I have found it fascinating in my study to discover that this nearly universal metaphor of death, the Grim Reaper, is actually found in Scripture. You won't believe in what book? Revelation, amazing, isn't it? Turn to Revelation then and let's find it together. Chapter 14, this is the place where the hood will be taken off, so to speak.
And the robe thrown aside, and mankind will discover too late. That the caricature of the Grim Reaper is in reality none other than Jesus Christ.
Sovereign Lord. Have you ever thought something like this? When I get to heaven, I want to ask God why he allowed me to be unjustly fired or I just can't wait to ask God why He allowed evil in the world. The truth is, when you get to heaven, you'll be so consumed with the glory of God that you won't be thinking about yourself. You'll be thinking about Him and praising Him.
I'm glad you've joined us today here on Wisdom for the Heart. For each one of us, death is inevitable. We need to be certain about where we're spending eternity.
So, here's Stephen Davey with a lesson he's calling. The Grim Reaper. One of the most recognizable figures of all time is simply. named The Grim Reaper. He's typically caricatured as a skeleton wearing a black robe, His face is nearly hidden by his hood.
His hands are mere bones, and you see them exposed as he raises that one particular possession of his, that scythe. or sickle. In the Western world, going all the way back to the medieval period, he often rode. Or was pictured as riding a pale horse, or was driven in an old coach pulled by pale white horses. You can trace the Grim Reaper all the way back to Rome.
In fact, even before then, through the mythologies of Greece, Kranos was supposedly the Grecian god, the original Grim Reaper. He was given a scythe or a sickle by his mother. as he had been held captive by his father inside of earth. And with that sickle he escaped and then killed his father. The trouble was, he became so fearful of his own life, he used that sickle on everyone who came near him.
Now, the character of the Grim Reaper developed through the centuries as one who actually just came to. take people away when their time was up. He supposedly had the power to determine death with the mere touch. of his sickle. It was he who led departed spirits to the afterworld.
In the occultic world, the Grim Reaper is actually the symbol. of death. He is universally held in some form or another. Eventually, everyone meets up with this hooded. agent of death.
One poet put it rather simply when he wrote, You can be a king Or a street sweeper. But everyone dances. with the grim reaper.
So, the world over attempts to mitigate their fear of this terminal. Touch. of the Grim Reaper. In one Wall Street Journal article I was given some time ago by a church member. It talked about some rather extravagant efforts.
on the part of a lot of people. in one particular country to try to avoid the concept. of death. It's the country of Madagascar. When you think of Madagascar, you think of animals escaping to go back and live there, right?
These are people who save up money. for years. and then, with that money, throw a party. They exhume the body of some departed loved one. Wrap them in a new shroud, and then introduce them to all of the people in their lives.
They pay dearly to cater food for hundreds of people who will come to these special events. This one particular man interviewed had more than a thousand come that he paid to feed. These departed family members come in nightmares to their living relatives, complaining that the tomb is cold. And if they loved them, they would let them out. in what they call a ceremony of turning the dead.
Now those who do this for their deceased relatives are assured that their departed loved ones will give them life and health and wealth and happiness. But if the dead are left neglected and cold in their tomb, they will bring unemployment, disease, and misery.
So these people are convinced that those who've died must be familiar with their lives in order to help them. And so they literally stroll through their towns, carrying their shrouded loved ones on their shoulders, showing their ancestors what's new, new buildings that have been built, new family members. They introduce them to children who've been born since they were placed in the tomb. They interviewed one Individual who'd become a Christian. And who refused to participate any longer?
He stated that he no longer believed that the departed dead were even interested in a party. And that they certainly couldn't respond with gratitude, having been brought from their tombs for this revelry, for his disbelief, he and many other believers. are often disowned. I found it interesting. that in the nineteenth century The queen of this country ordered her soldiers to push all converts to Christianity off.
the nearby cliffs. Which they did. And today much of their religion is bondage. And fear. of dying.
This article added that people in this country try to lead a good life so that they will not be forgotten by their families when they die, and so they live in such a way that they themselves will be brought out of their tombs one day to party with the families of their own in the light of day. How tragic is that? But this is their way to somehow avoid the touch. of the Grim Reaper to mitigate that touch. Reminds me of the terrible reality of life after death for those who don't know Christ, revealed for us in Luke 16 by the Lord, who spoke of the man in torment as he begged for a drop of water to touch his tongue.
