<p>14:15 <em>And another angel came out from the temple, crying with a great voice to him that sat on the cloud: Send forth your sickle and reap. For the hour to reap comes. For the harvest of the earth is ripe</em>- The Lord Jesus reaps the harvest of the earth, what has been brought forth in spiritual fruit in the territory of the earth / land dominated by the beast. This is another explanation of how came about the opening scene of the 144,000 in :1. His emphasis is upon harvesting the good harvest; the second reaping of :18-20 is of the wicked. In the parable of Mt. 13:30, both the wheat and the tares are &quot;gathered&quot;, but to separate places.</p><p>The allusion is clearly to the judging of the inhabitants of the land of Israel once &ldquo;the iniquity of the Amorites was full&rdquo; (Gen. 15:16). And they refer to the non-Israelite inhabitants of the land promised to Abraham. The &quot;earth&quot; here is 'the land'- of Israel. There is to be a spiritual harvest of repentant Jews now accepting Christ. This is the 144,000 of :1 (see note there).&nbsp; The harvest is (Gk.)&nbsp; over-ripe. The second coming will be delayed; wickedness and spirituality will be ripe for judgment but it will be delayed to allow yet more to repent, such is the Lord's grace?.</p><p>Both the cross and the final judgment (Rev. 14:7,15) are described in John&rsquo;s writings as &lsquo;the hour coming&rsquo;; the parallel language indicates that he presents the cross as the essence of the judgment. Is. 53 speaks of the Lord as being &ldquo;bruised&quot; upon the cross. But Is. 42:4 had earlier used this language about Christ, saying that He would be bruised with the result that he would &ldquo;set judgment in the earth&quot; (RVmg.). His bruising thus set forth judgment to all. There was a <em>sedile</em> or seat affixed to the cross, on which the victim sat in order to get temporary relief. Thus some accounts of crucifixion describe the victim as mounting the cross as one would mount a horse. This would make the cross capable of interpretation as some kind of seat or throne. And significantly, there are men on the right hand and left of the Lord, one rejected, the other gloriously accepted. See on Jn. 19:13.</p>