Apocalypse Rising: 21f Other Prophetic Allusions of the Great Tribulation

The two harvests

In Revelation 14:14-20, we are presented with the descriptions of two harvests, using appropriate agricultural motifs. These two descriptions do not refer to the same harvest, but to the ‘harvests’ of two different groups of people on earth.

In the first harvest, the Lord Jesus himself is described as harvesting the earth. This is evidently therefore a harvest of believers into the kingdom of God:

‘I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man” with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.’ (Rev. 14:14-16)

By contrast, the second harvest is evidently one of judgement, a harvest therefore of unbelievers unto death:

‘Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.’ (Rev. 14:17-20)

Perhaps naturally, many commentators link these two harvests with those described in the parable of the wheat and tares. In this parable, the harvest represents the end of the age, the wheat represents believers, and the tares represent unbelievers (Matt. 13:24-30,36-43). However, we should be careful to note that, strictly speaking, the context of this passage in Revelation 14:14-20 about the two harvests is that of the seventh trumpet. So this passage should really be interpreted in terms of its fulfilment in the Great Tribulation.

Doing this would then mean that the first harvest represents the end-time harvest of all those who have become believers in the post-rapture period and up to the Second Advent of Christ at the end of the Great Tribulation. I have made it clear that many people, particularly amongst the Jews, will get saved after the rapture. Some of these will be protected during the Great Tribulation, others will be tested and refined, and yet others will be martyred for their faith, as we have seen. All these together constitute this end-times harvest of souls into the kingdom of God.

However, I do not believe that this first harvest of vv.14-16 represents a rapture of believers sometime during the Great Tribulation, as some commentators suggest. Although the language used (of Jesus being sat on the clouds in the air) does seem to bear a passing similarity to that of the rapture, the Scriptures indicate that those who come to faith after the rapture remain on the earth. They themselves are not raptured: they go through the end-period of this age and are either protected, tested and refined, or martyred. There is only one rapture, the rapture of the bride of Christ, and this takes place during the time of the sixth seal before the end-time wrath of God begins.

In contrast with this, as we can see from the description in vv.17-20, the second harvest is a harvest of judgement on earth. These people are evidently the objects of God’s wrath. Again, although some suggest that we should identify this generally with the harvest of the tares in Matthew 13:24-30, strictly speaking it should be interpreted in terms of the Great Tribulation. The grape harvest took place in the seventh month at the end of summer. The motif of grapes being gathered and then crushed in the winepress of God’s wrath is one which occurs repeatedly in passages which are prophetic of the battle of Ha Megiddo when Jesus returns at the very end of the Great Tribulation to conquer and defeat Antichrist:

‘He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of Almighty God.’ (Rev. 19:15)

‘Let the nations be aroused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow – so great is their wickedness!’ (Joel 3:12-13)

‘Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath…”’ (Isa. 63:2-3)

Furthermore, the mention in Revelation 14:20 of the city and the distance of 1,600 stadia (which is approximately 184 miles / 298 kilometres) also link this passage with Jerusalem and Israel. Some commentators note that the distance mentioned, in round figures, is approximately that of the length of ancient Israel (as measured from Dan to Beersheba). This suggests therefore that the forces of Antichrist the Beast will be utterly and completely routed throughout the entire length and breadth of Israel when Jesus returns at his Second Advent, bringing final and complete deliverance to the land and his believing people.

Satan’s rage and the wrath of God

In chapter 3, I explained briefly that there are several different viewpoints regarding the timing of the rapture. One of these is called ‘the pre-wrath’ view and it has become increasingly popular in recent times. However, because it is faulty, and because of how it views Satan’s rage vis-à-vis God’s wrath during the Great Tribulation, it would be appropriate and helpful to the reader to deal with it at this point.

The so-called pre-wrath view of the rapture equates the time of God’s wrath with the outpouring of the seven bowls of wrath, which most commentators agree will begin about two-thirds or so of the way through the Great Tribulation. According to this viewpoint, the part of the Great Tribulation before this, is called the time of Satan’s rage. So, because proponents of this view accept that the bride of Christ will not go through the wrath of God, some of them identify the rapture with the first harvest described in Revelation 14:14-16, and they place its timing at just prior to the seven bowls of wrath, as Figure 21.2 below shows:

Figure 21.2 The pre-wrath view: a faulty understanding of the timing of the rapture

This pre-wrath view of the rapture is faulty on at least three counts:

· It fails to understand properly when God’s end-time wrath begins. The words of Revelation 15:1-2 are clear that the seven bowls of wrath bring to a culmination the wrath of God: ‘I saw… seven angels with the last seven plagues – last, because with them God’s wrath is completed.’ Therefore, the period of the end-times wrath of God must have begun before this. We are told in Revelation 6:16-17 during the time of the sixth seal that the time of God’s wrath had come. So the pouring out of the wrath of God begins with the seven trumpets. And because the bride of Christ cannot experience the wrath of God, she must therefore be raptured prior to this, during the time of the sixth seal. The bride of Christ may well have to endure human wrath and perhaps even Satan’s wrath towards her while she is still on planet earth, but she cannot be the object of God’s wrath. This is summed up in Figure 21.3 below:

