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Reaping the Grapes of Wrath (verses
17-20)
“Then
another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also
having a sharp sickle.
18 And
another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and
he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying,
‘Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the
vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.’ 19 So the
angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the
earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came
out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one
thousand six hundred furlongs.”
Here’s a contrasting view
of the same activity. Once again, just to be sure that we
understand what we see previous to this, that last section,
verses 14-16, is the reaping, the
harvest. In this section, verses
17-20, we’re going to see the destruction of
the wicked.
John sees another angel coming out of the
sanctuary that is in heaven (verse 17:
“Then another angel came out of the temple which is in
heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.”). As he
states there, the angel has “a sharp
sickle.” This word “sickle”
that’s translated here in this section of
the 14th chapter is a Greek word which
means “a sharp tool; a sharp instrument, which was consistent
with that used by a vine dresser,” one who was in the
business, in the practice, of keeping the vines—the grape
vines, and so on. Of course, we know that the vines had to be
trimmed and kept. In fact, there is a
significant pruning process that
goes on when one is involved in working with grapes.
Obviously, one who did that work would have to have a sharp
instrument, a sharp tool. That is what is in view here.
The angel’s presence indicates that the harvest is ready to
be gathered.
And then, we see that another angel comes out,
this time from the altar [verse 18a:
“And another angel came out from the altar, who had power
over fire….”].
This is apparently the altar that we saw back in
chapter 6, that altar under which the souls of
those who had been persecuted were in view, and they were crying
out, “How long, O Lord, how long?” Those who had
been martyred are beneath the altar. This is also, probably,
where the incense has gone up to heaven, or the fire for the
incense has come from this altar.
It’s difficult to make a direct comparison
in every instance between the altar and some of the other things
that were associated with, first, the tabernacle, and then, the
temple in Jerusalem. There’s not an exact transposition
which can be made here. But it is close enough that we can
understand that that is what is being talked about— no, not
the exact tabernacle itself; no, not the exact temple, but a
replication of that, because, again, people would
have understood—they would have been able to
relate to the sanctuary, to the temple and to
things that were in the temple.
This second angel who comes out from the altar
gives the command to the angel with that sharp sickle, with that
tool, that instrument, used by the vine dresser. His command
is, “Gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her
grapes are fully ripe,” [verse 18b:
“…and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the
sharp sickle, saying, ‘Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather
the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully
ripe.’”].
Let’s look over, just briefly, to an Old
Testament passage. You know, we like to make some
“excursions” over to the Old Testament during our study
of this, because there are many passages in the Old Testament that
we use to support, to clarify, and there are a number of thoughts
and ideas that have come out of the Old Testament that are related
here. So, let’s look briefly at Isaiah, chapter
63, and see if this will help us to determine what is
being spoken of here in Revelation 14.
Isaiah, chapter 63, verses 2 through
4:
“Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who
treads in the winepress?
3 ‘I have trodden the winepress alone, And
from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them
in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled
upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes. 4 For the
day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has
come.’”
No doubt, this is where this
idea, this figurative language for the
“winepress,” has come from. It is
consistent with what the Holy Spirit has inspired Isaiah to write
and to have in view, and consistent, then, of course, with what
John sees and writes here.
I think we can see here that the
“winepress” in Revelation 14
symbolizes the wrath of God. The treading of
the winepress stains the feet, and it stains the garments of the
ones who tread the grapes with the red juices of the grapes.
And it looks like blood, thus, becoming a figure
for the utter trampling down of the enemies of God and the judgment
of God against those who are in rebellion to His Will.
We are reminded here, a sort of anticipation of
the scene when we get over to Revelation 19, verse
11 and following, that it is the
Son of God Who there treads the winepress.
So here, we’re getting a glimpse of
something that is going to be mentioned again and more fully
developed once we get over to Revelation 19 and into
chapter 20.
Note that the “winepress” here is
located outside the city [verse
20: “And the winepress was
trampled outside the city, and blood came out of
the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one
thousand six hundred furlongs.”]. Note also that
instead of grape juice flowing from it as it is
pressed—that’s what one would expect to
see—blood flows out
We see “the great winepress of the
wrath of God,” [verse 19]. The
figure is changed into that of
warfare in which enemies are destroyed and their
blood flows on the battleground. Joel, chapter 3 and
verse 12 speaks there of the slaughter of God’s
enemies in the last day, which takes place in the Valley of
Jehoshaphat, near to Jerusalem [“Let the nations be
wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will
sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the
sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the
winepress is full, The vats overflow — For their wickedness
is great,” [Joel 3:12-13]. But
here in John’s figure, in his vision, there is no earthly
city that is mentioned since scholars believe that what is in view
here is the final Judgment. It’s not just the judgment
against Rome; it’s not the judgment against another evil
empire, but rather, it is the final
Judgment.
John says that blood is in evidence, and
it’s as high as the horses’ bridles
[“…and blood came out of the
winepress, up to the horses' bridles, for one
thousand six hundred furlongs,” [verse
20b]. Well, what does that mean? It suggests
the volume, the depth—and he says that the distance of it is
1,600 furlongs (your translation might say “stadia,” or
some other translation). I’m not really sure of the
distance. I’ve seen from a couple of different sources
that it could be anywhere from a distance of about 160 miles, all
the way up to 200 miles, but it is suggesting a
very large area—very long, very deep. In fact, one
writer that I read suggested that it was the length of
Palestine from Dan to Beersheba, a distance of about 160
miles. The suggestion is not that what is in
view here is simply the destruction of Palestine, but it is putting
sort of a [figurative/symbolic] “dimension” upon what
is being said.
Here is another important statement of
God’s righteous judgment that is operative—it’s
operative in the natural world, but it’s also operative in
the spiritual world. That principle is
captured by Paul, Galatians, chapter 6, verses 7 and
8, when he says, “Be not deceived, God is not
mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, he will also reap; for he that
sows to his own flesh shall reap corruption, but he that sows to
the spirit shall reap eternal life.” [Galatians
6:7-9 - NKJV: “7 Do not be deceived, God
is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8
For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but
he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we
shall reap if we do not lose heart.”].
Once again, we see this figure,
this figure of a harvest which is taking place. In the first
place, there is the harvesting of the faithful. The
supposition is that those who are faithful have been those ones who
have “sowed to the spirit.” They are
brought in [harvested]; they are
redeemed; they are part of the
144,000; they are the saved of every age,
of every generation. But then, those who have sowed to the
flesh are the ones represented as being trampled,
being trod, being crushed, in
God’s “winepress of wrath.”
And so, once again, God is not mocked. Man
reaps what he sows. I think that’s the
principle that’s expressed here.
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