By John Thiel, Third Angel’s Message, study 2, mp3

The shaking, the separating of the wheat and the tares, is part of the third angel’s message and of its work. As we explore the third angel’s message in Revelation 14, let us note in verses 9 and 10, and then 12 and 13, what the third angel is actually doing in his preaching.

Revelation 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

The angel is addressing a certain company of people, those who worship the beast and his image and who receive the mark in their forehead. They will receive the wrath of God.

Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed [are] the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

Here you see another class, a class that has the patience of the saints and that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. The third angel is actually qualifying two companies. He is identifying opposite companies in his presentation. He is actually exercising a selective influence in this message. The inhabitants of the earth are being segregated by his preaching – 1. Those are receiving the mark of the beast and 2. Those who are keeping the commandments of God.

Revelation 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud [one] sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

Immediately before the second advent, this is the work that the third angel is doing. He is segregating by his message a people. It is interesting to hear someone say, “The people who keep the commandments of God versus the people who receive the mark of the beast.” It indicates straight away a splitting of companies. What is declared in this message just prior to the coming of Jesus?

The Sinful Kingdom

Amos 9:8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD [are] upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. 9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as [corn] is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

At the time when the sinful kingdom is going to be destroyed from off the face of the earth, there is a sifting takes place. There is a separating, as corn is sifted in a sieve, but the comforting statement is that, not the least grain will fall on the ground. God will make sure that the grain is going to be kept for the garner.

According to what we are identifying in the third angel, the three angels’ messages relate to this very text of Amos 9:9. The very announcement of their messages is to do with the shaking, or the separating of God’s true people from those who are to be destroyed. He will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob. So if He is not going to utterly destroy the house of Jacob and He is going to destroy the sinful kingdom, then He is going to have to separate the ones that shouldn’t be destroyed. That is exactly what the third angel is saying, Anyone who is going to receive the mark of the beast and worship the beast and the image of the beast, is going to be destroyed, and here are the people that are not going to be destroyed.

Jesus gave a parable that leads us to a clear understanding of this event. It is very interesting that this message of the three angels has been preached for a while already, but very sadly, people don’t realize what it really involves. It’s all a sort of interesting subject, but to actually see it in application is what people don’t want to know, because this is actually segregating. It is actually separating.

Matthew 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

Then during the night the enemy came and sowed tares, and now the two have to grow together;

Matthew 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked [one]; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

People are being segregated. The company which is the tares is going to be burnt. The people that worship the beast and his image will be burnt. Let us qualify from the word of God how Matthew 13 is directly what the three angels’ messages are doing. First of all, He said in verse 39:

Matthew 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

The shallow reader usually reads this to mean that, Jesus is coming with His angels and the angels do the separating at the coming of Jesus. That is usually the way people read that. But let us find out what Jesus says about the segregation of the wicked and the righteous. It is at the time of the end. When Jesus said in the parable, The harvest is the end of the world, the people living at that time who understood Jesus, understood that the harvest wasn’t a one day event. They understood what the harvest was according to their method of harvesting.

It was a season in which the reapers went around with their sickles, and the whole fields were cut, and stooks were set up to dry in the summer heat. Those stooks would sit there for quite a period of time, and then they would be gathered in. They understood this, and Jesus used that parable to demonstrate the work in the end of the world.

The Time of the End

At the time of the end angels would be doing their work. In Revelation 10 we have an angel identifying the end. Daniel 12 is connected here with Revelation 10. Remember, the book of Daniel was closed till the time of the end.

Revelation 10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow [was] upon his head, and his face [was] as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: 2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and [his] left [foot] on the earth, … 5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, 6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:

This angel, while holding a book open, says, There is time no longer, it’s the end.

Revelation 10:8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go [and] take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take [it], and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. 10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. 11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

This book was to be eaten. This is of course very symbolic, because when you digest a book what do you do? You actually read it. The Reader’s Digest publishers understand this very well, which is why they call it the “Reader’s Digest”. Because people use the word, they eat those things written in there, they digest them. It is the same simile that God is using. The book that was to be opened when there would be time no longer, is to be eaten and studied and digested. And it will give a sweet sense to the people, the bliss of the end of the world, that Jesus is coming. So they expect Jesus to come, but there is a bitterness that strikes when they digest it because, No, you must prophesy again before many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. Your work isn’t over yet, even though it’s the time of the end. This angel that says that there is time no longer is also in Daniel 8.

Time No Longer

Daniel sees this vision:

Daniel 8:16 And I heard a man’s voice between [the banks of] Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this [man] to understand the vision. 17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end [shall be] the vision. 18 Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright. 19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end [shall be].

We are trying to understand the parable of Christ, The harvest is the end of the world. There is a time appointed when the end shall be. The angel Gabriel in Daniel 8 is going to explain, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation.