Figure 21.3 The pre-tribulation view of the timing of the rapture presented in this book

· Furthermore, the pre-wrath view implies, and wrongly so, that the bride of Christ will have to go through the seven trumpets, to endure the rise and rule of Antichrist, to face the issues of worshipping or not the Beast and his image, and receiving or not the mark of the Beast, and also to experience Satan’s rage on planet earth. Presumably, according to this view, most if not all of the bride of Christ would therefore be martyred in the earlier part of the Great Tribulation, because they would refuse to worship the Beast or his mage, and they would not receive the mark. So this would leave precious few if any to get raptured.

And this view also implies that it is not the rapture that we would be looking forward to in the present time with joyful anticipation, but rather that we would probably be living in fear and anxiety every day about how we will face the reign of Antichrist with all that that entails. So the rapture is not an impending event that we can expect and look forward to. However, this is not what the Scriptures teach. The apostle Paul emphasised that Jesus will rescue us from the coming wrath, i.e. he will take us away from it before it begins (1 Thess. 1:10). And again, because the time of wrath begins with the seven trumpets, we must therefore be raptured during the time of the sixth seal.

· This pre-wrath view is wrong also because it dichotomizes between Satan’s rage and God’s wrath. It separates them as though they are two mutually exclusive things: in the Great Tribulation, first is the time of Satan’s rage, and then is the time of God’s wrath. However, Satan’s rage and God’s wrath are not mutually exclusive. Satan is a created being, and therefore his rage in the Great Tribulation is subsumed under, and therefore a part of, God’s wrath. The end-times day of the Lord, the period of the outpouring of God’s wrath, begins with the first four trumpets, and it culminates in the seven bowls of wrath. So Satan’s rage during the Great Tribulation is simply a part of the much longer overall period of God’s wrath. Satan’s rage is allowed by God to be released on earth during the Great Tribulation. His rage and fury are caused by his own realisation that his time is short, and so he then tries to do as much damage as possible to humankind and this world before he is finally thrown into the Abyss after the Second Advent of Christ (Rev. 12:12, 20:1-3).

The seven bowls of wrath

The culmination of the Great Tribulation will be the pouring out of the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the world. These are described in Revelation ch.16.

As we shall see, it is evident from the description of the first bowl that these bowls are poured out only sometime after the mark of the beast has been coerced upon people worldwide. So it is clear that these bowls of wrath will not therefore be poured out in the early part of the Great Tribulation. They represent the final outpouring on earth of God’s judgements and wrath, and many commentators agree therefore that they will probably be poured out in the latter stages of this 3½-year period. Then, immediately after they have all been poured out, at the end of the Great Tribulation, the Lord Jesus will return to earth in his Second Advent:

‘Immediately after the distress of those days… the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory…’ (Matt. 24:29-30)

Because there is so much that can be gained from a closer study of the seven bowls of wrath, this topic deserves a chapter of its own, and the following chapter is therefore dedicated to this.

The fall of Babylon the Great

‘A second angel followed and said, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.’ (Rev. 14:8)

Although a brief reference to the fall of Babylon the Great is made as early as this verse in Revelation 14:8, it is more of a prophetic summary announcement than anything else. The fall of Babylon the Great happens as part of the seventh bowl of wrath (Rev. 16:17-21), and the great prostitute and her fall are described in detail in Revelation chs.17-18. So I have dealt with this in the following chapter on the seven bowls of wrath. A spiritual contrast between Babylon the Great and the bride of Christ has already been drawn out in in the relevant chapter 10 of the first part of this book.

Regarding numbers and days

Believers are often confused or left nonplussed by the numbers that are mentioned in Daniel ch.12 and Revelation chs.11-13 with regard to Daniel’s seventieth week, the abomination of desolation, and the Great Tribulation. So this brief section will seek to give some clarity to this.

Firstly, that there are two halves to Daniel’s seventieth week which are of equal length (1,260 days) I have established above. This should be clear.

Secondly, the Great Tribulation begins after the abomination of desolation is set up, and it lasts for 1,260 days. That takes us to the Second Advent, of course. This also is clear. However, we are told that from the time when the abomination is set up, there will be 1,290 days, i.e. until the Second Advent:

‘From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.’ (Dan. 12:11)

So do we have a contradiction here between the 1,260 days and the 1,290 days?

Thirdly, the fact that the two halves of Daniel’s seventieth week are described to us separately in the context of two different trumpets, may well imply that there is a gap between the first half ending and the second half beginning. Believers often simply assume that the second half begins immediately after the first half ends, as in Figure 21.4 below:

Figure 21.4 The common way of viewing the two halves of the seventieth week

However, we are told that the Two Witnesses are killed at the end of their testimony, i.e. after 1,260 days, but then we are told that they are raised from the dead 3½ days later (Rev. 11:3,9,11). These 3½ days must therefore be between the first and second halves of the seventieth week. So there is certainly a time gap between the two different halves of the seventieth week.

