Revelation 14:14

Having on His head a golden crown. What this crown is, he described earlier in the appearance of the woman: And on her head a crown of twelve stars (Rev. 12). Although it can also signify the victory of the one who reigns.

Here is no reference in either to the day of judgment, but to a season which cannot be far off. And I saw a white cloud - An emblem of mercy. And on the cloud sat one like a son of man - An angel in an human shape, sent by Christ, the Lord both of the vintage and of the harvest.

(3.) The harvest-time; and this is when the corn is ripe, when the measure of the sin of men is filled up, and they are ripe for destruction. The most inveterate enemies of Christ and his church are not destroyed till by their sin they are ripe for ruin, and then he will spare them no longer; he will thrust in his sickle, and the earth shall be reaped.

And I looked, and behold a white cloud,....

A white cloud - It is supposed that, from this verse to the end of the chapter, the destruction of Rome is represented under the symbols of harvest and vintage; images very frequent among the ancient prophets, by which they represented the destruction and excision of nations. See Joe 3:12-14; Isa 17:5; Isa 63:1; and Mat 13:37. A golden crown - In token of victory and regal power.

crown--Greek, "stephanon," "garland" of victory; not His diadem as a king. The victory is described in detail, Re 19:11-21. one sat--"one sitting," Greek, "cathemenon homoion," is the reading of A, B, C, Vulgate, and Coptic.

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I AM no Prophet, nor the son of a Prophet. Neither do I profess to be able to explain all the prophecies in this blessed Book. I believe that many of them will only be explained as the events occur which they foretell. Yet there are some things which are plain even to the most superficial reader.

I AM no Prophet, nor the son of a Prophet. Neither do I profess to be able to explain all the prophecies in this blessed Book. I believe that many of them will only be explained as the events occur which they foretell. Yet there are some things which are plain even to the most superficial reader. It is plain, for instance, that it is certainly foretold that the power of antichrist shall be utterly and eternally destroyed and that Babylon, that is to say, the Papal system, with all its abominations, shall be cast like a millstone into the flood to rise no more forever. It is also certain that the Jews, as a people, will yet acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David, as their King, and that they will return to their own land, "and they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations." It is also certain that our Lord Jesus Christ will come again to this earth and that He will gloriously reign among His ancients and that there will be a thousand years of joy and peace such as were never known on this earth before! It is also certain that there will be a great and general judgment when all nations shall be gathered before the Son of Man sitting upon the Throne of His Glory—and His final word concerning these upon His left hand will be, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment" and, concerning those upon His right hand, "but the righteous into life eternal." How all these great events are to be chronologically arranged, I cannot tell.

And I looked - See the notes on Rev 14:1. His attention is arrested by a new vision. The Son of man himself comes forth to close the scene, and to wind up the affairs of the world. This, too, is of the nature of an episode, and the design is the same as the previous visions - to support the mind in the prospect of the trials that the church was to experience, by the assurance that it would be finally triumphant, and that every enemy would be destroyed. And behold a white cloud - Bright, splendid, dazzling - appropriate to be the seat of the Son of God. Compare the Mat 17:5 note; Rev 1:7 note. See also Mat 24:30; Mat 26:64; Luk 20:27; Act 1:9; 1Th 4:17; Rev 10:1. And upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man - Compare the Rev 1:13 note; Dan 7:13 note. It is probable that there is here a designed reference to the passage in Daniel. The meaning is, that one appeared on the cloud in a human form, whom John at once recognized as he to whom the appellation of “the Son of man” especially belonged - the Lord Jesus. The meaning of that term had not been fixed in the time of Dan 7:13; subsequently it was appropriated by the Saviour, and was the favorite term by which he chose to speak of himself, Mat 8:20; Mat 9:6; Mat 10:23; Mat 11:19; Mat 12:8, Mat 12:32, Mat 12:40, et al. Having on his head a golden crown - Appropriate to him as king. It was mainly in virtue of his kingly power and office that the work was to be done which John is now about to describe. And in his hand a sharp sickle - The word “sickle” here - δρέπανον drepanon - means a crooked knife or scythe for gathering the harvest, or vintage, by cutting off the clusters of grapes. See Rev 14:17. The image of a harvest is often employed in the New Testament to describe moral subjects, Mat 9:37-38; Mat 13:30, Mat 13:39; Mar 4:29; Luk 10:2; Joh 4:35. […]