Grapes of Wrath

“I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.

Son of man is common terminology for Christ.

The identification of this angel as Christ is not without critics, and there are some legitimate questions.

Why is Christ taking orders from an angel? One possible answer is that the angel is simply relaying the Father's command.

Likely, this is more of a proclamation from the angel, not a command.

****Why is Christ doing essentially the same work as an angel?

****These questions may never be satisfactorily answered. However, one thing to keep in mind is that Christ leads the way.

This is His operation, His judgment. If He has chosen to use certain other angels to assist Him in the harvest, so be it.

The harvest is a typical OT figure used to denote divine judgment.

Joel 3:12-13

Joel 3:12–13 NKJV

“Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 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.”

Jeremiah 51:33

Jeremiah 51:33 NKJV

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor When it is time to thresh her; Yet a little while And the time of her harvest will come.”

This harvest is the judgment spoken of by Jesus, and comes at the end of the age.

Matthew 13:38-42

Matthew 13:38–42 NKJV

The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

V.16:

The parable of the sower will cast some light on this harvest.

Matthew 13:24-30

Matthew 13:24–30 NKJV

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

The wheat and the tares grow together, and may appear to be very similar.

Such is the case with satan's weeds. For a time they may be very hard to detect, but no longer.

Now they stand in dark contrast to God's true children.

The good seed and the bad are exposed by their works.

The weed is dangerous, hindering the growth of the wheat, and poisonous if eaten. It symbolizes those who are sons of the devil.

Now the time has come for the harvest.

Jesus explained that the harvest would occur at the end of the age.

First the weeds will be gathered in bundles, then they will be flung into the fire.

It is now time for the separation of the wheat from the tares.

For two thousand years the saints have watched satanic cults spring up and flourish.

After the rapture of the church no doubt they will prosper even more.

They will be fed by the bold reign of the antichrist during the tribulation.

Believers during this time will find themselves surrounded by cults, wickedness and false prophets on all sides.

They will deceive many, but the Lord makes no mistakes. He cannot be deceived or mocked.

The Lord cannot be mocked.

Galatians 6:7

Galatians 6:7 NKJV

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

When the harvest time comes, He will swiftly separate the false from the true.

With a swing of His sickle, it is done!

"The earth was reaped". . . So we have the culmination of God's judgment.

VV.17-18:

Here we have two angels emerge from heaven.

One with a sickle, and one with authority over fire.

These are those who assist Christ in the work of judgment at His coming.

Angels will assist Christ in separation the wicked from the just.

Matthew 13:49

Matthew 13:49 NKJV

So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just,

This angel who comes from the altar and has authority over fire would represent the prayers of the saints.

The angel from the altar represents the prayers of the saints.

Revelation 8:3-5

Revelation 8:3–5 NKJV

Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

Twice daily the priest would burn incense and offer it in the Holy Place as a symbol of the people’s prayers.

This angel is coming from the heavenly altar to ensure that all the prayers of all the saints for judgment and the coming of the kingdom are answered.

He calls for judgment to start, and so it does.

The clusters of the vines of the earth are those unbelievers. They are of the worldly system (the earth), not of Christ.

Those who are of Christ are not of this world.

John 18:36

John 18:36 NKJV

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

V.19:

Notice that the angel harvests the wicked and presents them to God for judgment.

They are trampled under the wrath of God, not the wrath of angels.

They should only wish that it were the wrath of angels, because the angels have no power or authority comparable to God.

When God's wrath is poured out, none will be able to stand.

V.20:

This is a picture of Christ coming to the battle of Armageddon.

This is the slaughter of all the enemies of God who are still alive, facing the destruction at Armageddon, the final battle against God’s enemies, staged on the Plain of Esdraelon.

We see a picture of Christ coming to the battle of Armageddon.

Isaiah 63:6

Isaiah 63:6 NKJV

I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought down their strength to the earth.”

Revelation 16:14-16

Revelation 16:14–16 NKJV

For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

Revelation 19:11-19

Revelation 19:11–19 NKJV

Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

The judgment will be so swift and so severe, that blood will flow as freely as the juice from ripe grapes.

It will flow as high as a horse's bridle (4') for about 200 miles.

It will be a scene, the likes of which the world has never seen.

"outside the city." God will ensure that this bloodbath will occur outside Jerusalem, as if God wants to protect the city from the carnage all around.

God's judgment no trivial matter and its not a topic that we can avoid; however, judgment can be avoided.

Jesus wants laborers to enter the harvest, so that the lost might come to Him and escape the harvest of judgment.

We should be laborers in God’s harvest of salvation.

Matthew 9:37-38

Matthew 9:37–38 NKJV

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

The truth is, that there will be a harvest of damnation for those not in the harvest of salvation.