And when he was refused, he said, Please send somebody back to my family and warn them of this place. He was refused that as well, of course. Listen, if these Shrouded skeletons in Madagascar could actually speak to the revelers at their party. They would not be promising them wealth and happiness. They would be warning them of this place yet to come.
The Grim Reaper is nothing to celebrate. For the believer This is the assurance. We do not fear some grim reaper. For to be absent from the body is to be present with whom? The Lord, 2 Corinthians 5:8, there is the immediate translation of the spirit, the immaterial part of you, which is really you.
To heaven, to be with Christ. Our bodies go in the grave to decay, but there will be a coming, a resurrection where our bodies will be instantly recreated and glorified, reunited with our spirits that have been enjoying the presence of Christ in that glorified, immortal state to enjoy the kingdom and the eternal state of the new heaven and the new earth. 1 Corinthians 15.
Now, just where did mankind? Get this universal concept. of a Grim Reaper. From the truth of God. Written on their hearts, Romans chapter 2, verse 5.
Mankind knows, well, that ever having read that it is appointed unto man to die. And after that, something. The Bible clearly states it is the judgment.
So, mankind, because he has this intuitive sense that something's happening and they may not be ready for it, and it may not be very good. They come up with religious escape hatches and spiritual loopholes to try and bring some comfort. Maybe we'll bring the bones out of the grave and we'll consider them still alive. They're really not in any place, really. Maybe we'll bury the bones in a beautiful tomb in a church graveyard.
Or maybe we'll bury them inside the church. There's an idea.
So you go to the cathedrals of Europe and Faraway places, and notice they are nothing more than indoor graveyards for the wealthy and the politically connected. Poor people are buried outside. At least they're close. Or perhaps their bones are kept in some underground vault. At least you're near the church.
I have walked through the corridors underneath St. Stephen's Cathedral in. Vienna, Austria, were so Many religious leaders lie in caskets on shelves of stone and plaster. The names and the dates of religious leaders are there on the caskets, and you can walk. down hallways and see them.
I've stood by The caskets of religious leaders and whose burial dates corresponded with the ministry of Martin Luther, the monk who attempted to reform the church. And that Reformation threw Austria and everywhere else into an uproar. I have stood in underground St. Stephen's vault before the casket of the bishop who served Vienna, led it during Martin Luther's ministry, and I stood there and couldn't help but wonder. Because he had indeed heard.
Had he believed? that the just shall live, By faith. I hoped he had. I looked at all the bones. stacked inside these underground vaults, many of them having died in the bubonic plague of 1735.
They would have considered it a privilege to have their bones stacked underground. You're close. You're close to the altar. In the basement, but no matter, it's safe. But upstairs, to be buried in the floor of the cathedral nearest the altar, that's even safer.
And so Inside the church of St. Stephen's are the tombs of kings and princes. and the remains of members of royal dynasties. The well connected. The wealthy.
Hoping.
somehow. they could soften the touch. of the Grim Reaper. A few years ago, A movie came out called A Bucket List. I read it was about two terminal ill men.
I didn't go see it. But it was played by Two men, one Jack Nicholson, and the other Morgan Freeman. They take a road trip together to do the things they always said they'd want to do before they kick the bucket. And Nicholson was interviewed by Parade magazine before the movie came out and and asked about his personal beliefs, and I found these. Quite sad.
He said, Well, I used to live so freely. I said, Hey, you can have whatever rules you want, so I'm going to have mine. I'll accept the guilt. I'll pay the check. I'll do the time.
Sounds brave, doesn't it? He said, I chose my own way. But as I've gotten older, I've had to adjust. Don't we all When we get older. Begin to think a little differently.
He said, we all want to go on forever, don't we? But we fear the unknown. And everybody goes to that wall. Yet nobody knows. What's on the other side?
Nothing could be further. From the truth. We have been told what's on the other side. of death. I have found it fascinating in my study to discover that this nearly universal metaphor of death, the grim reaper, is actually found in Scripture.
You won't believe in what book? Revelation. Amazing, isn't it? Turn to Revelation then and let's find it together. Chapter 14, this is the place where the hood will be taken off, so to speak.
And the robe thrown aside, and mankind will discover too late. That the caricature of the Grim Reaper is in reality none other than Jesus Christ.
