Grapes of Wrath: The Vintage Judgment of Revelation 14

But we're in Revelation chapter 14, verses 17 through 20.

Revelation 14:17–20

It says, "'And another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven,

and he also had a sharp sickle.

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.'"

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 winepress of the wrath of God.

And the winepress was trodden outside the city and blood came out from the winepress

up to the horse's bridles for a distance of 200 miles.

So the vision of the grain harvest that we talked about in depth last week is

followed by the vision of the grape harvest, which, you know,

does not speak of the bowl judgments, but of the judgment that takes place.

Where specifically? Do you remember?

The grape harvest, where's this judgment going to take place?

Yes. And the battle of Armageddon. That's it.

The vintage judgment is more dramatic here because of the imagery.

And we talked about this a little bit last week, of the wine press.

And like the vision of the grain harvest, the grape harvest can be described in three points as well.

The reaper, the ripeness, and the reaping.

The reaper, the ripeness, and the reaping. So we're going to break those down tonight.

The reaper in verse 17 again of Revelation 14, it says, and another angel came

out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. This is the reaper.

In fact, the reaper in this vision is not the son of man, like we talked about last week, right?

But as in the grain harvest, but who is it?

An angel, right? The fifth one actually mentioned in chapter 14 of Revelation.

And like the fourth angel in verse 15, he came out of the temple, which is in heaven.

Like Christ in the previous vision, he also had a sharp sickle.

Angels, you know, have played a prominent role in Revelation, right?

Up to this point, we've seen them all over. and summoning the four horsemen,

for example, sounding those seven trumpets and defeating Satan and his demon host.

And angels will pour out the seven bold judgments that we're about to study

in a few weeks in chapter 16.

They'll announce here the battle of Armageddon in chapter 19,

and they bind Satan, as we'll get to towards the end in chapter 20.

And that an angel here is pictured though, in this vision as the reaper.

It's not surprising, is it?

The Son of Man, Jesus, will be assisted by holy angels in his final judgment.

That's talked about, if you go all the way back to New Testament,

Matthew chapter 13, verse 39, verse 49, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 7.

Matthew 13:39 2 Thessalonians 1:7

And then we also have the ripeness here. Look again at verse 18.

It says, 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 sharpsicle saying,

put in your sharpsicle and gather

the clusters from the vine of the earth because her grapes are ripe.

As John watched.

Another angel appeared, the sixth one now in the vision.

He's given the interesting designation here. I think it probably jumped out at some of you.

One who has power over what?

Fire. And that title is really closely connected with the fact that he came out of the altar.

This heavenly altar has already been mentioned all the way back in Revelation 6, verses 9 through 11.

Revelation 6:9–11

Let me refresh your memory. It says, When the Lamb broke the fifth seal,

I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of

the word of God and because of the testimony which they had manifested.

And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord,

holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

And there was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told that they

should rest for a little while longer I don't know.

Until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren were to be killed,

even as they had been, would be completed also.

So we're talking about here martyrs for the faith, right?

Those that had given their life for the faith. And it's most likely here,

most likely is emblematic of the Old Testament brass incense altar.

Talks all the way back in the book of Exodus chapter 40 about that,

Exodus 40 · chapter mention

where twice daily, if you remember, the priest actually burned incense to be

offered in the holy place as a picture of the people's prayers, right?

Since the martyrs underneath it are viewed doing what?

They're viewed praying, and prayer is associated with the incense there.

And so those martyred saints are actually praying for God to do what?

What are they praying for?

For vengeance, right? For God to take vengeance on their tormentors and send

his wrath. That's what their prayer is.

And this altar is also described in chapter 8 of Revelation,

verses 3 through 5. Listen to it quickly again.

Another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden censer,

and much incense was given to him so that he might add it to the prayers of

all the saints on the golden altar, which was before the throne,

and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel's hand.

Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and

threw it to the earth, and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes

of lightning and an earthquake.

Wow, we've studied this part before, but I wanted you to think back to it,

because every morning and evening, the Old Testament priest would take hot coals

from the brazen altar upon which sacrifices were offered,

and they would bring them to the incense altar, and there they would ignite the incense,

all the way back in Exodus chapter 30.

Exodus 30 · chapter mention

And also 2 Chronicles 29 talks about this, and that would rise toward where?

Toward heaven, symbolizing the prayers of God's people.

And at the same time, the people outside would be praying.

It talks about this as well in Luke chapter 1, verse 10, and that the angel

Luke 1:10

here, that the angel had power over the altar's fire.

And the definite article there is present in the Greek text in this passage,

which literally reads, the fire, power over the fire.

And it indicates that he has been ministering at the heavenly counterpart to

the earthly incense altar.

And unlike the angel in verse 17, this angel does not come from the throne of

God, but from the altar that's associated with the prayers of the saints.

