Today’s reading is Revelation 14.
A Second Harvest
After the Son of Man, the Rider on the White Cloud, harvests His kingdom saints when the time is ripe, one of His angels follows Him to gather in the rest of what is left on the earth. We find two pictures of harvest. However, these are not two versions of the same harvest. Rather, these are two sides of the harvesting.
Yesterday, we saw the Son of Man receive His kingdom. The grain had grown ripe, it was time to harvest the fruit of it. Jesus conquered and received His kingdom and an everlasting dominion.
This second harvest is not that.
A Valley of Decision
In Joel 3, after warning Judah and Jerusalem of coming judgment and calling them to repent, the prophet did what God’s prophets often did: he gave God’s people hope. Yes, God would use neighboring nations to discipline His people. However, God would not abandon His people. In the end, He would decide between the surrounding nations and His people. A day of judgment would come, a day of decision. In that day, God would gather His people, restoring them, blessing them. In that day, God would condemn and punish the nations.
Smack in the middle of this contrast, Joel 3:13 says this:
Put in the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
for their evil is great (ESV).
This is the picture of Revelation 14:14-20. In the valley of decision, on the one hand, is a ripe grain harvest. On the other hand, is a winepress overflowing with evil to be tread and trampled. And Jesus knows precisely who belongs on each side.
The Winepress of God’s Wrath
In Isaiah 63, God described His coming judgment on the peoples. I admit, its not a pretty picture. But it is the picture John’s vision calls to mind:
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 trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth (Isaiah 63:2-6, ESV).
This second harvest in Revelation 14 is the judgment of condemnation. We will see this picture again in Revelation 19. On this occasion, we will see the Rider on the white horse again. This time instead of a bow or a sickle, He will carry a sword. Instead of a victor’s wreath, He will wear many diadems. But its the same Rider. His clothes will be dipped in blood (Revelation 19:13) because “He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Revelation 19:15).
The Good News of Judgment
I admit it. The picture of God’s judgment as trampling in a winepress that produces a river of blood flowing for about 184 miles (so says a footnote in my Bible regarding 1,600 stadia) is gruesome. We hardly think it fits the picture of the God who is love.
We normally have this problem because we fear we might be one of the ones tossed into the winepress. However, what if you were the citizens of a city who had been pillaged and plundered. The enemy city had murdered your people, starved your children, trampled your homes. Would you think your king loving if he sat idly by, watching it happen, doing nothing to the marauding bands of the enemy? Or would the loving thing for the king to do be to crush and conquer the city who treated the king’s subjects and city so abominably?
Obviously, none of us want to be tossed into the winepress of God’s wrath. But, understand it is also the winepress of God’s love. His love for His city does not allow Him to sit idly by while the enemy slaughters her inhabitants. His love for His bride does not allow Him to simply twiddle His thumbs while a monster ravages her.
However, the whole point of Revelation is not to revel in the coming judgment on the enemy city or even on the monsters and their followers. The whole point is to reveal the coming end for everyone involved so as many as possible will escape the winepress and instead be gathered with the wheat into the barn. Judgment is coming. The seven churches and the members within them could decide which side of the judgment they would experience. Further, by their own living and faithfulness, they could call the citizens of the seven cities to repent and become citizens of the Lord’s churches.
In like manner, our judgment is coming. We can decide which side of the judgment we will experience. The Lord knows those who are His. He also knows those who aren’t. After all, those who aren’t willingly let themselves get stamped with the seal to identify them.
Whom will you worship? Whose seal will you wear? The choices you make today will have lifelong and eternal consequences. Can we help you choose Jesus? Let us know in the comments below.
Next week’s reading is Revelation 15.
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PATHS:
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