And another angel came out from the sanctuary in heaven,
and he too carried a sharp sickle.
And another angel came from the altar --
he who has power over fire --
and he spoke in a loud voice to whim
who had the sharp sickle, saying,
“Thrust in your sharp sickle,
and gather the bunches from
the vine of the earth,
for its grapes are now quite ripe.”
And the angel flung his sickle down to the earth,
and reaped the vine of the earth
and threw the grapes
into the great winepress of God’s wrath.
And the winepress was trodden
outside the city,
and out of it came blood
reaching the horses’ bridles for a distance
of two hundred miles.
Reaping the Grapes of Wrath
14:17 Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
- To whom this vintage work was committed: another angel that came out from the altar (MH)
- At the grain harvest the grain is gathered into barns, although the tares and chaff are burned. But this vintage-scene
symbolizes unmitigated judgment: this is perhaps why the angel who gathers the vintage receives his orders from the
angel, who had charge of the fire, fire being another judgment-symbol. (Z)
References: Revelation 14:15; 15:6; 16:17; 11:19
14:18 And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry
to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine
of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.”
- John mixes the metaphors of winepress and battlefield – the combination making the picture more terrible (TB)
- The work of the vintage: (1) gathering the clusters of the vine, fully ripe, and (2) casting these grapes into the wine
press (MH)
References: Revelation 16:8; Joel 3:13 (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); Mark 4:29
14:19 So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and
threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
- Treading of the grapes caused the grape juice to flow out freely, expressive of the flow of blood when Christ shall
tread upon His enemies (W)
- “The vine” is what is the subject of judgment because its grapes are not what God looked for considering its careful
culture, but “wild grapes” (Isaiah 5). The apostate world of Christendom, not the world of heathendom who have not heard
of Christ, is the object of judgment. (JFB)
- The perpetual rejection of the fallen angels, like the perpetual desolations of Edom, attests God’s severity to the lost,
and goodness to those gratuitously saved. (JFB)
References: Revelation 19:15; Isaiah 63:2 (Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?)
14:20 And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the
horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.
- Blood – answering to the red wine. The slaughter of the apostates is what is here spoken of, not their eternal
punishment (JFB)
- 1,600 furlongs – 200 miles – about the length of Palestine (W)
- It is approximately the length of Palestine from north to south (NIV)
- Sixteen hundred is a square number; 4 by 4 by 100. The four quarters, north, south, east, and west, of the Holy
Land, or else of the world (the completeness and universality of the world-wide destruction being hereby indicated). (JFB)
- 4 x 4 x 100 is thought to be a symbol of complete destruction (HBH)
- With the conclusion of this section, we are again brought to the end of the world and the final judgment. (TB)
References: Isaiah 63:3 (I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger,
and trampled them in My fury; their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My robes); Hebrews 13:12 (Therefore Jesus also,
that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate); Isaiah 34:3 (Also their slain shall be thrown out; their stench
shall rise from their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood); Genesis 49:11 (He ties his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s
colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes); Deuteronomy 32:14