Concise Review of Revelation 14 To Date
We enter into the last installment in our series in Revelation 14. To recap concisely, first we see Jesus, the King of Kings and the 144,000 at Mt. Zion in Jerusalem; this is a preview of sorts to the start of the Millennial Kingdom. The 144,000 sing a song that only they can understand and comprehend because it is their story.
Next, we saw how three angels were sent on separate missions of announcement. First was an angel preaching the everlasting gospel to the entire world from the sky, the first heaven. This shows that God is a merciful God and gives everyone the opportunity to repent; however out of the hardness of their hearts the majority will not.
Then we saw a second angel that announced--with a certainty as though it was done, that it had already happened--that Babylon had fallen (will fall). We will discuss what and where Babylon is when we arrive at teaching Revelation chapters 17 and 18, but it is two separate cities (literal Babylon in Iraq and Rome). Babylon proper will be the economic, governmental and political center of the world; Rome will be the religious center of the world. These two cities will be held accountable for leading the world into a system under Antichrist, and the world will be drunk on the violence, sexual immorality and other vices it endorses.
Next, a third angel will be sent forth in judgment. The unmixed wine and the cup of judgment, symbolic of merciless judgment that has been filled to the brim, will be unleashed in the final judgments on the unsaved of the earth and they will suffer eternal torment of Hell.
Finally, we saw how there will be those that will persevere in the name of Christ, that will not renounce His name. Most will die, some will live through a horrible time of persecution; for those that die they will suffer no more.
Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. Revelation 14:14-16 (NKJV)
Harvest of the Tares
"Back in the old days...". There's a phrase that we hear often, along with "I remember when...", "When I was a kid..." and "When I was your age...". There is often a sentimental statement that follows one of these well known phrases. However, when we refer to preaching I think it is different story altogether, especially when we consider such preachers of old as Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, Charles Whitefield, John Knox and Jonathan Edwards. Edwards is best known for his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", a benchmark for "fire and brimstone preaching". It is said that when Edwards would preach the sermon, women would faint, men would weep and wail for fear of facing an angry God.
Today our culture has so desensitized and calloused our souls that nothing shocks us. Murder, rape, catastrophe, robbery, wanton sexual immorality are all just part of a life that is dictated by Hollywood's movies and television, music, internet and other media. I truly believe that the degradation of society by these means and others are prophetic fulfillment, and that the Lord is coming soon. In short, God's mercy will endure only so long before judgment comes.
I believe that this first prophecy is two fold in nature in it's application. First, Jesus spoke of the harvesting of the tares:
Matthew 13:37-42 ...but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
In short, I believe that this passage in Matthew is a parallel passage to Revelation 14:14-16. But I do also believe that this same passage in Revelation also refers to the seven final bowls, or vials, of judgment that we will see sent forth by Jesus on the world in Revelation 16: "loathsome and malignant sores on the worshipers of Antichrist (v. 2), the death of all life in the world's oceans (v. 3), the turning of the world's rivers and springs of water into blood (v. 4), the intensifying of the sun's heat until it scorches people (v. 8), painful darkness over all of Antichrist's kingdom (v. 10), the drying up of the Euphrates River in preparation for a massive invasion by the kings of the east (v. 12), and the most powerful and destructive earthquake in history (v. 18)." (John MacArthur, MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Revelation 12-22)
Let's look at the text of verses 14-16. First, we see "One like the Son of Man" on a white cloud. While there are a few that may say this person is an angel, it is overwhelmingly thought by scholars that this is a reference to Jesus Christ. This is not the first place where Jesus is seen on a white cloud; Daniel refers to the Son of Man meeting with the Ancient of Days (God the Father), and Jesus refers to Himself in Matthew 24:30 and 26:64 coming back on the clouds of the sky and ascending to Heaven in Acts 1:9.
The golden crown that Jesus will wear is not a royal crown (diadema, Gk) but is a victor's crown (stephanos), indicating victory. While Jesus is indeed the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He is also the Victor over Satan and sin.
The word for sickle in the original language is drepanon, "a sickle, a pruning-hook, a hooked vine-knife, such as reapers and vine-dressers use" (from Thayer's Greek Lexicon). MacArthur describes the sickle as "a long, curved, razor-sharp iron blade attached to a long, broomstick like wooden handle. Sickles were used to harvest grain; as they were held with both hands spread apart and swept back and forth, their sharp blades would cut off the grain stalks at ground level." Albert Barnes commented in Barnes' Notes this refers to a scythe; this is what I have always known this by, and this is what MacArthur describes as well. This word appears eight times in the New Testament, seven of which are in this latter part of Revelation 14.
Then we see another angel. This angel is the fourth angel overall in this chapter, and the first of three we will see in the rest of the chapter. One might ask what authority that an angel would have in giving a command to Jesus; it was the first question I had in studying this scripture. From where does the angel come? "Another angel came out of the temple"; this angel was relaying a message from God the Father to God the Son via this fourth angel.