Sovereign Lord. Now, before we dive into the particulars, John previews for us what is going to happen in the latter months of the Great Tribulation. John will refer to the coming of Christ, and he'll use the metaphor of two different homes. Harvests. that take place by reapers.
Two different metaphors are used for the reaping of God's judgment on earth. One is a harvest of grain. That's verses 14 to 16. The other is what we could call the harvest of grapes. That's verses 17 to 20.
Now the harvest of grain is an overview of the coming bowls of wrath that are poured out in the last cataclysmic acts of judgment upon earth. The harvest of grapes Is an overview of the Battle of Armageddon. Where the final battle is fought as Christ returns to establish his earthly reign. For 1,000 years. Both harvests include a sickle.
Both harvests involve reaping. The detailed accounts of these two Harvests are given to us in chapters 16 through 19. John's just giving us an overview, a preview of things to come. In these two chapters, chapters 14 and 15. Let's look at the first reaping that takes place in this harvest of grain.
Revelation chapter 14, verse 14. Then I looked. and behold, a white cloud. And sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man. having a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle, in his hand.
Ladies and gentlemen, here is the genuine Grim Reaper. Here is that intuitively known nightmare of mankind returning in living color. This is no cartoon. This is no joke. This is real.
This reaper is Jesus Christ.
Now we're told and immediately arrested by several. Descriptive phrases. John writes, Then I looked, and behold, that's his way of saying, and can you believe it? Wow. A white cloud.
Sitting on the cloud was one. like a son of man.
Now, this is more than a A fluffy cloud. This is referring to more than a fluffy cumulonimbus or maybe even a nimbostratus. I had to look that up, so hold your applause, okay? I had to practice saying it just right. I'm glad it came out the third time just right.
This is more than those fluffy white clouds we think of. The word cloud is very significant. In the Bible, and you can trace References to clouds and the appearance or the power. of God. There's the cloud of Of God's Shekinah glory that is referenced.
In fact, it's here in Revelation chapter 14, verse 14. This is the brilliant display of God's glory, and this cloud just sort of follows the Lord from eternity to eternity. And you find them tracking, as it were, surrounded by the Shekinah brilliance, referred to as a cloud from Old to New Testament. This is the cloud that Reference God's presence as it led the Israelites in their wandering through the wilderness in Exodus 13. This is the same cloud that appeared when Moses was given the law on Mount Sinai, beginning in Exodus chapter 19.
This is the cloud that covered the Lord when he came to speak to Moses after Moses selected the 70 elders in Numbers 11. This is the cloud of glory that filled the temple when it was completed. 1 Kings chapter 8 reads that the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. This is more than fluffy vapor.
This is a reference to the Shekinah glory of our sovereign God. In fact, when Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, as she, a virgin, conceived by the power of God, A.T. Robertson, the noted Greek scholar, said that these words suggest that she was overshadowed by this cloud of glory encircling her, representing the presence and power of God. God. This is the same cloud that received Christ as he ascended into the heavens, Acts chapter 1.
This is the Shekinah glory that knocked Saul off his horse. Causing blindness as he raced toward Damascus to find and persecute more Christians. These are the clouds of Shekinah glory that envelops the church. As she is raptured to meet the Lord in the clouds, in the air. That is the very presence of the glory of God.
unbelievable brilliance, perhaps seen only by us. as we're raptured. These are the clouds of Shekinah glory that That Daniel spoke of, where a son of man, which is a reference to the Messiah, will return with the clouds. Of heaven. Daniel 7:13.
In other words, he's going to return one day to earth with a display of divine brilliance. And Splendor. Jesus Christ said of himself in Luke chapter 21, they shall see the Son of Man coming in the cloud. of great glory.
So, picture in your mind this is brilliant light displayed to all, speaking of the full and glorious deity. Of our Lord Christ.
So here He comes, which, by the way, Means we're there with them. This is your future, your reading. We're not just floating on some fluffy cloud. This is a reference to the fact that when we return with Christ to set up his kingdom, we're going to be surrounded by the brilliant light and incredible splendor of our sovereign's glory. We're in here.
This is our future experience.
Now you may have wondered as I read Certainly struck my mind why John would write a son of man instead of the.
Son of man in verse 14. I believe it's more than likely to strengthen the connection of his statement with the prophecy of Daniel, where Daniel refers to a son of man, a messianic title.
