At the end of the age just prior to the fall of Babylon, the Son of Man with His holy angels did reap the righteous souls of the earth as the other angels did reap the souls of fallen humanity. Speaking of the other angels, the Bible says, “And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God” (Revelation 14:19). Jesus said that the wheat and tares would grow up together until the harvest at the end of the age (Matthew 13:30). It is necessary to wait until the wheat had become mature in their faith, and if we press our analogy, then the tares must also become mature in their evil desires, to become pridefully self-sufficient apart from their Creator. As the evil gets even more evil and the righteous get more righteous, then it will cause a natural division among the worldwide population. We are not talking about religious people versus non-religious people, but we are talking about righteousness and evil contrary to their professed religious beliefs. This separation will eat into the very fabric of society causing unbelievable chaos. It will eat into the very fabric of the family unit ripping it apart, creating great pain and untold suffering. You might be thinking, why is God allowing this to happen? Or you might be thinking, why doesn’t God come back and get the righteous and allow the evil to tear themselves apart?

Well, if we seek the heart of God, then we will know that answer even before we ask. God’s plan is to bring home a truly righteous harvest that will walk with Him throughout all eternity in absolute bliss. God longs for a beautiful harvest, of His own choosing, that will have no taint of unrighteousness, but will have a single-minded loyalty and unwavering trust in Jesus Christ when everything around them is woefully falling apart. After Israel had been held captive for many years in Babylon, God said through the prophet Isaiah, “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10). This was and is God’s method for choosing and preparing His people for deliverance. No, God’s people will not fly away in some secret rapture until the harvest is ready. There will be no greater joy than being delivered from our furnace of affliction when we may literally think we cannot take it anymore. This time of rejoicing will come if we stand firm and not be overcome by the growing evil all around us. God’s method is to use the evil all around us to make us stronger in our faith. As the world grows even more evil we have learned how to become even more righteous allowing the furnace of affliction to have its full effect. The Bible says, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12, ESV).

As the world grows ever more evil there will be great pressure to say, “We can agree to disagree,” to choose a path of least resistance or the unholy path of lukewarmness. No, as God’s elect children, we must stand for the truth and live righteously, especially with our own family and friends. This in itself could cause us to think that we are living in our own furnace of affliction because there is no greater pain than having our relationships turn away from us in disgust or guarded behavior. There is no greater pain than seeing our precious children being seduced by the world and choosing to spend less time in our company. Although we can seek comfort and solace in God’s company, it doesn’t negate the fact that abandonment is truly a grievous trial. As we reach out in face-to-face encounters with the fallen world, let us do it with confident conviction of who we are in Christ. Let us pray for every opportunity to share the love of Christ through our good deeds. And if we are shunned, let us withdraw in dignity ready to shake the dust off our feet and move on without allowing it to pull us down. There is one more thing that we must endure to allow the furnace of affliction to prepare us for the final harvest.

Let us endure the woes and wrath of God being poured out on self-righteous and unrepentant humanity. Although the wrath of God will not touch us in the same way as fallen humanity (I Thessalians 5:9), we will still feel the furnace of affliction that will drive us closer to God causing us to increase in our righteousness. On the other hand, the sore affliction from the woes and wrath of God will ignite the hatred of fallen humanity towards their fellow human beings and even God. This hatred will grow so intense that striking out verbally with every manner of insult and vulgarity will seem almost commonplace compared to what they actually do to one another. We, as God’s children, must not be pulled into their battles, political or otherwise. We must stand aloof, refusing to take sides or tarnish the name of God through unchecked hatefulness. When they curse God for their many troubles, we will take our stand with God telling them plainly that fallen humanity is reaping the consequences of their sins and their unbelief in God. Yes, as God’s chosen children, we will go through the furnace of affection to be made into the perfect image of Jesus Christ the Son of God. This increasing furnace of affliction will either drive us to the camp of the devil or it will joyfully deliver us as refined souls in Christ. To have a major harvest on the earth prior to the seven bowels of God’s wrath (Revelation 15:1 – 16:21) indicates that there must be a cataclysmic event of Biblical proportions effecting the entire Earth. We can surmise that this is a worldwide pandemic, worse than before, or a thermonuclear war reigning death and destruction on all of humanity. Either way, God’s precious children will stand firm until the very end, allowing God to refine their souls.

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