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“And another angel came out…he also having a sharp sickle…And another angel…cried with a loud cry…saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe” (Revelation 14:17-18).
Revelation is largely a book of judgment, and here we find some of the judgments being executed by the angels. The grapes represent some of those who will fall under the judgment, and it says here that “her grapes are fully ripe.” What does this mean?
It means that God does not execute judgment until the evil has reached its highest point. When we look at the world today, we may think that things could not possibly get any worse. Yet some of us were saying that thirty years ago, and yet it has gotten worse—much worse! It is possible that the moral state of this world could get even worse than it is now.
In our verses today and yesterday, we see the two things that have to happen before the Lord comes. First of all, God’s house must be filled, and secondly, the evil in this world must reach its height. We can pray that the Lord will come soon, for it is hard to imagine what the world would be like if things got much worse.
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