Volume 2004/8

Rounded Rectangle: REVELATION 5:5

Rounded Rectangle: Revelation series 
Chapter-15
 

 

 


The Harvest Is Ripe!

 "He will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner”

                                             (Mat.3: 12)



 

 

 

 

(From radio broadcast of Bro. Julius Adewumi)

 

I said in the previous chapters, God is the author of the book of Genesis, and Revelations.  Who was there when God created Adam and Eve?  It was only God that revealed it to Moses who wrote it down for us to know how it all began.  And also how it will all end was revealed to Apostle John and he wrote it down for us. 

We can look back and see his prophecy and the future prophesied in the book of Revelations.  History shows that since the time this book was written about 2000 years ago, many things have fulfilled themselves. And we can see the remaining things that need to fulfill themselves before the Lord takes over the earth.  The book of Daniel also prophesied a lot of things for us, telling us what the plan of God is, not only for the Israelites but also for the whole world. 

      In the book of Daniel chapter two, Nebuchadnezzar saw a dream, which  Daniel interpreted.  The kingdoms of the world till the time of the end were revealed to Nebuchadenezzar in the form of a statue -- with head of gold, the breast of silver;  the feet and toes which represented the end of the world, with so many kingdoms according to the interpretation given by Daniel.  And in the days of those kingdoms, at the feet of that statue, which is at the end of the world, the God of heaven will set up his own kingdom, which is the stone that was cut from the mountain without hand, and that will destroy these kingdoms of the world and establish itself upon the earth as the kingdom of God forever and ever, never to be changed again.

And he said the kingdom shall not be given to any other person but the saints of the Most High shall reign.   Who are the saints of the Most High?  The saints of the most high are the believers, the Christians who are redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. 

     Now let’s go to the book of Revelations chapter 15.  As we have been revealing, in chapter 4 we saw the throne of God and the plan of God.  A book was sealed and only the Lamb of God could read it and open it because the Lamb of God was the only one that redeemed mankind.  And then, as he began to open the seal it was actually revealing what will happen from the time of the first church age to the end of the world.

  After the seals were opened, the 7 angels prepared to blow the trumpet; as each blew the trumpet things happened which actually symbolized the preaching of the gospel.  And after the gospel, will be a judgment for the unbelievers. After the gospel has been preached those that accepted the message will be sealed and those that refuse the gospel are judged and condemned.  Plagues and trouble will follow the world for those who don’t believe.  And at the 7th trumpet came other 7 vials.  In chapter 10, the mighty angel came down. He has opened all the 7 seals.  It’s no more a sealed book but an opened book in the hand of the mighty angel that came down in Rev. 10. Now it was a little book opened which was given to apostle John in that vision to eat it up.  And the bible says, “in the days of the voice of the 7th angel when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God will be finished”. In short this means everything will now be revealed, and the plan of God will be made plain to the prophets.  And that is what we have been receiving at this end of time. The voice of the 7th trumpet is really in the 7th church age and we are in the 7th church age right now. The trumpet has been sounding. The Lord is coming soon, and this is the generation.  The trumpet has been going off for years right now, from the revival of Pentecostalism, which was in the 20th century until the end of the world. 

    In chapter 12 the Church is come to  fruition, and there will be a separation of the man-child that will rule the world with a rod of iron.   This is a selected group of believers that will arrive at the fullness of Christ first.  That is the goal of every believer.  We are all to strive to come to the fullness of the stature of Christ; but there will be the first-fruit that will arrive there first before the rest. And God will get that first-fruit because in any harvesting there must be first-fruit harvest that must be given to God.  This is signified by the man-child in Rev. 12 being taken out of the woman clothed with the sun; the woman is representing the body of Christ world wide and the man child will be the anointed group of believers that will first arrive at the first-fruit level, and they will be taken to present to heaven as the first fruits of the earth.  And they have a work for God; they will be as priests unto God in the heavens, overseeing the affairs upon the earth and in the physical universe.  The order of Melchisedec!

So God has a plan. This planet earth is a garden for God where God planted seed and he has to harvest the seed.  And what seed has God planted?  Mankind.  God has planted mankind as a seed planted on this planet earth.  He has to harvest this mankind and the first fruits will be harvested, and then the rest.  We are going into that now as we begin to see the stages of the harvest. 

    There will be the general harvest.  But along with preparing for the harvest is preparing for the judgment of unbelievers because that also is a form of harvesting for the grapes of the earth that will be bundled together for burning as the Lord Jesus Christ said in parables.  And this will take place for the unbelievers and the kingdoms of this world, which will be destroyed.  Because after a farmer has gone to the farm and has harvested the field, what next?  You have to prepare that farm for the next thing.  And so you are going to have to clean up all the weeds and chaffs.  Say you have corn field, you have the corn stalks that are going to be bundled together along with the tares for burning.    God will destroy all the ungodliness out of this planet earth.  God will destroy all those that work iniquity also.  They are the tares, and they will be cleaned off this planet for whatever God is going to do next on this planet earth. And the bible says in Chapter 21 that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. 

