Revelation 14:14–20 (ESV)
The Harvest of the Earth
14 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. 15 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.” 16 So he who
sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
17 Then another angel came out of the temple
in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 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.” 19 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. 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.
John describes the final judgment in terms of a harvest and treading of a winepress. Those in Christ need not worry over God’s wrath, for instead of your blood flowing from God’s winepress, Jesus’ blood was poured out from the cross
for you. His sacrifice for your sin removes the penalty of eternal death from you.
I pray: Lord Jesus, I thank You for suffering the wrath that I deserved. Though You
were innocent and I was guilty, You shed Your blood for me, thus washing all my sins away. Amen.
Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 2222.