A White Cloud

Narrator: Chris Genthree
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In Revelation 11:15-1815And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. 16And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, 17Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. 18And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:15‑18), we see prophetic events in the great tribulation drawing to a close. The Man-child, caught up to God’s throne (Rev. 12:55And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. (Revelation 12:5)), now returns in judgment. The judgment, given to us in chapter 14, is described under the figures of a harvest and a vintage. First, we have the description of the Reaper: “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” (vs. 14). Both the manner of His advent (on the cloud) and the title (the Son of Man) proclaim unmistakably the person of the Reaper. It is the rejected Jesus, who, refused by the Jews as the Messiah, took up the wider title of the Son of Man, under which all things are put under His feet. The “golden crown” not only speaks of His royal dignity, but also of the glory of that divine righteousness, according to which everything will be both tested and judged, while the “sickle” announces the immediate object of His return. But as when down here He took the servant’s place, so when He comes to execute judgment, He will still occupy the same position. On this account an angel is introduced, “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” (vs. 15).
The Harvest
There is something sublime in the obedience to this command: “He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped” (vs. 16). As to the character of the judgment, two or three points may be noticed. It is the earth that is reaped, and hence it is men as men that are in question, not the Jewish nation. Second, the angel who cried to Him that sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap,” came out of the temple. The judgment therefore was to proceed according to the revealed character of Him whose habitation it was. Bearing these points in mind, it is easily understood that this judgment (the harvest) is of a discriminating character, gathering the wheat into His garner and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
The Vintage
The scene that follows, while related to the preceding one, has a different character. “Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, He also having a sharp sickle. 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. 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” (vss. 17-19). There cannot be a doubt that the angel who executes judgment, although He is not named, is also the Son of Man. But He is here seen only as an angel, because He comes as the divine instrument of God’s will in judgment upon the vine of the earth. In this case, He comes out for this purpose from the temple, from God’s immediate presence. He is seen as the Son of Man when the judgment relates to the Gentiles, but here as an angel when the Jews are mainly before the mind. The figure of the vine is familiar. Israel was a vine, brought out of Egypt and planted in Canaan (Psa. 80), but when God looked for it to bring forth good grapes, nothing was found but wild grapes (Isa. 5:1-71Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. (Isaiah 5:1‑7)). It was on this account that Christ Himself replaced Israel as the vine before God. He became the true vine, of which His own were the branches (John 15). The vine of the earth therefore will be that which should have borne fruit for God; it is apostate Judaism, with which the Gentiles will be allied.
The Winepress
The character of the judgment is shown by the words, “the great winepress of the wrath of God.” It is thus unsparing judgment (see Isa. 63:1-41Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. 2Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? 3I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. 4For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. (Isaiah 63:1‑4)) upon Messiah’s adversaries in connection with the establishment of His kingdom. One thing more is to be gleaned from the last verse: “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” (vs. 20). The term “without the city” indicates undoubtedly that the neighborhood of Jerusalem is the locality of this unmitigated vengeance. With this the prophet Joel agrees (as well as Isaiah and Zechariah), who seems to combine in one verse (Joel. 3:2-13) both the harvest and the vintage judgments. He specifies the valley of Jehoshaphat as the place where the nations will be judged, as well as the apostate Jews with whom they will be associated. The terrible character of the vengeance of that day is seen in the awful, if symbolic, statement concerning the blood that came out of the winepress, reaching unto the horse bridles, and extending to 1,600 furlongs; that is, as some have observed, to the whole length of the land of Israel.
E. Dennett (adapted)