These verses depict the dual harvests of human souls: the righteous to eternal life and the wicked to eternal destruction. All judgment is handed to the glorified Christ.
Wes
This is Episode 20 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast, entitled Two Visions of Divine Judgment: Harvest and Wine Press, where we’ll discuss Revelation 14:14-20. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, the Book of Revelation gives us pictures of the future, and some of the future that’s depicted here is a future of judgment. These are complex verses, but it could either be a harvest of souls won by the Lord into his heavenly barn, as in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares or the Wheat and the Weeds. But it’s also a picture, obviously, of judgment, in which the wicked of the earth are crushed by the wrath of God. And so, I think in the end, that’s the best way we’re going to see this, is the harvest of souls is complete, and the harvest of judgment is yet to come. So, these are some very sobering verses that we’re going to walk through today.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read verses 14-20, and then we’ll walk through those details.
Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.
Andy, how do these two visions of wrath and judgment fit into the overall flow of Revelation?
Andy
Well, we need to understand, it’s a great question, Wes, but understand the overall flow of redemptive history. The purpose of redemptive history is that sinners will be redeemed from their rebellion against Almighty God and saved, brought safely into the kingdom of heaven. And often, the image given of that is of seeds that are planted and grow to full fruition and are brought to a ripe harvest.
And I think we have a picture of that, but we also have a sense of the patience of God, waiting for wicked people, for their sin to reach its full measure. As it says in Genesis 15:16 where God said to Abraham, “The sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” And so, God is waiting patiently and allows people to keep doing wicked things day after day, but the time of judgment is definitely going to come. And so, this is a picture of the decisiveness of the end of God’s patient waiting. The time has come for all of his elect to have been brought into his harvest, into his barn. And the time has come also for his patience to end and wrath to come on the wicked of the earth. So, I see both of those depicted in this passage today.
Wes
What does John see in the first vision, and how does verse 14 compare with Daniel 7?
Andy
Okay, he sees one like a son of man coming on a cloud, and this is exactly what we see in Daniel 7:13-14, the vision of the Son of Man, which Jesus quoted numerous times both to his own disciples and also to his enemies at his trial: “In the future, you will see the son of man sitting on the clouds of heaven and coming with the power of God, the glory of God” (Matthew 26:64 paraphrase). And so, this is the picture of Daniel 7, the Son of Man. And so, there’s a lot of similarities here. And it’s very, very hard for me to read this without seeing this as a picture of Jesus and his second coming in glory.
Wes
In verse 15, what does the angel command the Son of Man to do? And why is the command given according to this verse?
Andy
Jesus himself again and again said that the timing of everything belonged to his heavenly Father.
Okay, so an angel comes out of the temple and calls to the one seated on a cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So, this is problematic if the one seated on the cloud, the one like a son of man, is in fact Jesus Christ, as I do believe. So, it seems strange that he would be seemingly taking orders from an angel, but I don’t think he’s taking orders here. I think instead, Jesus himself again and again said that the timing of everything belonged to his heavenly Father.
And he, as the Son of Man, was under the authority of his Father. So, he would not do anything until the Father said to do it. As we remember in Acts 1, where the apostles asked Jesus, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6), he said, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” (Acts 1:7). Or as he said again, “Concerning the day or hour, no one knows that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36).
So, the Father sets the time, and it could well be that the angel is not giving any orders to Jesus, the one like a son of man on the clouds. He’s just saying the Father is saying the time has come to end the period of harvest and to bring all of the elect into the barn. So, I think that’s what he’s saying. He’s coming as a messenger from the Father, from the temple, telling Jesus that the time has come to finish the harvest.
Wes
It’s fascinating, even in verse 14 we read that one like a son of man has a golden crown on his head and a sharp stickle in his hand. You get this sense of authority. So, it makes sense then that we’d have to understand what’s happening as the angel is communicating to this one like a son of man, telling him to put in his sickle. How does verse 15 give us a sense of the significance of this issue of timing in relation to the wrath of God?
Andy
Right. Well, we learned in 2 Peter 3 that God’s patience means salvation. The reason that wrath hasn’t come already is he’s waiting for all of the elect to cross over from death to life. God is not willing that any of his elect should perish, but everyone come to repentance, as I believe that text is teaching. And so, he’s waiting for that time to come. The patient waiting of God is for the salvation of the elect, and as I said also, in a very dark and mysterious way, to allow the wickedness of the wicked on earth to reach its full level as well.
