Revelation 14:14-20 - The Harvest
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Revelation 14:14–20 (ESV)
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.
So tonight, we will finish the fourth vision cycle. Last time we were together, we considered the three angels and their pronouncements of judgment. Tonight we will see the final salvation of God’s people and the final judgment of the wicked.
Now this vision cycle began back in chapter 12 where John saw the history of redemption through Christ’s ascension symbolized by the woman and the child and the dragon. We then saw the history of redemption since the time of Christ’s ascension through the present day.
And we saw that since Christ’s ascension, we have been at war with the powers of darkness - with Satan and the worldly powers he is king over and the deceit of false religion, which were represented by the two beasts.
And we saw that our part in this war as the people of God - sealed by the Holy Spirit, and with Christ present with us - is to persevere until the end bringing the Gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sins to the end of the earth until Christ’s physical return. This is the endurance of the saints that we saw in verse 12:
Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
And what we saw, was that the Gospel will save those God has elected to eternal life - but it will be a means of judgment for the reprobate. They will be punished for their failure to believe in Christ.
This is why the three angels pronounced judgment on the world - on those who worship the sea beast. Because there will be a final judgment for all who worship anything other than Christ.
And there will come a final salvation. Those who endure to the end will be saved and either raptured or physically resurrected at Christ’s return, and those who have earned judgment will be physically raised and thrown into eternal torment.
This will all happen at Christ’s return, which is what John sees next:
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.
So once again John sees a cloud. It is the first thing he mentions here. And once again this cloud points us to the identity of the One sitting on it.
We have this connection made in the book of Revelation a couple of times. Right at the outset, John addresses the book to the seven churches and says that the book is also from Christ:
Revelation 1:4–7 (ESV)
John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
When Christ comes, John says, He will come with the clouds, and it will make the unsaved wail.
But John knows that it will mean the salvation of the elect, which is why he says “even so, amen!” Or, “even so, let it be!”
So John says here that when Christ comes, He is coming with the clouds.
We saw in chapter 10, near the end of the third vision cycle containing the seven trumpets, that John describes the One Who gives him this revelation and tells him that he will have to do it again.
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.
And if you’ll remember, this is Christ. And when He descends in the cloud, He gives John that scroll that represented revelation from God, and we read:
Revelation 10:8–10 (ESV)
Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll.
And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.
And if you’ll remember, I said that I believed that what was on the scroll was a description of the seven bowls of God’s wrath, which we will see in the next vision cycle. And the reason that the scroll was sweet in John’s mouth - it was sweet at first - is because, as we will see, the vision begins with the final salvation of the elect.
And the reason it turns bitter in his stomach - after he has a moment to digest what is being revealed - is because it describes in detail the punishment of the wicked.
When Jesus comes, those of the earth will see Him and wail on account of Him. Even so, let it be, because our salvation will be complete.
So twice already in the book of Revelation, we have seen the cloud motif point to Christ’s Second Coming.
Here we have the third:
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.
But realize, this cloud motif is not original to the book of Revelation. In fact, it is used to refer to both the presence of God and the judgment of God throughout the Bible.
First, let’s go back to the book of Genesis, right after the Flood. God had just destroyed mankind, except for Noah and his family. And when they come off the Ark, God gives them their marching orders:
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
This is a restating of the creation mandate that was given to Adam, which as we know, he failed in. So God was starting over with Noah and his family. And they fail too. And so does all of reconstituted mankind with the Tower of Babel. That’s why God - as judgment - fills the earth with them.
But God made a covenant with Noah that He would never again judge mankind with a flood. And as a sign, God gives the rainbow:
Genesis 9:11–16 (ESV)
I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”
And that “bow” is an archer’s bow. It is what shoots arrows. God faced His weapon of war away from the earth. And He set it, He says, in the cloud - singular. It will be seen when the clouds - plural - are seen, but it is set in "the” cloud.
And note that God does not tell us He gave the rainbow to remind us of His mercy and grace in never destroying the world with a Flood again. He says it is a reminder for Him that He promised to never destroy the earth with a Flood.
Put a pin in that for a moment.
Because there’s more: in the Old Testament, a cloud was used to represent the presence of God.
After the Exodus, God led Israel in the form of a cloud by day:
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
When God appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai, He descended in a cloud:
Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
When God’s presence entered the Tabernacle, it was in the form of a cloud:
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
When He entered the Temple many generations later, His presence was represented by a cloud:
And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.
And note that the cloud is identified in the Tabernacle and the Temple with the glory of the Lord.
It is a manifestation of God’s glory and very presence.
