The Lamb, Babylon and the Sickles (7): The Great Winepress of God’s Wrath (Revelation 14:17-20) by Rev. Angus Stewart
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 63:1-6; Joel 3:12-17
I. The Harvesting for It
II. The Trampling of It
Psalms: 97:1-8; 11:1-7
William Hendriksen on Revelation 14:17-20: “This judgment is carried out by two angels. An angel is coming from the sanctuary, that is, after he has received orders from the holy God. In his hand he holds a sharp vine-knife. Another angel now comes from the altar (see 6:9, 10; 8:3-5). This is the altar in connection with which the incense prayers of all the saints have ascended to the throne. The judgment of the wicked is God’s final answer to these prayers. This second angel cries to the first, ‘Send forth thy vine-knife, the sharp one, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe’ (Cf. Is 63:1-6). The vine of the earth symbolizes the entire multitude of evil men; its grapes are the individual unbelievers. Just as grapes are trodden, pressed, crushed, so the wicked are going to be destroyed and punished everlastingly. The grapes are cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God and crushed. In the picture which John sees, a lake of blood results. It is so deep that horses can swim in it. It spreads out in all directions to the extent of sixteen hundred stadia. Remember that four is the number of the universe and the earth. This is the judgment of the wicked. Ten is the number of completeness. So sixteen hundred, which is the product of four times four, times ten times ten. would seem to indicate that this is the thoroughly complete judgment of the wicked. And the winepress of God’s wrath was trodden down outside the Holy City!” (More Than Conquerors, pp. 155-156).