Daniel 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

The message of Revelation 14, proclaiming that the hour of God’s judgment is come, is given in the time of the end; and the angel of Revelation 10 is represented as having one foot on the sea and one foot on the land, showing that the message will be carried to distant lands, the ocean will be crossed, and the islands of the sea will hear the proclamation of the last message of warning to our world. {2SM 107.3}

This message announces the end of the prophetic periods. The disappointment of those who expected to see our Lord in 1844 was indeed bitter to those who had so ardently looked for His appearing. It was in the Lord’s order that this disappointment should come, and that hearts should be revealed. {2SM 108.1}

Not one cloud has fallen upon the church that God has not prepared for; not one opposing force has risen to counterwork the work of God but He has foreseen. All has taken place as He has predicted through His prophets. He has not left His church in darkness, forsaken, but has traced in prophetic declarations what would occur, and through His providence, acting in its appointed place in the world’s history, He has brought about that which His Holy Spirit inspired the prophets to foretell. {2SM 108.2}

In prophecy, what we are to expect in 1844 is that men will be traveling from all across the earth, so that this book that was closed is now open and everybody can hear about it. How true this is. In those times travel was beginning to take place because of the trade that was going on all across the world, but it has increased from that time to this point in time where everything goes across the world in huge speed, and everybody can hear it from one spot.

The book declaring that there is time no longer is the book of Daniel. It was closed unto 2300 days, then there would be the time of the end, as the angel said, I’m going to explain to you the end of the time. And chapter 12 says, Seal the book until that time. In this time of the end, from 1844 onwards, we would then expect according to Jesus’ parable of the harvest that the angels would be sent forth to gather the wicked from among the good.

The Three Angels

The three angels are reapers in the time of the end. They are doing the reaping. How are they reaping? In Hebrews 4:12 we see what the preaching of the word does. As the first angel was preaching, he was preaching the everlasting gospel and he announced that the hour of God’s judgment is come. What was he doing as he was preaching?

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The First Angel

As the first angel was preaching his message, it was cutting. Like a sickle, it was cutting the harvest of the earth. The people were being cut to the core. As the message proceeds it identifies the pure truth, and it identifies how the heart reacts to it. As we have studied it already, a large number of people rejected that message, while others accepted it. That was the cutting. As it is written in Revelation 10:11, You must go and prophesy again to many nations, and peoples and tongues. The first angel is actually doing the cutting. He is harvesting, he is cutting the people with the message.

The Second Angel

The second angel follows. Revelation 14:8 says, Babylon is fallen. Straight away this second reaper is identifying the Babylonish people: they are rejecting the message. By rejecting the first angel’s message the denominational churches were falling in the direction of the tares, through the cutting of the first angel’s message. The second angel is identifying the tares and putting them to one side.

The Third Angel

Then comes the third reaper. What does he do? He identifies those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark, and he says, You are going to burn, and then he says, Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. That is the third angel. He is identifying the wheat and the tares. The angel is binding the bundles for the heavenly garner and gathering the tares to burn. This is what Revelation 7 identifies:

Revelation 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

That is what we saw in Amos 9:8, God is going to destroy the sinful kingdom. But before that happens, this is what goes on:

Revelation 7:2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

“Till we have sealed”, not, “I”, till “we”. Here are a people who have to be bound and sealed before the world is destroyed.

The 144,000 in Bundles

Revelation 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: [and there were] sealed an hundred [and] forty [and] four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

The tribes of Israel are bundled, the 144,000. That takes us directly to Revelation 14, because at the beginning of Revelation 14, at the beginning of the three angels’ messages, here they are, the 144,000:

Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty [and] four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. … 5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

This is the wheat in the last days.

The Tares

Verse 8 is the second angel, Babylon is fallen, and verse 9 is the third angel:

Revelation 14:9 … If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

These are the tares. There are the 144,000 and the tares. The angel is going to separate the tares from among God’s people.

This is also written in Ezekiel 9. Here you have a scenario of God speaking in reference to the wicked of Israel and these men with their slaughtering weapons in their hands, and as they are sent forth to slaughter there is another man in verse 2 with a writer’s inkhorn by his side:

Ezekiel 9:2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them [was] clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar. 3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which [had] the writer’s inkhorn by his side; 4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: 6 Slay utterly old [and] young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom [is] the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which [were] before the house.

Here you have the same situation only put in a different way. God’s people are being marked so that they will not be destroyed. God’s people are being bound in bundles so that they will not be destroyed, while the wicked are bound in bundles to be destroyed.

