The Wrath of God | Daily Devotion
14 Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was someone like the Son of Man. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
15 Then another angel came from the Temple and shouted to the one sitting on the cloud, “Swing the sickle, for the time of harvest has come; the crop on earth is ripe.” 16 So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the whole earth was harvested.
17 After that, another angel came from the Temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, who had power to destroy with fire, came from the altar. He shouted to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sickle now to gather the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are ripe for judgment.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 The grapes were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle.”
Revelation 14:14-20 NLT
As John continues telling us what he sees, as Jesus Christ commanded him to in Revelation 1:19 NLT, when Jesus said, “Write down what you have seen – both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen” and then again in Revelation 10:11 NLT when Jesus said, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings” – we see the power of Jesus Christ in opening the spiritually blind eyes – John 9:25, 39 to see and fulfill God’s will for their life.
When God calls you to something, He will personally speak to you or through someone and will Himself, open your eyes to the details of His will so much so you spiritually see the truth of His calling. For eyes to see and ears to hear are both gifts from the Lord – Proverbs 20:12.
When you seek to remain right with Jesus Christ, repenting of sin, trust He will give you the spiritual insights - the eyes to see and the ears to hear - according to your need regarding what’s before you.
Thus, here John shares that He sees Jesus Christ, the Son of Man sitting on a white cloud with a crown on His head. The King is here looking upon mankind. Then an angel came from the Temple, the Temple where God the Father resides, and shouted to Jesus Christ, “Swing the sickle, for the time of harvest has come; the crop on the earth is ripe.”
This angel, a messenger of God, and his actions in coming from the Temple reveal to us that Jesus Christ and the angels converse. The angel obviously came at God the Father’s command, and here we see Jesus Christ continuing to fulfill the will of the Father
We know that the details Jesus shares in His red letter words throughout the gospels are for our benefit, so that we do not abandon our faith – John 16:1. And thus, we see in the New Testament, in Matthew 13:24-30 NLT Jesus sharing, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. The farmer’s workers went to him and said ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’ ‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. ‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. ‘No,’ he replied, ‘you will uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”
Here Jesus is talking about harvesting crops and separating the wheat from the chaff, alluding to those who are right with God and those who are not right with God. Those who are not right with God intermix with many Christians, this is earth. We Christians cannot seclude ourselves from the world and believe we will be better off, as the world has its way of infiltrating. No, we are to be in the world, but not of the world, separate from the world in heart and mind, separate from the world and its carnal ways, shining the light of Jesus Christ so that many see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven – Matthew 5:16. We are to stand strong on God given convictions, living lives that are holy, righteous, and pure. Trusting God with our lives, enduring the persecution that arises. Trusting He will harvest at the perfect time, separating the redeemed from those who refuse Jesus Christ. Trusting our time will be up once we fulfill the will of the Father.
Moreover, Jesus states in John 4:34-36 NLT, “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God who sent me, and from finishing his work. You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvesting.’ But I say, wake up and look around you. The fields are already ripe for harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!”
So, we see in Jesus’ words here, a picture of Himself to come. And thus, we see Jesus harvesting, so to speak, those who believe in Him. He is bringing home to heaven Christians. We know this because of what He, Himself, shared with us – and He shared it, so that amidst affliction we Christians would not abandon our faith. There is a day God will separate those who believe in Him from those who refuse Him. We will not always suffer and struggle due to being attacked by non-believers. That is simply for a short time while we are on earth– 2 Corinthians 4:17.
The apostle John then said another angel came from the Temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle – obviously sent by God the Father, representative of harvesting. Then a third angel came from the altar of God and this angel is different, this angel has the power to destroy with fire, representative of God’s wrath.
John’s description of these angels is important, as it is telling of the different actions taking place, plus the different callings, abilities and power, God has given His angels, just like He has different callings for His people. They all have a specific purpose.
Throughout the Old Testament specifically in the psalms, the psalmist speaks of God’s flaming arrows, in reference to God’s wrath being enacted against sinful, rebellious mankind. For instance, in Psalm 7:12-13 NLT, “If a person does not repent, God will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow. He will prepare his deadly weapons and shoot his flaming arrows.” And then Psalm 21:11-12 NLT, “Although they plot against you, their evil schemes will never succeed. For they will turn and run when they see your arrows aimed at them.” And in Psalm 104:4 NLT, “The winds are your messengers, flames of fire are your servants,” referring to the angels.
Therefore, this angel that has the power to destroy with fire is telling of God’s wrath about to be enacted on the rebellious. So much destruction has already taken place due to rebellion, therefore, for this angel to come at this point – the rebellion is very severe and God’s anger is increasing.
