Let us turn to Revelation 14. In Revelation 14:14-20, we read:
And 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. And another angel came out of the temple, 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. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. And 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. 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.
I will stop reading there.
We read this, and really, we have some questions:
Why are there two angels, with sickles (each one with a sickle)?
Why does each individual angel, put in his sickle, and reap? In other words, why are there two instances of reaping?
Why does blood come out, when once the vine, with the clusters of the vine of the earth, is cast into the winepress of God?
Why unto 1,600 furlongs?
Why unto the horse bridles? Which I have always wondered about that.
What does God mean that, “blood came out of the winepress,” and went the space of 1,600 furlongs, and reached unto the horse bridles, and then, apparently it stopped?
And so, those are some of the questions that we hope to look at, and hopefully find some answers for. I hope that we can get this completed in this one study, but if not, in the afternoon, when we are going to have a Questions and Answers Session, I could take 10 or 15 minutes, before that, to complete it. So, we are not going to rush, but we might be able to complete this, in this study.
We will begin in Revelation 14:14, and we know that the context, is Judgment Day. The previous verses were talking about the cup, of the wrath of God. Let us go back to Revelation 14:10-11:
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever (Or to ever and ever): and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
This is referring to Judgment Day, which came upon the world on May 21, 2011 and, what is the Judgment? It is no rest (it is that rest, that Jesus said, to all who labour and are heavy laden, come unto me, and I will give you rest). There is no more rest, day or night (which is a time reference), from the period of Judgment, until the Judgment is complete. There are those days, after that tribulation. The tribulation ended on May 21, 2011, and that is where we are presently at, in a period of time, that is taking place after the tribulation, day and night. It is normal 24 hour periods, and there is no rest to those who never became saved, and are now under the Judgment of God. It goes on to say, following that, in Revelation 14:12:
Here is the patience of the saints:…
Remember that we discussed that. Why “here”? Because, what does God tell us, in Hebrews 10:36? In Hebrews 10:36, we read:
…ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God,…
The only way that it could be said, that we have done (past tense) the will of God, and then have a need of patience, is after we have completed God’s task, that He gave to all of His elect, to send forth the Gospel into the world, to warn them, as watchmen, of the approaching day of judgment, which was done. It is finished, accomplished and completed, as of Judgment Day occurring, spiritually (yes, but it is still Judgment Day), on May 21, 2011.
And so, in the context of Judgment, God says to His people, “Here (right in this spot) is the patience of the saints:….” And then, we saw in Revelation 14:13:
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:…
And “the dead,” is a reference to the spiritually dead in Christ, “which die,” and the word “die,” is a participle, and it should be translated, “dying”, just as in 2 Corinthians 6:9, which says, “…as dying, and, behold, we live;….” So, how can it be, that we are dying, yet live, while we are physically alive? Yet, each day, the child of God is to take up his cross, to mortify his members, to die to our self. And so, Revelation 14:13 is referring to the elect, that are dead in Christ, and are actively dying, as they live the Christian life, from henceforth (from this point, of the day of judgment), this is taking place.
It goes on to say, in Revelation 14:13:
…Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
And again, the “labours” is finished. The task (job) of getting the Gospel out is no more in view, because God has already saved all of His elect, and “their works” (those that heard the Gospel, and we looked at certain verses, where the Apostle Paul says, for instance, in 1 Corinthians 9:1, “…are not ye my work in the Lord?”) will “follow them” (just as God moved Paul, to also say, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” And so, those that heard the Gospel, will follow the true believers, who follow Christ.
And then, we read in Revelation 14:14, where we want to start today:
And 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.
This is referring to Jesus, and He is seated upon a white cloud, wearing a golden crown, and in his hand, is a sharp sickle, because He is going to reap, and He will use the sickle to cut, and to reap, what He intends to reap, and in this verse, we looked at this, somewhat in our last study, where we saw that normally, the Bible speaks of clouds, it does not always say that they are white.
But here, it emphasizes that it is a white cloud. It is pointing to the purity, the Holiness of God, and also, to the fact that He is judging, as Christ is seated. He is seated upon a white cloud, like God is seated upon a white throne, further on, in the Book of Revelation, and He is seated upon that white throne, for the same reason, to judge the unsaved. And here, Christ is going to judge mankind (all those that never became saved), and notice that He has a golden crown.
One place, I think, that particularly applies to that, is found in Esther chapter 8. It says in Esther 8:15:
And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.