This is what Ezekiel saw in his vision of the glory of God:
In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal.
And Ezekiel goes on to describe some very hard to understand things - creatures and wheels in wheels - and he goes on to say this:
Ezekiel 1:26–28 (ESV)
And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around.
And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
So Ezekiel calls the glory of the Lord this divine but human king in a cloud - the glory of which he likens to a rainbow.
And let’s not forget what we saw already in the book of Revelation. When Christ comes in the third cycle, He is:
Revelation 10:1 (ESV)
wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.
So He comes in a cloud with a rainbow here.
In other words, the rainbow in the cloud represents Christ. God took His bow and pointed it away from earth and toward heaven, which is where the Son of God came from to take the judgment of God on Himself. God pointed it at Himself.
And because He took that punishment, this divine yet human king sits in the cloud with the rainbow because He has been glorified.
Which is why when He comes again, He will come in glory to judge:
For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
And this glory is His coming in the clouds:
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And here:
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.
We see the cloud and seated on it the Son of Man. Just as Christ said would happen.
But this is also a reference back to Daniel 7, which we haven’t visited for a while now, so let’s go back to it.
Daniel has the vision of the beasts which as we saw corresponds with the beasts John is seeing in this vision cycle. But Daniel sees more in that vision. He sees judgment, even for the beast:
Daniel 7:9–11 (ESV)
“As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.
But we also see that a human figure is crowned King when all of this happens.
Daniel 7:13–14 (ESV)
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And 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 one that shall not be destroyed.
And this passage was understood to be referring to the Messiah Who would be a divine figure, which is why Jesus claiming to be this Person was considered blasphemy:
Mark 14:61–64 (ESV)
Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death.
Because they knew their Old Testament theology, and they knew that the Son of Man Who would sit as King and come in the clouds was the Messiah, and would also somehow be divine.
So here:
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.
We see all of this brought together - the cloud which is the presence of God and the glory of God which all point to Christ - and the Son of Man and His reign as King. He has a golden crown on His head.
He is not just the glorified Son of Man, and He is not just the Judge that sits in the clouds, He is King.
Which Christ promised would happen at His coming:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
That is what John is seeing here:
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.
The only difference here, is He has a sickle. And what is a sickle used for? It is the tool of a farmer. It is used to harvest grain, usually wheat.
And the imagery of a harvest is used in the Bible two ways - it is used as a symbol of God gathering His people, and it is used as a symbol of God’s judgment. Both of which are happening here in Revelation 14.
Like when Jeremiah speaks of God’s gathering of Israel as His people:
Jeremiah 2:1–3 (ESV)
The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest.
And the harvest was a favorite metaphor of Jesus for the gathering of His people. Like when He describes the mission of the church:
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Or when He describes the growing of the kingdom:
And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Or when He describes His Second Coming and the reality of our spiritual warfare until then:
Matthew 13:24–30 (ESV)
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’
But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
Here in Revelation 14, harvest times has come.
And the harvest that is the gathering of God’s people is why Christ has the sickle, and that gathering - the resurrection of those who died in Christ and the rapture of those who are alive at His coming - is what is described next:
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.
Because we saw that Jesus said He was coming in glory and in the clouds - but look at what will happen when He does:
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
So that there are other angels John sees in this portion of the vision shouldn't surprise us. As we have already seen, God uses angels as agents of salvation and of judgment.
And this gathering at the trumpet call is described by Paul in 1 Thessalonians where he says:
1 Thessalonians 4:13–17 (ESV)
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
And here in Revelation 14, John sees the coming of Christ, he hears the voice of the angel, and he sees the gathering of God’s people - the resurrection and the rapture.
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.
And that this is a reaping by Christ, we know that this is not punishment, but salvation. Reaping is the gathering of the fruit - the useful and desirable part of the wheat.
But there is another gathering. There is the gathering of the reprobate to their eternal punishment. And that is what we see next:
Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.
So we see now angels that are agents of judgment. This angel also has a sharp sickle. Also note that he comes out of the temple in heaven. So John from the earth sees Jesus descend in the cloud and then save His people finally and forever. Then, he sees the angel descend from heaven with 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.”
OK, there’s a lot going on here. First, we see yet another angel. Like an angel called to Christ to harvest the elect, and angel calls to this other angel to gather the unsaved.
And who is this other angel? It says that he is the angel that has authority over the fire. We have seen angels use fire already in the book of Revelation.
