The Winepress of God's Wrath

RV193-01

We have seen that the divine judgment on the antichrist and the gentile nations of the tribulation comes to a climax at Armageddon. The divine slaughter is described as Jesus Christ using a sickle, as a farmer would, in harvesting his crops. The judgment of Armageddon is also pictured as a farmer who gathers his grapes from his vineyard, and places them in a winepress for trampling out the juice.

The rebels of the tribulation against God reach their maximum evil and guilt, so they are ripe to be destroyed by the wrath of God. The day of the antichrist and of world government will be over. All the forces today are moving inexorably toward a new world order under the United Nations, and that is all going to come to an explosive end.

I cannot stress enough to you that we knew all these things many, many decades ago. The very things that we are explaining to you now, we knew, and we talked about them. But every place that we looked in society around us, none of these things were taking place. There were no indications that the world was moving toward a world government; toward a socialist economic system; or, toward a tyrannical control over individuals in an amazing way, so that you cannot even operate individually without being dependent upon some outside government source to carry you through, and to authorize what you do. It would be impossible to imagine that.

As far back as the Civil War, the Americans hardly ever thought about the federal government in Washington. They had hardly any association with it. It was a result of that terrible conflict that the federal government suddenly became the growing monster that it is today. And the scene was set for the beginning of the world government. It is frightful to see what we see today, and to listen to what we are hearing. And you should be aware of the fact that this is the time to get your life on track for what you can do for God. Don't delay. Don't look for a better day. This is the time.

Today, sophisticated world rulers and religious leaders are going to be writhing in the pain of their death throes, from which there will be no escape once the judgment of God is set in motion in the tribulation period. Our heavenly Father is rapidly shaping the events of this world for the very scene that we are reading about here, and that John is describing to us.

So, we come to Revelation 14:19. John says, "And the angel swung his sickle to the earth. This angel is the fifth angel of God which has appeared in Revelation 14. The word "swung" is the Greek word "ballo." This word actually means "to throw." This is the word that you would us to describe throwing a softball or baseball. What it refers to here is that the angel throws his sickle, as it were, into the harvest of human beings of the military personnel which have gathered at that time on the final battleground: the field of Megiddo. The angel responds immediately to the divine command which has been given to him by a sixth angel who delivers God's message to take his sickle and to swing it over the earth. And he does that.

The apostasy of mankind at the end of the tribulation is now mature; it is ripe; and, it is ready to be cut, just as mature grapes are ready to be harvested. The place is the field of Armageddon. Here, the gentile armies have gathered to battle each other, and then, suddenly, they turn against Jesus Christ, who at that point in time, they see returning from heaven.

Satan himself moves the antichrist and the nations to Armageddon, but it is also a movement of God's sovereign control. It's always important to remember that God is in charge. And it is very dangerous for you to step out of the flow of what God is doing. He will bring you down. And the price that we pay then is not only in time, but in eternity. The antichrist believes that he's riding high, but he is only fulfilling what God has decided.

In Zechariah 14:2-4, near the end of the Old Testament, we have predicted for us this very future gathering that John is describing here in the book of the Revelation. The prophets says, "For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured; the houses plundered; the women ravished; and, half the city exiled. But the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth, and fight against those nations as when He fights on the day of battle."

The whole Old Testament is filled with predictions of the end of Israel's history – history and predictions which have never been fulfilled. And this one in Zechariah is a prime example. That's why we premillennialists are right. We know what we're talking about. We know that there is a future for Israel on this earth. We know that Jesus Christ is going to rule as a king literally upon the kingdom of this earth – a kingdom promised to David, originally, and a kingdom which would be worldwide in its influence. That has never been. But that is what is coming. This is what is taking place in preparation in our day.

What Zechariah referred to, John refers to in Revelation 16:16, where he says, "And they gather them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon. The word "Har" in Hebrew means "a mount," or "a mountain." So, it's the mount of Megiddo, because it's a mount near the plain of Megiddo.

