Revelation 14:15&18 states, “And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in the sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.”
One of the joys of harvest is when someone stops by the field to watch the combine in action and gets asked to ride on the machine. Upon making the first round, I came right by the house. My wife Donna, daughter Sheri, and grandson Tanner (about three years old), were standing in the yard waiting for me. This was going to be Tanner’s first ride on a combine. As the machine drew within twenty feet of him, the reel gobbling up the wheat and devouring it, Tanner began to cry and hug Mama. He wanted nothing to do with that monster.
One of the jobs of getting the combine ready for harvest is working on the sickle to be sure it is very sharp. In the revelation that Jesus showed to John in Chapter 14, he saw two angels, each having a sharp sickle. Two other angels came forth to tell them when to start harvesting. The first angel reaped the whole earth. This angel was on a white cloud and looked like Jesus. When Jesus was on this earth He saw the harvest as ready to reap. Over time, men’s souls have been harvested into the kingdom.
The picture we see in Revelation is the final harvest—the end of the harvest (hopefully a bumper crop). I Imagine this to be like a wheat harvest.
The second angel was not on a cloud, but came out of the temple in heaven. His job was to harvest clusters of ripe grapes and put them into the winepress of God’s wrath. This was a huge crop. The blood that came from the winepress was about five feet deep and covered 200 miles (I believe square miles.) The Phillips Translation says a stream flowed for two hundred miles as high as the horse’s bridle. An adult has approximately 1.2-1.5 gallons (or 10 units) of blood in their body. This blood flow could be from millions, up to even a billion people. The present population of the earth is around 8 billion.
The great flood took out all the population but eight souls. The flood did actually happen. The day of the wrath of God’s winepress will also happen. That day is getting closer.
Jesus is the One who revealed this vision to John. The Bible is full of warnings of destruction for sinful man. We may ignore them, doubt them, or not heed them. We may argue about the order in which they take place. Hebrews 9:27 & 28 says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
I don’t know exactly the timing of the winepress of God’s wrath. I do know that there will be an end of harvesting souls. There will be a judgment.
In 2 Peter Chapter three, we see that in the last days there will be scoffers saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (vs. 4). Peter says, “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” (vs.10). He describes a world melting with fervent heat. The bottom line is, “seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent…” (vs. 14).
Don’t wait until the final harvest to live a holy life!
