“Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was what looked like a human being, with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out from the temple and cried out in a loud voice to the one who was sitting on the cloud, 'Use your sickle and reap the harvest, because the time has come; the earth is ripe for the harvest!' Then the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle on the earth, and the earth's harvest was reaped.”
— Revelation 14: 14-16
It’s the fulfillment of Matthew 24: 30 that says, “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky; and all the peoples of earth will weep as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
There is a white cloud for purity, a gold crown for authority, and a sickle for judgment. But don’t jump to conclusions, this first judgment is a harvest of the wheat — the people of God. So, there are two comings and now there are two judgments just as there are two sides to this story… the story of God’s people and the other story!
Comedian Yakov Smirnoff immigrated from Russia to America and talks a lot about the difference between the two countries. He admits he was totally unprepared for the variety of foods available in our grocery stores. Fresh meat and produce, canned goods of every kind, boxes of food, and things he’d never seen or even heard about in Russia.
The first time he visited a grocery store he saw some powdered milk; just imagine, you add water and get milk! It’s amazing! Then he saw powdered orange juice; you add water and get orange juice. It was unbelievable! And then he saw baby powder; what a country!
Someone who heard that story added “powdered Christians.” Many of us believe you go to church and add a little water in baptism and get an instant disciple, a saint of God. We call it instant sanctification and there is no such thing. Sanctification is the “growing up process” in the Christian faith.
It takes time to change your language, your actions, your habits, your attitudes, and your character. We’re not born adults, physically or spiritually; we’re born babies and over the years we grow up… and hopefully mature!
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga. With wife, Mary Ella, they are missionaries to the Navajo Reservation.