Perhaps some of you remember the speech of General MacArthur on the decks of the Missouri when the Japanese signed the surrender at the end of World War II. General MacArthur indicated that now, if mankind, in view of the new atomic weapon which has now come into existence, does not learn how to handle its business, and to be related nation-to-nation without resorting to conflict, then (and he used this term) "Har-Magedon" will be upon us. Generally, this is referred to as Armageddon, and even the general, who was acquainted indeed with the Word of God, knew that this was the ultimate conflict, and that was his frame of reference.

John also refers to this in Revelation 19:19: "And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him, who set upon the horse and against His army." Here is a description exactly of what John is speaking of here in chapter 14. He comes back to it, and here he points out that all the famous people at that time are on the scene. The antichrist is there; the false prophet is there; and, the political rulers of the earth are there. They're all assembled on that field, and they're there in order to do battle with Jesus Christ. They see Him coming up in the sky with His army. His army mainly means you and I – the church which will accompany Him.

So, in Revelation 14:19, that's the picture. The angel swings his sickle to the earth on this field, and then we're told that he proceeds to gather clusters from the vine of the earth. The word "gathered" means to harvest here. This is done by this angel. What he is doing is gathering something from the vine. He is gathering from the "ampelos." The "ampelos" is what is referred to as simply a grapevine. What he is referring to here is the grapes on the vine, and he identifies it specifically as the vine of the earth. This term, as we pointed out before, "the vine of the earth," refers to the unbelievers who are following the antichrist. They are the enemies of Jesus Christ. And here now, they are viewed as a cluster of grapes on the vine.

Winepress

The winepress here refers to that which was a common sight in New Testament times and in Old Testament times. There was a large vat into which the harvested grapes were placed. It had a duct to drain off the juice of the grapes into a lower basin, in which the juice would accumulate. People then would stand in this upper vat filled with the grapes. They would bind their long clothing up tight around them, and they would probably wash their feet before they got into the vat. If not, they would certainly have them washed when they got out. But they would get into this vat, and then they have a wild time stomping on these grapes. These grapes were now ripe. They were filled with juice, and they were ready to burst. When you hit them, they literally did burst, and they squirted and splattered in all directions, so by the time they were through, their garments were splattered red from the juice of the grapes. But they would squeeze out, in this way, the juice of the grape, and this technique is now used here as a figure for describing how God is going to exercise His wrath when He finally comes down upon tribulation humanity.

God, who has been patient for many, many centuries, now comes to the point where He brings His judgment. I cannot stress enough to you that that is how God works. When you think you're getting away with something that you shouldn't be getting away with, I can assure you that it is the grace of God that is patiently waiting for you to come to your senses. You will come to the point of no return, and then He will judge. And all of a sudden, something precious (something that you never wanted to lose) will be gone from you forever. This is what is going to happen to these people in the tribulation.

Isaiah 63:3 predicted this process when the prophet said (quoting God), "I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no man with me. I also trod them in My anger, and trampled them in My wrath, and their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, and I stained all My raiments." Here again is a prediction of the very thing that John is describing in Revelation 14. God says, "No one is going to help me do this. I Myself am going to step into that winepress of the field of Armageddon. I Myself will stomp upon those soldiers, and their lifeblood is going to go spurting out of them as juice out of ripe grapes." This is Christ himself speaking: "And My garments will be stained red with their blood."

Joel 3:13 also gives us an insight: "Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great." I want to reiterate that what we read in the book of the Revelation, unlike what most religious groups teach their people, is not a sealed and an unknown book. The book of the Revelation is constantly calling upon images and pictures elsewhere in the Old Testament. If you know enough about the Bible, you can make those connections, and you can see how it becomes readily plain to us what God is doing at Armageddon from these Old Testament passages alone. And of course, in Revelation 19:19, you have this carried out.

So, we have the final decision of God to come down upon this evil generation of the Armageddon era. Please also add Revelation 19:15.

