We sometimes speak of “reaping the consequences” of our decisions, especially of our bad decisions. The phrase itself is an agricultural metaphor, describing the action of a farmer who is harvesting his crops. Unsurprisingly—give that it was written in an agricultural society—the Bible uses the metaphor of reaping to describe God’s judgment of the earth’s inhabitants.

 

Take, for example, Joel 3.12–13, the Old Testament passage that lies in the background of Revelation 14.14–20. God says: “Let the nations stir themselves up and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.”

 

Jesus employs a similar metaphor in one of his parables (Matt. 13.24–30). Having sown wheat, a farmer notices that weeds have grown up beside the grain. His servants ask whether he would like them to pull up the weeds right away, and he responds: “No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” Jesus later explains that the wheat represents “the children of the kingdom,’ the weeds “the sons of the evil one,” and the harvest the judgment at “the close of the age” (13.38, 39).

 

This biblical metaphor of judgment as harvest explains the meaning of Revelation 14.14–20. Joel spoke of “the valley of decision” (3.14). Jesus intimated that his audience lived in a time where decisions could still be made, either for the Son or against him. But John’s image of divine judgment is final. With the harvest he describes—first of wheat, then of grapes—time has run out to turn from sin and to God, and those who have not turned are stuck with the consequences of their decisions.

 

Is this fair? Is it right? Well, yes. As a Christian, I believe that God offers us numerous opportunities to put our faith in him and so receive the grace he offers us. But I also believe that this is not an eternal offer. Like a field sown with grain, there comes a time when the wheat is ripe and ready for harvest. So also with our lives. We can choose to live God’s way or our own; either way, there are eternal consequences to our choices. As C.S. Lewis somewhere says: “There are only two kinds of people in the world. Those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done.’ And those to whom God says, ‘Thy will be done.’”

 

We have not reached the final harvest John describes. We are still in Joel’s “valley of decision,” in Jesus’ time before “the close of the age.” But the consequences of our decisions loom just around the corner.

 

So I ask again: Today, what do you choose?