Furthermore, the seeming incongruence between the figures of 1,260 and 1,290 days is resolved easily, when we consider that the abomination will be in place for 1,290 days and that it will evidently be destroyed at the Second Advent of Christ. Working backwards from the time of the Second Advent, the abomination must therefore be set up 30 days prior to the beginning of the second half of the seventieth week. Furthermore, Antichrist will only do this when he is free to do so, and so it must be when the Two Witnesses have ascended after the 3½ days and perhaps just prior to the earthquake, probably as an attempt by Antichrist to focus the world’s attention back on himself. This then gives a total gap of 33½ days between the two halves of the seventieth week. Several factors that would support this could be:

· It gives time for the people of the city and the surrounding area to recover somewhat from the earthquake that has hit it (Rev. 11:13). There is always a period of confusion after a major earthquake, the dead have to be buried, and survivors have to be located and dug out. The traditional Jewish period of mourning called ‘shloshim’ lasts for thirty days.

· It gives time for Antichrist to establish himself and his administration in the city of Jerusalem, and to liaise with the ten kings in order to cement together his worldwide rule.

· It gives some time for Jews who are fleeing from Judea and Jerusalem to escape (Matt. 24:15-20).

Fourthly, we are also told of another period of time, one of 1,335 days:

‘Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.’ (Dan. 12:12)

What is this period of 1,335 days? Obviously, it has to do with this same overall period of Daniel’s seventieth week, the abomination of desolation, and the Great Tribulation. But when does it begin, and when does it end? And why are those who wait for and reach the end of it blessed? What is this blessing?

My own suggestion is as follows. If we begin at the end of the first half of the seventieth week, and if we assume that the ‘long day’ of the Second Advent lasts for 1½ days (see chapter 23), and if we also posit a time gap of 40 days between the Second Advent of Christ and the actual commencement of his millennial reign, then we get the exact figure of 1,335 days which is mentioned in Daniel 12:12. This latter figure therefore takes us from the end of the first half of Daniel’s seventieth week right up to the commencement of the millennial reign of Christ. The millennial reign of Christ is the blessing that awaits all believers! Writing out and adding the numbers up in the following way helps us to grasp this:

3½ + 30 + 1,260 + 1½ + 40 = 1,335 days

That there should be such a transitional forty-day gap between the Second Advent of Christ and the actual commencement of his millennial reign is no surprise when we remember that there was also a similar gap of forty days between the resurrection and the ascension of Christ to his heavenly reign (Acts 1:3). Jesus will certainly not be starting his millennial reign the minute after Antichrist is defeated and thrown into the lake of fire! There will be a lot of reparation work to do in and around Jerusalem, and a lot of preparations to complete, if the descriptions of Ezekiel chs.40-44 are to be realised. Some commentators believe that the judgement of the nations will take place during this period of forty days (cf. Matt. 25:31-46).

Furthermore, if we calculate the total number of days from the beginning of Daniel’s seventieth week to the Second Advent of Christ, using this scenario, then another interesting fact emerges:

1,260 + 3½ + 30 + 1,260 + 1½ = 2,555 days = 365 days x 7

This is seven solar years.

So a simplistic view of Daniel’s seventieth week makes it 1,260 days + 1,260 days long, i.e. seven ‘times.’ However, this more developed scenario makes it exactly seven solar years long.

Figure 21.5 below sums up diagrammatically this scenario which I have suggested:

Figure 21.5 A diagrammatic summary of these numbers and days

A summary of the events of the seventh trumpet

Table 21.2 sums up briefly the events of the seventh trumpet:

The Seventh Trumpet – the Third Woe (cf. 11:14)

Rev. 11:15 – 14:20 and Rev. 17:7-14

The second half of Daniel’s 70^th week

This signals the end of delay (10:6).

The Great Tribulation. It begins after the abomination that causes desolation is set up (see end of previous chapter).

Satan and a third of the angels are cast down to earth.

The following events occur concurrently during this period of 3½ years

The worldwide system of Antichrist the Beast is established and rules for 3½ years.

The False Prophet sets up an image of Antichrist in the temple and demands that everyone worships him, on pain of death.

He also introduces the mark of the Beast to totally control people’s lives.

Satan knows that his time is short and is enraged. He makes his final attempt to annihilate the Jews prior to Christ’s return. God protects a remnant who flee the land and city. One third of all Jews in the land are saved, tested and refined.

The 144,000 are martyred (14:1-5).

The two harvests.

The seven bowls of God’s wrath are poured out (see the following chapter).

Table 21.2 A summary of the events of the seventh trumpet

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21f Other Prophetic Allusions of the Great Tribulation

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