He’s allowing them time to continue to do the wicked things that they’re doing. And so, the timing issue is very significant. That is the purpose of time. The purpose of time ultimately has to do with these matters of salvation and judgment. And so, every day, people make choices in what they’re going to do with their time. We also see in another place where we’re told to redeem the time because the days are evil. And so, this gives us a sense, time is not limitless. There’s going to come a day when all of this will end.
Wes
Now, verse 16 comes at us with remarkable restraint and understatement. Why do you think this verse is so simple, and what effect does this give in this account?
Andy
All right, so I think the best way to look at these two paragraphs, which is basically two harvests, is you have the harvest of the elect into the kingdom of heaven and into heaven itself. And we have also the harvest of the wicked and the judgment and wrath of God coming.
And there’s a timing on both of those. In terms of the elect, they are unconverted elect, and then at the right time, they cross over from death to life. And then in this passage, they are reaped from the earth and brought into the kingdom of heaven. And I look on that perhaps as referring to the end of their earthly lives in this present evil age. And this could even refer to the rapture, where the Lord said he will send out his angels, and they will gather his elect from one end of the heavens to the other. And they will meet the Lord in the air.
So, the time of their earthly lives is over. There’s a simplicity to verse 16, as you mentioned. He swings his sharp sickle. And it’s interesting that the sickle is described in both paragraphs as sharp, meaning nothing stops it from doing what it’s supposed to do, kind of like the word of God being living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. When he says, “Your time on earth has ended,” it’s over. For good or ill, for being gathered into the heavenly kingdom of glory, which brings great delight to the converted elect, or the time for the wicked to end their time on earth. At any rate, it’s a sharp sickle. And when he swings his sickle, that time ends.
Wes
How many angels are involved in the next image that comes to John, and how are they described in verses 17 and 18?
Andy
Well, we have an angel that comes out of the temple of God in heaven, and he has a sharp sickle. So, this seems to be distinguished from the earlier picture of the Son of Man. He’s called an angel here, and earlier it’s one like a son of man. So, this angel comes out of the temple in heaven with a sharp sickle. And then another angel, who we’re told has charge of the fire, calls in a loud voice to the first angel who had the sharp sickle, telling him also to swing his sickle. To put in the sickle, so to speak, and to bring the harvest of grapes to an end. So, we have two angels in this particular vision.
Wes
Now, what does it mean that the angel had power over fire?
Andy
Okay, so I actually think the image here is from earlier in Revelation 8, but even for me as somebody who studied the Book of Ezekiel for almost two years, there’s also a picture in that book of angels that scoop fire from heaven, from an altar in heaven, and throw it down on the earth. And it’s just a picture of the wrath and judgment of God coming from heaven to earth. And so, this angel has authority or power over that, the outpouring of the wrath of God on the wicked of the earth. So, he’s just identified that that’s his task or his function. And in line with that function, he’s speaking to another angel to tell him to swing his sickle; it’s time for the judgment of God to come on the wicked of the earth.
Wes
What’s the significance of the statement “for the grapes are ripe”?
Andy
I think I would commend all of our listeners to go to Genesis 15. And there, the Lord reveals to Abram, at that point his name hadn’t been changed, but we know him as Abraham, what was going to happen in the future: “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, where they’ll be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years, but I’ll punish the nation they serve as slaves,” that’s Egypt, “and afterward, they will come out and worship me in this place.” (Genesis 15:13). That’s in the promised land. That’s where Abram was, having this vision.
“But,” he then says, “however, all of these things must happen in the 400 years because the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” So, these are the seven Canaanite nations that Joshua and the Israelite army is going to completely wipe out and destroy four centuries later. But in the meantime, what are they going to be doing? A lot of pagan sinning. And so, God waits and allows the harvest of wrath or the grapes of wrath, so to speak, to come to their full fruition. And he allows them to do all of the wicked things that they intend to do for which he’s going to judge them.
So, the harvest is ripe in both cases. In the first paragraph, the harvest is ripe of the gospel working in the elect, bringing them to genuine faith in Christ and to full maturity in Christ before the sickle swings And their time in this present evil age is mercifully and happily brought to an end. But in the second, the harvest is ripe of their wickedness, where the judgment comes at last. And the sickle, the sharp sickle swings, and their time of wickedness has come to end as well.
