Winepress

Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.  And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia. Revelation 14:14-19

The elect angels have an hierarchy. They are rank and file, like a military structure. The fallen angels do, too. In these prophecies of the end time events, we have seen many examples of the angels’ departmental responsibilities. While the Church is on earth, millions of the elect angels are assigned to be our guardians. We know this, because the Bible tells us so, even though we do not see those beings as they perform their duties in our lives (Hebrews 1:13-14). We know they are with us and we know they are working in our best interests under the authority of God.

These revelations to John, much like some Old Testament accounts in Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, allow us to see elect angels in their dimension, doing the detail work of earthly events. In some of the Old Testament prophecies, the “man in white” was actually Jesus Himself, gracing the prophet with His presence and His promises. This is what Bible scholars call a Christophany: God the Son, appearing in human or angelic form to bring an announcement or a vision to the prophet.

These harvesting  angels we see in our passage seem to be high-ranking  officers with very important work to accomplish. All of history has brought the earth to this moment in time. Jesus walked with Adam and the woman in the garden and had sweet fellowship with them, until Satan used deception to entice the woman to sin. Adam then chose to sin with his wife rather than remain obedient to the direct instruction of Jesus. This did not take the Lord by surprise, for He had already decreed a solution for the sin of mankind: the atoning blood of a perfect Lamb, without spot or blemish. He provided that atonement for the first humans, and gave them the lamb’s skin to cover their nakedness. They then taught their sons to honor God regularly with an offering of lamb’s blood to acknowledge the salvation He provided for all humans and for all time. The sacrificial lamb represented Jesus Himself, Who would give His own sinless life on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins. 

Through all the generations, until now and into the future, that atonement is the only Way of salvation. The Blood of Christ. He provided it, He makes it known to us, and He patiently waits for us to believe and receive it unto ourselves, resulting in our permanent adoption into the Family of God. The proclamation of this gospel message has always been the mission of men—humans—saved by God’s grace and given this responsibility to our generations.

When the time was right historically, the atonement was executed by the sinless Son according to the perfect plan of the Father. The Son Himself had come as a man to preach His gospel to His people. Since His ascension, His Church preaches His gospel to the whole world. Into the tribulation, there will be men—humans—Jews and Gentiles who will proclaim the gospel to those living in the most stressful time of human history. Even after the Church is raptured, it is not too late for those who are willing to believe.

After all these generations and all these dispensations of men delivering the gospel message to the world, we now see the time of judgment. The last proclamations of the gospel are voiced by angels, but those who reject the grace of Jesus Christ remain stubbornly rebellious. There comes a point beyond which it is too late. This is the scene being foretold in Revelation 14:14-20. The reapers will come. They will harvest the earth. The rebellion and arrogance of unbelieving mankind will have fully ripened. The sickles will be put to use in the Lord’s purging of evil from His reclaimed earth. Those who are harvested will be thrown into the winepress, which seems to be a reference to the battle of Armageddon.

These paragraphs are a brief preview of the coming chapters of Revelation, where we will see more graphic detail of those last days of the present earth. They also give us that fascinating glimpse into the “behind the scenes” activity of the elect angels during the climax of history.

Revelation 14:20: And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia. 

That’s about 4½ feet deep, flowing for about 200 miles. Big mess.