Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 14:15

"And another angel came out from the temple, crying with a great voice to him that sat on the cloud, Send forth thy sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe." — Revelation 14:15 (ASV)

After a brief pause to encourage the faithfulness of the saints, John returns to the theme of divine judgment on the world. He does this by first describing the judgment in terms of a harvest (vv.14–20) and then by the seven bowl plagues (chs. 15–16). John sees a white cloud and seated on it one resembling a human being (“a son of man”). He has a crown of gold and a sharp sickle, the main instrument of harvest. John clearly wishes to highlight this exalted human figure and his role in the final judgment. The question of the identity of the “son of man” is not unlike the problem of the identity of the rider of the white horse (6:1). The same words “like a son of man” are used of Jesus in 1:13. But some have noted the close association of the one “seated on the cloud” with the words “another angel” in v.15 and with “another angel... too” in v.17, the one who has a sharp sickle—implying that the former figure with the sickle was also an angel. Further, if the figure on the cloud is Jesus, how can we account for an angel giving a command to him to reap the earth (v.15)?

Though there are difficulties, there can be little question that the divine figure seated on the cloud must be associated, through Da 7:13–14, with the person of the Messiah under the title “a son of man.” Indeed, it is quite appropriate for John to use the term “Son of Man,” since in the Gospels that term is most frequently associated with the Messiah’s suffering and the glory of the Second Advent as well as with his right to judge the world (Matthew 26:64; see comment on Mk 8:31). Both themes are present in the context of Revelation. The imagery of Da 7, frequently used in this book, links the suffering people of God (“the saints”) to the Son of Man who sits in judgment over the kingdoms of the world. It should, of course, be remembered that this is a highly symbolic description of the final judgment.

The harvest is a typical OT figure used for divine judgment (Hosea 6:11; Joel 3:13), especially on Babylon (Jeremiah 51:33). Jesus also likens the final judgment to the harvest of the earth (Matthew 13:30, 39). He may use the instrumentality of angels or human beings, but it is his prerogative to put in the sickle. While this reaping may be the gathering of his elect from the earth (cf. Matthew 9:37–38; et al.), the context favors taking the harvest to be a reference not to salvation but to judgment.