His appearance actually means that the time has come, you probably guessed it,

that the prayers, those prayers they'd been praying, it's time to be answered, right? It's time.

The time had come for God to take fire associated with the intercession and

use it for the destruction of his enemies and the enemies of his people.

And I've told y'all before, this is so like eye-opening, and it's just magnificent

to look at the love and forgiveness that God has all through the book of Revelation,

all through the tribulation period,

this great tribulation, even up to this point,

God has offered mankind the chance to repent over and over again.

Some do, but most do not. They shake their fist in his face, right?

So to speak. They refuse to repent. The love of God, the forgiveness extended over and over.

And I let y'all know this the other week and in weeks past, this is the time grace is no more.

We sing that wonderful hymn, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

right? This is the age of grace.

Even after the church is raptured, we don't want anyone to be left behind, do we? Not anyone.

We want to share the good news because I'm going to tell you what those believers go through.

Many give their lives, right? These martyrs.

Not all lose their life, but many do, and no one would want to go through that.

We wouldn't want anyone to go through that. But the fact that God gives others

a chance, even after the rapture of the church, to repent and believe, most do not.

Most do not. The age of grace has come to an end, and it will come to an end.

And it talks about in this passage here, it's over.

Now's the time for the wrath of God. And I want you to know,

this is not something anyone would want to be ready for, right?

You're talking about, we saw in this passage, we'll see it more,

about the wine press of God's wrath.

You're talking about he's going to stomp out his enemies. Do you get the graphic picture there?

Stomp it out. I mean, the juice flowing, the blood flowing up to the horse's

bridles for 200 miles in that imagery.

And leaving the altar, he called with a loud, urgent,

commanding 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 in other words to the saint's prayers the time for the reaping of

judgment here comes unrepentant sinners are depicted as what clusters of grapes

to be cut off by the reaper's sharp sickle from the vine of the earth.

That is, they're from earthly existence. The word ripe is not the same Greek

word that's used in verse 15, by the way.

This word here refers to something fully ripe and in its prime.

It pictures earth's wicked, unregenerate people as bursting,

if you will, with the juice of wickedness and ready for the harvest of righteousness, right?

And then we not only see that, we see the reaping, the reaping.

Look at what it says here in verse 19 and 20 again. It says,

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 winepress of the wrath of God.

And the winepress was trodden outside the city and blood came out of the winepress

up to the horse's bridles for a distance of 200 miles.

What resulted when the angel swung his sickle to the earth?

It was catastrophic, y'all. All the enemies of God who survived the seven bowl

judgments will be gathered like grapes, like grape clusters from the vine of the earth.

They'll be flung into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

A winepress, if you know, it consisted of two stone bases. It was basins that

was connected through a trough and grapes would be trampled in that upper basin

and the juice would actually collect in the lower one.

And the splattering of the juice as the grapes are stopped.

It's just a vivid picture, like

I said earlier, of the splattered blood of those who will be destroyed.

Wow. I mean, the wine press will be trodden outside the city as the Lord protects

Jerusalem, remember, from the carnage of the Battle of Armageddon.

It talks about how he's going to do that.

In Daniel, in fact, in Revelation 11, verse 2, it talks about that. Daniel 11, verse 45.

Revelation 11:2 Daniel 11:45

Zechariah 14, verses 1 through 4, talks about that. That battle will take place

Zechariah 14:1–4

in the north of Israel on the plain of Ezra line near Mount Megiddo.

It's about 60 miles north of Jerusalem, and it'll rage the entire length of

Israel as far south as Basra in Edom.

It talks about in Isaiah chapter 63.

Isaiah 63 · chapter mention

Jerusalem is going to be spared to become the capital of Christ's kingdom.

But the staggering, horrifying bloodbath that's described here in Revelation

of the Battle of Armageddon will be so widespread that blood will come out from

the winepress up to the horse's bridles for a distance, like we said, of 200 miles.

In other words, there will be millions of people engaged in the Battle of Armageddon

as all the nations gather together to fight against who?

Ultimately, against Jesus, right? And still, it's difficult to imagine that

they could produce a flow of blood up to the horse's bridles,

because that's about roughly four feet deep, right, for a distance of 200 miles.

And some have suggested, and this is not trying to take away anything,

but simply that a better interpretation would be whether these are actual horses

that are involved or not.

Maybe this is hyperbole to suggest the slaughter in which blood is going to

actually splatter into the air so profusely about the whole length of the battle all the way.

And that slaughter just reaches its peak.

The blood could flow deeply through those troughs and stream beds.

But I tell you, I personally, I just, most of the time, I know there's some

figurative language all through revelation.

But unless I have a, just a clear indication that it is, I take things pretty literal.

I don't know for sure, but I can tell you regardless here, this is going to be thorough.

How does God take care of his enemies? How's Jesus going to take care of them?

