Revelation 14:14-20
American culture is immersed in Biblical influence but often unrecognized. Our Battle Hymn of the Republic and Steinbeck’s book, The Grapes of Wrath, both used imagery from these verses.
Our completion of chapter fourteen centers around the harvest, not an unfamiliar topic, it’s the climax of the growing season. Word-pictures are powerful and the two harvests represented don’t disappoint. We can’t answer who the ‘son of man’ represents (vs. 14); there’s great arguments for either Jesus or an angel, however, the harvests are the focus.
Another angel descended from the Presence of God with a command to begin the process of reaping; the hour had arrived. Only the Father knows that kairos moment in time, Jesus told us in Acts 1:7, and the angel speaks God’s message. Whether it’s Jesus or an angel the pruning-knife or sickle was metaphorically swung and the picking was completed. That’s the first harvest (wheat) of souls for Christ since He left (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-44). Just as in Israel there’s a first harvest (springtime) and a second harvest (fall) there are two harvests represented in this vision.
In Jewish culture you have three main feasts of the Lord: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Lev. 23). Jesus fulfilled the first two; He’s the Passover Lamb and He sent the Holy Spirit but He hasn’t fulfilled the third feast: Tabernacles. That’s the fall harvest when there’s an ingathering of corn, grapes, and olives and the latter rain has been poured out. Two more angels join in the reaping process but this time it’s specifically grapes: a fall fruit. A believer has experienced the new wine of the Spirit (Matt. 9:17) that’s been poured into new wineskins in contrast to someone who refused to respond to God. This second harvest (grapes) shows the severity of God’s vengeance but also His justice. He must judge sin: it’s His unchangeable nature.
One of those angels specifically moved out from the Altar of Incense, where prayer was happening (Rev. 5:9-11), and in response God moved His plan forward. This angel also had ‘authority over the fire’ which indicates the final destination of the rebellious: the lake of fire (Rev. 20:1, 15). This is serious business; much blood will be shed from the winepress of God’s wrath but it doesn’t have to be yours. God’s mercy, keeping from you what you deserve, forgives and cleanses you when there’s true repentance. It doesn’t have to be your blood, the ‘grapes of wrath’, to pay for your sin nature; it can be Jesus’ blood. He loves you that much.
Regardless of when or where someone reads these words from Revelation 14 there remains a final harvest that Jesus will fulfill at His Return.
Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matthew 13:30
Our final destination.
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