Wes
So, in verse 18, we have the call or the command, and in verse 19, we have its fulfillment or the carrying out of this call from one angel to another. What is the winepress of God’s wrath, and what is Christ’s relation to it, as described later in Revelation 19?
Andy
Well, we’re going to see what happens in the winepress in verse 20. They’re trampled in the winepress. And so, what’s going on is that’s where people that had vineyards would harvest the grapes and put them into a big vat. And the workers would come and physically trample on them with their feet. And they would crush them, and the juice would flow out of them, which became the wine. And so, it’s a sense of crushing. They’re being crushed. This is not a pleasant image, but it’s one of destruction, it’s one of judgment.
And so, they’re being crushed by the wrath of God. And the result is going to be their destruction, even their eternal destruction. So, the angel swings his sickle, because the time of God’s wrath has come. And they are not permitted to continue their career of evil any longer. And they’re put in the winepress of God’s wrath, and they’re going to be crushed. Now, the crushing is things that are going to happen to their bodies and their minds, their souls, that they do not want to happen. They are going to experience some final terrible things that happen on earth in one way or another that maybe bring them great suffering. But then they’re going to be crushed in some metaphorical way for all eternity in hell. And so that’s the image I get here, is of tremendous pressure being brought on their bodies and souls by the wrath of God.
Wes
In 19:15, it says, “From his mouth comes a sharp sword,” speaking of Jesus, “with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.” Goes on to say at the end of that verse, “He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” Obviously in due time we’ll get to Revelation 19, so we don’t want to take too much time here, but how does this help us understand the relationship between Christ and the treading of this winepress?
Andy
He is directly and personally involved. He is the judge of all the earth. And you see this in John 5. Because he is the Son of Man, the privilege and the responsibility of judging all human beings is given to him. Because he is the Son of Man he will be honored as God himself because he is God. And he will have the decision or the power to make the decision for every single individual human being that has ever lived, separating them into two categories, believer, unbeliever; sheep and goats; good fish and bad fish; wheat and weeds. He divides them and he has that responsibility.
And so, the image in Revelation 19, it’s the second coming. And out of his mouth comes this sharp, double-edged sword which represents his word, which is directly effective. And so, you think of a sword, the sword only has one function, and that is to divide. It cuts. That’s what swords do. They take things that were together, and they’re dismembered or disassembled or sliced. And so, when he comes and says, effectively, “Be cut off from life, be cut off from every blessing, every good thing you’ve ever known,” it will happen. So that’s the judgment of God and of Jesus Christ. And he has that great power.
And he’s given this image that I also … and we read this right before we went on air, Isaiah 63, of trampling the winepress of God. And he comes and his garments are spattered with blood. And he says, “I’ve trodden the winepress alone” (Isaiah 63:3). And this is Jesus. He has a responsibility that no one else can bear. I mean, who would have the ability to say to a human being, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:31). Be cut off from everything you have ever loved, everything that has ever brought you pleasure, from all light and beauty, from everything good, be cut off forever and suffer forever? Only Jesus has that kind of authority and power, and he does not shrink back from it. We saw earlier in the same chapter, Revelation 14:11, “The smoke of their torment rises forever and ever in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.” He is doing it. He’s not an observer. He is the one affecting the judgments of God here. He has that role.
Wes
What then is the outcome of the treading of the winepress, and what is the significance of the fact that it’s trodden outside the city?
Andy
All right, so the outside the city we’ll see very plainly in Revelation 22, I think it is, where it talks about everyone that’s outside the city, the new Jerusalem, are the wicked. They’re not permitted to enter that city. And so those are the reprobates, the wicked, the evil. And so, they’re trampled here.
It is very, very hard to read Revelation 14:20 and see it in a literal way. I always want, first and foremost, to take even the apocalyptic language of the Book of Revelation and try my best to see it literal. So, I think it will be literal but also metaphorical. So, I think the idea is there’s just a tremendous amount of suffering and misery and blood flowing from the wicked as they’re trampled by Christ. So, I think the image of blood flowing to the height of a horse’s bridle, which is about four feet high, and it’s for a distance of 1,600 stadia, which converts to about 200 miles, that’s more blood than there is on planet Earth, probably. So, I think the point is that it’s just a very bloody affair. It is not a kind, simple thing to look at. It’s meant to be warfare and judgment flowing. So ultimately, it’s a picture of the wrath of God on sinners that brings them immense misery and suffering.
