The Truth About Judgment
Revelation 14:14-20
February 26, 2017
This morning we get to a passage that is so straight forward and so clear
That there really isn’t that much of a need for exposition.
While there have certainly been passages in this Revelation which require some explanation and understanding, this one is not really one of those.
I am confident that I could probably call on anyone in the congregation today to stand up, read this passage,
And be able to tell everyone else in here what is going on.
IT IS CLEAR.
Judgment is occurring.
We have judgment in the sense of revealing what people are. (i.e. judging)
And we have judgment in the sense of punishing those who deserve it.
When you read this text you actually see two analogies of judgment.
• The first is the Gathering In Of The Grain.
• The second is the Gathering In Of The Grapes.
And while we are going to look at this text this morning,
I really don’t think explaining it is going to take all that much time.
So this morning, I want to be forthright about what we are doing.
My goal here this morning is not to get you to understand this text,
MY GOAL IS TO GET YOU TO BELIEVE IT.
For I am convinced that if there is one aspect of the message of God which is no longer believed it is the message of judgment.
I say this because A society that believes judgment is real
Could not possibly tolerate and celebrate sin as much as ours.
Oh, we give lip service to it, to be sure.
We say that we believe the judgment is real,
But the reality is that our actions prove our words to be utterly fruitless.
And that’s not hard to prove.
For example:
Today we live in pretty much a corporate FEAR OF CANCER.
Cancer is real and cancer has affected multitudes of people.
Because of that, we hear the continual cry
That people GET ROUTINE CHECKUPS.
Mammograms and prostate exams and sun spots on your skin…you get the idea.
Well, do you know what all those tests are?
They are a form of judgment.
No, I don’t mean they are punishment, I mean they are a form of evaluation.
You take your body in and run it through a form of evaluation or judgment,
Where a doctor can judge your condition
We are told that routine checkups are a necessary evaluation of your health so that if there is a problem it can be caught in time
For you to hopefully escape a bigger problem later.
You take your body in to be examined (judged)
So that you can avoid a future and more dangerous situation.
AND I KNOW OUR SOCIETY REALLY BELIEVES CANCER IS REAL
Because by in large they flock to doctors for this judgment.
Check me! Examine me! Scan me!
Look me over and make sure I don’t have any of that.
That is ALSO WHY I KNOW our society
Doesn’t really believe in the judgment of the Bible.
I know that because our society almost universally rejects
Any and all preliminary spiritual judgment or evaluation.
When I was a kid and would watch football with my grandpa on Sundays,
You almost always saw someone in the end zone holding a sign that said,
“John 3:16” or “John 3:3”
If they were to hold a sign today it would undoubtedly say “Matthew 7:1”
Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.”
And the reason our world is so quick to quote that verse
Is because they don’t really believe that the day of judgment
Will really ever come.
And even more gut wrenching
Is that instead of confronting this false belief
The church today is actually embracing it, and even helping proclaim it.
If I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it a thousand times.
“I’m not judging anybody”
“I just choose to love people”
As if judging people meant you don’t love them.
That would be like me telling you, “I refuse to let me loved ones go through a cancer screening. I just choose not to have them evaluated because I love them.”
Most of you in here would rebuke me in a second for that type of attitude.
But if I tell you “I don’t think we should judge people, or expose people’s sin or tell them to stop, or even tell them it is sin because we are just called to love people.”
Then odds are good, many in the church would give me an “Amen!”
Our whole culture is so backward on this idea of judgment
That it has just almost totally wrecked the gospel.
By that I mean,
The church has strayed so far from the truth about judgment
That it is in danger of not even preaching the true gospel any more.
So this morning, I just want to give you the truth about judgment.
• I first want us to walk through this text, which won’t take long.
• Then I want us to expose some of the faulty thinking of our day.
• And finally, I’m just going to throw down the gauntlet to you.
So let’s look at this passage together.
#1 THE GRAIN HARVEST
Revelation 14:14-16
You will actually find that these two analogies really parallel each other quite a bit with only a couple of differences.
One major difference is the person doing the reaping.
• In this first reaping it is clearly the Lord Jesus Christ.
• In the second reaping it is the angel who has the power of fire.
The other difference is regarding what happens to those who are reaped.
• We know what happens to the grapes.
• We are not told specifically what happens to the grain.
Other than that, these pictures are very similar.
Dealing with this reaping of the grain let’s first look at the actual reaper.
(14) “Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.”
It is clear to us that we are dealing here with Jesus Christ.
