Revelation 14:9-20

The Winepress of God's Wrath

Revelation 14:9

We cannot understand the torment of those who are depicted in Revelation 14:9, except it be the remorse at having refused the love of the Lamb of God. Even Christ Himself cannot save a soul from its self-condemnation. Note the emphasis of Revelation 14:13. The voice which pronounces the blessedness of the departed is from heaven. The emphasis is on the word henceforth. There is no pause in their onward progress, no dim and shadowy existence, no cessation in thought. From henceforth, that is, from the moment of death, they are blessed who die in the Lord; and this announcement is endorsed by the emphatic Yea of the Spirit. It is a great matter to have that affirmation to our words, whether we preach or teach. What could better authenticate them than that deep co-witness to God's Word in the heart or in the Church? See Acts 5:32 and Hebrews 2:4.

This harvest scene surely stands for the blessed revivals which have from time to time visited the world, and may especially be reckoned on in the last days of the present dispensation. Only when the harvest is gathered in will the vintage of woe and wrath commence. To which ingathering do we belong?