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Revelation tells us of two harvesters (as another question asks about), but should these harvests be considered as being done sequentially (first the holy wheat, and then the grapes of wrath) or is it that the two harvests could be occurring at the same time, simply with two different pairs (the caller and the harvester)?

14: 15-16

Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. (NIV)

and 14-17-19

Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. (NIV)

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  • @Nigel J The caller and the harvester; edited the question. Mar 16, 2022 at 13:23
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    In agreement with other passages of scripture, the saints are 'harvested' first leaving the unbelieving world to a final destructive 'harvesting'. I cannot understand 'two harvests with different pairs'.
    – Nigel J
    Mar 16, 2022 at 13:28

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There is one harvest at the last trump (which is the end of the age) but two reapings. The one harvest is called "the harvest of the earth" - Rev. 14:15. The first reaping is when the Lord of the Harvest gets his "good wheat gathered into his barn". Only after that do angels go forth to gather the grapes of wrath for treading down in the wine-press of the anger of God. That is spoken of as gathering "the clusters of the vine of the earth" - Rev. 14:17.

Study of Leviticus 23:10-11 will give the understanding of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest; the first sheaf was "cut off from the earth", answering to the day of the passover in the type when Christ hung on the cross. The morrow after the sabbath, namely, the first day of the week, the firstripe sheaf was waved by the priest before the Lord. From that day, 49 days were counted before the main harvest was begun. The full fullfilment of all that comes at the reaping of the harvest in the last day. Compare Matthew 3:12 & 13:39. After the reaping of the first token sheaf of wheat comes the main harvest of the rest of the wheat, 49 days later. In Revelation 14, the second reaping comes:

"after the reaping of the harvest of the earth - it is called by another name. That name refers to the clusters of the vine of the earth... This implies that the wheat harvest, as opposed to the gathering of the grapes of the vine of the earth, is an entirely separate event: the two representing as different a form in agriculture, as do the sheep and the goats in nature.

"Therefore, the appearance of another angel having a sharp sickle in his hand, cannot possibly be in respect of that harvest of the firstfruits already reaped by one like unto the Son of man, though the gathering of the grapes follows instantly... to bring in that which is left on earth after the reaping by the Son of his own harvest." (The Revelation of Jesus Christ, pp 403-7, John Metcalfe, selections)

A hermeneutic point is about two different words that can be used for 'sickle'. A sickle is used for the harvest of wheat to be safely gathered in before another sickle is used to cut the vine. The significance is explained in the same book:

"There are two words in the Hebrew for 'sickle'. The first is chemesh, Deuteronomy 16:9, 'Begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle [chemesh] to the corn'. This agrees with the reaping of the firstfruits by the Son. The second word is maggal, 'Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle [maggal] for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press [that is, the winepress] is full, the vats [of the winepress] overflow; for their wickedness is great" Joel 3:12, 13. This agrees with the second, angelic, reaping; the gathering of the grapes of the vine of the earth." (Ibid. pp407-8)

This point helps confirm that one sickle is used for the first gathering (of the wheat of the earth) but a different one for the second gathering (of the vine of the earth). This indicates that the two reapings cannot go on simultaneously.

To answer your question, based on explanations in that book (far more than I can put in my answer here), it would seem that "these harvests be considered as being done sequentially (first the holy wheat, and then the grapes of wrath)", as you put it in your comments.

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  • Up-voted +1. Excellent point on the two sickles used. Very edifying.
    – Nigel J
    Mar 18, 2022 at 7:33

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