Is Jesus going to get tired, brother Ronnie?

The word of his mouth, the sword, right? The word of his mouth is gonna slay

them. This battle, y'all, is not gonna last hardly any time at all, right?

I mean, Jesus just speaks the word and the enemy's destroyed.

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 of their human and demonic forces will be immediately destroyed.

Well. I mean, Revelation chapter 19, we haven't got to it yet,

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

but verses 11 through 21 actually describes the scene in detail.

You may want to go there or just listen in Revelation 19, 11 through 21.

It says the following, it says, and I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse.

And he who sat on it is called faithful and true.

And in his righteousness, he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire,

and on his head are many diadems.

And he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself.

He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean,

were following him on white horses.

From his mouth comes a sharp sword,

so that with it he may strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a

rod of iron, and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.

And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice,

saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven.

Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of

kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh

of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all men,

both free men and slaves and small and great.

I personally think it's going to be real horses. I'm just saying.

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to

make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army.

You'll be part of the army? Coming with Jesus on the white horse?

Y'all know? Y'all know that, right? We're going to be riding.

We're going to be riding some white horses. And the beast was seized.

And with him, the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence,

by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast.

And those who worshiped his image, those who were thrown alive into the lake

of fire, which burns with brimstone, and the rest were killed with the sword,

which came from the mouth of him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were

filled with their flesh.

When God does something, it's thorough. I don't know about y'all,

but man, pity the man, pity the demon, I don't care who, or the beast or whatever

you can think of, who comes up against the wrath of Almighty God.

But y'all, how often do we forget that we serve a holy God?

Yes, God loves, God is loving, right? He is holy though also, he is just.

And I'll tell you, the day is coming. Like I said, when the grace is over,

the wrath has come and it will be thorough.

Doesn't matter what anybody thinks, says, how much they want to argue with God.

It's just judgment is executed. It's over, it's over.

No one can stand against Almighty God. And putting the scene in this chapter

together with that of chapter 19 that we'll see down the road while the angel cuts the grapes here.

It is the Lord Jesus Christ who actually crushes out their lives.

Here again, we see Jesus as the one executing judgment.

In fact, I think I let y'all know, you know, we talked about even in hell,

the scripture that talks about it was the lamb, the lamb who executes judgment, capital L, right?

And so Jesus is going to crush out their lives and unregenerate humanity.

By that, I mean those who have never repented and put their faith and trust in Christ alone.

They're going to face a frightening future.

And this incredible scene, it's just like, I don't even think we can comprehend it tonight.

Those who refuse to repent, even after repeated warnings, will learn firsthand

that sobering truth in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 31.

Hebrews 10:31

That says it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Perhaps this is why Paul said in the New Testament, it is through the fear of

the Lord that men depart from iniquity.

You know, I think we have a lot more fear of man today and a lot less fear of God.

And I think when we have more fear of the Lord, our fear of man just kind of

subsides. You know, we don't need to fear man. We need to fear God.

And I don't mean that in a cowering in the corners kind of way.

As we talked about this morning, we cry out to God. Our greatest motivation

to pray is that he is our father, our heavenly father, and he has good gifts for his children.

But as we see here, also, he is faithful. He is holy. He is just.

And it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Y'all, the wrath of God, it says in John chapter 3, where our favorite verse

John 3 · chapter mention

is, John 3, 16, y'all can quote it.

For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son to whosoever believeth

in him, should not perish, have everlasting life.

How many can quote John chapter 3, verse 36?

John 3:36

What does it say? Look it up. What does it say? If you don't know it,

say it, look it up. Somebody read it quickly. John 3, verse 36.

John 3:36

Having a sword grill. John 3, 36. John 3, verse 36.

John 3:36

Who has that? He that believeth not on the sun hath everlasting life,

and he that believeth not on the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.

The wrath of God abides on him. What does abide mean?

To make its home with. moves in, right?

The wrath of God abides on those who refuse to repent and believe.

The love of God, y'all, the amazing grace that he extends, not wanting any to

perish, but all to come to repentance.

Yet those who refuse to repent, to believe, to trust in the only means of salvation.

It's just like those in the flood, Brother Ronnie.

The ark is like a picture of salvation, right?

The only way is through Jesus, the door. I am the door, right?

And if people refuse to repent and they go their own way, they will be consumed. They'll be destroyed.

And they'd do well, I think, to heed the psalmist's admonition in Psalm 2,

Psalms 2:12

verse 12. And I'll close with this tonight.

It says, Do homage to the Son that he may 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.

And I hope that's you tonight. I hope you can say that he is your strong tower,

that he is your refuge, that he is your savior, because he wants to be. He wants to be.

Any thoughts tonight on this particular passage in Revelation?

We're seeing the judgment fall.