Wes
Andy, that brings us to the end of chapter 14. What thoughts do you have for us as we’ve walked through really some difficult passages. Both to interpret, but then also for what they contain, the reality of wrath to come and judgment that will be righteously brought on those who reject Christ? What can we take away from our text today, but also all of chapter 14?
Andy
Yeah, I can’t help, and I’ve already mentioned it, but I can’t help but think again to Ephesians 5, which says, “Redeeming the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). This has to do with the fact that time is ticking. This is right now the day of salvation, but that day will end. And when that day ends, the time for salvation will have ended. The time is now to enter the ark, like Noah’s ark, to enter the ark of salvation through faith in Christ. Today is the day of salvation, but that day will come.
Also, I think it’s for us who are crying out, especially our brothers and sisters in other parts of the country where they are being directly oppressed and persecuted for their faith. And they’re crying out like the persistent widow, yearning for justice day and night. And Jesus said there in the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge … “Listen to what the unjust judge says, ‘And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? No, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth” (Luke 18:6-7)?
The wicked will not rule forever. Satan will not rule forever. Judgment day is coming, and Jesus has the kind of power needed to bring about justice and judgment on the earth.
What he’s saying there is God is going to bring about judgment. And so, it is terrifying, but it’s also encouraging. The wicked will not rule forever. Satan will not rule forever. Judgment day is coming, and Jesus has the kind of power needed to bring about justice and judgment on the earth. So, what it says to me is make the most of our time. Our time and our role is to evangelize, to do missions, to grow in grace, to become ripe in Christ ourselves, to get mature by following Christ. I think it goes to the two journeys that we’ve talked about again and again in this ministry, which is the internal journey of holiness, growing to full maturity in Christ, and the external journey of gospel advance, which is winning lost people while there’s still time.
Wes
This has been Episode 20 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 21, entitled God Prepares the Final Judgments for Earth, where we’ll discuss Revelation 15:1-18. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Wes
This is Episode 20 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast, entitled Two Visions of Divine Judgment: Harvest and Wine Press, where we’ll discuss Revelation 14:14-20. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, the Book of Revelation gives us pictures of the future, and some of the future that’s depicted here is a future of judgment. These are complex verses, but it could either be a harvest of souls won by the Lord into his heavenly barn, as in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares or the Wheat and the Weeds. But it’s also a picture, obviously, of judgment, in which the wicked of the earth are crushed by the wrath of God. And so, I think in the end, that’s the best way we’re going to see this, is the harvest of souls is complete, and the harvest of judgment is yet to come. So, these are some very sobering verses that we’re going to walk through today.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read verses 14-20, and then we’ll walk through those details.
Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.
Andy, how do these two visions of wrath and judgment fit into the overall flow of Revelation?
Andy
Well, we need to understand, it’s a great question, Wes, but understand the overall flow of redemptive history. The purpose of redemptive history is that sinners will be redeemed from their rebellion against Almighty God and saved, brought safely into the kingdom of heaven. And often, the image given of that is of seeds that are planted and grow to full fruition and are brought to a ripe harvest.
And I think we have a picture of that, but we also have a sense of the patience of God, waiting for wicked people, for their sin to reach its full measure. As it says in Genesis 15:16 where God said to Abraham, “The sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” And so, God is waiting patiently and allows people to keep doing wicked things day after day, but the time of judgment is definitely going to come. And so, this is a picture of the decisiveness of the end of God’s patient waiting. The time has come for all of his elect to have been brought into his harvest, into his barn. And the time has come also for his patience to end and wrath to come on the wicked of the earth. So, I see both of those depicted in this passage today.
Wes
What does John see in the first vision, and how does verse 14 compare with Daniel 7?
Andy
Okay, he sees one like a son of man coming on a cloud, and this is exactly what we see in Daniel 7:13-14, the vision of the Son of Man, which Jesus quoted numerous times both to his own disciples and also to his enemies at his trial: “In the future, you will see the son of man sitting on the clouds of heaven and coming with the power of God, the glory of God” (Matthew 26:64 paraphrase). And so, this is the picture of Daniel 7, the Son of Man. And so, there’s a lot of similarities here. And it’s very, very hard for me to read this without seeing this as a picture of Jesus and his second coming in glory.