We all know that when we sin, we harden our hearts to the voice of the Lord. Every step of compromise hardens hearts to God’s voice, to the point the individual no longer hears God and they bring themselves to this point of no hope for redemption, very similar to the Ninevites in the book of Nahum. This is telling of how powerful one’s mind and heart is – we are God’s creation, He created us with the ability to choose – and if we do not bring it into submission to God, we can walk away bringing upon God’s fierce wrath.
Remember when Jesus broke the fifth seal and John saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their testimony and they cried out to Jesus, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?” – Revelation 6:9-10.
These martyrs experienced severe suffering for their testimony at the hands of evil doers. Now we know suffering takes place in different ways.
The evil they experience which many experience today, is the outcome of false ideology. Ideology that serves one and destroys another. Abuse of power, plus justification of the specific destructive actions – believing they hold power in their words and their explanations. When we Christians know, only God’s word holds everlasting power and manmade wisdom does not last, nor does it draw one to an understanding or knowledge of God in relationship.
These Christians probably suffer under leadership that is not right psychologically. For false ideology does not stabilize a mind, it causes a deranged mind. So, the leaders are making the decisions, obviously with Antichrist at the helm, but the decisions made cause severe distress for Christians everywhere. The Christians suffer under merciless leadership, or merciless neighbors.
What’s difficult for many – they tend to naturally trust the person placed in a leadership position (or they naturally defy them, depending on the heart), but here Christians will have to use reason and logic as leadership will not be right mentally but will expect people to carry out their plan. Therefore, the suffering that will take place will hold many layers – one being psychological duress and constant abuse by deranged minds that are so unstable but spiritual, thus persuading people to destruction.
There is a reason why we Christians who are spiritual beings, are to walk in truth. We are to worship God in spirit and in truth. The truth of God, Jesus Christ, is a fence for spirit. Any spiritual action outside of the word of God is not of Christ, but demonic. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, thus, any spiritual movement must align with the word of God for it to be of God, anything else is demonic. We Christians are to be mature in this matter, understanding and testing the different spirits in this world. We are not to believe everything is of God.
And thus, John tells us, the time has come for these souls to be avenged for the wrath of God witnessed in the Armageddon has arrived.
These martyrs were told to wait a little longer. Waiting is difficult for everyone. But oh the joy, when God’s promise arrives.
And here we see it in a very bloody battle. God will avenge His saints. Those who caused so much suffering in their lives will suffer.
John says, the angel with the power to destroy with fire shouted to the other angel, “ ‘Swing your sickle now to gather the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are ripe for judgment.’ So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath.”
Thus, what the angel did, gathered every defiant, rebellious enemy of God together, unable to escape, to experience the crushing weight of God’s wrath. The apostle John likens it to a winepress crushing grapes, stating the grapes were trampled outside of the city of Jerusalem, and blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle.
This is severe blood shed.
The apostle John does not tell us the exact actions that take place in real time to cause such bloodshed – He simply states the cause of the bloodshed is the wrath of God.
Now we Christians know, God is slow to get angry, therefore, for God to be this angry – the behaviors and beliefs of these people completely defy Him and have for a prolonged period of time, bringing about His vengeance.
There are specific details in Scripture where God’s wrath is witnessed as He says He will take vengeance on the one who commits it, such as a man who is sexually immoral with another man’s wife, in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways – 1 Thessalonians 4:5 as stated in 1 Thessalonians 4:6 NLT as it says, “Never harm or cheat a Christian brother in this matter by violating his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before.”
Moreover, God’s wrath is witnessed regarding specific chosen lifestyles, as He says those who live this way will not go to heaven, for instance in Galatians 5:19-21, Paul states, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”
And then Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NLT, “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people – none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.”
And in Revelation 21:8 NLT, the apostle John states, “Cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshippers, and all liars – their fate is the fiery lake of burning sulfer. This is the second death.”
These lifestyles are not one time sins, they are habitual – a chosen way of living that does not show one to be a child of God, alive in Christ filled with the Holy Spirit. Those who live this way completely defy the Almighty.
Therefore, all of the people who die in the Armageddon, live these corrupt lifestyles and God’s wrath destroys them.
It’s a word for everyone today, if you are sinning in these ways repent of your sins and see the blood of the Lamb that forgives you, and turn from those sins and turn to Jesus Christ, ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit so that your actions overflow with the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.
Will you pray with me?
Abba, thank You for this picture of the Armageddon and what’s to come for everyone who defies You and brings about Your wrath. We ask You Lord to stir the hearts of Your people to repent of their sins and to reach out with Your love to others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
For more daily devotions by Dr. Alysa VanderWeerd, click here.
