The Harvest and the Vintage
(No. 2910)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1904.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 17, 1876.
"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 Your sickle,
and reap: for the time is come for You 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. 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
your 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
outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress even unto the
horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs."
Revelation 14:14-20.
I AM no Prophet, nor the son of a Prophet. Neither do I profess to be
able to explain all the prophecies in this blessed Book. I believe that
many of them will only be explained as the events occur which they
foretell. Yet there are some things which are plain even to the most
superficial reader. It is plain, for instance, that it is certainly
foretold that the power of antichrist shall be utterly and eternally
destroyed and that Babylon, that is to say, the Papal system, with all
its abominations, shall be cast like a millstone into the flood to rise
no more forever. It is also certain that the Jews, as a people, will
yet acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David, as their King, and
that they will return to their own land, "and they shall build the old
wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations and they shall
repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations." It is
also certain that our Lord Jesus Christ will come again to this earth
and that He will gloriously reign among His ancients and that there
will be a thousand years of joy and peace such as were never known on
this earth before! It is also certain that there will be a great and
general judgment when all nations shall be gathered before the Son of
Man sitting upon the Throne of His Glory–and His final word concerning
these upon His left hand will be, "These shall go away into everlasting
punishment" and, concerning those upon His right hand, "but the
righteous into life eternal."
How all these great events are to be chronologically arranged, I cannot
tell. This I know–for I have read a multitude of books upon this
subject, and of making them there is practically no end–all the
authors seem to me to be wonderfully wise in confuting one another, but
not to be so successful in establishing their own theories! Therefore I
am content to believe what I see to be clearly taught in the Scriptures
and to leave to abler minds than my own the arrangement of the various
events in some sort of historical sequence. This, however, seems to me
to be clearly revealed in the Scriptures–that there is to come–we
know not when–a solemn winding up of all the events of this world's
history. Whatever else may happen, or may not happen, the Apostle Paul
plainly declared that God "has appointed a day in which He will judge
the world in righteousness by that Man whom He has ordained. Therefore
He has given assurance unto all men in that He has raised Him from the
dead." Even though we cannot comprehend some things that are foretold
by John, or Isaiah, or Daniel, or Ezekiel, we know that "it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." And that
"we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ; that everyone
may receive the things done in his body, according
to what he has done, whether it is good or bad." Judgment must
certainly come, even to the house of God, for Peter says that there it
shall begin And if it shall begin there, "what shall the end be of them
that obey not the Gospel of God?"
That there will be a Day of Judgment appears to be clear even to human
reason, for, apart from Revelation, or, perhaps, assisted by some dim
relics of it, all nations–I think I may say all, for no exceptions are
known to me–have believed in a judgment. They have called it by
different names and they have described it in various ways, but they
have all believed, more or less clearly, in a great Throne of Justice,
before which wrongs will be rectified, sin will be punished and
righteousness will be rewarded. This has seemed so self-evident, even
to the crudest thoughts of the lowest of mankind, that, in some shape
or other, the most unenlightened nations have believed it! And it
strikes one, at once, as being most reasonable, for, in this world, how
often does infamy triumph! How often is oppression linked with power to
destroy innocence and virtue! What are the groans, sighs and wails that
I hear and what are the tears that I see but the outbursts of men who
are being crushed beneath the awful burden of lifelong injustice? The
best of men are, all too often, trodden down as the very mire of the
street, while the worst are sitting proudly in the high places of the
earth! If there is a God at all–and we know that there is–there must
be a time and a way of rectifying all this in another state! And so
there is, as David says, "Verily there is a reward for the righteous:
verily He is a God that judges in the earth."And, therefore, verily
there must be a time ofjudgment for the ungodly–even common reason
seems to teach us that!
Moreover, there is within us all a conscience which Shakespeare says,
"does make cowards of us all." And well I think that it may do so since
we have all sinned and turned from the path of right. Let man do what
he will with that conscience–unless there is an extraordinary
restraint put upon it–it bears testimony to the great fact that the
judgment is coming on apace! We have known men stifle or silence this
voice till they have come to a sick-bed, or have been at sea in a
storm–yet why have they been so alarmed at the approach of death?
