us. "Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." In the evening of the dispensation He will come forth in glory; and then, and not till then, will the Day of His Atonement be completed.

It is very singular how often the point of this conclusion of the chapter-its reference to the emergence of the High Priest from behind the veil is missed by commentators on Holy Scripture. Or rather, it would be singular, were it not of a piece with the whole treatment which the subject of the Lord's second coming has received.*

"Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." "Without sin," having no regard and no reference to sin : and so without a sin-offering. The work of the High Priest when he came forth from the Holiest was indeed to present the evening sacrifice. But that sacrifice, like its fellow in the morning, consisted not in sin-offering but in burntoffering the symbol of entire dedication to God in body, soul, and spirit, as is our reasonable and bounden service. We, Christ's Church and people, are the chosen victim of that sacrifice, presented in Him and by Him before the Father's Throne. Once more in the evening, as in the morning of the age, clad in the same glory as that which He had with the Father then, and before the world was, the Son by the Eternal Spirit offers Himself without spot to God. But now it is as the Head of a Body, perfectly one with Him, partaking in His Priesthood, sharing in His Anointing. In His morning sacrifice + He was alone: but

* See "Apostles' Doctrine and Fellowship," Lect. xi. and xii. + Heb. x. 5-7.

in the time of the evening sacrifice" He shall see His seed," His people shall be willing in the day of His power. Then shall the Christ of God, Head and members,* be seen; and seen as entirely consecrated unto the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. "Rejoicing in His glory, made like unto Him in His glory, by Him we shall be presented with exceeding joy before the presence of Thy glory."

The Harbest and the Vintage.

Rev. xiv. 14-20.

*

AND now what remains but that the Lord Jesus should come forth, to deliver his people in their time of sore need, and to execute judgment on those who oppress them, and pollute the earth. His so doing is here set forth under the images respectively of the Reaping of the Harvest and the Treading of the Winepress.

I. And, first, of the Harvest.

And

"I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sate like unto the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. 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."

"The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are

* I Cor. xii. 12.

the angels." This word of our Lord is the key to the interpretation of the present vision. He compares* the whole Christian Dispensation to the annual history of the wheat-field. The sowing of the seed is His work at the beginning as the Son of Man: the gathering of the wheat into His barn is His work at the end as the Judge, when He shall separate between the good and the evil, the wheat and the tares. Accordingly, it is the "One like unto the Son of Man," whom John had seen at the beginning of His visions, who now appears, sitting on a white cloud, on His head a golden crown, in His hand a sharp sickle, to reap the harvest of the earth. The angels will be the reapers, but He will send and direct them. It is the fulfilment of his own prophecy-" Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” "And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."+

These His elect will be, as the previous part of the chapter indicates, § in sore trouble at the time. And this is evidenced here by the cry of intercession that goes up to the reaper, "Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe." The word rendered "is ripe" is one never used to signify the natural maturity of the fruits of the earth : it rather signifies "is scorched," or "dried up." So fierce is the scorching of the sun of Antichristian rule at this time, that there is danger lest its ripening effects should proceed too far, and the good ears be withered with

* Matt. xiii. 24-30, 36-43. † Rev. i. 13-18. Luke xxi. 27; Matt. xxiv. 31. § Ver. 9-13; Comp. ch. xiii. Rev. xvi. 8, 9.

the heat. Therefore it is high time for the Lord of the harvest to send forth His reapers. The first-fruits, the 144,000 sealed ones, are already in safety on the Mount of God.* But when the great multitude which no man can number stand before the Throne and before the Lamb, it is said of them, "These are they which came out of the great tribulation" (Gr.). And their blessedness is that "the sun shall no more light on them, nor any heat and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."+

In this Book of Revelation the harvest, like the first fruits, belongs to those who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord; and takes its colouring from their condition. But in our Lord's Parable it embraces all who have grown from the good seed sown in the field of the world by the Son of Man, and who have remained faithful to the end; and if so, then the departed as well as the living. We believe, therefore, that them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him when He comes to reap; that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep, but shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall ever be with the Lord. The Harvest is the First Resurrection-the changing of all, whether asleep or awake, who are Christ's at His coming. It is the gathering of all saints to the general festal assembly and congregation of the first-born -to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

II. This is the Harvest of the earth; and now we have the last act of the year, the Vintage.

"And another angel came out of the temple which is

* Rev. xiv. I-5. † Ibid. ch. vii.

I Cor. xv. 23, 51, 52.

in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; 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. 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. 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."

All the symbols here are of judgment. When the vine of the earth and its branches-Antichrist and those that are his*—have brought their fruit to ripeness, when their iniquity is come to the full, then they shall be gathered and cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God; and the winepress shall be trodden. The Lord and His associates in this act of judgment + are compared to the vintagers, who, when they have gathered the grapes into the presses, themselves enter into them, and with bare feet tread and crush the grapes till their juice is utterly expressed. By this great visitation the earth is cleansed of the apostate and the lawless, and is prepared to be the habitation of the meek.

A fuller picture of this great event is given us in the nineteenth chapter of the Revelation. The first part of it tells of the Marriage of the Lamb, which we have seen figured here as the harvest of the earth. But now (ver. 11) the Son of God comes forth to war. His espousals have been held in His presence-chamber in the heavens.

*

Comp. John xv. 5.

† Rev. xvii. 14.