The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

Commenting on the words, "For the harvest of the earth is ripe," Mr. Barnes says that it is
"the 'harvest' in reference to the righteous--the fruit of the good seed sown by the Savior
and His Apostles and ministers. The time alluded to here is the end of the world [Age],
when the affairs of earth [for this Age] shall be about to be wound up. The design is to
state that the Redeemer will then gather in a great and glorious harvest, and by this
assurance to sustain the hearts of His people in times of trial and persecution." Regarding
the meaning of the expression, "And the earth was reaped," he says:
"So far as the righteous were concerned. The end had come; the Church was redeemed; the
work contemplated was accomplished; and the results of the work of the Savior were like
a glorious harvest."
The words of another expositor, writing in 1846, are very interesting, and assist in the
elucidation of this vision:
"They who are harvested by Him are also human beings on the earth, and living therefore
and mortal, and are doubtless the saints. . . . As crops are harvested for the purpose of
preservation and appropriation to the uses for which they are raised; so the reaping of the
subjects of this harvest denotes their being gathered for preservation and appropriation to
the ends for which they are sanctified. . . .
"This beautiful symbol thus foreshows that ere the final destruction of the vassals of
Antichrist, the living saints are to be gathered together for preservation."
Replying to some expositors who regard the reaping of this vision as symbolizing a
punishment and destruction of men by judgments, this expositor in the words which
follow refutes such an interpretation:
"There is nothing in a harvest or vintage which necessarily implies that when used as
symbols, those who are the subjects of them are to be destroyed. They are not necessarily
processes of destruction, nor in order to the destruction of what would otherwise continue
to subsist unchanged; but rather of collection and preservation in order to appropriation to
some subsequent use. Whether, therefore, they are used as symbols of a gathering for
destruction or not is to be determined not by themselves, but by adventitious terms and
representations connected with them. Thus, the vintage [in the vision which follows, Rev.
14:17-20] is shown to be in order to destruction, by the representation that the clusters are
thrown into the great winepress of God's wrath. But as no such representation is made in
respect to the harvest [the vision under consideration], there is no ground in the symbol
itself for the ascription to it of such a meaning. Instead, that omission implies that the end
for which the subjects of the harvest are gathered, is different from that for which those
who are symbolized by the grapes are reaped; and that they are saints of God, therefore;
and this is corroborated by Christ's representation that He is to send forth His messengers
to gather together His Elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the
other."
Mr. Russell has thus referred to this vision: