Revelation 14:18. The third of the second group of three angels comes not merely from the temple, but out from the altar, the most sacred part of it that altar over which the angel stands who presents the prayers of the saints to God, and who casts its fire upon the earth (chap. Revelation 8:3-5). It is this fire, not fire in general, that is referred to when the angel is described as he that hath power over the fire. The fire is the judgments of God upon the earth.

The angel next cries to him that had the sharp sickle that he should gather the clusters of the vine of the earth. As in Revelation 14:16 we were told only of the harvest of the good, so here we are told only of the vintage of the wicked. The figure is often used in the Old Testament (comp. Isaiah 63:1-4; Joel 3:13).

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Old Testament