Death itself is not to be feared, but it is–
"The dread of something after death– The undiscovered country, from
whose boundary No traveler returns"–
that makes a man cling even to an ignominious and shameful life rather
than hurry himself, all unprepared, before the bar of God! Men who
have, when in health, denied this, have, as they have lain dying,
proved that they believed it by the cold clammy sweat that has stood
upon their brow at the very thought of passing into the spirit world!
They have known that there is a God–a God who must do right–and
knowing that they have done wrong they have been afraid to fall into
the hands of the living God!
But we are not left to the faint taper of human reason, or to the
flickering candle of conscience–we have the full sunlight of Divine
Revelation! Our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, has told us, in many
different ways, sometimes by parable, and sometimes by plain speech,
that there is a day assuredly coming in which all mankind shall stand
before His bar. And the Apostle John, in the visions which we are about
to consider, had a view–not exactly of the Judgment itself–but of a
parable or picture of that Judgment. May the Holy Spirit help us to
look into it with Divinely-opened eyes and may He graciously impress
the Truth of God concerning the Judgment upon all our hearts!
Before we consider my main subject, let me call your attention to what
John says about the coming of the Judge. "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."
Observe then, first, the Judge's Throne. On that great Judgment Day, He
will come sitting upon a cloud. What can this metaphor mean? Surely it
must mean that His Judgment Seat will be far more glorious than the
thrones of mere mortal monarchs. They may sit upon thrones of ivory.
They may exalt themselves upon thrones made of gold and bedecked with
myriads of gems shining like the eyes of the morning, or the stars of
the midnight sky–but their thrones can never be compared in splendor
with the Judgment Seat of Christ! A Great White Throne shall come
sailing along the sky and on it shall sit the King of kings, and Lord
of lords–the Judge of All–who has the right to sit in judgment, whose
decisions will be impartial and Infallible and whose sentences will
assuredly be carried out! He asks not for any throne that this world
could supply. He borrows no leave to judge from Parliament, or Pope, or
prince. He is Judge by Divine Right, as from God, Himself, and as the
Mediator, appointed by God to judge the quick and the dead!
His mysterious Throne is also said to be "a white cloud." The word
expresses not so much the color of whiteness as the dazzling brilliancy
of a white substance–dazzling because of its perfect purity. A Throne
as of alabaster shall that
white cloud be to Him–a throne as of transparent glass, pure as
crystal–a Throne that shall be without spot or blemish–a Throne whose
judgment no bribe can ever influence–a Throne concerning which it may
be said that the Judge seated there never fears the face of man or
devil, nor will He ever do any man or devil an injustice, but will "lay
judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet."
The Judge's Throne, then, shall be unique for its splendor and
unearthly purity. And He will be seated upon a cloud which will be so
elevated in the sky that all can see it. If Christ were to be seated
upon a throne set up at Jerusalem or at Rome, only a part of the
world's vast population would be able to behold Him, but on that
tremendous day there shall be an audience chamber large enough to hold
the quick and the dead of all climes and all times! And Christ shall be
there, above them all, "and every eye shall see Him, and they also
which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of
Him." On some calm summer evenings, as the sun has been setting, I have
seen a cloud, wafted by the wind in the very face of the sun and the
sun has shone upon it, lighting it up with such glory as only Heaven
could give! And I have said to myself, "So shall it be in that Day when
the Son of Man shall appear, seated upon a white cloud as His last
Throne of Judgment."
