Revelation 14:17-20, “17After that, another angel came from the Temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18Then another angel, who has power to destroy the world with fire, shouted to the angel with the sickle, "Use your sickle now to gather the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are fully ripe for judgment." 19So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20And the grapes were trodden in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle.”
This judgment refers to the grape harvest and does not speak of the bowl judgments but of the Battle of Armageddon. The vintage judgment is more dramatic because of the imagery of the winepress. Like the vision of the grain harvest, the grape harvest can be described in three points: the reaper, the ripeness, and the reaping.
Revelation 14:17, “After that, another angel came from the Temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.”
Another angel is not the Lord Jesus, but another angel the fifth one here recorded. Like the fourth angel this angel came from the Temple in heaven and also this angel also had a sharp sickle. We have seen quite a bit regarding angels in this context of our study of Revelation. We have seen them call the four horseman, sounding the seven trumpets, and defeating Satan and his demon hosts. Yet Angels will continue to play an important role in pouring out the seven bowl judgments in Chapter 16, announcing the battle of Armageddon (19:17), and bind Satan (20:13). That an angel is pictured in this vision as the reaper, then, is not surprising. The Son of Man will be assisted by holy angels in His final judgment (Matthew 13:39,49; 2 Thess 1:7).
Revelation 14:18, “Then another angel, who has power to destroy the world with fire, shouted to the angel with the sickle, "Use your sickle now to gather the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are fully ripe for judgment."”
Yet another angel the sixth one in this chapter is here shown. This angel is given an interesting distinction as who has power to destroy the world with fire which for us has a very significant influence from the intertestamental literature specifically from the writing of Malachi to Matthew that is. Angels are assigned to the various elements of nature. Enoch speaks of the angels of thunder, sea, hail, snow rain and so on (1 Enoch 60:11-21; Jub 2:2). John has in mind here is the angel of 8:3-5 who filled the censer with fire from the altar and cast it upon the earth. Fire is commonly associated with judgment in the NT (Matthew 18:8; Luke 9:54; 2 Thess 1:7). Swete points out, “The angel who had charge of the fire commands the angel with the sharp sickle to gather the vintage. This follows closely the parallel command in the previous vision to reap the harvest of the earth. Joel 3:14 is our model for both. Like the grain that has turned golden and must now be harvest immediately the grapes are fully ripe.”
Yet what also could be seen is that the heavenly altar could be describing Revelation 6:9-11. The Old Testament brass incense altar (Ex 40:5), where twice daily priests burned incense to be offered in the Holy place as a picture of the people’s prayers, since the martyrs underneath it are viewed praying and prayer is associated with incense (6:8; Ps 141:2; Luke 1:10). Yet this again leads us to Revelation 8:3-5, “3Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great quantity of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people, to be offered on the gold altar before the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of the saints, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. 5Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake.”
Every morning and evening Old Testament priests would take hot coals form the brazen altar (upon which sacrifices were offered) and bring them to the incense altar. There they would ignite the incense (ex 30:7-8; 2 Chron 29:11), which would rise toward heaven, symbolizing the prayers of God’s people (5:8). At that same time, the people outside would be praying (Luke 1:10). Macarthur points out, “That the angel had power over the altar’s fire (the definite article is present in the Greek text, which literally reads “the fire”) indicates that he had been ministering at the heavenly counterpart to the earthly incense altar.” This points out for us the fact that the altar associated with the prayers of the saints would show us that His appearance means that the time had come for those prayers to be answered. The time had finally come for God to take fire associated with the intercession of the saints and use it for the destruction of His enemies and the enemies of His people.
This then leads us to see that the angel, shouted to the angel with the sickle, "Use your sickle now to gather the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are fully ripe for judgment."” Unrepentant sinners are those who are clusters of grapes to be cut off by the reapers sharp sickle from the vine of the earth, that is from earthly existence. The word ripe in the greek is not the same as in verse 16, for this word would refer seemingly to something fully ripe and in prime, but it pictures the earth’s wicked, lost people as bursting forth with the juice of wickedness and ready for the harvest of righteousness.