Wes
In verse 15, what does the angel command the Son of Man to do? And why is the command given according to this verse?
Andy
Jesus himself again and again said that the timing of everything belonged to his heavenly Father.
Okay, so an angel comes out of the temple and calls to the one seated on a cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So, this is problematic if the one seated on the cloud, the one like a son of man, is in fact Jesus Christ, as I do believe. So, it seems strange that he would be seemingly taking orders from an angel, but I don’t think he’s taking orders here. I think instead, Jesus himself again and again said that the timing of everything belonged to his heavenly Father.
And he, as the Son of Man, was under the authority of his Father. So, he would not do anything until the Father said to do it. As we remember in Acts 1, where the apostles asked Jesus, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1:6), he said, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” (Acts 1:7). Or as he said again, “Concerning the day or hour, no one knows that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36).
So, the Father sets the time, and it could well be that the angel is not giving any orders to Jesus, the one like a son of man on the clouds. He’s just saying the Father is saying the time has come to end the period of harvest and to bring all of the elect into the barn. So, I think that’s what he’s saying. He’s coming as a messenger from the Father, from the temple, telling Jesus that the time has come to finish the harvest.
Wes
It’s fascinating, even in verse 14 we read that one like a son of man has a golden crown on his head and a sharp stickle in his hand. You get this sense of authority. So, it makes sense then that we’d have to understand what’s happening as the angel is communicating to this one like a son of man, telling him to put in his sickle. How does verse 15 give us a sense of the significance of this issue of timing in relation to the wrath of God?
Andy
Right. Well, we learned in 2 Peter 3 that God’s patience means salvation. The reason that wrath hasn’t come already is he’s waiting for all of the elect to cross over from death to life. God is not willing that any of his elect should perish, but everyone come to repentance, as I believe that text is teaching. And so, he’s waiting for that time to come. The patient waiting of God is for the salvation of the elect, and as I said also, in a very dark and mysterious way, to allow the wickedness of the wicked on earth to reach its full level as well.
He’s allowing them time to continue to do the wicked things that they’re doing. And so, the timing issue is very significant. That is the purpose of time. The purpose of time ultimately has to do with these matters of salvation and judgment. And so, every day, people make choices in what they’re going to do with their time. We also see in another place where we’re told to redeem the time because the days are evil. And so, this gives us a sense, time is not limitless. There’s going to come a day when all of this will end.
Wes
Now, verse 16 comes at us with remarkable restraint and understatement. Why do you think this verse is so simple, and what effect does this give in this account?
Andy
All right, so I think the best way to look at these two paragraphs, which is basically two harvests, is you have the harvest of the elect into the kingdom of heaven and into heaven itself. And we have also the harvest of the wicked and the judgment and wrath of God coming.
And there’s a timing on both of those. In terms of the elect, they are unconverted elect, and then at the right time, they cross over from death to life. And then in this passage, they are reaped from the earth and brought into the kingdom of heaven. And I look on that perhaps as referring to the end of their earthly lives in this present evil age. And this could even refer to the rapture, where the Lord said he will send out his angels, and they will gather his elect from one end of the heavens to the other. And they will meet the Lord in the air.
So, the time of their earthly lives is over. There’s a simplicity to verse 16, as you mentioned. He swings his sharp sickle. And it’s interesting that the sickle is described in both paragraphs as sharp, meaning nothing stops it from doing what it’s supposed to do, kind of like the word of God being living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. When he says, “Your time on earth has ended,” it’s over. For good or ill, for being gathered into the heavenly kingdom of glory, which brings great delight to the converted elect, or the time for the wicked to end their time on earth. At any rate, it’s a sharp sickle. And when he swings his sickle, that time ends.
Wes
How many angels are involved in the next image that comes to John, and how are they described in verses 17 and 18?
Andy
Well, we have an angel that comes out of the temple of God in heaven, and he has a sharp sickle. So, this seems to be distinguished from the earlier picture of the Son of Man. He’s called an angel here, and earlier it’s one like a son of man. So, this angel comes out of the temple in heaven with a sharp sickle. And then another angel, who we’re told has charge of the fire, calls in a loud voice to the first angel who had the sharp sickle, telling him also to swing his sickle. To put in the sickle, so to speak, and to bring the harvest of grapes to an end. So, we have two angels in this particular vision.