But any final thoughts tonight? Anybody have any comments tonight on the passage that we looked at?

It kind of ties in with our school lesson in adult classes this morning in Psalm 139.

David was amazed at how he could escape God in any way, shape,

form, or fashion, no matter where he was at, what he was doing, what he was saying.

And we had a couple of different examples in the Bible.

For instance, Jonah tried to escape God and what happened to him.

And then in Obadiah, the Edomites put their clipped homes up in the cliff to

try to escape God's judgment.

And you can't do it. So, you know, God said, even though you go up and make

you among the stars, I'll bring you down.

It's going to happen. You know, get away from it.

Absolutely. It's sure. And y'all, I know I keep saying this.

I don't mean to sound like a broken record with it, but now's the day,

y'all. Today's the day of salvation, Jesus said.

Now's the time for us to be out sharing the gospel with people,

letting people know what Jesus has done for them on their behalf.

So they can escape the wrath of God.

Remember I mentioned in Romans chapter one, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel,

for it is the power of God unto salvation.

A lot of people think, hey, we need to be saved. And you say, what are we saved from?

Right? Ultimately, yeah, some people may say, well, we're saved from our sins.

Okay, okay, tell me, come on, let's ultimately, what are we saved from?

Ultimately, we are saved from the wrath of God because it abides on all who

don't believe, right? and one day it will consume them.

So when you look at that verse, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel,

for it is the power of God to save you from the wrath of God. He made a way.

Jesus, God's son, his one and only son, to come willingly give his life on the

cross for our behalf, willingly take the punishment upon himself that all of us deserved.

And by the way, you don't want justice. I don't want justice.

You know what would happen if we all got justice? We would all burn in hell

for all eternity, everybody in this room, if you got justice.

We want mercy. We want grace.

And Jesus paid it all at the cross. He said, it is finished.

He lived that perfect life we can't live.

If you could keep all the Ten Commandments, you wouldn't need Jesus.

The whole reason that he gave the law is like a mirror to show us of our need

for him, how filthy, dirty that we really are, and that we need him.

We need the life that he lived on my behalf, on your behalf,

because he fulfilled the law, he never broke it, period.

So his righteous, clean, pure record that he lived as God in the flesh,

on my behalf, the only way he could do it, y'all, was because he was also fully or truly man as well.

If he had not been both to the full, then he could not have purchased our salvation.

He couldn't die in my place if he wasn't a man.

And his blood wouldn't have been worth anything if he hadn't been God Almighty on the cross.

And when God shed his blood, he gave up his life's blood on the cross, he died in our place.

And y'all, the most wonderful transaction that can ever take place is when we

realize that, you know what?

There is none good, no, not one. None of us can be good enough.

No matter how many old ladies you help across the street, no matter how much

money you give to the church, no matter how many times you attend church,

you can't be good enough. I can't be good enough.

If I could have, I wouldn't need Jesus.

But when we realize that we are in need of a Savior, that we are filthy,

dirty, we come to the foot of the cross.

We repent. That just means we turn away. We turn the other direction.

We turn from our sin. We turn to Christ alone.

Say, Lord, forgive me a sinner.

I'm in need of your grace and mercy. And when that happens, y'all,

there's a spiritual resurrection that takes place.

Those that are dead in their trespasses and sins, as scripture says,

are made alive, are quickened, made alive in Christ Jesus. We're raised from

the dead spiritually into new life in Christ.

And the life, like I said, that Jesus lived on our behalf is actually credited to you and to me.

It's imputed to us.

And when God looks at us.

Thus, who does he see at the life we live? No, he looks at Jesus. He sees Jesus' record.

That's why I get into heaven, by the way. Not because of the good I did or the

life I lived. It's the life Jesus lived on my behalf.

And he pleads that before the Father. I mean, that's what's so wonderful.

He makes intercession for us.

And it's his life lived, not mine. And when he looks at the cross,

looks at the cross, he sees you.

Just Jesus died in our place but he took our punishment the

death we deserved he died in my place in your place

and now we can be set free when we repent put

our faith and trust in him alone y'all what a glorious

salvation y'all but before that we're dead dead dead spiritually speaking and

I pray as we go out of this place tonight that maybe we even have a renewed

sense you know what I want to let people know what Jesus did for them because

how can somebody who realizes the state that they're in, that they really need a Savior,

how could they ever say no?

It's so hard to believe, but there's so many who don't know,

and there's so many who need Jesus, right? This world needs Jesus.

So I pray tonight that'll be our heart tonight as we leave this place to go share the gospel.

Don't wait. Today is the day. Don't wait. Next time we gather together,

Lord willing, we'll be looking at Revelation 15 on Sunday night,

verses 1 through 8, and we'll be talking about the Temple of Doom.

Somebody's thinking, Indiana Jones, right?

So we'll be looking at that next time as well.