Now turn your eyes for a little while from the Judge's Throne to His
Person. "Upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of Man." And well may
John say "like unto the Son of Man," for it is none but He, "THE Son of
Man." Man has had many sons, but no other like this "Son of Man!" He is
the truest Man who ever lived–the most manly of all men–the only One
in whom manhood has reached its perfection! And in that day every eye
shall see that though He is "very God of very God," yet is He also just
as truly Man. They shall behold the nail-prints in His hands and His
feet, and the marks of the spear in His side. And they shall see that
it is even He whom they called, "the Nazarene," and whom wicked men
nailed to the Cross of Calvary. It is HE who shall come to judge the
quick and the dead–the gentle Jesus, "meek and lowly in heart," still
full of love and abundant in mercy, for those attributes can never
depart from our Lord Jesus Christ! Yet they will be consistent with the
sternest justice and the most unflinching administration of the Law of
God. It will go ill, in that day, with those who have despised the Lamb
of Calvary, for they shall find that He is also "the Lion of the tribe
of Judah!" None are more terrible in justice than those who are tender
in mercy. Bring to me the gentlest spirit that ever lived and begin to
tell the tale of the Bulgarian massacres–and I will guarantee you that
in proportion to the tenderness will be the indignation! They who have
no heart cannot display real indignation–but where there beats a true
heart of love, there must be righteous wrath against that which is
unloving–holy anger against that which is unjust and true. So shall it
be with Him who will sit upon the white cloud. With a perfectly
balanced mind, calm and absolutely impartial, gentle, yet terrible, He
will sit upon that Throne of spotless purity, "and every eye shall see
Him." My eyes shall see Him and your eyes shall see Him–and the eyes
of everyone who has been born of woman shall see Him on that day!
We have glanced at the Judge's Throne and at His Person. Now let us
note His adornments. John mentions that He saw "on His head a golden
crown." That is to signify that He is a Sovereign and, indeed, as I
have already reminded you, He is King of kings and Lord of lords–and
He is to be the Judge of All by virtue of His Divine Authority and
Power. How different it will be to see Him with a crown of gold upon
His head from what it was to see Him wearing that terrible crown of
thorns which the cruel soldiers plaited and thrust upon His brow! The
word used here does not usually refer to the diadem of power, but to
the crown won in conflict–and it is very remarkable that it should be
said that when Christ comes to judge the world, He will wear the
garland of victory–the crown which He has won in the great battle
which He has fought. How significant of His final triumph will that
crown of gold be about that brow that was once covered with bloody
sweat when He was fighting the battle for our salvation! As His saints
catch a glimpse of that fillet of gold, they will remember His
victorious words, "It is finished!" And the very sight of that golden
crown will fill their hearts with ineffable joy and delight, for they
will recollect that He triumphed on the Cross for them and that He has
vanquished all their foes and now He has come to claim them as the
reward of His struggles and the spoils of His victory!
Give one more look at the Judge upon His Throne and you will see that
He carries "in His hand a sharp sickle" or reaping-hook. This is His
scepter and it signifies that He has come to finish His last great work
which will be sharp, swift and decisive. When He came to fight the
battle of Truth, "out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword," but
now it is hand-work rather than mouth-work with Him. There will be no
ministry of mercy now, no further proclamation of the Gospel, but, with
a sharp sickle, Christ will come to reap! The sowing time will be over
and the reaping time will have come. What a sight that will be! "For He
will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness: because a short
work will
the Lord make upon the earth." On that last tremendous day when the
earth will be rocking and reeling to and fro in terror at His coming,
there will be a fulfillment of that verse in the last chapter of this
Book–"He who is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he who is filthy,
let him be filthy still: and he who is righteous, let him be righteous
still: and he who is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come
quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his
work shall be."
I. Now follow me while we look, first, at THE HARVEST and may the
Spirit of God render these great Truths of God exceedingly impressive
to us! The first thing to be done, at the coming of the Lord, is to
gather to Himself His own people–the wheat which He Himself sowed–the
precious grain which He watered with His bitter tears and His bloody
sweat. "Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice
to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Your sickle, and reap: for the
time is come for You to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe."
