his

due glory and

it's eternally

treasonous.

The punishment

fits the crime.

The wine

press of God's

wrath is due

punishment for

rejecting God

as one's

Lord and

Savior.

These are hard

truths,

aren't they?

Well,

let's just

bring it home

this way.

if you're a

Christian in

the room,

we too

once

were under

the wrath

of God.

We were

under this

wrath,

fully exposed

and then

we were

given eyes

to see

what the

Lord Jesus

came and

did on our

behalf on

the cross

on that

first Friday.

As the

clouds gathered

and it

got dark,

God poured

out his

wrath on

the Son

of Man in

order to

ransom many

so that we

would not

have to

bear this

wrath

ourselves.

What is

this wrath?

It's God's

judicial response

to moral

evil.

Why is it

so awful?

It's because

it's against

an eternal

just God.

You may not

like to

stomach it,

but it's

right.

It's true.

Now,

what do we

do in

response?

how do you

respond to

this vision

of the

Lord Jesus

coming,

the Son of

Man,

and he is

going to

harvest for

himself his

own,

and then

those who

have rejected

him are

thrown into

the wine

press of

God's

wrath.

How do

you respond

to this?

Well,

first is

this.

You've got to

realize that

we're actually

one day

closer to

his coming,

one day

closer to

the great

and final

harvest.

And so,

if you are

seeking to be

faithful to

Jesus,

you press

on.

Keep going.

Don't stop.

Don't compromise.

Stay true.

Follow after

his ways.

Keep bearing

testimony to

him.

Rejoice.

Jesus,

give glory

to the

lamb for

what he's

done on

your behalf.

He's

borne the

wrath of

God for

you.

You're

part of

his grain

harvest,

and so

your words

should echo

the words

of Revelation

2220,

come Lord

Jesus,

come.

But if

you're not

pressing on,

if you're

more like

snoozing,

this is

your wake

up call.

It's time

to repent.

It's time

to turn

from living

for things

that are not

worthy of

your life

or worthy

of the

lamb.

If you're

unwilling to

forsake your

sin to