Chapter 14 of the book of Revelation gives the harvesting of the earth.  And I will start from there again before I go into Chapter 15. 

Rev.14 Verse 14:  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 thy sickle and reap; for the time is come for thee 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.”

    Now we know exactly who is going to reap because the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the one who is going to harvest the earth. 

    Verse 17:  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 thy 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 without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

     Now this latter part, will be the fulfillment of the prophecy, (Rev.16:16), where the beast gathered the world at Armageddon to wage the last war where there would be destruction of all the soldiers that came down to Armageddon. There, they will see the Messiah flashing from the sky to destroy them all, as the bible said in Rev. 19.    Heaven is going to wage war against the earth. Who is the heaven?  The believers! The Lord Jesus Christ would have come to take us away in the rapture and all his saints with him to come and trodden the armies that came against Jerusalem as the bible says. (Zech.14;2-3). The land of Palestine, which the Jews and the Arab nations are fighting over and the United Nations Organization is trying to control, does not belong to any of them; it belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.  And when He is ready, He will come and take possession of his land.  Not just Jerusalem—the whole world belongs to him.    He is going to put his foot on the mount of Olives first.  Jerusalem will be his stepping stone to take the whole world over. 

      Chapter 15 is the cleaning up of the earth.  And how will this take place?  Let’s see right here. 

Rev. 15:  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire:  and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty;  just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?  For thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.”

      You see in the first verse it said 7 angels, which had the seven last plagues appeared in heaven. They have the wrath of God with which to punish the earth.  But after that, what did we see?  It said, “I saw the sea of glass before the throne”.  We have seen in the book of Revelations Chapter 4 verse 6 the sea of glass that was before the throne; and the throne of God was set there where the Lamb of God took the book.  The bible said these people that have gotten the victory over the anti-Christ, and over all his evil and the number of his name, were on the sea of glass.  In the book of Rev. 13, the anti-Christ numbered the world and anyone that takes his number and worshipped the beast would go into the lake of fire.   Those who got victory over the anti-Christ and over his image; either they were killed or they were translated — raptured away, whatever way they got the victory as the saints of God. Now they were standing upon the sea of glass means they were now in the presence of God in heaven.  I’m trying to point this out because there have been many other groups like the Jehovah’s witness that don’t understand this section.  I’ve talked many times to some of those  Jehovah’s witnesses; they’ve tried to say that nobody is going to heaven, and I pointed it to them right here that this sea of glass was described in the book of Rev. chapter 4 as the presence of God before the throne. 

      So when these saints that have gotten the victory over the beast are standing upon the sea of glass, it signifies they are before the throne of God.  That is why it was described to be the sea of glass so that we can know it as before the throne of God in heaven.   They are no more upon the earth. 

Now why were they taken away from the earth to heaven? Because the wrath of God is about to be poured upon the earth. That is why Chapter 15 was unique.  I want you to understand it. Because it will make you to know the love which God has for His people. God loves us so much.  He does not wish for any man to perish.  And when you’ve committed your life unto the Lord Jesus Christ and you believe him, and trust in him, he’s going to deliver and protect you from all the wrath of God.  

       What has been going on around the world and at that time so far, is still the wrath of the Devil.  Satan was doing all those evil to mankind.  All those persecution—whether killing Christians or otherwise, that was still Satan.  You may say God could have protected us.  God has said that we lay down our lives for his cause.  And it glorifies God.  We see that in Rev. 5 when the souls that were at the altar were crying out and saying how long O God, will you not judge the inhabitants of the earth for our blood?   The bible says they should wait a little while longer until their brethren also who will be killed like them is fulfilled. What I am saying is that every evil that is going on upon the earth: persecution, anti-Christ marking the world and those who didn’t receive the mark of the beast would be persecuted and arrested, jailed or killed; those are still the wrath of the devil; not God. 

      Christ said,  “be ye faithful even unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.”   All those persecution is trying the faith of the saints, and we are supposed to be faithful even unto death—whoever is still around.  Now after all of those have taken place, those who died and were faithful unto death, they have gotten the victory over the beast.  Whether they died by the hand of the anti-Christ or the persecutors, the Christians who have been persecuted have gotten victory over the world and over the beast.  In this chapter, they were standing before God, before the wrath of God is poured upon the earth.   This is another convincing evidence that the saints of God will not be here, before God begins to judge the earth.  God will take them out of this planet.  Now these 7 angels appeared and they have the 7 vials of the wrath of God. 

      After the saints of God have appeared on the sea of glass there was an interlude. 

Verse 5:  And after that I looked”;  after what? After they sang the songs of Moses and the songs of the Messiah and worshipped, and sang praises unto God. “After that I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.  And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the 7 plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.

And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels 7 golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever.  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the 7 plagues of the 7 angels were fulfilled.”       