So, John refers to him this way. In fact, there's no question in Daniel 7 who this is. Nor is there any question in Revelation chapter 14, John will also use the expression a son of man in chapter 1 of Revelation, and there's no question he's talking about the second person of the Godhead, our Lord, living Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, notice the next phrase here in verse 14. We're told this Son of Man has a golden crown on his head.
The crown is The Greek word is stephanos. It was a crown given to conquerors. Those who were victorious, it was given to athletes. It was just a simple wreath. It would be given to those who were victorious soldiers.
A general returning in victory would wear a stephanos. Later on in chapter 19 of Revelation, that word will be changed from stephanos to diadema, which gives us our word. diadem. It's the crown of the monarch.
So Christ is coming here back to reign, and he's coming, and in his initial coming, he's announcing his victory. He is the victorious general. And a battle will ensue for just a brief moment in human history. Later, he will sit on David's throne as the monarch, the king of kings, and the lord of lords. And by the way, before we go any further.
Here in this text, you are reading for the last time. Any reference to Jesus Christ. As the Son of Man. This is it. The Lord often used this phrase.
In fact, it was his preferred title as he would emphasize his full humanity. And yet his messianic title referring to his full deity, he God incarnate, had come as God's anointed. But here in Revelation 14, verse 14, this is the last time you hear this title used. I think it's interesting. The first time we ever saw this title is in Matthew 8, verse 20, where we're told that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
In other words, he owns nothing. And now, in this last time the title is used, we're told he owns. Everything. He's coming to claim the world as his own. He, God incarnate.
The Son of Man. The Messiah. The embodiment of deity. Got a knock on the door. Two Jehovah's Witnesses came and interrupted my study of this very text.
It's perfect timing. I just wouldn't let him go either. I got to practice. I need to practice. Man, they pulled, their friends pulled up, waited.
They three times, we really thank you, sir. We really need to leave. No, you stay right there. I'm not done yet. Finally cut them loose.
They were happy to leave. The first time Jesus Christ came. He came in poverty. The second time he comes. It comes in power.
But don't miss it. The first time the Son of Man appears on the scene, he comes as a sower.
Now He comes. as a reaper. In divine judgment, and he will come wrapped in the Shekinah glory of his own deity. displaying the fullness of the Godhead.
Now, just as we've seen many events take place on earth during these days, signaled by some announcement by an angel who sort of pulls the trigger.
So an angel pulls the trigger, so to speak, on Christ's judgment of earth. Look at verse 15. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, put in your sickle and reap. For the hour to reap has come. Because the harvest of the earth is ripe.
And he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was. reaped.
Now in these bowls not all unbelievers die. In fact, uh There will be Those who will be separated as tares from the wheat, In the judgment. following this period of time. But this will be great devastation. In fact, I agree with one author who wrote that this phrase, the earth was reaped, is one of the most tragic and sobering statements in all of Scripture.
where the mercy of God is finished, so to speak. Described later on for us in the book of Revelation. In these bowls of judgment, chapter 16 will tell us that as the earth is reaped, what actually happens is you have terrible, malignant sores breaking out on the bodies of those who follow the Antichrist. Verse 2. Oceans will turn to blood, and every remaining living sea creature will die, verse 3.
Rivers and springs of water will also turn to blood, verse 4. The sun's heat will intensify, which leads me to say there will be global warming. In case you're wondering. And it will be a time of, in fact, terrifying judgment. Verse 8.
The world of the Antichrist will be plunged into darkness. Verse 10. Finally, the Euphrates River will dry up to prepare the way for millions of soldiers and armies to march against little Israel. in this battle. We call the Battle of Armageddon.
Listen, the Grim Reaper. Of mythology and legend is nothing compared to the divine reaper. who comes in judgment. And the warning is clear to all of us today. Believe in the gospel, believe in this one while he is still redeemer.
So you never fear him as reaper. He fully man, yet fully God. You come in humble faith. to this Lord while he is a gracious redeemer. You never fear living through these days when you see him.
as the Grim Reaper. In addition to being our daily Bible teacher, Stephen is also the pastor of a church in Cary, North Carolina, and he's the president of Shepherd's Theological Seminary. How would your life be impacted if you set aside one year to study God's Word, Experience authentic community. grow in discipleship. Take a trip to do some study in Israel and earn your master's degree in theological studies all in one year.
Stephen, and the world-class faculty are eager to invest in you. Learn more at shepherds.edu. As I said earlier, we'll conclude this lesson tomorrow.
So join us here on Wisdom for the Heart.