This is the winepress of the wrath of God. This word "wrath" is important for us to look at. It is the Greek word "thumos." There's another word for wrath in the Greek language, but this one is the word that expresses the outburst of hot indignation. This is something that has been building up and building up, and then it explodes. It's not just the other kind of wrath in the Bible, which means God's stated opposition to something. This is something where you have God, in very human-like emotional terms, watching the evil, and watching people thumb their nose at Him, and turning their backs upon the Word of God. This is the arrogance of mankind in the face of the laws of God. Suddenly there's a point in which God's tolerance of evil is no more. Then His "thumos" anger explodes – a wrath of His righteous indignation. For seven years, the antichrist will have been pursuing world peace on the basis of a world government, and the New Age world religion. He is confident that all they need is human capacity.

However, we who know the Word of God know that the only way for world peace is for Jesus Christ to cut down all those who are pursuing the false peace of Satan under the antichrist. And that's what He's going to do.

This was the point that Paul was making in 1 Thessalonians 5:3. The way that God is going to bring peace is to destroy the followers of the antichrist: "While they are saying, 'Peace and safety,' then destruction will come upon them suddenly, like the birth pangs upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." This passage is referring to this very time when the antichrist is riding high. He's the sole dictator, and he thinks that he has finally brought the world, on the basis of his New Age religion, to the highest point of human development. The Lord Jesus Christ, at that point, is going to come in and take charge of the world government by destroying the antichrist and his followers. He will then reign as the true Prince of Peace.

Those who are cut down will be thrown into the winepress of the wrath of God, and they will then experience the condition of Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death." They will learn what it is to have eternal death. Only the believers in the tribulation will escape this judgment, and they will enjoy the last part of Romans 6:23: "But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

They are going to escape eternal death as per John 5:24, which says, "Truly, truly, I say to you: he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life." What a simple thing. I trust in Jesus Christ to have paid my bill of death for me. And once he has done that, I am permanently secure. Does that mean that we should be something special? It surely does.

One man recently was saying that he was appalled at what Christians, even in our own midst, will do for entertainment – the kinds of movies they will go to see, and the kinds of things with which they will contaminate themselves as if they were a bunch of dogs and swine and pigs, to wallow in the filth of the entertainment industry. Yet, you read John 5:24, and it says, "Those who just take Me for My word, I will transform into a trophy of grace. I'll give you absolute righteousness. You'll be qualified for eternal life in heaven, and you will never come into any judgment for your sins." That deserves some kind of a decent response to the God who has made that possible. Yet, even we Christians are willing to play ball with the world's systems. We are willing to turn our backs upon the work of God, where the work of God is really being done.

People don't like to hear that there are going to be tears shed in heaven, but I can assure you that there are going to be plenty of weeping Christians. And they will look back at a point in time where they really deviated, and went off the deep end, and they lost it all. The time is coming when God is going to get the record straight all around.

So, all who die without having trusted in Jesus Christ alone to save them from hell as a gift of God's grace are going to come under the wrath of God. Let me just give you some verses that you may look up on your own to give you the progression.

Romans 6:23 tells us, "The wages of sin is death."

1 John 2:2 tells us that Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins. He is satisfied – all of the wrath of God, the judgment of God, against us.

In Hebrews 9:22, we're told that everything has to be paid for, in terms of sin, with the shedding of blood. This was done symbolically in the Old Testament. It was done by Christ on the cross.

John 3:16 tells us that simply believing provides for us that eternal life.

Hebrews 9:27 points out that once you die, you will come into judgment for your condition of sin, and what has been done about it.

Hebrews 2:3 calls to our attention that if we neglect so great a salvation, what do we have to turn to? How can we escape the judgment of God? Well, indeed we cannot.

In 2 Corinthians 6:2, we have the caution that now is the time to listen to God: "This is the day of salvation." It is not something to play carelessly with.