Revelation 14:19-20, “So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath. And the grapes were trodden in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle.”
As if all this isn’t enough the angel swung his sickle on the earth resulting in catastrophe. A Winepress consisted of two stone basins connected by a trough. Grapes would be trampled in the upper basin, and the juice would then be collected in the lower one. The splattering of the juice as the grapes are stomped vividly pictures the splattered blood of those who will be destroyed (Isa 63:3; Lam 1:15; Joel 3:13). Yet the winepress will be trodden outside the city as the Lord protects Jerusalem from the carnage of the Battle of Armageddon (11:2; Daniel 11:45; Zech 14:1-14). The battle of Armageddon will take place in the north of Israel on the Plain of Esdraelon near Mount Megiddo (about sixty miles north of Jerusalem). It will rage the entire length of Israel as far south as Bozrah in Edom (Isaiah 63:1). Jerusalem will be spared to become the capital of Christ’s Kingdom.
The blood bath of the Battle of Armageddon will be such that blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle.” There will be millions upon millions of people gathered to fight against the Lord Jesus as all the nations gather to fight. Yet it is hard for one to imagine that they could produce blood up to as high as a horse’s bridle, for the height of this would be four feet deep. Some translations read 200 miles or 180 miles. More than likely it will not be actual horses involved but the imagery is meant to be symbolic to refer to the slaughter in which blood will splatter into the air so profusely as to suggest the whole length of the battle. When the slaughter reaches its peak, blood could flow deeply in the troughs and streambeds.
Armageddon will not be a battle but a slaughter of all those who oppose the Lord Jesus and the establishment of the everlasting Kingdom reign. When the Lord Jesus comes to establish His everlasting kingdom, Antichrist, the false prophet, and all their human and demonic forces will be immediately destroyed. Revelation 19:11-21 records the event, “11Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. And the one sitting on the horse was named Faithful and True. For he judges fairly and then goes to war. 12His eyes were bright like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him, and only he knew what it meant. 13He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. 14The armies of heaven, dressed in pure white linen, followed him on white horses. 15From his mouth came a sharp sword, and with it he struck down the nations. He ruled them with an iron rod, and he trod the winepress of the fierce wrath of almighty God. 16On his robe and thigh was written this title: King of kings and Lord of lords.17Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, shouting to the vultures flying high in the sky: "Come! Gather together for the great banquet God has prepared. 18Come and eat the flesh of kings, captains, and strong warriors; of horses and their riders; and of all humanity, both free and slave, small and great."19Then I saw the beast gathering the kings of the earth and their armies in order to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army. 20And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast--miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21Their entire army was killed by the sharp sword that came out of the mouth of the one riding the white horse. And all the vultures of the sky gorged themselves on the dead bodies.”
Once we get to Revelation 19 we will be discussing this battle more in depth, and how it will take place, but in putting this scene together with chapter 19 with Revelation 14:17-20, the angel cuts the grapes ; it is the Lord Jesus Christ who crushes out their lives. Those who will not repent in humanity or throughout our society face a sobering truth, for those who willfully refuse to repent even now are agents of Satan destined to hell forever, yet God still offers the gift of pardon through reception of His Son, yet even during the Tribulation period those who willfully will not repent and live in demonic strongholds, will be those who are strongheaded that is unwilling to heed to the warnings of God, will learn firsthand the sobering truth that “it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). People would do well to heed King David’s abomination in Psalm 2:12, “12
Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry,
and you will be destroyed in the midst of your pursuits--
for his anger can flare up in an instant.
But what joy for all who find protection in him!”
Come Lord Jesus Come! Come to Jesus and let Him come into your life today right now lest He comes like a thief in the night taking away your lampstand, Amen!
Pastor Jenkins