The command to "Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe" has two words that demand attention. The first is "thrust in", better translated as "send forth"; Jesus will send forth angels to do the reaping, in fact in verse 16 thrust translates a different word that means "cast", as though Jesus cast the angels forth.
The second word is generally translated ripe, which "actually means "dried up," "withered," "overripe," or "rotten." The grain (the earth) pictured here has passed the point and is fit only to be "gathered up and burned with fire" (Matt. 13:40)." (Mac) Jesus will cast forth judgment upon a rotten world.
Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 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." 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. 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. Revelation 14:17-20
The Grapes Of Wrath--The Reaper and the Crop
When we hear the term "Grapes of Wrath", we often think about the classic movie from 1940 starring Henry Fonda. However, these Grapes of Wrath are a different story entirely.
In verse 17, we see "another angel", this being the fifth overall in this chapter and the third in this story of the reaping of the earth. This angel is carrying a sharp sickle or scythe, just as Jesus was in verse 14. This angel comes out of the very presence of God in the throne room of Heaven.
Then a sixth angel overall, third in this section, comes forth out from the altar, who had power over fire. "It most likely is emblematic of the Old Testament brass incense altar (Ex. 40:5), where twice daily priests burned incense to be offered in the Holy Place as a picture of the people's prayers, since the martyrs underneath it are viewed praying and prayer is associated with incense (5:8; Ps. 141:2; Luke 1:10). Those martyred saints are praying for God to take vengeance on their tormentors and send His wrath. (John MacArthur)".
In short, this reaping angel is used by God to provide an answer to the prayers of the martyred saints in Revelation 6:9-11:
"When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
As we saw in the gathering of the tares in verses 14-16, the commands to "thrust in" using two different words, one meaning "send forth" and the other meaning "cast" are given again. However, we see a different agricultural metaphor in verses 17-20, that of a vine and grapes.
The Grapes Of Wrath, Part II: Gathering at Armageddon
Warren Wiersbe in his "Be" commentary notes that the Word portrays three different vines. "Israel was God's vine, planted in the land to bear fruit for God's glory; but the nation failed God and had to be cut down (Psalms 80:8-16; Isaiah 5:1-7; see also Matthew 21:33-46). Today, Christ is the Vine and believers are branches in Him (John 15). But the world system is also a vine, "the vine' of the earth" in contrast to Christ, the heavenly Vine; and it is ripening for judgment. The wicked system - Babylon - that intoxicates people and controls them, will one day be cut down and destroyed in "the winepress of the wrath of God.""
The Greek term for ripe is akmazo, which Vines defines as "to be at the prime" or "fully ripe". Ripe fruit off of the tree or vine is the most tasty. If you buy fruit from a local producer or get it freshly picked, it is radically different because it comes to ripeness on the vine, getting every bit of sap from the branch whereas store-bought is picked unripe and ripens during shipment. It's just not the same. In short, God in His mercy--just the same as with the overripe or rotten grain metaphor--gives people every opportunity to repent and be saved. In the evil of their hearts they store up the "sap" of the world and refuse the grace of Jesus.
These metaphorical grapes are gathered and taken to "the great winepress of the wrath of God". This shows that a vast number of those not already reaped as tares by the seven bowl judgments will be gathered together in one location. The wine press was usually located outside a city, and in this case outside of the city, which would be Jerusalem. Grapes were put into the winepress, and workers would tramp them down until the juice flowed into a lower basin. What this shows us is what is shown in Revelation 19, when the armies of the world will march toward Israel and Jerusalem, and locate in the Valley of Megiddo--Armegeddon.
We will discuss this great war, which will end up being a slaughter by Jesus Christ Himself, when we reach Revelation 19. However, there is with little reservation the Valley of Megiddo, called the "worlds greatest natural battlefield" by Napoleon. The late Henry Morris notes in The Revelation Record: "The line from Bozrah through the valley of Jehoshaphat to Armageddon is roughly 140 miles in length, with Jerusalem closely opposite the middle of it. The 180 miles mentioned in this verse would allow the military forces of the beast to protrude about twenty miles beyond Bozrah and Armageddon." Morris estimates this army to be over 200 million in number, and would be a phalanx one mile wide and 180 miles long (the equivalent of 1600 furlongs).
The bloodshed of this massive army would result in a flow 180 miles long and up to the horses' bridles, or about 4'. This may be an hyperbole suggest some theologians; John MacArthur states that it may be that the blood would splatter as high as a horse's bridle. However, with the massive earthquake and other events unleashed during the seven bowl judgments, and with the massive amount of bodies that might dam up areas in the region, I personally think we should take this scripture literally.