Having received this outline from the Bible, and observed from the angels and from the prophecies that this is the harvest time, that this is the sealing of the wheat and the tares, the separating of them, and that the third angel is doing that, is it correct what we are doing here? Let us check from the words of Inspiration. E. G. White saw in her vision the whole world going to destruction:

I asked the angel if there were none left. He bade me look in an opposite direction, and I saw a little company travelling a narrow pathway. All seemed to be firmly united, bound together by the truth, in bundles, or companies. {EW 88.3}

What were the angels doing? They were binding in bundles, companies bound together by the preaching of the truth.

Said the angel, “The third angel is binding, or sealing, them in bundles for the heavenly garner.” {EW 88.3}

The third angel is the one that is binding them in bundles for the heavenly garner.

I then saw the third angel. Said my accompanying angel, “Fearful is his work. Awful is his mission. He is the angel that is to select the wheat from the tares, and seal, or bind, the wheat for the heavenly garner. These things should engross the whole mind, the whole attention.” {EW 118.1}

Here is the powerful reality of Biblical truth: Ever since 1844, the angel came to do his work. He is doing this amazing work. Awful is his mission. Fearful is his work. He is selecting the wheat from the tares, and he is binding the bundles. The harvest commenced in 1844. The stooks are being erected to be standing in the heat of the summer, to dry right out, so that they can be taken into the garner. This is the time in which we are living.

In those days, in Bible times, it took a whole season to do this work, because they were all working by hand. That was the symbolic picture of the time of the end when the harvest would take a period of time. Blessed are they that die in the Lord from henceforth, because their works do follow them. Indeed it is a prolonged period of time. So, because it is prolonged and the work goes on and on over more than a century, there is an envoy of reinforcement, like in the old days of the harvest. It gets a bit long, you need a little bit more help to speed it up, and gleaners come up, to pick up the grains. Not a single grain is to fall on the ground. The gleaning has to take place to pick up all the grains. Is there scriptural evidence that the three angels receive help?

Revelation 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven,

Another angel.

Revelation 18:1 … having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Here you can see a very powerful angel coming to vivify the work and to make it more intense. He cries with a strong mighty voice saying, Babylon the great is fallen. He is identifying once again the tares and the evil of the tares with more accuracy. He cries with a loud voice and all the earth is lightened with his glory. He gives strength and power. That is exactly what is written in Early Writings:

A compelling power moved the honest, while the manifestation of the power of God brought a fear and restraint upon their unbelieving relatives and friends so that they dared not, neither had they the power to, hinder those who felt the work of the Spirit of God upon them. The last call was carried even to the poor slaves, and the pious among them poured forth their songs of rapturous joy at the prospect of their happy deliverance. … God was in the work, and every saint, fearless of consequences, followed the convictions of his own conscience and united with those who were keeping all the commandments of God; and with power they sounded abroad the third message. I saw that this message will close with power and strength far exceeding the midnight cry. {EW 278.1}

Servants of God, endowed with power from on high with their faces lighted up, and shining with holy consecration, went forth to proclaim the message from heaven. Souls that were scattered all through the religious bodies answered to the call, and the precious were hurried out of the doomed churches, as Lot was hurried out of Sodom before her destruction. God’s people were strengthened by the excellent glory which rested upon them in rich abundance and prepared them to endure the hour of temptation. I heard everywhere a multitude of voices saying, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” {EW 278.2}

Separate!

These are the bundles. Amos 9:9 is now in process of taking shape more and more as it goes on. The call for separation is part of these messages. It is not a message of, Stay together everybody, let’s all be together, let’s all be happy together in our families. Nothing like that. These messages have no room for that. These messages are the closing scenes, Cry aloud, spare not, show my people their transgression.

The people who want to hear smooth things are saying that the people who are doing this work are separating families, that they are destroying relationships. But that is what the message is. It is written very vividly in 2 Timothy 3. We are in such a circumstance that there is no cushy situation of, Let’s just get along nicely with our people who are not really doing what God is saying. No, it says,

2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

As you see these terrible things, all these people who are boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, with all these characteristics that are here brought out, notice verse 5, They have a form of godliness, and verse 4, they are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:

Now, what is the call?

2 Timothy 3:5 … from such turn away.

As we go on studying, notice that the third angel’ message, together with the Revelation 18 angel and the voice from heaven, are dealing directly with what is written in 2 Timothy 3. These messages are brought to a climax, and we are living in the time of the end when this must take place:

2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

When you read these scriptures you realize that there is no pussy-footing around, we are to separate from those who will not submit to these three angels’ messages. The call is, Come away from it. Bundle together in truth, that’s all. The study of 2 Timothy 3 and 2 Corinthians 6 is very explicit and specific in regards to what we should do about yoking together and dealing with these horrifying things of 2 Timothy 3. When you have these horrendous scenes of people being like they are and yet claiming to be somewhat religious, get out from among them, from such turn away.

