Vintage Wine - Rumor notes 146

Revelation 14

17 Another angel came out from the temple which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. 18 Another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire, and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Send forth your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for the earth's grapes are fully ripe!" 19 The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 The winepress was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out from the winepress, even to the bridles of the horses, as far as one thousand six hundred stadia.

First Harvest	Second Harvest	Differences
14 I looked, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud one sitting like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.	17 Another angel came out from the temple which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle.	The second harvester lacks the credentials of the Son of Man. It merely comes out from the temple in heaven, paralleling the assistant angel of the first.
15 Another angel came out from the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, "Send forth your sickle, and reap; for the hour to reap has come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe!"	18 Another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire, and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Send forth your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for the earth's grapes are fully ripe!"	The assistant angels differ in origin. The latter one relies on fire possibly of the altar for his authority. His emphasis is on the sharp sickle. The second angel mentions vine clusters while the first doesn't mention anything specific.
16 He who sat on the cloud thrust his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.	19 The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 The winepress was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out from the winepress, even to the bridles of the horses, as far as one thousand six hundred stadia.	Again, the first harvest is very simple while the second elaborates on vintage wine, wrath and elaborate descriptions of bloodshed.

he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. They cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" (Revelation 6:9-10)

This loud voice joins many references to a loud voice throughout this book. Another loud voice this resonates with was heard in the warning of the third angel describing the tragic results of viewing God through the lens of the dragon and its beasts and image. Keep in mind that this assistant angel is defined as having power over fire. The belief that God punishes people with fire to torture them is central in the dark views of God promoted by the enemy.

Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. (Revelation 14:9-10)

Send forth your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth

Note that the previous assistant angel did not mention the word sharp, though both reapers are identified as having a sickle. This could relate to an emphasis on sharpness as reflected in our system of enforced consequences that despises heaven's method of allowing natural principles to result in natural consequences.

At this point it is becoming clear that what is being harvested on the earth is not the same as the previous harvest, though that one does not specifically identify what was reaped. Here it clearly identifies that the target harvest are grapes from clusters of the vine of the earth. This may have to do with the fact that fermented grape juice is the primary source of intoxication, especially in prophecy, rather than alcohol from any other source. Throughout Revelation we are warned against imbibing the wine of Babylon which would come from fermented grape juice. Identifying these clusters closely with the earth could indicate differentiating this harvest from the nature of what was harvested by the previous Reaper.

How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of serpents, The cruel venom of asps. (Deuteronomy 32:30-33)

for the earth's grapes are fully ripe

Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent. (Genesis 9:20-21)

Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a winepress therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

"Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?

Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down. I will lay it a wasteland. It won't be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it." For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress. (Isaiah 5:1-7)

Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited. Thus says Yahweh of Armies, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.

To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can't listen: behold, the word of Yahweh is become to them a reproach; they have no delight in it. Therefore I am full of the wrath of Yahweh; I am weary with holding in: pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days. Their houses shall be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says Yahweh. For from the least of them even to the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. They have healed also the hurt of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, says Yahweh. (Jeremiah 6:8-15)

This ripeness of these metaphorical grapes can represent the maturation of evil in the hearts and lives of those refusing a love of the truth, who harden their hearts to the kindness and mercies of their Creator until they are ripe for destruction.

Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great." Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision. (Joel 3:13-14)

While this next parable is not directly about grape vines, it was set by Jesus as taking place in a vineyard. I find His choice of metaphors significant given the interesting thread of fig trees throughout Scripture. From my study about the meaning of fig trees through the Bible, I came to a personal conclusion that possibly the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil just might have been a fig tree, given that our first parents took refuge to hide and used its leaves to try to cover up their sense of shame from their sudden awareness of their nakedness. If so, it could resonate with how this harvest plays out in the end.

He spoke this parable. "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. He said to the vine dresser, 'Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?' He answered, 'Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it, and fertilize it. If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.'" (Luke 13:6-9)

The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth

The word translated here as thrust in is significantly different from the parallel word used for the previous harvest. This word literally does mean 'into,' while the previous one means on or over, even above the earth. It appears to indicate a difference in method concerning how reaping takes place between the first and second harvest in this chapter.

