The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

"The truth then due was the sickle, and it separated the 'Israelites indeed' from the
nominal Jewish Church; and of the true wheat there was but a fragment compared to the
professors. So also is the harvest of this Age. The harvest of the Gospel Age, like that of the
Jewish Age, is under the supervision of the Chief Reaper, our Lord Jesus, who must then
be present. (Rev. 14:14.) The first work of our Lord in the harvest of this Age will be to
separate the true from the false. The nominal Church, because of her mixed condition, the
Lord calls 'Babylon'--confusion; and the harvest is the time for separating the different
classes in the nominal Church, and for ripening and perfecting the wheat class."
"The recognition of the harvest work in actual process is proof of the Lord's presence, since
He declared that He would be the Chief Reaper and Director of the entire work, and that
this would be His first work--'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 He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.'--
'In the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, gather,' etc."
In another instance in commenting on the title "Son of Man" as applied to Christ, he says:
"Our Lord identified Himself with this description in His Revelation (14:14), where He
represents Himself as one 'like unto the Son of Man, and having on His head a golden
crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle'--the Reaper of the Harvest of the Gospel Age."
"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."--Rev. 14:15.
Some expositors have noted what to them seems a difficulty in interpreting these words,
namely that this angel seems to be giving instruction to the one seated on the white cloud
that the time had come to reap, and issuing a command to the same, to begin the work.
The difficulty in brief is, How could any one give instruction to Christ as to the time to
reap, or how could any one command Him to reap? Mr. Barnes avoids this seeming
difficulty by interpreting the temple from which the messenger comes, to represent
Heaven, the place of Jehovah's throne, and the angel who comes forth and utters the cry,
to be a special heavenly, angelic messenger from the court of Jehovah; so also Mr. Elliott.
Mr. Lord avoids the seeming difficulty by making the one "like a Son of Man," who sat
upon the cloud, to be a symbol, not of Christ, but of human beings who were raised from
the dead in glory, receiving instructions that the time had arrived to reap, and a command
to proceed with the work.
We believe it is more consistent and harmonious, however, to understand that this angel
crying with a loud voice, like those of the three others already referred to in previous
expositions, represents another phase of the movements under God's true saints on earth
during the period of the harvest; a movement in which the actors are not, however,
instructing or commanding, but, having discovered through the "sure word of prophecy"
that the time had come for their Master to reap, began petitioning that He, the Chief
Reaper, would send forth laborers to accomplish the harvest work. In other words, it was