Revelation 14:15

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) And another angel . . .—Translate, And another angel came forth out of the temple, &c. It has been asked, “What harvest is this?” It is the gathering of the good seed, the full corn in the ear, into the celestial garner (Mark 4:26-29). The angel who announces that the harvest is ready comes forth from the Temple, the inner shrine, the holy place which was measured off in the sanctuary of the faithful (Revelation 11:1); whereas the angel who calls for the vintage comes forth from the altar (Revelation 14:18).

The angel cries—Put forth (or, send) thy sickle and reap, because the hour is come to reap, because the harvest of the earth is ripe (or, dried); the wheat stalks are dry, and the fields white for harvest (John 4:35). The sickle was put in: the earth was reaped.

THE VINTAGE.

There must be some difference between the vintage and the harvest. There is an autumn gladness about the harvest: there are tokens of judgment in the vintage. It is not the sharp sickle alone which is required: the winepress, the winepress of God’s wrath, is called into use. An angel from the Temple calls to the Son of man to reap the harvest: an angel from the altar calls to an angel from the Temple to gather in the vintage. The vintage symbolises a harvest of judgment; do not the words respecting Babylon (the wine of the wrath of her fornication, Revelation 14:8) come to the mind and confirm this? The angel rises from the altar, beneath which the murdered saints had cried, “How long?” and proclaims, “The vintage, the hour of vengeance, has come!” And it is not without significance that the angel to whom this cry is addressed comes forth out of the Temple, the safe sanctuary of God’s faithful ones, as one who has witnessed their secret sorrows and their sufferings, and is fitted “to recompense tribulation to the troublers of Israel” (2Thessalonians 1:6).

(17) And another angel . . .—Translate, And another angel, . . . having himself also (as well as the Son of man, Revelation 14:14) a sharp sickle.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:14-20 Warnings and judgments not having produced reformation, the sins of the nations are filled up, and they become ripe for judgments, represented by a harvest, an emblem which is used to signify the gathering of the righteous, when ripe for heaven, by the mercy of God. The harvest time is when the corn is ripe; when the believers are ripe for heaven, then the wheat of the earth shall be gathered into Christ's garner. And by a vintage. The enemies of Christ and his church are not destroyed, till by their sin they are ripe for ruin, and then he will spare them no longer. The wine-press is the wrath of God, some terrible calamity, probably the sword, shedding the blood of the wicked. The patience of God towards sinners, is the greatest miracle in the world; but, though lasting, it will not be everlasting; and ripeness in sin is a sure proof of judgment at hand.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And another angel - The fourth in order, Revelation 14:6, Revelation 14:8-9.

Came out of the temple - See the notes on Revelation 11:19. Came, as it were, from the immediate presence of God; for the temple was regarded as his unique dwelling-place.

Crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud - To the Messiah, Revelation 14:14. That is, the command was borne directly from God by the angel to the Messiah, to go forth and reap the great harvest of the world. It is not a command of the angel, but a command from God the Father to the Son. This is in accordance with all the representations in the New Testament, that the Son, as Messiah or Redeemer, is subordinate to the Father, and performs the work which has been given him to do. See John 3:16-17; John 5:19; John 10:18; John 12:49; John 14:31. Compare the notes on Revelation 1:1.

Thrust in thy sickle, and reap - Into the great harvest of the world.

For the time is come for thee to reap - That is, "the harvest which thou art to reap is ripe; the seed which thou hast sown has grown up; the earth which thou hast cultivated has produced this golden grain, and it is fit that thou shouldst now gather it in." This language is appropriately addressed to the Son of God, for all the fruits of righteousness on the earth may be regarded as the result of his culture.

For the harvest of the earth is ripe - The "harvest" in reference to the righteous - fruit of the good seed sown by the Saviour and his apostles and ministers. The time alluded to here is the end of the world, when the affairs of earth shall be about to he wound up. The design is to state that the Redeemer will then gather in a great and glorious harvest, and by this assurance to sustain the hearts of his people in times of trial and persecution.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. Thrust in—Greek, "Send." The angel does not command the "Son of man" (Re 14:14), but is the mere messenger announcing to the Son the will of God the Father, in whose hands are kept the times and the seasons.

thy sickle—alluding to Mr 4:29, where also it is "sendeth the sickle." The Son sends His sickle-bearing angel to reap the righteous when fully ripe.

harvest—the harvest crop. By the harvest-reaping the elect righteous are gathered out; by the vintage the Antichristian offenders are removed out of the earth, the scene of Christ's coming kingdom. The Son of man Himself, with a golden crown, is introduced in the harvest-gathering of the elect, a mere angel in the vintage (Re 14:18-20).

is ripe—literally, "is dried." Ripe for glory.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Most interpreters understand this of the prayers of God’s people, from the church, soliciting the Lord Jesus Christ (say some) to gather in the Jews, or the number of his elect, the fields being now white to that harvest, (as Christ useth the metaphor of the Samaritans, John 4:35), or, (as others say, with whom I rather agree), to execute vengeance on antichrist and his adherents.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And another angel came out of the temple,.... Not the Holy Spirit, who, being God omniscient, knows the day and hour of judgment, which is a secret to men and angels, as Napier thinks; since though he dwells in the church as his temple, yet is never called an angel; nor does this angel represent the souls under the altar, who come out from thence, and importunately desire vengeance on the inhabitants of the earth, the worshippers of the beast, who had shed their blood; but rather the mighty angels who shall descend from heaven with Christ, and who shall be employed by him as reapers, to gather in his elect from the four winds, as well as to bind up the tares in bundles, and burn them; unless a set of Gospel ministers, as before, should be intended, who either by divine revelation, or by the signs of the time being come, and observed by them, will know that the harvest, or end of the world, is come; since this angel is said to come out of the temple, the church, which had been measured, and was now opened in heaven, and from whence angels are said to come, Revelation 11:1

crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud: as the first and third angels did, Revelation 14:7 denoting great vehemence and importunity: thrust in thy sickle, and reap: which being spoken by an inferior angel, whether this designs the ministering spirits, or preachers of the word, must be understood not as commanding, nor even directing what should be done, but as beseeching and entreating: see Psalm 132:8. Dr. Lightfoot thinks, and not without reason, that there is here some allusion to the putting in of the sickle, and reaping the first corn in Judea, at the feast of the passover, by the order of the sanhedrim, which sat in the temple; nor did any reap till they had the word given them, "reap", by the messengers of the court, called , "the angels", or messengers "of the sanhedrim": to whom the reaper said, shall I reap? and they say to him, (a), "reap": the reasons follow:

for the time is come for thee to reap; the time of the end of the world, and of the judgment of it, which is fixed by God; and of Christ's coming to judge both quick and dead, and of the first resurrection, or the resurrection of the saints:

for the harvest of the earth is ripe: the measure of the sins of wicked men will now be filled up, and the afflictions of the saints will be accomplished in them, and the number of God's elect will be completed in the effectual calling; they will be all called, and so things will be ripe for the second coming of Christ. There seems to be some reference to Joel 3:13 "put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe": the Jewish doctors ask (b), to whom is this said? R. Phineas, in the name of R. Hilkiah, says, "to the angels"; so the mighty ones, in Revelation 14:11 are by Kimchi interpreted of the angels.

(a) Misn. Menachot, c. 10. sect. 3.((b) Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 92. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

{13} 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.

(13) Christ gives a commandment in this verse, and the angel executes it in Re 14:16.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Revelation 14:15. ἄλλος ἄγγελος, as in Revelation 14:6. The alternatives are (a) to translate “another, an angel” (אחר מלאך) which might be the sense of the Greek (cf. Od. i. 132, Clem. Protrept. ix. 87. 3) but is harsh, or (b) to take the figure of Revelation 14:14 as an angel (Porter) and not as the messiah at all (which, in the face of Revelation 1:13, is difficult). The subordinate and colourless character of the messiah is certainly puzzling, and tells against the Christian authorship of the passage. Messiah is summoned to his task by an angel, and even his task is followed up by another angel’s more decisive interference. He seems an angelic figure (cf. on Revelation 19:17), perhaps primus interpares among the angels (so En. xlvi. 1: “and I saw another being [i.e., the Son of Man] whose countenance had the appearance of a man, and his face was full of graciousness, like one of the holy angels”). The conception was inconsistent with John’s high Christology, but he may have retained it, like so much else, for its poetic effect, or as part of a time-honoured apocalyptic tradition. That the messiah should receive divine instructions through one of his comrades (Hebrews 1:6; Hebrews 1:9; cf. Zechariah 2:3-4) was perhaps not stranger than that he should require an angel in order to communicate with men (Revelation 1:1). πέμψον κ.τ.λ. The double figure of judgment (harvest and vintage) is copied from the poetic parallelism of Joel 3:13; the independent rendering of שׁלח by πέμψον and ἔβαλεν, and the change of agent from messiah (Revelation 14:14-16) to an angel (Revelation 14:17-20, so Matthew 13:39 f.), show that the writer is using the Hebrew of that passage (where God does the reaping).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. another angel] It is probably not relevant to argue that in classical Greek this would not necessarily imply that the previously named Person is an Angel, even if “another” is meant to distinguish the Angel from Him. But comparing Revelation 14:6, it appears that the angel may be called “another” simply to distinguish him from those of Revelation 14:6; Revelation 14:8-9 : and then no inference whatever can be drawn as to the figure of Revelation 14:14.

out of the temple] See Revelation 11:19, and note on Revelation 4:6.

Thrust in] Lit. send, as in St Mark 4:29, where “putteth in” should be “sendeth forth” (the Greek word is not the same as here, but there is hardly any difference in sense). It may be implied, that the Son of Man does not reap Himself—cf. St Matthew 24:31. See on the next verse.

is ripe] Lit. is dried; hence R. V. “is over-ripe”; possibly a more literal translation than St Mark’s, l.c., of our Lord’s words in the parable, to which there is probably a reference.

Bengel's Gnomen

Revelation 14:15.[168] Τῆς γῆς, of the earth) Thus also Revelation 14:18, in the vintage. The earth is not here used in contradistinction to the sea: but yet the amplitude of this word is restricted in Revelation 14:20 by the city.

[168] ἐξηράνθη, is dried) having attained to ripeness, in a good sense, for reaping. Matters at the present day reach very close to this point; and the things which remain scarcely admit of further increase.—V. g.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud; another angel; in addition to those already mentioned, not implying that he who sat on the cloud was an angel. Out of the temple, or shrine (ναός); the inner sanctuary of God (cf. Revelation 7:15). The angel acts as the messenger of the will of God to Christ in his capacity of Son of man, because the command is one concerning the times and seasons which the Father hath kept in his own power (Alford). The characteristic "loud voice" (see on vers. 7, 9, etc.). Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe; send forth thy sickle and reap: for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is over ripe (Revised Version). Over ripe, or dried; that is, as Alford explains, perfectly ripe, so that the stalk is dry, the moisture having been lost. Revelation 14:15

Vincent's Word Studies

Thrust in (πέμψον)

Lit., send. Rev., send forth.

Harvest (θερισμὸς)

See on Luke 10:2.

Is ripe (ἐξηράνθη)

Lit., was dried. Compare Mark 11:20; John 15:6. Rev., is over-ripe.