Finally, in Hebrews 10:31, we're told that Christ has done, once-and-for-all, for us now puts us in the position where we are under the wrath of God if we reject it. And the writer says, "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God." And indeed it is.

So, God has decided the fate of these gentile nations, and all who bear the mark of the beast, the antichrist. They will be brought by his movement into the valley of His decision to execute His decision. That's how God works with us believers. He makes His decision about what we're doing, and if we keep staying out of fellowship, finally, He makes the decision, and He presses the computer button, and everything starts churning away, and we're gone. We're history. The prophet said, "Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision." That's what these people in the tribulation are. They're coming into the valley of decision, the valley of Har-Magedon, and God has made the decision to destroy them. When God decides on how He will deal with an unbeliever or a carnal Christian, then your fate is sealed.

The Field of Armageddon

This field has been famous in Israel's history in the past. It was on this field that Jabin, the king of the Canaanites, with his 900 iron chariots was defeated by Barak, accompanied by the prophetess Deborah, and they were destroyed unbelievably on this field, this very battleground, by the hand of God. It was here that the Midianites and the Amalekites were recruited by Gideon and his 300 men with who had nothing but pitchers and lamps. That was this same field of Armageddon. It was here that Samson triumphed over the Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey that he used for a club, and sent them flying in all directions. That was on this same field.

So, this is a famous place. And not the least famous event was the time that the little shepherd boy, David, faced the giant of the Philistines, the giant Goliath. And through the plain of the field of Armageddon flows the Kidron River. And it was probably at this river that David, analyzed this giant standing on the other side. David walks up; kneels down by the river; selects those aerodynamically perfectly rounded stones that he puts in his pouch; then crosses the river; and, he meets Goliath on the field of Armageddon.

So, God had some preview coming-attractions over history. Now the main event is going to be a blockbuster on that same field. In the tribulation Armageddon field, this giant winepress of the wrath of God will be the place of the destruction of the gentile armies.

Then in Hebrews 14:20, we have the winepress of God in action: "And the winepress was trodden outside the city." "The city" here refers to the city of Jerusalem, and the field of Armageddon is outside the city of Jerusalem, in the northern part of Israel. We're told that the winepress here is now going to be trodden by Jesus Christ outside of the city. The city is apparently spared from destruction for the hope of the remnant Jews that are there. This winepress will contain the troops of the gentile nations.

This winepress actually stretches quite a ways, because these troops will be gathered all around the Dead Sea; the Sea of Galilee; the River Jordan; Bosra in Edom; the mountain of Megiddo; and, the field of Megiddo. So, what you have is a distance of about 180 miles into which this enormous concentration of at least 200 million men, if not more, is going to be dispersed in preparation for originally fighting one another before they turn against the returning Christ.

So, this corridor stretches from Bosra in the south, all the way to the field of Armageddon at the mountain of Megiddo at the northern end. In the center is Jerusalem. But all of this is going to be bypassing the city of Jerusalem when God moves upon them. This troop concentration then will be in what is also called, outside of Jerusalem, the Valley of Jehoshaphat. You have that in Revelation 16:14-16 and Joel 2:12-13, that we looked at in detail.

The Bible tells us that the distance is 1,600 stadia. One stadia is about 607 feet. So, that converts into 180 miles. So, this area is filled with millions of troops for a distance of about 180 miles. We're told by John that this winepress of God is now stomped on by Jesus Christ, and the blood begins to flow from the winepress. You have this picture of the Son of God, the Redeemer, the Savior, stomping across this battleground of Armageddon. The soldiers of the gentile nations who have come to oppose Jesus Christ are going to find themselves helpless before God's judgment, as ripe grapes under a wine treader's foot. The soldiers will be crushed to death, and their lifeblood literally squeezed out of them, as juice from a grape.

The invincible antichrist now is going to be a helpless grape. The false prophet, with his miracle working powers, is going to be powerless. And the weapons of the soldiers will be useless against (of all things) the omnipotent feet of Jesus Christ.

