"Earlier in chapter fourteen we met three angels, each bearing a message to the inhabitants of the earth-realm. Another angel now appears, the first of a second series of three, and styled “another,” not by comparison with Him who sits upon the white cloud, but by comparison with the three angels previously spoken of in the sixth, eighth, and ninth verses of the chapter. He is called an “angel” with reference to his mission, not with reference to his nature. He is not a shining personage with wings flying through the atmosphere. The symbol stands for the issuing forth of the word of God. Each messenger represents the coming forth of a powerful proclamation of the Spirit! This angel, or messenger, is said to come out from the temple — that is, out of the naos, out of the innermost shrine of the temple, the most holy place; out from the deepest depths of the divine spirit, and out from the manifest presence of the Lord in the temple of His body — and this truth is important, for it shows that this is a message, a word, a revelation, a proclamation coming forth right out of the heart of God in His called and chosen elect. This word is as a prayer, as a prophecy, as a mighty declaration by the Spirit unto the Lord Jesus Himself, just as one might speak by the Spirit on behalf of a sick man and command, “Lord Jesus, heal him!” Only this command to the Lord is thus: “Send forth Thy sickle and reap… for the harvest of the earth is ripe!” Is not this the very fulfillment of the instructions the Lord Himself has given us — “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: PRAY ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that HE would send forth laborers into His harvest” (Lk. 10:2). "
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"We will understand a great mystery when we understand that every age ends with a harvest. Harvest is the time of maturity and fullness when each seed, having sprouted, releasing its life, and having passed through all the various stages of growth and development, finally reproduces itself many fold — a vast harvest! Harvest is a time of reaping rather than sowing — a time of gathering fruit. The harvest of the kingdom of Judah serves as a type of the harvest of this, our age. Our Lord’s words to His disciples as He sent them forth, during His ministry to that church-nation, should be carefully remembered, as giving proof that their special work then was reaping, and not sowing. He said to them, “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest: and he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal” (Jn. 4:35-36). As the chief reaper in that harvest (as He also is in this one), the Lord said to the under-reapers, His sickle, “I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor; other men (the patriarchs, prophets, priests, and kings) labored, and ye entered into their labors” — to reap the fruits of those centuries of effort."