“son of man” is one of His main titles.
And the picture here is one of victory.
The “golden crown on His head”
Is NOT DIADEMA which is the word used for a kingly crown.
No doubt He wears that, in fact in Revelation 19
You’ll see that on His hear are many diadems.
But here the “golden crown” is STEPHANOS which is THE VICTOR’S CROWN.
He is not wearing the crown of the king who sits on the throne,
He is wearing the crown of the general who is triumphant in battle.
HE WINS…that is the point.
(Nothing the dragon or the beast attempted was successful against Him)
And we see that He has a “sharp sickle in His hand.”
• And of course this is the tool used to gather in the stalks of grain.
• This is obviously a tool of judgment.
Then are given the heavenly command.
(15) “And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.”
• “Put in your sick and reap”
• Because “the hour to reap has come”
• And because “the harvest of the earth is ripe.”
“ripe” there translates XERAINO (ksay-rie-no)
And it means “withered” or “dried up”
It simply means that the grain has now reached the point
Where it is ready to be harvested.
And so the time is here and the grain is ready, so the command is issued.
And then we see the actual reaping.
(16) “Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.”
So in one fail swoop the Lord swings His sickle and the Bible simply says “the earth was reaped”
That is to say that all the grain was gathered.
The Grain Harvest
#2 THE GRAPE HARVEST
Revelation 14:17-20
Again we see a reaper,
Only this time it is and “angel” and “he also had a sharp sickle”
And then comes a command for him.
(18) “Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.”
This time we are told who the messenger is,
It is the angel “who has power over fire”
If you’ll remember,
• This was the angel who attended to the bronze altar or the incense altar.
• This is the angel who burned incense which symbolized the prayers of the
saints.
• This was the angel who was so angry at the world for its treatment of believers
that he hurled fire to the earth.
Revelation 8:3-5 “Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”
This angel clearly has a soft spot for the persecuted.
He is the one who delivers the message to reap.
He says, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth because her grapes are ripe.”
“ripe” here is a different word than in verse 15.
Here “ripe” translates AKMAZO (ok-mod-zo)
It means to be “fully ripe” as in “juicy”
And because the grapes are ready, it is time to reap.
(19) “So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God.”
Only hear not only do we read of the reaping,
But also we see the fate of these grapes which were harvested.
They are thrown “into the great wine press of the wrath of God.”
(20) “And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.”
(If you’re curious, that’s Spur to Ft. Worth)
BUT AS I SAID UNDERSTANDING THE PICTURE IS NOT DIFFICULT.
WE KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE.
These were no doubt the wicked of the earth
And they were absolutely crushed under the mighty power of God.
This is the great battle known as Armageddon
Where the kings of the earth take their stand with the Antichrist
And seek to defeat Christ, and they will be crushed.
But you get the picture. It’s not difficult to understand.
So what it the difference here between the two judgments?
Now, I’ll go ahead and tell you that many theologians (even my favorite preacher in the world) will tell you that these are both judgments on the wicked.
Both reapings picture God’s wrath poured out on sinful men.
There is no doubt that is what the second depicts,
But I’m not so sure that that is what the first depicts.
Namely because if that is true then:
• The whole earth is said to have been reaped twice, which I find strange.
• And nothing negative is recorded regarding the grain which was reaped.
So what is happening?
I think it is exactly what Scripture says will happen.
Matthew 3:11-12 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
John the Baptist spoke of the coming Jesus and reminded us that
Jesus would baptize every person with one of two things.
• He would either baptize you with the Holy Spirit signifying salvation.
• Or He would baptize you with fire signifying judgment.
And when He comes He would in fact have TWO REAPINGS.
• One would be for the redeemed who would be gathered into His barn,
• The second would be for the wicked who would be subsequently destroyed.
It seems apparent to me that
This is what we are reading about here in the book of the Revelation.
Christ will separate (judge, expose)
Then Christ will render recompense (judgment)
And incidentally this is not nearly the only place it is mentioned.
The parable of the wheat and the tares
Matthew 13:36-43 “Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
Christ will separate the good from the bad; reward the good and destroy the bad.
The parable of the dragnet
Matthew 13:47-50 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Christ will separate the good from the bad; reward the good and destroy the bad.
The sermon Christ preached to His disciples
Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”
Christ will distinguish between the good and the bad and recompense accordingly.
The message of the sheep and the goats
Matthew 25:31-33 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”
And of course if we were to read the rest of that passage you would see that
The sheep are gathered into the joy of their Master and the goats are destroyed.
