Revelation 7 - Jesus’ Parable of the Farmers
There's a lot to be said of a good farmer - that is who we are called to be. Several questions are posed and answered in chapters seven through eleven, but the first is crucial. That is, to whom is God bringing the judgment that John sees? And why is God bringing it? Furthermore, who will not be harmed, but rather preserved through the tribulation (7:2-8).
Let’s step back for context and then move forward. Every Christian knows that we are to never ever give up. But don’t give up doing what, exactly? As C.S. Lewis famously illustrated in Mere Christianity, if you find yourself on a wrong, dead, or dangerous road the wisest course of action is to turn around and get on the right one. We know that each person will be judged according to what we do. But how do we know just what we shall do? The early church knew the answers to these existential questions.
We have a not-so-secret weapon as Christ’s men and women. Christ promised His disciples it would be better for them once He ascended to reign in heaven as they would then have the Advocate living with them (John 16:7). As believers in Jesus Christ we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11 and Galatians 5:18). It’s an infinite advantage, yet a largely untapped resource.
God in His mercy and kindness and love guides us Himself. The Lord of of Hosts (also translated as LORD of Heaven’s Armies and seen over 260 times in the Old Testament) is not just the fierce administer of justice. But He is also wonderful in counsel and great in wisdom (Isaiah 28:29).
I paid an immigration attorney this week for good counsel. We need advice to try and keep our family together here in the USA. Good counsel is essential and often costly. But there truly is no counsel better or wiser than the wisdom and guidance we receive from the Spirit of Christ.
Those who trust in God alone can and must ask God for His counsel. Indeed, God instructs us to ask (James 1). Ask God today for His wisdom and counsel - both for the tasks of this day - and for the grand purpose of your life. We are farmers for Jesus - called to produce great fruit for God’s kingdom through our lives and the lives of the disciples we make.
For 2,000 years men and women of faith have gone before us, emulating Jesus. The dark powers in the unseen world use creative and time-tested strategies to oppose such godly people. Their lies and enticing schemes are effective. Resist the devil today. Seek to hear and obey God’s counsel today.
The Spirit of Christ will prompt us with who we should pray for and how we should pray. God will help us understand Scripture and why it matters to have a clear understanding of abiding in Christ as we await His return.
And He will show us how our priorities must be His priorities - otherwise, it is all in vain. God loves us immensely. He wants our families to be godly, blessed, happy, strong, loving, and growing. Trust the goodness of God’s plans for you. If each of us does our part to be faithful servants not concerning ourselves with worldly glory, the fruit of the harvest will be heavy, valuable, and overflowing. Our communities will be filled with God-blessed marriages, God-fearing men and women, and marked by peace and prosperity.
And the Advocate will show us what not to do. We shall not grieve the Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30). God’s laws are written on every believer’s heart. Watch what you say today, what you yearn for, and what you see. Bad company is the ruin of good character so watch who you hang out with (1 Corinthians 15:33). By God’s grace America - and all nations across the earth, will grow in godliness and His blessing.
The Holy Spirit prods us forward despite our stubbornness and our thick-headedness. We are right with God because of what Jesus paid on the Cross. He’s dealt with our sins. Yet we must grow and we must be disciplined for God expects purity and growth. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling as the Spirit of Christ works in us to will and to act according to God’s purpose providentially executed (Philippians 2:12-13).
We never give up doing good (Galatians 6:9). That’s what the godly farmer does. That is what we fight for. That’s the mission. It’s the mission of our life; it’s the mission of the church. We do good as God commands as we make and grow disciples.
The good farmers are men and women of Christ. We are servants of God working hard to please God as we listen to His counsel and do His will (Ephesians 6:5-8). When we read through God’s judgment in chapters seven through eleven we have to remember that while Jesus promised this coming wrath and judgment, Jesus is also patient and seeks that no person perish and be eternally separated from Him (2 Peter 3:9, and 1 Timothy 2:4). He wants all people to come to repentance.
God is always good and just. We see God’s character in the parable of the evil farmers. It was a dreadful story of a good master who planted a great vineyard and built into the vineyard everything needed for success. Then he leased the farm to tenant farmers who had the responsibility to look after it for the owner.
When the owner sent his servants to collect a share of the harvest from the tenants they beat, killed, and stoned the owner’s servants. Yet the merciful and patient owner persisted and generously gave the wicked tenants time. He sent a larger group of servants to collect the rent, but the evil farmers murdered them as well.
Finally, the owner, still reasonable and patient and expecting respect, sent his son to represent him before the farmers and to collect what was due. But the evil farmers dragged the son out of the vineyard and murdered him (Matthew 21:33-39). It’s a terrible story. But a not-so-subtle story that Jesus shared to explain to the religious leaders who He was and what God would do to those who murdered the Son.
Here’s the passage between Jesus and the Jewish leaders, “Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them” (Matthew 21:42-45).
God's judgment would come on the wicked farmers. That’s according to Jesus Christ. And the church is the nation to whom God has given his kingdom - we are God’s children with a responsibility beyond measure to produce much fruit.
So yes, Jesus did decree destruction on Jerusalem and those who rejected Him. John the Apostle knew this well. In John 1:11-12 we read, “He came to his own people and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him, he gave the right to become children of God.” It is by grace alone that God’s people are saved - we are reborn by God, made alive with Christ - through God’s way which is belief in the Son. God’s mystery - His long-kept secret was revealed in the first century. The Church, God’s people, has been growing ever since. It is God’s desire for all people everywhere to hear and respond to the gospel (Romans 16:25-27).
Peter proclaimed that “the time had come for judgment. And it must begin with God’s household” (1 Peter 4:17). God’s judgment began with the terrible wrath that Jesus commanded and that he warned the believers about via John’s vision written in Revelation. The Roman wars culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 was the sign of the end of the old covenant and the clear judgment and certainty that Jesus reigns as He said He did.
Now, on God’s final return to earth, all ungodly people will be destroyed and the heavens and the very elements of this earth will disappear - everything will be destroyed before God makes His new heavens and earth that He promised us - a world filled with God’s righteousness (2 Peter3:7-13).
God is completely fair and just. He made clear to the nation of Israel the blessing of obedience and the consequences of a judgment for refusing to listen and obey the LORD’s commands (Deuteronomy 28:15-68).
Before Jesus, his cousin, John the Baptist spoke rather bluntly about the coming tribulation on the wicked farmers. The Baptist said, ““You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire” (Luke 3:7-9).
Jesus was also not one to mince words about who was subject to the coming wrath and when it would happen. Jesus said, “Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell? “Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation” (Matthew 23:33-36). Did you get that? The judgment would fall on the first-century generation.
Jesus repeated his warning and confirmed that the Romans would do the destroying, “They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end” (Luke 21:24).
Jesus is the Stone that the builders rejected (Matthew 21:42 and Acts 4:10-12). So what we hear in chapters 7-11 of Revelation is the judgment of the Jews and Jerusalem in 70 AD. This is not a new interpretation of the Bible. In fact, until about 1910 it was the primary interpretation of to whom these judgments fell upon. For what the early church said about the message of 7-11 read Arethas of Caesarea (c. 860- c.944 - and the Archbishop of Caesarea in 903 AD). He made it clear that the message of Jesus’ judgment in this Scripture was a message of the judgment that was soon to befall the Jews in their war against the Romans to “avenge” the sufferings inflicted upon the Messiah (A Commentary on The Apocalypse by Stuart, 1845, p. 268).
Lord Jesus, we know that You desire to lead us and guide us. Please help the church to shine and thrive today. Amen.
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