Wes
Now, what does it mean that the angel had power over fire?
Andy
Okay, so I actually think the image here is from earlier in Revelation 8, but even for me as somebody who studied the Book of Ezekiel for almost two years, there’s also a picture in that book of angels that scoop fire from heaven, from an altar in heaven, and throw it down on the earth. And it’s just a picture of the wrath and judgment of God coming from heaven to earth. And so, this angel has authority or power over that, the outpouring of the wrath of God on the wicked of the earth. So, he’s just identified that that’s his task or his function. And in line with that function, he’s speaking to another angel to tell him to swing his sickle; it’s time for the judgment of God to come on the wicked of the earth.
Wes
What’s the significance of the statement “for the grapes are ripe”?
Andy
I think I would commend all of our listeners to go to Genesis 15. And there, the Lord reveals to Abram, at that point his name hadn’t been changed, but we know him as Abraham, what was going to happen in the future: “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, where they’ll be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years, but I’ll punish the nation they serve as slaves,” that’s Egypt, “and afterward, they will come out and worship me in this place.” (Genesis 15:13). That’s in the promised land. That’s where Abram was, having this vision.
“But,” he then says, “however, all of these things must happen in the 400 years because the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” So, these are the seven Canaanite nations that Joshua and the Israelite army is going to completely wipe out and destroy four centuries later. But in the meantime, what are they going to be doing? A lot of pagan sinning. And so, God waits and allows the harvest of wrath or the grapes of wrath, so to speak, to come to their full fruition. And he allows them to do all of the wicked things that they intend to do for which he’s going to judge them.
So, the harvest is ripe in both cases. In the first paragraph, the harvest is ripe of the gospel working in the elect, bringing them to genuine faith in Christ and to full maturity in Christ before the sickle swings And their time in this present evil age is mercifully and happily brought to an end. But in the second, the harvest is ripe of their wickedness, where the judgment comes at last. And the sickle, the sharp sickle swings, and their time of wickedness has come to end as well.
Wes
So, in verse 18, we have the call or the command, and in verse 19, we have its fulfillment or the carrying out of this call from one angel to another. What is the winepress of God’s wrath, and what is Christ’s relation to it, as described later in Revelation 19?
Andy
Well, we’re going to see what happens in the winepress in verse 20. They’re trampled in the winepress. And so, what’s going on is that’s where people that had vineyards would harvest the grapes and put them into a big vat. And the workers would come and physically trample on them with their feet. And they would crush them, and the juice would flow out of them, which became the wine. And so, it’s a sense of crushing. They’re being crushed. This is not a pleasant image, but it’s one of destruction, it’s one of judgment.
And so, they’re being crushed by the wrath of God. And the result is going to be their destruction, even their eternal destruction. So, the angel swings his sickle, because the time of God’s wrath has come. And they are not permitted to continue their career of evil any longer. And they’re put in the winepress of God’s wrath, and they’re going to be crushed. Now, the crushing is things that are going to happen to their bodies and their minds, their souls, that they do not want to happen. They are going to experience some final terrible things that happen on earth in one way or another that maybe bring them great suffering. But then they’re going to be crushed in some metaphorical way for all eternity in hell. And so that’s the image I get here, is of tremendous pressure being brought on their bodies and souls by the wrath of God.
Wes
In 19:15, it says, “From his mouth comes a sharp sword,” speaking of Jesus, “with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.” Goes on to say at the end of that verse, “He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” Obviously in due time we’ll get to Revelation 19, so we don’t want to take too much time here, but how does this help us understand the relationship between Christ and the treading of this winepress?
Andy
He is directly and personally involved. He is the judge of all the earth. And you see this in John 5. Because he is the Son of Man, the privilege and the responsibility of judging all human beings is given to him. Because he is the Son of Man he will be honored as God himself because he is God. And he will have the decision or the power to make the decision for every single individual human being that has ever lived, separating them into two categories, believer, unbeliever; sheep and goats; good fish and bad fish; wheat and weeds. He divides them and he has that responsibility.