I THINK YOU GET THE POINT.
BUT JUST TO MAKE SURE, LET ME SPELL IT OUT TO YOU.
It is a point I try to make to the youth over and over and over
NO ONE CAN ESCAPE JUDGMENT
You can cry “Judge Not!” all you want, but it won’t change the facts.
You can say, “I won’t judge anyone”, but it won’t eliminate their judgment.
I address the youth with this because they are quickly picking up on the “catch phrases” of our culture.
I hear them say it all the time… “Don’t judge me”
It’s another way of saying “Don’t tell me I’m wrong”
And it is a mentality that has become so popular in our world
That the church has even started to believe it.
The church has even started to believe that
There is never a situation in which we should “judge” another individual.
If that is what you think, then I’m sorry to have to tell you that
The Bible emphatically says that you are wrong.
But what about that command to “Judge not!”?
If people would read the whole passage
(or even read the first verse correctly)
Then they’d see that this passage is greatly misunderstood.
Just look at the first verse for a second.
Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.”
Now if you would just read that verse honestly you would have to recognize that it obviously does not mean what most people think it means.
Most people think it means that
“If I don’t judge other people, then I won’t be judged either.”
Is that what you think it means?
That if you will just go through this life as a super tolerant person of all peoples and behaviors then someday God will refrain from judging you too?
Is that what we just saw here in Revelation 14?
God only judged those who weren’t tolerant…
If that is true then all God really wants from humanity
Is not righteousness, but tolerance.
And there are plenty of people who have adopted that as their primary theology.
• They completely overlook the “Be holy as I am holy” passages.
• They ignore when Jesus said “You shall be perfect as Your heavenly
Father is perfect.”
They think God doesn’t care about righteousness,
Only that I don’t ever, under any circumstances,
Tell anyone that they are wrong.
Listen if you think that is what this verse is teaching,
I can confidently say you do not know the Lord.
This passage is not forbidding judgment.
This passage is forbidding self-righteousness.
This passage is rebuking those who refuse to judge themselves.
Matthew 7:1-5 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
That speck was never meant to stay in your brother’s eye.
Jesus was just amazed that you could even see it with that 2×4 in yours.
He is rebuking one who will judge other sin but refuse to judge their own.
Judging is not the problem there, self-righteousness is.
In fact, Jesus even commands judgment.
John 7:24 “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
Did you hear that?
Jesus just commanded people to “judge with righteous judgment”
And certainly that is clear if you read Matthew 18
Where Jesus commands us to confront our brother’s sin.
That is obviously what Jesus is doing all throughout the Sermon on the Mount.
BUT WHAT ABOUT WHEN JESUS DEALT WITH THAT WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY?
You know, that “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” passage.
First of all, that whole story isn’t even a reliable story.
• It is not found in the oldest manuscripts which means it was added to the text later.
• You can tell that even if you don’t have the margin notes because wherever it happened, it clearly didn’t happen in John 8 because it is crammed right in the middle of a story where it doesn’t fit.
But even if it is true, and I personally don’t have a problem with it,
That story in no way eliminates judgment.
You say, “Yes it does! Jesus didn’t let them stone that woman!”
And here is where I chuckle just to keep from absolutely losing my mind.
• Do you really suppose that when the church exposes sin that it is the same thing as what these Pharisees were doing?
Look at the obvious.
• They were trying to kill the woman!
• I can confidently say that our goal is not to kill anyone.
• Our goal is lead to people to repentance so that they can skip destruction.
But if you’d read this passage then you’d see that after the crowd left, Jesus judged the woman!
John 8:10-11 “Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”]
Did you hear that?
“Go. From now on sin no more.”
Well, who does He think He is!
Insinuating that this woman was a sinner?
How dare He! If I was that woman I would have looked right at Him and said, “Don’t judge me!”
Or consider the woman at the well. (Another woman Jesus judged)
Remember, she wanted living water and Jesus said this to her.
John 4:15-18 “The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”
There He is again, “judging” that woman!
Or how about this statement from Paul?
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.”
OF COURSE WE JUDGE.
WE ARE COMMANDED TO JUDGE.
WHY?
Because no one can escape judgment.
And we want people to fix the problem before the final punishment.
Our judgment is like that of the doctor
Who runs you through the cat scan to help expose anything wrong.
Listen friend, you had better get it through your head.
NO ONE ESCAPES JUDGMENT.
