We’re continuing our series on the End of the World in chronological order. The Abomination of Desolation has happened. The antichrist went to Babylon and basically took over every nation on the Earth. Then three angels circled the globe. One gave the everlasting gospel. Another foretold the fall of Babylon, and the third warned the world that if they took the Mark of the Beast, their souls would be doomed forever.
Now they’ve had a few months to make their decision.
Now time is up.
Now God is about to pour out His wrath. Now God is going to pour out His final seven vial judgments, the most intense, horrifying, severe judgments in the history of the universe. These judgments are so severe the Lord said He’ll have to shorten the days, because if He doesn’t shorten the days, then everyone will die (Matt. 24:22, Mark 13:20).
And here we are now, a few months after the midway point of the Tribulation.
Believers are struggling. They’re being murdered, and now time is up. All the unbelievers of the world have been given the gospel God. They were warned about the soon-to-come fall of Babylon. They were warned about consequence of taking the Mark. Now time is up. Now judgment has come. Now people are going to die. Now God’s wrath is here.
And the end of the world actually begins.
In this article, we’re going to look at the preparations God makes for these final seven judgments and the last half of Rev. 14 and all of Rev. 15. In the last half of Rev. 14, John’s given a vision that’s a symbolic, a big picture representation of what these final seven judgments are all about. The Earth is ripe for harvest. Christ is going to thrust His sickle into the Earth and reap souls. Then we’re going to look at Rev. 15, which is John observing the actual preparation for these judgments in the throne room of God in Heaven.
I find it fascinating that just as John had witnessed with the seal and trumpet judgments, everything in Heaven is structured. God is not the author of confusion or chaos. Everything is carried out in an organized process before all, as everyone acknowledges the rightness of God’s ways while also praising Him.
Rev. 14:14-20
Rev 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. Rev 14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. Rev 14:16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. Rev 14:17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. Rev 14:18 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. Rev 14:19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
Again, I would mention that all of this is genius writing in how God will show not tell. Everything we would need to know about the nature of these final seven judgments is given to us visually.
We find in Rev 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
First, he references the Lord sitting on a white cloud. Oftentimes in Rev., I’ll see the word “clouds” and suspect he’s speaking of angels, but here, I suspect this is a cloud. He’s not sitting amongst angels, He’s sitting on a white cloud, and that cloud is meant to symbolize His righteousness, which again ties the deliverance of Israel in the last half of the Tribulation to their deliverance out of the hands of Pharoah when God led the people through the wilderness by the pillar of the cloud and when the Lord visited Moses and the people in a thick cloud.
John tells us that this the One upon the cloud was like unto the Son of man. I suspect John means that this IS the Son of Man but it’s like unto Him because His appearance here is different than the other visions he had of Christ. His appearance is different because He now has a golden crown on His head and in his hand a sharp sickle.
The golden crown signifies His royal authority over all creation. Bullinger would point out that this crown is associated with Ps. 21:3, Thou settest a crown of pure gold upon his head. Fascinating about that verse is that, naturally, a crown of pure gold upon his head speaks of His future dominion over the Earth, but the verse says, Thou settest a crown of pure gold upon his head. When He was here on the Earth, the Roman soldiers set a crown of thorns upon His head but now because of the victory the Lord accomplished at Calvary, He has now set upon Himself the crown of pure gold because He earned that crown.
This would be the first of many crowns. In Rev. 19, when the Lord returns to the Earth as the Rider on the White Horse, Rev 19:12 tells us that on his head were many crowns… Why does He only have one crown here and many crowns in Rev. 19? Of course, the 24 elders cast their crowns before the throne in Rev. 4:10, but I suspect that over the course of these final seven judgments, the Lord will be earning even more crowns. Perhaps He’ll acquire all the crowns on the dragon’s head because by the time He returns, Satan is already defeated, his global empire crushed, and all the nations of the Earth have now become the Lord’s nations. The Lord through His sacrifice at Calvary earned Him the golden crown, which gives Him the authority to take away all the crowns of the dragon in judgment.
And, of course, the Lord also has in his hand a sharp sickle. It’s a reaping hook, or grape-knife, meant to cut down the branches of ripe grapes. Why is the sickle sharp? I’d suggest this speaks to the completeness of His judgment. No branch will be spared. Plus, this speaks to the finality of His judgment. Once those grape branches are cut down, that’s it. There’s no going back.