And so, the image in Revelation 19, it’s the second coming. And out of his mouth comes this sharp, double-edged sword which represents his word, which is directly effective. And so, you think of a sword, the sword only has one function, and that is to divide. It cuts. That’s what swords do. They take things that were together, and they’re dismembered or disassembled or sliced. And so, when he comes and says, effectively, “Be cut off from life, be cut off from every blessing, every good thing you’ve ever known,” it will happen. So that’s the judgment of God and of Jesus Christ. And he has that great power.
And he’s given this image that I also … and we read this right before we went on air, Isaiah 63, of trampling the winepress of God. And he comes and his garments are spattered with blood. And he says, “I’ve trodden the winepress alone” (Isaiah 63:3). And this is Jesus. He has a responsibility that no one else can bear. I mean, who would have the ability to say to a human being, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:31). Be cut off from everything you have ever loved, everything that has ever brought you pleasure, from all light and beauty, from everything good, be cut off forever and suffer forever? Only Jesus has that kind of authority and power, and he does not shrink back from it. We saw earlier in the same chapter, Revelation 14:11, “The smoke of their torment rises forever and ever in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.” He is doing it. He’s not an observer. He is the one affecting the judgments of God here. He has that role.
Wes
What then is the outcome of the treading of the winepress, and what is the significance of the fact that it’s trodden outside the city?
Andy
All right, so the outside the city we’ll see very plainly in Revelation 22, I think it is, where it talks about everyone that’s outside the city, the new Jerusalem, are the wicked. They’re not permitted to enter that city. And so those are the reprobates, the wicked, the evil. And so, they’re trampled here.
It is very, very hard to read Revelation 14:20 and see it in a literal way. I always want, first and foremost, to take even the apocalyptic language of the Book of Revelation and try my best to see it literal. So, I think it will be literal but also metaphorical. So, I think the idea is there’s just a tremendous amount of suffering and misery and blood flowing from the wicked as they’re trampled by Christ. So, I think the image of blood flowing to the height of a horse’s bridle, which is about four feet high, and it’s for a distance of 1,600 stadia, which converts to about 200 miles, that’s more blood than there is on planet Earth, probably. So, I think the point is that it’s just a very bloody affair. It is not a kind, simple thing to look at. It’s meant to be warfare and judgment flowing. So ultimately, it’s a picture of the wrath of God on sinners that brings them immense misery and suffering.
Wes
Andy, that brings us to the end of chapter 14. What thoughts do you have for us as we’ve walked through really some difficult passages. Both to interpret, but then also for what they contain, the reality of wrath to come and judgment that will be righteously brought on those who reject Christ? What can we take away from our text today, but also all of chapter 14?
Andy
Yeah, I can’t help, and I’ve already mentioned it, but I can’t help but think again to Ephesians 5, which says, “Redeeming the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). This has to do with the fact that time is ticking. This is right now the day of salvation, but that day will end. And when that day ends, the time for salvation will have ended. The time is now to enter the ark, like Noah’s ark, to enter the ark of salvation through faith in Christ. Today is the day of salvation, but that day will come.
Also, I think it’s for us who are crying out, especially our brothers and sisters in other parts of the country where they are being directly oppressed and persecuted for their faith. And they’re crying out like the persistent widow, yearning for justice day and night. And Jesus said there in the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge … “Listen to what the unjust judge says, ‘And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? No, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth” (Luke 18:6-7)?
The wicked will not rule forever. Satan will not rule forever. Judgment day is coming, and Jesus has the kind of power needed to bring about justice and judgment on the earth.
What he’s saying there is God is going to bring about judgment. And so, it is terrifying, but it’s also encouraging. The wicked will not rule forever. Satan will not rule forever. Judgment day is coming, and Jesus has the kind of power needed to bring about justice and judgment on the earth. So, what it says to me is make the most of our time. Our time and our role is to evangelize, to do missions, to grow in grace, to become ripe in Christ ourselves, to get mature by following Christ. I think it goes to the two journeys that we’ve talked about again and again in this ministry, which is the internal journey of holiness, growing to full maturity in Christ, and the external journey of gospel advance, which is winning lost people while there’s still time.
Wes
This has been Episode 20 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 21, entitled God Prepares the Final Judgments for Earth, where we’ll discuss Revelation 15:1-18. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