In this picture of Christ destroying the gentile armies in this dramatic way, we're not just talking about something of poetry. It's going to happen just this way. This is described for us in preview in Isaiah 34:1-8:

"Draw near, all nations, to hear, and listen, O peoples. Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world, and all that springs from it. For the Lord's indignation against all nations, and His wrath against all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over to slaughter, so their slain will be thrown out. Their corpses will give up their stench, and the mountains will be drenched with their blood. And all the hosts of heaven will wear away, and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll. And all the hosts will also wither away as a leaf withers from the vine, or as one withers from the fig tree. For My sword is satiated in heaven. Behold, it shall descend for judgment upon Edom, and upon the people whom I have devoted decision to destruction. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood. It is sated with fat, and the blood of lambs and goats, and the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bosra, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. Wild oxen shall also fall with them, and young bulls with strong ones. And their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust become greasy and fat. For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense, for the cause of Zion."

This was Isaiah's prediction and description of a river of blood which would flow for 180 miles, up to the height of a horse's bridle, where the bridle is on the horse's head – something like four feet. It is this about which Isaiah elsewhere said, "Who is this coming from Bosra, with garments stained with red?" Who is it? Jesus Christ, in His destructive action here at Bosra, and then moving up this corridor of the winepress of God.

When Jesus Christ finishes trampling upon the armies of Armageddon, He will leave, we're told, a great feast of bodies for the birds, even as the Old Testament prophets had predicted. We have this repeated for us a little later, in Revelation 19:17: "And I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven: "Come, assemble, for the great supper of God, in order that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders, and 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 men and slaves, and small and great." Nobody will be exempted who is an opponent of God.

"The winepress was trodden outside the city of Jerusalem. The blood came out from the winepress up to the horse's bridle for a distance of almost 200 miles."

The Jewish historian Josephus records that the slaughter of the Jews in Jerusalem, in 70 A.D. by the Romans under the commander Titus, created a flood of blood which actually became so intense in its flow that it actually put out some of the fires that were burning in the city. That is when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. That was nothing like what is going to happen here. The intensity of the blood will be enormous. John, in his vision, is shocked, no doubt, by the human carnage that he sees. The gentiles who have gathered on this field will simultaneously explode like bursting grapes. That's why the blood is going to come so quickly and so high. He is just going to explode them like a foot on a grape suddenly explodes the grape. But it's all going to be simultaneous, and the blood will rise tremendously – far greater than it did in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Millions of fountains of squirting blood will form this river.

Jezebel

Please don't use this as a Scripture to preach against the use of cosmetics. I've heard some very splendid emotional sermons on that subject. Anybody who pays attention to this comes to church looking like warmed-over death. So, please don't use this in that way. She was probably a good-looking doll.

"When Jezebel heard of it, she painted her eyes and adorned her head, and looked out the window (flapping those long, attached eyelashes). And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, 'Is it, well, Zimri, your master's murderer?' Then he lifted up his face to the window and said, 'Who is on my side? Who?' And two or three officials looked down at him standing next to Jezebel. And he said, 'Throw her down.'"

So, they take the queen, and they pitch her off the balcony to the road below: "So, they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and the horses, and he trampled her underfoot." Even as she bounced, the arteries broke; the blood splattered on the walls; and it squirted up in the air. And Jehu, who was one of the all-time great sports drivers, hits his gear; cracks the whip; and, that chariot goes forward. And those horses' hooves crush and mangle whatever life is left in Jezebel.

Then, talk about a guy with stability! "He came in, and ate and drank." He goes in for lunch. And while he's having lunch, and he's munching away, he probably reaches for his goblet of wine. That reminds him of the blood that he sees splattered out in the street, and that reminds him of Jezebel. He said, "'See now to this cursed woman. Bury her, for after all, she is a king's daughter.' So, they went out to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hand." There was only the skull that had devised the evil act against the Jezreelite whose vineyard she and Ahab took; the feet that happily ran to Ahab to tell them that the owner was dead, and that they had the vineyard; and, the palms of her hands that had written the death warrant for this man. That's all that was left. The dogs wouldn't touch it.