Notice that this reaping comes first and I think it comes first in
order of time. If I read the Scriptures aright, there are to be two
resurrections and the first will be the resurrection of the righteous,
for it is written, "but the rest of the dead lived not again until the
thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed
and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the
second death has no power." Sometimes, in Scripture, the resurrection
of the just and of the unjust is represented as taking place
simultaneously and, at other times, they are represented as having an
interval of a thousand years between the two. Yet a thousand years are
but as one day to God and it may be that the whole period is included
in the Day of Judgment. Still, it strikes me that we have sufficient
warrant from Scripture to say that in the order of time, the harvest
comes before the vintage, as Paul says, "The dead in Christ shall rise
first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we
ever be with the Lord." After that, I gather that He will come to judge
and to condemn the wicked.
But, certainly, if not first in order of time, it is here put first in
order of importance, for it is the gathering in of the wheat to which
Christ especially looks forward. It is this on which His soul is set
with ardent longing. Judgment is His strange work, His left-handed
work, but, "He delights in mercy" and He will put this work first when
He comes to "judge the world with righteousness, and the people with
His Truth." He has such regard for His saints that "when He makes
inquisition for blood, He remembers them." His eye is always fixed upon
them and even on the Day of Judgment, the great event to Christ shall
be the clearing of the righteous from every accusation that may be
brought against them– the complete and final justification of as many
as have believed in Him!
We can see, from reading this passage, that those to be left after the
righteous are gathered in, are very clearly indicated. In this world,
in the present state, there is a mixture of good and bad. Here, the
tares and the wheat grow close together in the same field and, as a
general rule, no man can tell the tares from the wheat. If any of us
were to try to root up the tares, we would be almost sure to also root
up the wheat. But, in that Day, the righteous and the wicked will be
easily distinguished from one another. Nobody ever mistook an ear of
wheat for a cluster of grapes and when Christ comes, the distinction
between the righteous and the wicked will be as clearly manifested
between a field of wheat in the time of harvest and a vineyard when the
grapes are ripe. It is plainly declared that in that Day, God's wheat
will be ripe for the heavenly garner–"Thrust in Your sickle, and reap:
for the time is come for You to reap; for the harvest of the earth is
ripe." When the Lord Jesus comes, every child of God will be found to
be ripe for Heaven. There is a great deal of greenness and sourness in
us while we are in the blade and in the ear–but when we are dried–as
the word might be translated–when the wheat has become mellowed by the
ripening influences of autumn–then shall we be as sweet, ripe corn for
the Lord of the Harvest to gather into His garner! Some of you do not
feel very ripe at present, but you may rest assured that you will not
be harvested until you are fully ripe. The Lord will not reap one ear
of His corn green and He has a secret way of preparing His people for
Heaven when He has prepared Heaven for them. The righteous will be
perfectly ripe in that day! "The time is come for You to reap; for the
harvest of the earth is ripe."
Notice, also, that they are all to be gathered in and that this great
task is to be accomplished by the crowned King, Himself. I want that
fact to be specially noted by you, so let me again read the 16th verse.
"And He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and
the earth was reaped." With the golden crown upon His brow, He that is
like unto the Son of Man will stoop from His Throne of cloud and reap
His saints–gathering them all to His bosom in one glorious sweep of
His strong right arm! It does not say that Christ will send an angel to
do this reaping. His love to His chosen is so great that He will not
entrust this task to any angel, but will do it all Himself! He alone
knows how much that
ripe corn has cost Him. Those precious souls were espoused unto Him
from eternity and they were redeemed by Him with His own heart's blood!
They are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones, so He
gathers them unto Himself and does not think it beneath His dignity to
be the Reaper of this golden grain Himself! Do you not delight in that
thought–you who love the Lord? Does not your heart rejoice in knowing
that in that Great Day when you stand like ripe corn, Christ shall
come, sitting upon a white cloud and having on His head a golden crown
and, with the sharp sickle in His hand, He will gather you unto Himself
with the glad joy of the reaper?