This is also a righteous judicial judgment in the sense that God is still avenging the blood of His saints. For all the blood of the saints that was spilt by Babylon, now God in His righteousness will spill all her blood. Jeremiah would write in Jer 51:33, “For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.” Now the time of her harvest has come. Now the time of her harvest is here. Bullinger would point out that “the harvest is the end of the age,” when Israel is finally delivered from her enemies.
Look atRev 14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. Rev 14:16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
It’s weird that in vs. 15, an angel instructs the Lord to thrust in thy sickle and reap. I suspect this should be viewed more as a request than an instruction. O’Steen would suggest that this angel was sent by the Father to instruct the Son because of Mark 13:32-37 because only the Father knows the time of His Second Coming, which would mean that He would also know the time when the final judgments should begin, because His Second Coming immediately follows that.
This harvest is prophesied in Joel 3, and in vs. 13, he’d write, Joe 3:13, “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.” So the Lord thrusts His sickle on the Earth, which is meant to symbolically convey the carrying out of the final seven judgments. When the sickle cuts down all the branches on the Earth, we may presume that all the power structures on Earth are demolished, the antichrist kingdom is crushed, and all that’s left are the grapes, the individuals, which we’ll read in the next verse that the other angel, when he thrusts in his sickle, is meant to imply that they will gather the grapes for the winepress. The unbelievers will be transported to a large piece of real estate where Armageddon takes place. There, they will be crushed by the Lord, destroyed from the power in His glory. They’ll be like grapes crushed in a winepress.
Rev 14:17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. Rev 14:18 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.
So we have two angels that step out of God’s temple in Heaven. One came out who had a sharp sickle. Another angel came out who operates the altar in the temple. We’re told he has power over fire, which most say has to be the fire of the altar, which signifies judgment, and so he tells the first angel to thrust his sickle into the Earth, by which he will gather the clusters of the vine of the earth. He will take those around the globe who took the Mark of the Beast and place them into the winepress, the location of Armageddon, which was also prophesied by the Lord in Mat 13:41 when He said, “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity.”
Rev 14:19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
These grapes that are cast into the winepress are not ALL the unbelievers of the world, because we know unbelievers will be present before the Lord when He judges the nations at His Second Coming. They’ll make up the goat nations. So my question is, “Who are the grapes cast into the winepress and are crushed at His Second Coming and who are the people who make up the goat nations?” I’d just suggest that the grapes the angels gather around the globe and cast into the winepress are all the people who have taken the Mark of the Beast, who have identified themselves with the antichrist and his kingdom. They were warned. They don’t get a trial. They are slated for immediate execution when the Lord returns.
Plus, I’d suggest the people who make up the goat nations are unbelievers who don’t take the Mark and they manage to survive to the end. Then the Lord will have a conversation with them when He judges them. The big question will be, why should He let them into His kingdom? They’re sorta qualified because they didn’t take the Mark, but the question is, did they accept the gospel? Did they put their faith in Christ?
When the Lord condemns them, He doesn’t say it’s because they took the Mark. He basically condemns them because they showed no evidence of faith by their works in the example He gives of their unwillingness to aid believers. He tells them in Mat 25:41 Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: Mat 25:42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: Mat 25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. The issue there wasn’t the Mark. The issue there was their lack of faith evidenced by their refusal to help believers.
So the question then is, how did all these people eat when the Mark of the Beast was in force? Black markets, underground economies, but within their own underground systems, they refused to help believers, probably because they thought it was too risky. They cared more about protecting themselves than helping believers. And the Lord condemns them for this. He uses this as proof that they didn’t have any faith.
I’ll bet you many people in the goat nations will be shocked. They think they’re saved. They didn’t take the Mark. They thought they were doing the Lord’s work. I’m reminded of what the Lord said in Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. The point is, it’s not enough to refuse the Mark. You also have to accept the gospel.
Back to the grapes who are cast into the winepress.
The angels will gather from around the globe all those who took the Mark and plop them down into the great winepress of the wrath of God. Where’s that? They’ll be placed in the Valley of Megiddo, or Armageddon, where the Lord will crush them at His Second Coming like grapes crushed in a winepress.
Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
I liked how Kevin Sadler summed this up. He wrote, “The great winepress of God is the area around the holy city of God. It extends from north northwest to south southeast of Jerusalem, from Mt. Megiddo, known as Armageddon (Rev. 16:16), to Bozrah (Isa. 63:1-4). Tactically, the Scriptures seem to suggest that the Antichrist will launch an attack simultaneously from both the north and the south. The center of the battlefield will be the narrow Kidron Valley, called the Valley of Jehoshaphat, located just east of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. According to the Spirit of God, the area of the battlefield is said to be ‘a thousand and six hundred furlongs,’ a distance of exactly two hundred miles. Christ will crush the Antichrist’s forces of evil with merely a spoken word and the brightness of His coming. When He tramples His enemies in His almighty power, their blood will stain His garments (Isa. 63:2-4; Rev. 19:13). The blood from this innumerable host of godless unbelievers and their horses will run high to the horses’ bridles, according to the Apostle John, writing in the Spirit. Many commentators shrink from taking a literal interpretation here, saying it is utterly preposterous. We feel, however, more comfortable taking God at His Word. On average, an adult male has about five quarts of blood. Millions upon ten millions of men would bleed a deep river of blood. Interestingly, the Spirit emphasizes that the winepress is ‘trodden without [outside] the city’ of Jerusalem in direct connection with the blood rising to the horses’ bridle. In all likelihood, the blood will probably run the deepest in the valley of Jehoshaphat (Kidron Valley), which is a rocky, mountainous ravine that’s about 20 miles in length.”
So this vision summarizes for us the big picture point of the final 7 judgments of God. This is about destroying all the power structures, and this is about the harvest of all the souls who identified themselves with Satan’s empire through the Mark of the Beast. When the Lord thrusts His sickle into the Earth the branches of the grapes are cut down in the sense that they are cut from the tree, they are no longer tied to the empire. They are now individual grapes. And when the angel thrusts in his sickle, those grapes are all gathered and placed onto the winepress, which is the 200-mile expanse where Armageddon will take place, and the Lord will crush them with the glory of His power upon His return.
Next, in Rev. 15., John will now observe the Lord making preparations in Heaven for the carrying out of these judgments.
Rev. 15:1-8
15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. 15:5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: 6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. 7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
First, we read in Rev 15:1, “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.”
When says he saw another sign in heaven what did he mean by that? When John says sign, he means a token of coming events. You remember how the Olivet Discourse began? The disciples came to Him and asked Him, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” They’re asking Him what will be evidence they can look for so they would know when His coming would be near. This is a sign in the sense of a wonder they can see so they can know His coming will be soon.
John would call this sign in Heaven great and marvellous. Bullinger would write, this is “wonderfully great in its nature and extent and importance and results. It is the completion of the ‘covenant of marvels’ which the Lord made with Israel in Ex. 34:10.”
And what did John see? Seven angels having the seven last plagues. These seven angels are not yet holding the vials, because we’d read that later one of the four beasts would hand out the seven vials to the seven angels. So by saying they’re having the seven last plagues, I suspect the meaning here is that these angels are just designated as the ones who will pour out those vials on the Earth, vials that will be filled with the seven last plagues, the wrath of God.
The verse also said that in them is filled up the wrath of God, which I suspect means that it’s just been given unto them to carry out the deliverance of the wrath of God to the Earth. O’Steen would write, “interesting to note that the word ‘seven’ occurs eight times in this short chapter of just eight verses. The seven plagues are called the ‘last plagues’ because they will come at the end of the great tribulation and they are the greater plagues of which the plagues poured out on Egypt were just a picture of (Ex. 34:10)…” He’d also write, “The wrath of God is filled up in these last plagues. The whole seventieth week of Daniel will come as a result of the wrath of God, but His wrath builds and intensifies until it is fully poured out at the end.”
Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
I find this passage absolutely amazing. Many weeks ago, when we looked at the throne room of God in chapter 4, we read in Rev 4:6 that before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal… but now things have changed. Now that sea of glass like unto crystal is mingled with fire, mixed with fire, fire having blended with the sea of glass, and standing on that glass are all the Gentile believers we read about in the last half of Rev. 7. They died but they had gotten the victory over the beast. How did they get victory over the beast? They got saved! They’re victorious because they’re now God’s people saved by the blood of the Lamb! And these Gentile believers who were before holding palms, which were symbols of victory in the Bible, they’re now holding the harps of God.
Rev 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Rev 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
I know some say that these people singing have to be Israelites because they’re singing the Song of Moses, but I would point out that Jews who die during the Tribulation go down to Sheol, evidenced by the souls that were under the altar. They’re in Sheol awaiting the prophesied resurrection at the Lord’s Second Coming.