"Therefore, they returned and told him, and he said, 'This is the Word of the Lord, which He spoke by his servant, Elijah the Tishbite, saying, "And the property of Jezebel, the dogs will eat the flesh of Jezebel. And the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field, and the property of Jezreel, so they cannot say, 'This is Jezebel.'" The property that she stole from Naboth, the Jezreelite – she ended up as fertilizer for his field.

That is a cameo picture of what God is going to do on the field of Armageddon.

So, our God is a God of justice. At Armageddon, He, at long last, will move to destroy the kingdom which men have built, and ignored Him in the process. In Psalm 110:5-6, we read, "The Lord is at Your right hand. He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath. He will judge among the nations. He will fill them with corpses. He will shatter the chief man over a broad country." Nobody is in a position of authority in this world unless God puts him there. And those who are unfaithful to that authority will be crushed by God. The kingdom of man has been built on the arrogance of New Age religion and human viewpoint reasoning. The day of divine retribution and God's vengeance on all who scoffed to trust in Jesus Christ; who discard the Bible as God's Word, with its moral code; who violate the four divine institutions; and, who make gods of themselves – the day of their retribution is at hand.

The house-of-cards civilization, which the antichrist will have erected as the prime example, the epitome of human wisdom, will be utterly destroyed and ground to pulp by God. The antichrist worked a long time building this showcase civilization to prove that he is the God that people need. But Malachi 4:1 says, "'For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogance and every evildoer will be chaff. And the day that is coming will set them ablaze,' says the Lord of hosts, 'so that it will lead them neither root nor branch."

This civilization is going to be destroyed so that it cannot even sprout up again. Can you imagine how humiliating and frustrating and maddening this is going to be to the antichrist as he sees his house of cards come crashing down around his ears? Do you know how indignant his followers will be that he thought he had a sure thing? That's going to be embarrassing. It reminded me of what I heard Victor Borge say the other day on his special television program, as he told about his grandfather who was so clever. He invented a burglar alarm system, but unfortunately, it was stolen from him, and he was not able to profit much by it. Here's the frustration of the antichrist, who thinks that he has built a sure thing, and it's all going to come to naught.

Well, yes, people today, thumb their noses at God and His warnings of judgment in the Bible. People argue from their human viewpoint that God is love, so He wouldn't do the kinds of terrible things to people that are described in the book of the Revelation. That is what the average liberal preacher has to say about this book. These people are ignorant of the character of God in terms of His justice, which His absolute righteousness demands that He be true to.

So, mankind today moves along in a fool's paradise. One day, they will face the tribunal of divine justice for their unforgiven evil. The sickle of God will cut the rebels down, for God is not anyone who will be mocked. The judgments of an angry God are just; they're awesome; they're inevitable; and, they should not be passed off lightly. For we Christians who are safe from this judgment of God, we must at least remind ourselves that we too will account to Him. We will account to Him for what we did with the lives He gave us. We should, with wisdom, fear God. And we should, above all else, fear spiritual reversionism, the result of negative volition to doctrinal truth or to the leading of the Holy Spirit. When we do step out of line, we should confess, and we should go on in His service, producing divine good works. I don't care what you have done. I don't care what you will do.

Do not insult our God of grace by pretending that you're something so special and heinous that He has not dealt with your problem, or that He has not covered your sin. He has. And when you have played the fool: admit it; confess it; forget it; get on the right track; and, start correcting. If you do not, you will regret it, both in time and eternity, and you will not have another day of peace. Walk before your heavenly Father in holy purity as one who has been saved from the wrath of the winepress of God, just because He decided to do that for you. What manner of people ought we to be?

Dr. John E. Danish, 1992

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