It is another metaphor that we find in the Book of Malachi, but it has
the same meaning–"They shall be Mine, says the Lord of Hosts, in that
day when I make up My jewels." None can tell, not even those who have
had the greatest sympathy with Christ in the sowing, what will be His
joy in the reaping! Or what shall be our joy, too, when we enter into
the joy of our glorified Lord! The harvest, even on earth, is a happy
time–hear how the reapers sing and shout as they carry the golden
sheaves into the garner! But what rejoicing and what shouting there
will be when we, as shocks of corn fully ripe, are taken Home to the
heavenly garner! Well did we sing, just now, in anticipation of that
last harvest home–
"Hallelujah!
Welcome, welcome, Son of God!"
May you and I, dear Friends, all be garnered among the wheat in that
great harvest day!
II. Now, for a little while, we must have the very heavy task of
looking at THE VINTAGE.
The vintage represents the destruction of the wicked. "And another
angel came out of the temple which is in Heaven, he also having a sharp
sickle." You see, it is not the crowned Christ who comes to do this
work of judgment, but an angel. "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 your sharp sickle, and gather
the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe."
I want to speak to you very calmly, yet very solemnly, about this last
vintage, because it may concern some of you. If you do not escape from
the wrath to come, it willconcern you–awfully and terribly concern
you!
Notice, first, that this vintage comes after the harvest. As I have
told you, I think it will be so in the order of time. After Christ
shall have gathered His saints unto Himself, then shall He summon the
wicked to appear before His Judgment Seat. Then shall follow their
terrible condemnation and even if it is not second in the order of
time, it will be second in the order of importance. Dreadful as is
their doom, our Lord Jesus Christ does not look upon that as the
principal event of that Last Great Day. His own words are, "The Son of
Man shall send forth His angels and they shall gather out of His
Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall
cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Then shall the righteous come forth as the sun in the Kingdom
of their Father." As I said before, the wicked will be clearly
distinguished from the righteous in that Day. Nobody will mistake them
then. They may be mistaken here, for they may go to the same place of
worship, they may sing the same hymns and, in many respects, they may
be like the children of God. We may easily mistake tares–such tares as
Christ mentioned–for blades of wheat, but again I remark that there is
no possibility of mistaking a cluster of grapes for an ear of corn! So,
in that Day, there will be no way of evading the Judge's Infallible
Judgment–there will be no miscarriage of justice before the bar of
God!
Observe, next, that the condemnation of the ungodly is called for by
the angel of fire. "Another angel came out from the altar, which had
power over fire." Ah, me! What does this mean? Has God appointed some
holy spirits to watch over the instruments of terror with which He will
execute the fierceness of His wrath? Was that the angel, "which had
power over fire," who launched the thunderbolts in Egypt on that dread
night when the first-born in all the land were slain unless they were
sheltered under the sprinkled blood? Was that the angel, "which had
power over fire," who smote the hosts of Sennacherib? Was that the
angel, "which had power over fire," who opened the furnaces of Hell and
caused fire and brimstone to descend on guilty Sodom and Gomorrah? It
may be and that this same angel shall come forward, at the last, to
demand that justice shall be executed upon those who have despised God
and rejected Jesus Christ whom He has sent!
It appears also, from the parable, that the wicked will be fully ripe
for punishment. That is a very strong expression in the 18th
verse–"Gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes
are fully ripe. "The righteous are said to be ripe–some of them,
perhaps, only just ripe–but the wicked are fully ripe, for sin has a
wonderfully ripening effect upon men. They add iniquity unto iniquity
until they have filled up the measure of it. The Greek word used here
means
that they have reached their acme–they have come to the highest point
of sin! Are any of you here fully ripe? Why, I think that one sin makes
a man ripe for judgment, but to go on, year after year, despising
Christ and rejecting His Gospel must make man what we call "dead ripe."
