Friday, October 22, 2021

55. The Revelation: Harvest Time - The Grape Harvest (Revelation 14:17-20)

 


HARVEST TIME: THE GRAPE HARVEST (Revelation 14:17–20)

The vision of the grain harvest is followed by the vision of the grape harvest, which speaks of the judgment that takes place at the battle of Armageddon. This judgment is more dramatic because of the imagery of the winepress.

1. The Reaper

"And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle." (Rev. 14:17)

The reaper in this vision is not the Son of Man, but an angel, the fifth one mentioned in chapter 14. Like the fourth angel (verse 15), he came out of the temple in heaven and “also had a sharp sickle.” That an angel is pictured in this vision as the reaper is not surprising. The Son of Man will be assisted by holy angels in His final judgment (Matthew 13:39, 49; 2 Thessalonians 1:7).

2. The Ripeness

"Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” (Rev. 14:18)

As John watched, another angel appeared, the sixth one in the vision. That title “the one who has power over fire” is closely connected with the fact that he “came out from the altar.” Unlike the angel in verse 17, this angel does not come from the throne of God, but from the altar associated with the prayers of the saints. His appearance means that the time had come for those prayers to be answered.

Leaving the altar, “he called with a loud [and urgent] voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, ‘Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.’ ” In answer to the saints’ prayers, the time for the reaping of judgment comes. The word “ripe” is not the same Greek word used in verse 15. This word refers to something fully ripe and in its prime. It pictures earth’s wicked people as bursting with the juice of wickedness and ready for the harvest of righteousness.

3. The Reaping

"So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles." (Rev. 14:19–20)

What resulted when the angel swung his sickle was catastrophic. All the enemies of God who survive the seven bowl judgments will be gathered like grape clusters from the vine of the earth and flung into the great wine press of the wrath of God. A winepress consisted of two stone basins connected by a trough. Grapes would be trampled in the upper basin, and the juice would collect 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 (cf. Isaiah 63:3; Lamentation 1:15; Joel 3:13).

The staggering, horrifying bloodbath of the battle of Armageddon will be so widespread that blood will come out from the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles. “The winepress [will be] trodden outside the city,” as the Lord protects Jerusalem from the carnage of the battle of Armageddon (cf. 11:2; Daniel 11:45; Zechariah 14:1–4). There will be millions of people engaged in the battle of Armageddon, as all the nations gather together to fight against Christ.

Still, it is difficult to imagine that they could produce a flow of blood “up to the horses’ bridles [about four feet deep] for a distance of two hundred miles” (literally “1,600 stadia”). A better interpretation, whether there are actual horses involved or not, sees this as hyperbole to suggest the slaughter in which blood will splatter into the air profusely along the whole length of the battle. When the slaughter reaches its peak, blood could flow deeply in troughs and streambeds.

Armageddon, as this passage indicates, will actually be a slaughter rather than a battle. When the Lord Jesus Christ returns, Antichrist, the false prophet, and all their human and demonic forces will be immediately destroyed. Those who refuse to repent, even after repeated warnings, will learn firsthand the sobering truth that “it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). They would do well to heed admonition of Psalm 2: “Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!” (verse 12).