The word translated here as gathered actually means to dry ripe fruit, to gather, to collect the vintage. Another translation renders it this way:

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 wine press of the wrath of God. (Revelation 14:19 NAS95)

threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God

The word translated here as threw it into is the same word describing how the sickle was used in the first part of this verse. As pointed out above, this is different from how the first Reaper used His sickle.

This action might imply retaliation on the part of Satan for being cast out of heaven, though as we saw previously it more likely transpired a different way. That is part of unraveling the difference between how God operates in this war versus how Satan and his followers rely on coercion to gain and maintain control.

Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the sky, "Come! Be gathered together to the great supper of God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, 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 and slave, and small and great."

I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse, and against his army. The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword of him who sat on the horse, the sword which came forth out of his mouth. All the birds were filled with their flesh. (Revelation 19:15-21)

Note who is itemized here and get a hint of who is thrown into the winepress of the wrath of God. Keep in mind that wrath means letting go of protection, not the opposite.

Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Why are you red in your clothing, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat?

I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with me: yes, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation to me; and my wrath, it upheld me. I trod down the peoples in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth. (Isaiah 63:1-6)

How does this inform us as to the way Jesus is related to this metaphor? Is Jesus the direct cause of what we are reading here in this second harvest, or is this prophecy informing us of how completely He identified with the consequences of all His enemy's sins leaving them no excuse to be lost? He has already taken on the full effects of all the sins of the world that results from embracing false identity outside of what God says about our worth and value to Him. Christ fully absorbed the effects of sin, leaving us free to embrace His identity as our own if we will simply believe what He says is true about God's disposition towards us. He put to death our false identity, pouring out His blood representative of our death to the old creature, in order that any willing to accept Him in to take residence inside of them may live a new life in Christ, filled with the life of His Spirit.

The winepress was trodden outside of the city

We just read the following passage where it specifically mentioned that the winepress was carved inside the vineyard.

Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a winepress therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. (Isaiah 5:1-2)

Why does it now say that the winepress was trodden outside the city?

He took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of the house of Yahweh, and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of the house of Yahweh, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. (2 Chronicles 33:15)

But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and seize his inheritance.' So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. (Matthew 21:37-39)

Again he sent another; and they killed him; and many others, beating some, and killing some. Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But those farmers said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. (Mark 12:5-8)

The lord of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.' "But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.' They threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them? (Luke 20:13-15)

For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate. Let us therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach. For we don't have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come. Through him, then, let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name. (Hebrews 13:11-15)

blood came out from the winepress

For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky. Behold, it will come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, for judgment. Yahweh's sword is filled with blood. It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom. The wild oxen will come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; and their land will be drunken with blood, and their dust made greasy with fat. (Isaiah 34:5-7)

I heard the angel of the waters saying, "You are righteous, who are and who were, you Holy One, because you have judged these things. For they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this." (Revelation 16:5-6)

The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth.

I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement. (Revelation 17:4, 6)

In those days, the father will be beaten together with his sons, in one place; and brothers shall fall together with their friends, in death, until a stream shall flow with their blood. For a man shall not be able to withhold his hands from his sons nor from (his) sons’ sons in order to kill them. Nor is it possible for the sinner to withhold his hands from his honored brother. From dawn until the sun sets, they shall slay each other. The horse shall walk through the blood of sinners up to his chest; and the chariot shall sink down up to its top. (1 Enoch 100:3)

even to the bridles of the horses

Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment. For in many things we all stumble. If anyone doesn't stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. Indeed, we put bits into the horses' mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body. (James 3:1-3)

One meaning that may explain this symbol of a bridle, has to do with what methods are used to control or guide someone. This is a start for unpacking this prophecy involving a harvest.

Here is another clue that when couched in the context of the whole chapter offers more significant options regarding the meaning of what we are looking at here.

Behold, the name of Yahweh comes from far away, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire. His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction; and a bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples. (Isaiah 30:27-28)

Here we find close correlation to what we are studying in Revelation. An overflowing stream that reaches to the neck coupled a reference to a bridle. What is even more insightful is to unpack the fuller context in which this passage is located. That we shall do that in the next proposal relating to this harvest.