When a man goes on to profanity, blasphemy and infidelity, surely he
must be "fully ripe." So will all be in that great Day of the gathering
of the vintage of woe! And, just as the clusters of the vine cannot
resist the force of the hand that plucks them, or the sharp knife that
cuts them off, so shall the wicked, in that day, be utterly
defenseless, hopeless and helpless! And he that reaps them with his
sharp sickle, shall find no difficulty in cutting them all off. Again I
remind you that it will not be Christ who will do this work–an angel
will do it, not the crowned King seated on the white cloud! They would
not have anything to do with Him, so He will have nothing to do with
them except to deliver them over to the angel that has power over fire
and His brother executioner!
What a terrible sight that judgment will be! As John looked upon it in
his vision, I feel sure that his very bones must have trembled and the
marrow in them must have melted as he saw that angel with his sharp
sickle quickly reap all the clusters of the vine of the earth and cast
them into the great winepress of the Wrath of God. O Sinner, this is
but a faint picture of the doom of the lost, yet the picture itself is
too terrible for me to try to describe or explain! What will happen, in
that great Day, when you shall be reaped and cast into the great
winepress of the Wrath of God, or, as it may be read, "the great
winepress of an angry God"? Ask yourself, my Hearer, this solemn
question, "Shall I ever be cast into that great winepress?" If you
continue to reject the mercy of Christ, what else can happen to you?
Note, further, that this winepress is "outside the city–not in the New
Jerusalem–not in Heaven–but "outside the city." That reminds us of
another winepress, or olive press, which was "outside the city" and
which was called Geth-semane where He who shall, by-and-by, be seated
on the white cloud, Himself suffered even unto agony and bloody sweat.
These people would not plead His sufferings on their own account–they
would not have Him to reign over them and, therefore, they must go into
the great winepress of the angry God. Perhaps, in that dread day, if
any of you are there– which may God in mercy prevent!–you will
remember that wondrous passage in the prophecy of Isaiah in which
Christ says, "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people
there was none with me." And as you would not have the salvation which
He worked out in that winepress, you must be cast into the great
winepress of the wrath of God!
"And the winepress was trodden outside the city." This represents the
awful suffering of lost souls, the eternal punishment that will then
begin. And, as the red juice spurts from the trodden grapes, so did
John, in his terrible vision, see the blood of men come flowing forth,
"even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six
hundred furlongs." That metaphor and measurement are meant to show how
terrible is the wrath of God against the ungodly. Perhaps someone here
says, "That is too terrible a theme to talk about." Then, what must it
be to endure it? Somebody will object to my words upon this awful
topic. No, Sir, be critical of the Scriptures, not of me! I do not
explain the idea, but I tell you what John saw in vision. "It was only
a vision," someone says. I know it was, but the reality will be far
more terrible! There can be no possible exaggeration of the wrath of
God! I beseech you, my dear Hearers–though I know not, and never wish
to know much about this dreadful subject–remember that what we do know
about the doom of the lost is enough to make one's hair stand on end
and one's heart almost to cease to beat! So I beseech you, do not risk
that doom for yourselves! Escape for your lives! Look not behind you,
but flee to the one Refuge which God has provided. Whoever will entrust
His soul to Jesus Christ shall be eternally saved! Look to Him who wore
the crown of thorns and repose your soul's entire confidence in Him!
And then, in that Last Great Day, you shall see Him seated on the white
cloud, wearing the golden crown and you shall be gathered, with the
wheat, into His garner!
But if you reject Him, do not think it wrong that you should be cast
with the grapes into the winepress of the Wrath of God and be trodden
with the rest of "the clusters of the vine of the earth." I beg you to
take Christ as your Savior this very hour lest this night you should
die unsaved! Lay hold of Jesus lest you never hear another Gospel
invitation or warning. If I have seemed to speak terribly, God knows
that I have done it out of love to your souls and, believe me, that I
do not speak as strongly as the Truth of God might well permit me to
do, for there is something far more terrible about the doom of the lost
than language can ever express or thought conceive!
God save all of you from ever suffering that doom, for Jesus Christ's
sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: REVELATION 14.
Verse 1. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and
with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father's name
written on their foreheads. The great question for us is–shall we be
among the number? If we have the Father's name engraved upon our
hearts, we may conclude that we shall, one day, have it written on our
foreheads, and that we shall be among that chosen company.