And that should be so clear to you when reading a passage
Like the one we just studied in Revelation.
• There is coming a day when Jesus Himself will separate the
righteous from the wicked.
• The righteous will be gathered into His barn and the wicked will be
crushed under His feet.
It is ridged It is black and white It is extreme It is severe
You can go through this life if you want crying “Judge Not!”
You can go through this life if you want claiming “I don’t judge anyone”
But all you are doing is giving yourself and the world around you
A free pass just to go ahead and live in sin.
AND YOU ARE NOT A PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL,
You are minister of the enemy whose only objective
Is to leave people in sin until the day of their judgment.
THE CHURCH MUST UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH ABOUT JUDGMENT
It is real It is coming
And we are those who must warn the world
Romans 2:5-6 “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:”
Hebrews 10:26-27 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.”
Isaiah 13:11-13 “Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger.”
Isaiah 63:1-6 “Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come. “I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me. “I trod down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
That is exactly what Jesus will do at the end.
Crying “Judge Not!” doesn’t change a thing.
In fact, I’ll take it a step further.
If you are one of those people who likes to say “Don’t judge me!”
Then I have serious doubts that you know the Lord either.
How can you say that?
Ever heard of the beatitudes?
Matthew 5:3-6 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
When Jesus outlined who would inherit the kingdom of heaven,
It sure wasn’t the people who defended their sin,
It was the people who hated it.
A righteous heart doesn’t get mad at the person who confronts their sin,
A righteous heart gets mad at the flesh for committing it.
Proverbs 9:8 “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, Reprove a wise man and he will love you.”
Proverbs 15:12 “A scoffer does not love one who reproves him, He will not go to the wise.”
I hope you are getting the point.
• We live in a day that thinks judgment is a myth.
• We live in a day that thinks their sin will never really be punished.
And that just isn’t true – Judgment is coming!
And if someone exposed your sin to you,
You should run up to them and thank them from the bottom of your heart,
Because they loved you enough to try and spare you from it.
SEE, THE JUDGMENT OF THE CHURCH
IS NOT TO DRIVE MEN TO HELL.
THE JUDGMENT OF THE CHURCH
IS TO DRIVE MEN TO JESUS.
Remember last week we found that the cup of God’s wrath which He will force sinners to drink will be mixed in full strength.
And we find today that He isn’t joking.
He will trample men in His great wrath until their blood flows down the street.
But can I also tell you that there is a way for you to skip out on drinking this cup?
Matthew 26:39 “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
Do you know what cup Jesus was drinking?
It was that cup of wrath.
Jesus drank it down
So that those who repent of their sin and trust in Him will not have to.
HE DIDN’T ELIMINATE JUDGMENT, HE SATISFIED IT.
• And on the day that your sin is made known to you (you are judged),
• And that judgment drives you to Jesus.
• WHEN you cry out to Him in repentance and faith,
• The Bible says that you will be justified.
For Jesus satisfied the wrath of God for all those who trust in Him.
HE DIDN’T ELIMINATE GOD’S WRATH ON OUR SIN, HE SATISFIED IT.
However, if you refuse.
If you maintain this “Don’t judge me” attitude.
Then you will drink that cup yourself.
And so this morning, as I said,
I JUST WANT TO SORT OF THROW THE GAUNTLET DOWN.
The church cannot be confused about the issue of sin and judgment.
The fact is God judges sin
God judges sinners
The good news is that
For all those sinners who have been made aware of their sin,
And who repent of it, and who cry out to Jesus,
Their judgment will have been fully satisfied at the cross.
THAT IS THE GOSPEL.
And we may mess up in a lot of areas, but we cannot mess up on this one.
So if you are running around as Christian with this new popular mantra
That you’re just a loving person who doesn’t judge anyone
STOP!
You’re distorting the gospel,
You’re minimizing the cross,
And you’re undermining the true work of the church.
Our message has never been that sin is ok.
Our message is that sinners can be made righteous
Through the cross of Jesus Christ.
And if you are one of those who cries out “Don’t Judge Me”
All I can do is tell you that your expectation is unrealistic.
It won’t wash.
• There is coming a day when the sheep will be separated from the goats.
• When the wheat will be separated from the tares.
• When the good fish will be separated from the bad.
And when all who are sinful
Will be forced to drink down the full unmixed wrath of God.
Do not condone your sin, mourn over it.
Throw yourself on Christ
Who is the only one who can justify you in the sight of a holy God.
Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”