      Now that is the beginning of the wrath of God being poured upon the earth.   Before we go into Ch. 16, let’s talk about these seven angels. You see in verse 5 how they were dressed. They were clothed in pure and white linen; there is a reason for that.  Anyone that’s going to judge other people—you better be pure yourself. If you are going to be used to judge anybody, you better be pure and just yourself; the Lord God demanded this, and the white linen is representing the righteousness of the saints.  We are called to be holy, to be righteous. So before you open your mouth and try to condemn anybody, make sure you are standing right with Christ Jesus. Because that is the ordinance. The bible has made it plain.  He said “judge not lest ye also be judged, condemn not, lest ye be condemned.  The measure you meet unto others shall be measured back unto you.” That is the Lord’s commandment—that is why in this church age He expects that you don’t judge anybody; commit all the judgment unto God. But these angels as you will see later are actually some saints of God appointed to do it; and all the saints of God actually have to come pure and justified anyway. We are going to be used to judge angels after we have passed through the blood.  After we have been washed and made pure.       

And my question to you today is this: Have you been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ and made pure from your sins? And you Sin no more so that you can be presented before God as clothed in white linen, clean and white with golden girdles!  Now let’s go again and see in the book of Ephesians chapter 6. Apostle Paul told us what kind of thing we should put on.

    Ephe.6: 10: “Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

 Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth, — you saw the angels in Rev. 15 have golden girdles. That means, the truth they are carrying is golden. And apostle Paul is saying your loins should be girt about with truth; the word of God is the truth, — and the breastplate of righteousness, ---- and that is our spiritual garment, clean and white breastplate of righteousness.  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.  

 Our righteousness must excel and be pure and white before God, and God is calling every saint to such holiness—without holiness no man shall see the Lord.  This is just to point to the angels who will pour the vials of wrath on the earth, they are clothed in white linen.  The white raiment  represents the righteousness of saints.  And God is pointing out to us that before you can judge anyone, be pure also yourself. “Every man that has this hope in him, purifieth himself”,  because He is pure.

    God is calling you unto holiness, unto righteousness, unto purity. He said be ye perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect.

You will see that one of the angels spoke to apostle John after he showed him the things that are going to happen. Apostle John tried to worship the angel, and the angel said, “See that thou do it not, worship God.” The angel said, “I’m one of your brethren.”   These angels are actually going to be brethren used to do some of these. And you’ve got to be pure and holy.

    In summary, God is showing to us in this chapter 15 that the saints of God that have the victory over the enemies of Christ will be taken out to stand before God, before the wrath is poured on the earth. There will be a resurrection of those who are dead and a translation, as apostle Paul wrote.  (1Thes. 4: 13)  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.”

 And this message is very useful for  believers at the end time because there will be a lot of persecution.  People will be arrested, killed; anti-Christ will mark the world, and those who do not receive the mark because they believed the word of God will be arrested, and beheaded for the name of Christ. In those days people will be mourning for many people that are persecuted and are killed; but apostle Paul said don’t sorrow like the world because we have a hope. 

V. 14:  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

 That is, no matter how they sleep or died by natural cause or crucified, killed by the anti-Christ, they will rise again.

V 15:  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:  and 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 

He said we should comfort one another; there is going to be a glorification of mankind. Some will live and never die, and we believe that this is the generation that will be alive until that time. And those who are dead will be resurrected, caught up together with us that are alive to go meet the Lord in the air. I did not write this, it was written by apostle Paul.   It was revealed to him by God, that there would be a glorification of mankind at the end of time.  And we believe this is the end of time when this is going to take place.  

     Whatever is taking place now is still the wrath of the Devil. And whatever is going to take place as persecution against the believers is still part of the wrath of the Devil. But those that are in Christ have overcome the world.  The Lord Jesus said, “because I live, ye shall live also.” You’ve got to believe it and walk with Jesus Christ and look up because your redemption draweth nigh. And you’ve got to look unto him right now because the bible says “unto those that look for him will He appear the second time without sin unto salvation”.  (Heb.9: 26).

Are you looking up for Jesus?  For this rapture will take place and those who are ready will go and meet Jesus in the air, before the wrath of God is poured upon the earth. You must make yourself pure because the bible says he that has this hope in him, purifies himself as he is pure. Cut away all those ungodliness.  Set your affection on things above and not on things on the earth.  Let your mind be on Jesus and not on money, nor politics, and neither on the things of the world.   The Lord is coming soon; the bride- groom is coming to take the bride home.  Are you one of his brides?  If not, pray right now, and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

 

 

Bro. Julius Adewumi

Gospel Distribution Ministry

 

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www.GOSPELDISTRIBUTION.ORG

 

Email:   webmaster@gospeldistribution.org

 

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I want to thank those that have been sending offering to this ministry.  Your investment and mine send the literature to believers and send the word on radio.  That is one sure way we can send our money ahead of us to heaven.  The Lord said: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Mat. 6: 19-21).  "For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out."  (1Tim. 6: 7).