2, 3. And I heard a voice from Heaven, as the voice of many waters, and
as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps: and they sung as it were a new song before
the Throne of God, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no
man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand,
which were redeemed from the earth. Notice how loud their singing
was–it was like many waters and great thunder. But notice, also, the
sweetness of it, for it was melodious as the music of well-skilled
harpers harping with their harps. Note, too, the freshness, the
vivacity of it–"they sang as it were a new song." Shall we be there to
sing that new song? If so, we must be "redeemed from the earth," not
with a general, but with a particular redemption, which lifts us up
from the rest of our fellow creatures. And we must also have attended
the saved rehearsals, for none can sing in Heaven but those who have
learned the song and none can learn it but those who are "redeemed from
the earth."
4, 5. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are
virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes, these
were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to
the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without
fault before the Throne of God. Now we have another vision.
6, 7. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of Heaven, having the
everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud
voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is
come: and worship Him that made Heaven, and earth, and the sea and the
fountains of waters. This vision represents the spread of the Gospel.
It is generally referred to the Reformation period, when, all of a
sudden, the Truth of God, which had so long lain hidden in old musty
books, was proclaimed in every marketplace. Beneath many a "Gospel oak"
the good news was told out–the good news concerning Christ–as if an
angel were flying through the midst of Heaven. This preaching of the
Truth of God led to the commencement of the downfall of Rome, which is
here called, Babylon, and which is ultimately to fall to utter and
everlasting ruin.
8. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is
fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine
of the wrath of her fornication. That is spiritual fornication, as we
understand it in the Old Testament–man's idolatry–the setting up of
visible objects of worship instead of the invisible God. And what is
there, in all the world, that is so idolatrous as the so-Called
"religion" of Rome? She multiplies her idol gods to great excess–her
crosses and her crucifixes, her saints and her "sacraments" and her
relics–her "old cast clouts" and her "old rotten rags." The Papacy is
the most pagan of all the paganisms that have ever existed on the face
of the earth–but it is to come to an end, for the mouth of the Lord
has said so.
9, 10. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If
any man worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his
forehead, or on his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath
of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His
indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the
presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. How
clear, therefore, we ought to keep out of this idolatrous system! For
even if we have not the mark of the beast on our foreheads by an open
profession of loyalty to it, yet if we have the mark on our hands by
being the partakers of Rome's sins, we shall also be partakers of her
plagues concerning Romanism in all its forms! The great message to be
proclaimed today is, "Come out of her, my people–come away from her,
as far as the poles are asunder–that you be not partakers of her sins
and that you receive not of her plagues."
11, 12. And the smoke oftheir torment ascends up forever and ever: and
theyhave no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image,
and whoever receives the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the
saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith
of Jesus. Truly Rome has tried "the patience of the saints." What
country is there in Europe which has not been dyed crimson with the
blood of the martyrs? The rack, the stake, the brook, the dungeon, the
fires–all sorts of cruelties have been practiced upon those who "keep
the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Let the valleys of
Piedmont speak! Do they not cry aloud to our God for vengeance? Let the
St. Bartholomew massacre bear witness before the living God! Let the
stakes of Smithfield say, "Here is the patience of the saints: here are
they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."
13. And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are
the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: Yes, says the Spirit,
that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them. I
t matters not where they die, or under what ignominy they die–whether
branded with the name of heretic, or cast out as the offscouring of all
things, yet blessed are they and their works follow them to Heaven to
bear witness to their faith! And they spiritually continue to live on
earth to propagate the gracious Seed for which they, by His Grace, laid
down their lives!
14-18. 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 Your
sickle, and reap: for the time is come for You 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. 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 your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth;
for her grapes are fully ripe. After the glad harvest comes the sad
vintage. After the gathering in of the righteous, there will be the
gathering in of the wicked.
19, 20. 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 outside the city, and blood
came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of
a thousand and six hundred furlongs.