Why wouldn’t Gentile believers who died during the Tribulation sing the Song of Moses here? Gentiles who get saved during the Tribulation are essentially proselytes. And here these Gentiles are in Heaven, in their Heavenly bodies, in a perfect state of righteousness, understanding perfectly everything that’s going on in the Throne Room of God, knowing full well the significance of what’s happening now, how God is tying Israel’s final deliverance to their first deliverance out of Egypt, and I’m sure they also now have perfect knowledge of the Word of God, and so there’s no reason that they wouldn’t sing in praise to God the Song of Moses.
But they actually sing two songs: the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb, which doesn’t exist anywhere else in the Bible. But the way these verses are written are interesting.
Look again at Rev 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Rev 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
I suspect that what these verses are saying is that they’ve taken some of the lyrics from the Song of Moses and some of the lyrics from the Song of the Lamb and combined them into one song and these are the lyrics to the new song they’re now singing.
Some commentaries weren’t sure if this Song of Moses is talking about Exod. 15 or Deut. 32. Clearly, some of the portions of the Deut. 32 was incorporated into this song.
In vs. 3, we read just and true are thy ways, which was taken from Deut. 32:4. We have in this new song references to the Lord’s righteousness and His holiness, which could also be found in Deut. 32:4. For thou only art holy; just and true are thy ways. Everything God does is just, is right, the rightness of God, because He is holy. At the core of this song is praise to the Lord God for who He is, for the greatness of His works, for His holiness, and how all nations will come to worship Him in His kingdom because His judgments are now made manifest.
These themes were also integral to Moses’ song in Deut. 32, and he ends that song by singing in Deu 32:43, “Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.” The Song of Moses ends with a call for ALL nations & ALL people to rejoice with them! Why? Because God will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries. What Gentile believer in Heaven wouldn’t be willing to sing praises to God for these very same reasons? God is through these final seven judgments doing the very thing that should cause every believer to rejoice! Even I would be happy to sing that song right now!
Bullinger would point out that this song is made up of nine lines, with nine being the number associated with judgment. For example, nine people were stoned in the Bible. Nine widows are specially mentioned. Nine people were afflicted with blindness, etc.
Rev 15:5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: Rev 15:6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. These seven angels came out of the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven.
The tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon were only shadows of Heavenly things, copies of the temples in Heaven. So God has a temple in Heaven similarly designed like those temples on the Earth, and I suspect the angels came out of Heaven’s version of the Holy of Holies, the place where the heavenly ark of the covenant is located, which we’d read about in Rev 11:19, “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” This is in the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven. In other words, the tabernacle contained the record of God’s Word, of God’s promises, and these plagues that are about to be poured out on the Earth will be in fulfillment of God’s promises.
We’re also told that these angels are clothed in pure and white linen. Linen in time past often being the garments of priests and royalty, pure and white symbolizing, of course, their state of purity, righteousness, and at the same time I can’t help but drool over the idea of Heavenly linen, made out of Heavenly flax, crafted into pure linen, which is indestructible for all eternity. The thread count must be through the roof. Can we even comprehend the luxuriousness of Heavenly linen? Anyway, they’re wearing pure linen.
Plus, they also have upon their breasts… golden girdles. The same was said about the Lord in that first vision of Him in Rev. 1:13. He was girt about the paps with a golden girdle. The idea here is that this is a person of high rank, a princely rank, and these angels also having golden girdles would suggest not only their high rank as angels, perhaps part of the chief princes (Dan. 10:13), part of the leadership team of chief princes, who are over the heavenly host, but also the golden girdles suggest that they will be acting as representatives of Christ Himself when pouring out these vials.
Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Here, the seven angels are actually handed the seven vials by one of the four beasts, which we had encountered in the Throne Room. They’re one of the four Cherubims round about the throne in Rev. 4:6. Vials here are similar to vials you might see in science labs. Round bowls at the bottom, skinny neck at the top, which are ideal for pouring.
Now the judgments are ready to be carried out.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
This verse, of all the verses we covered, is probably the most significant. At times in the OT, Moses’ tabernacle and the temple of Solomon were both filled with clouds but not smoke (Ex. xl. 34-36. 1 Kings viii. 10, 11), clouds being symbolic of the righteousness of God, but here “smoke” represents the hour of His judgment (xiv. 7). This means that there is no more intercession that can be made in Heaven for man. No sacrifices would be accepted. No converts will be accepted. No prayers will be heard. Bullinger wrote, “It will be again as it was in the days of Lam. 3:44, ‘Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, That our prayer should not pass through.’” He would also write, “Five of the ten plagues of Egypt are the same as five of these Bowls… We would only add here, that as they were literal, so will these be.”
SUPPLY OF GRACE 