God is behind the messages, the angels have been sent by Him to separate. Those words are so important, there is a severing of the wicked from among the just. What does the word “sever” mean? It means “tearing”. Tearing relationships, severing them from each other. As God is organizing this, there comes a point in time when He says, Enough is enough. We have to move much faster here. What will He do in this final work as it has been prolonged, as the Revelation 18 angel comes along and the other voice from heaven?

Another Voice from Heaven

Romans 9:27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: 28 For he will finish the work, and cut [it] short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

When He comes up with these intense thrusts of the Revelation 18 angel and the voice from heaven, He is going to cut it short and what people have had years learning, these other ones will have to move fast, because He is going to cut short His work. When His work is finished, when the angels have bundled everything, there will come a voice from heaven.

Revelation 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

When that has finally been expressed, the sorting out and the tying of the bundles have all been completed, and then the people on earth will gradually awaken to the horrible conclusion that they have no more choice. This will be the fearful expression:

The Harvest is Past

Jeremiah 8:20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

When that declaration is made it is the close of probation of Revelation 22:11, and though Jesus has not yet arrived as such, the bundling has been completed. In the harvest practice of the time of Christ, the stooks that were bound together and erected to stand in the heat of the summer sun, remained standing there to dry out fully in the heat.

Revelation 7:13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The people who come out of this heat of the final drying out of all earthliness, of all moisture, will have come out of great tribulation. The tribulation that is spoken of here is recorded in Jeremiah 30. During the heat of the summer harvest period there is still some more purging and drying out to take place, and it is a tribulation which is called the time of Jacob’s trouble.

The Time of Jacob’s Trouble

Jeremiah 30:5 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. 6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? 7 Alas! for that day [is] great, so that none [is] like it: it [is] even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

To go through that time of trouble as part of the wheat sheaves is to be dried out of everything so that they can be saved, saved out of it. When the drying out the sheaves of wheat from all moisture has been completed, then comes the statement of Jesus in Matthew 13:

Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

When the stooks have been dried out completely, when the tribulation has done its work, then there will be the gathering in of the sheaves into the barn. What is that? In the closing scenes of the harvest the people of God go through great tribulation, which is concluded with Revelation 14.

The Conclusion of the Harvest

Revelation 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud [one] sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. 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.

It says here, ripe, but in the margin it says, DRIED. When in the harvest period of Christ’s time the sheaves were gathered up to be thrown onto the cart to be taken go into the barn, the sickle was still used. It was a very good instrument to pick up each particular sheave and hoist it up onto the shoulder and then from the shoulder onto the tray of the cart. Indeed Jesus is coming as a reaper, not to actually do the work that the angels have already been doing, but to gather the wheat into the barn, because as Jesus comes the people are taken from the planet onto the cloud, and He takes them back to His abode in heaven. At the same time as the wheat is gathered into the barn, the other reaper of the same chapter also does his reaping:

Revelation 14:17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire;

Mark that: he had power of fire.

Revelation 14:18 … and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. 19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast [it] into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand [and] six hundred furlongs.

Here is a very interesting interfacing of terminologies. He had power over fire and at the same time it was the winepress of God’s wrath. The wicked are going to be burned, the sheaves of dried out tares are going to be burned, but there is another detail of this period of time in which the winepress of God’s wrath is going to destroy the wicked by warfare, by blood flowing, as it says, even unto the horse bridles. Here is another reaper with his sickle gathering in the vine of the earth to destroy the tares, as it were. Here is the full spectrum of the harvest activity. There are many reapers, but the One that gathers in after the other reapers have done their work, is Jesus Christ. He gathers the wheat into the barn.

The Third Angel’s Work in the Time of the Judgment

The time of the judgment is a most solemn period, when the Lord gathers His own from among the tares. {TM 234.2}

What is the experience?

Those who have been members of the same family are separated. A mark is placed upon the righteous. “They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Those who have been obedient to God’s commandments will unite with the company of the saints in light; they shall enter in through the gates into the city, and have right to the tree of life. The one shall be taken. His name shall stand in the book of life, while those with whom he associated shall have the mark of eternal separation from God. {TM 234.2}

The time of the judgment is a period, which we have just been studying, under the third angel’s message and the first and second angels with them. The period of the judgment is a period of the harvesting from the earth of the wheat and the tares and the separating of the two. It is indeed a separation that cuts right through all the ranks of social platforms, including the family, as we read, those who have been members of the same family are separated, because every individual makes his own decision of what he is going to do with the beautiful and everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ, and how he is going to react to the hour of God’s judgment. This is the experience, under the third angel, of the harvest, or the shaking, the separating of the wheat and the tares.

Amen.