THE HARVEST of the GRAPES of WRATH
Blood From the Great Winepress
Prologue
Jesus said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 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.” MATTHEW 24:29-31 The Son of man will have already reaped the earth of the righteous. REVELATION 14:14-16 Then it will be time that “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers.” MATTHEW 13:41 This is the harvest of the grapes! REVELATION 14:17-19
The wrath of God is his righteousness judgments against all evil. He will not allow evil to go unpunished. He will use his righteous judgments in all of Tribulation. He will use the sword, and famine, and pestilence and trouble on the earth, in the seas, and in the heavens to punish evil throughout Tribulation; but in the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation, he will pour out his undiluted [no mercy] wrath on the earth and in the heavens. In his great wrath, he will tread all evil in his great winepress with the sword, famine, and pestilence. “I will drench the land even to the mountains with your flowing blood, and the ravines will be full of you.” EZEKIEL 32:6 He is treading his great winepress now. The blood flowing from it is getting deeper!
The Harvest of the Grapes of Wrath
“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…” REVELATION 14:17-18 The angel with the sharp sickle will harvest the grapes of God’s wrath; but he is waiting for the angel to come out from the altar who has authority over the fire to give the word. For God is ready to judge and avenge the blood of those souls under the altar on those who dwell on the earth. REVELATION 6:9-10 And he is ready to remove evil from the earth. “But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off. PSALM 37:38 “‘ … 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.’” REVELATION 14:18-19 The “blood” from these grapes of wrath is God’s wrath that will be poured out in the last months of The Great Tribulation, full strength, not mixed nor diluted. Further, Jesus is the one that tramples the great winepress until His wrath ends at Armageddon, where the blood of the grapes of his wrath flows from the great winepress as high as a horse’s bridle. REVELATION 14:20
Blood From the Winepress
I am a literalist—I believe that many of the things that John tells us about in Revelation are events that actually, literally happen. Contrary to the beliefs of other literalist, I believe those verses in Revelation chapter fourteen considered in the paragraph above are both spiritual and symbolic; but they are not literal. A view held by some literalists is that these verses are only connected to the battle of Armageddon and the destruction of those armies that are gathered there. Further, it is their belief that the part of verse twenty that says, “… and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia,” is a statement of the depth of the blood of those armies and their horses that will be destroyed at Armageddon.
While I believe that particular scripture has connection to Armageddon, it is connected to other events as well. God’s Wrath will be poured out starting with the Great Tribulation and it will end with Armageddon. So I believe that last part of verse twenty in chapter fourteen is a measure of God’s wrath rather than an actual river of blood. A close reading of Revelation chapter fourteen and verse seventeen through twenty reveals that this “blood” mentioned in verse twenty is the blood of the grapes of God’s wrath. Scripture witness confirms that the subject of these verses is the wrath of God.
Some views hold that the second half of the tribulations will be divided into two parts—two and one-half years of Great Tribulation and one “year of the Lord.” The year of the Lord, the last year of Tribulation, will be a time that God’s wrath will be poured out without measure. I believe God’s wrath will start soon after the abomination of desolation that will happen near the midpoint of Tribulation. The seven bowls of God’s wrath will be poured in the last one-half of the Tribulation. That will be when the blood of the clusters of grapes that have been harvested from the earth will begin to flow from the great winepress of the wrath of God. REVELATION 14:19-20 God will tread the great winepress of his wrath “… for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.” JOEL 3:13 He treads the grapes of wrath alone! Old Testament scripture tells us about it.
“Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? “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.” ISAIAH 63:1-6
At Jesus Christ’s second coming, He will be clothed in a robe dipped in blood. [It will not be His blood of redemption for us!] “And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure were following him on white horses.” REVELATION 19:13-14 [They have not tread the great winepress.] Jesus Christ has come to destroy evil. “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations… He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” REVELATION 19:15 “And the rest [ Everyone except the beast and the false prophet] were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse…” REVELATION 19:21 Scripture always says it best! From these verses we see that it is Jesus Christ that will tread the grapes in the winepress of God’s wrath. And it is Jesus that will destroy the nations gathered at Armageddon. His garments will be bloodied by those grapes of wrath. [It is the blood of the grapes of wrath, for he will be clothed in a robe dipped in that blood before there is any destruction of armies at Armageddon.] No one will help him for the garments of those that will be following are still white and pure.
He will slay those assembled for battle by the sword in his mouth—by His Word. If the sword of the Word in his mouth slays the army at Armageddon with a steel sword, then it could be that men’s blood will flow deep. There are those who believe “And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.” ZECHARIAH 14:12 I believe that this is what will happen; but John does not tell us how those armies at Armageddon will be destroyed. However they die, it will be by a word from Jesus’ mouth and not from the weapons of man. Regardless of how they die, I believe the blood that flows as high as a horse’s bridle is symbolic of the depth of “blood” of the grapes of God’s wrath. The seven bowls of God’s wrath will be filled with the “blood” of these grapes! These bowls will be poured out before Armageddon!