We have the angel that was the agent of judgment at the end of the second vision cycle:
Revelation 8:1–5 (ESV)
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,
and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
And if you’ll remember, we saw that the seventh seal represents the Second Coming of Christ. The silence in heaven was because Christ descended to earth and all of the souls of the saints in heaven have now gotten their resurrection bodies and come with Him, as do His angels. So heaven empties out at the Second Coming.
Then we saw that the reference to the altar of incense and the prayers of the saints was a reference to the prayers of those under the altar for God to judge His enemies - that was the fifth seal.
And we saw that the angel taking the fire from the altar and throwing it down to earth was the final judgment as an answer to the prayers of the saints for Christ to come back to save them and judge the wicked.
Here in Revelation 14, we have the angel who has authority over the fire call out that the time for judgment has come. Is the same angel as in the seventh seal?
Or, is this a reference to the third vision cycle where when the sixth trumpet blew we saw the release of angels for judgment against the wicked.
Revelation 9:13–18 (ESV)
Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.
And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.
Or, is this angel with authority over the fire the third angel that pronounced judgment on mankind from earlier in this chapter:
Revelation 14:9–11 (ESV)
And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
Well, I can’t say I know for sure which one it is, unless we want to say that the judgment by fire carried out by angels as agents of God’s judgment is the same judgment each time we see it in these different cycles.
Like the descent of Christ from heaven is the same Coming in each of the cycles.
And the earthquake, thunder, and lightning are the same in each cycle.
And if we do not want to say that, then how can you escape the fact that the final judgment has already been described multiple times? How many last judgments are there?
There’s going to be one. And that is what we are seeing here:
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.”
Now we just saw that the third angel pronounced judgment by fire on the wicked and described the judgment this way:
he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
So the judgment is described using the fire and sulfur, but also as the wine of God’s wrath. This imagery is continued when this angel with the sickle is told:
Revelation 14:18 (ESV)
“Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.”
Now, as opposed to wheat harvest which refers in the Bible to the gathering of God’s people, the idea of grape harvest is used to describe God’s judgment.
If you follow along in our reading plan and are caught up, you know that already in the beginning of the book of Jeremiah, we have seen grape gathering used as a picture of God’s judgment.
He says of the coming Babylonian army:
Jeremiah 6:9 (ESV)
Thus says the Lord of hosts: “They shall glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; like a grape gatherer pass your hand again over its branches.”
He talks about how God would keep Judah as His people, but:
Jeremiah 8:13 (ESV)
When I would gather them, declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.”
And God in Jeremiah refers to Judah as grapes, because He tells them they are wild grapes and not the grapes He planted. Wild grapes represent people who are disobedient to God.
And this is not original to Jeremiah. The prophet Isaiah says this of the wicked that have turned from God:
Isaiah 5:1–5 (ESV)
Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
This is why Jeremiah describes the Babylonian captivity this way:
Lamentations 1:15 (ESV)
“The Lord rejected all my mighty men in my midst; he summoned an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah.
And why Isaiah describes the day of the final salvation and final judgment this way:
Isaiah 63:3–6 (ESV)
“I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come.
I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me. I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
But there is a direct reference being made here:
Revelation 14:18–19 (ESV)
“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.
The prophet Joel, who we have considered a few times in our study, says this of the wicked nations:
Joel 3:12–13 (ESV)
Let the nations stir themselves up 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. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.
And “Jehoshaphat” is a proper name, and it was the name of one of the kings of Judah. But the name is a combination of the name “YHWH” and the verb that means “to judge.” So this is the valley of God’s judgment.
And what happens there? The sickle is put in, the grapes are put in the winepress, and there are so many grapes that the vats overflow. Why? Because the evil of the harvested grapes is great.
This is what John is seeing here. The fulfillment of this prophecy:
Revelation 14:18–20 (ESV)
“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.
And John describes this vividly. He describes a river of blood that is about 5 or 6 feet deep and 184 miles long. The vats are overflowing indeed!
But notice where the winepress does this. Outside the city. And what is the city? It is the New Jerusalem. It is the church in glory, which happened when Christ harvested His people from the earth.
There is a distinction being drawn here - those who are punished are not part of the city. They are killed outside the city. They are not part of it.
But also note that this parallels the final punishment of the wicked with the crucifixion of Christ. He was taken outside the city - physically taken outside of physical Jerusalem - where the sins of the elect were judged.
So one way or the other, your sins are judged. And if they are not judged in Christ and what He did at His First Coming, you will endure the judgment yourself at His Second Coming.
And that judgment is described here.
And next week, we will start the next vision cycle. And that cycle will focus on the final judgment. While here it was represented as one event of gathering and pressing the grapes, we will see more details of the event represented by the seven bowls of God’s wrath.