Revelation 14:14

And I saw, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud I saw one sitting like unto a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

This through Revelation 14:20 is a vision of the eternal judgment already announced in Revelation 14:7. See the chapter outline, above.

White cloud ... one like to a son of man ... Despite the opinion of respected scholars such as Morris, who thought this being on the white cloud was an angel,[66] we do not hesitate to understand it as a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He has the "sickle" (a symbol of judgment) in his hand; and it was to Jesus that the Father gave the prerogative of judgment (John 5:27), the reason there assigned for God's so doing being "because he is the son of man." The mention of the same words here would appear to make it certain that Jesus is the one meant. "The crown sets him forth as King and Messiah, but the sharp sickle indicates his coming for judgment."[67] Besides that, "Son of man in the New Testament is never applied to angels; we must conclude that this is a vision of the returning Christ."[68] "Son of man is applied to Jesus some eighty-one times in the Gospels, and it seems justifiable to assume that he is the one meant here."[69]

Strauss pointed out that, "Jehovah's Witnesses completely distort this phrase (Son of man) into the claim that Jesus is nothing but an angel, a claim repudiated by the entire scope of the Biblical doctrine of Christ."[70]

This great vision of the final judgment first shows the ingathering of the righteous (Revelation 14:14,15), and following that, the destruction of the wicked (Revelation 14:17-20), following exactly the pattern laid down by Jesus himself in Matthew 25:31-40. Caird interpreted both sections of this as the gathering of the righteous, with the result that he had to interpret the great blood river of Revelation 14:20, as "the great martyrdom."[71] This is clearly wrong. Kiddle tried to make both sections apply to the judgment of the wicked; but Caird flatly declared that, "Kiddle's theory that both represent the judgment of God on the heathen has been shown to be inadequate."[72] Ladd's, and many similar views, must be right:

The first (section) pictures the eschatological judgment of God with reference to the gathering of the righteous into salvation. The second pictures the judgment of the wicked into condemnation.[73]

"The judgment of the righteous is in Revelation 14:14,15; and the judgment of the wicked is in Revelation 14:17-20."[74]

[66] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 184.

[67] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 229.

[68] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 199.

[69] Ralph Earle, op. cit., p. 583.

[70] James D. Strauss, The Seer, the Saviour and the Saved (Joplin, Missouri: College Press, 1972), p. 189.

[71] G. B. Caird, op. cit., p. 192,195.

[72] Ibid., p. 191.

[73] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 198.

[74] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 188.