So Mordecai is wearing a golden crown, but if you recall, when we studied the Book of Esther, it was on the 17th day, of the 2nd month, that Haman was killed, and Mordecai was exalted. Haman is a picture of Satan, and Mordecai is a type of Christ, and that is pointing to what happened, spiritually, on the day of judgment, when God put down Satan, from his rule in the churches, and the world, and when he exalted the Lord Jesus Christ to be ruler over all. And so, the golden crown could point to that, because in Revelation 14, it is the same day. The 17th day, of the 2nd month is in view, or May 21, 2011, when Judgment Day began, on the world, when it transitioned to the world, is in view.
Let us continue in Revelation 14:15:
And another angel came out of the temple, 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.
In this passage, we are going to read a lot about reaping. In Revelation 14, from this point, through the end, God refers to it, a few times, and we normally think of the Gospel, as the LORD sows the seed, the fruit comes forth, and then, following that, is the reaping. And, we look at it, maybe in a positive way—God gathers His fruit. But, in Revelation 14, it is not spoken of, in a positive way at all, because (and we will look at it) when the clusters of the vine of the earth are gathered, “for her grapes are fully ripe,” what does God do with them? He puts them in the winepress, of His wrath.
So, that is not positive. They cannot be believers. There is no way that God gathers His elect, and then punishes them, in a winepress of fury. So, the reaping here, is completely negative, and that should not surprise us, but we do not normally tend to think about this, because God gives a principle in Galatians 6:7-9:
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
So, there are two possibilities of reaping. You can reap of the Spirit, which would be a good thing, or you can reap of the flesh, which would be a negative, and a bad thing, and that is actually how God views the harvest. Yes, there is a harvest of believers (that precious fruit of the earth), and He is the husbandman, who waited, longsufferingly (patiently), until he received the early and latter rain, before He reaped, before He brought in that harvest.
But, there is also a harvest of sinners. For instance, if we turn back to the Book of Joel, it says in Joel 3:12:
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
So notice that God is sitting, just like Christ was seated upon the cloud. He is sitting to judge. In Joel 3:13, we read:
Put ye in the sickle,…
Just as the Lord Jesus had the sickle in His hand, in Revelation 14. It continues:
…for the harvest is ripe:…
Exactly similar language, to what we are reading in Revelation 14 also. It continues:
…come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow;…
The word “fats” is also translated, a few times, in the Old Testament, as “winepress.” So again, the similar idea is in Revelation 14. The winepress did overflow, with the blood of those, who were put within it, did it not?
And so here, the press is full, the “winepress” or the “fats” overflow, and by the way, this would be a negative context. But, if you look over at Joel 2, verse 23 mentions the latter rain, and then leads into verse 24, and it says in Joel 2:24:
And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
There, the winepress is a wonderful thing. It is excellent, because this is picturing the believers being brought in. But, the same kind of language, yet now, it is Judgment Day. In Joel 3:13, we read:
…the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
They are not believers at all. They have sowed wickedness. They have sowed to their flesh. They have sowed carnal things, and now it is time to reap what they have sowed. And God is the one, who is going to do the reaping, with that sickle. In Joel 3:14-15, we read:
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of JEHOVAH is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
I read that, to give us a time reference. When is God sitting to judge? When are the winepresses overflowing, as we saw in Revelation 14? When the sun is darkened, and the moon is not giving its light, which takes place, immediately after the tribulation of those days.
When did the tribulation end? It ended on May 21, 2011. So, God is locking it in, tying it into the great tribulation, and what occurs immediately after? Judgment Day (the time when I will sit to judge the heathen).
Let us go back to Revelation 14, and we will read the last part of Revelation 14:15:
…Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
What we have to do is, correct the translation of the word “ripe.”
That particular Greek word is found 16 times in the New Testament.
11 times, it is translated as “withered.”
Three times, it is translated as “dried up,” which is the same idea as “withered.”
One time, it is translated as “pine away,” like when the man, whose son was lunatick. He said of his son, that he often gnashes with his teeth, and pineth away.
And once, is it translated “ripe.” It is right here. It is the only time. So, it is very clear, how this word should be translated, as “dried up,” or “withered.” The harvest of the earth is “withered,” like it says in Matthew 13:6:
And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
They had no moisture. They had no connection to the root, that would supply the moisture, to keep it alive, like man have no connection to the root of Jesse (the Lord Jesus Christ), who supplies the life giving flow of the Gospel, of His blood covering their sins, of the water of the Gospel, that would keep them from withering, as Jesus said that, you must “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me,” and “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” And, that is exactly what has happened to the unsaved people of the world. They have dried up, and withered.
But, the idea of withering, has special application, to those in the churches and the congregations. They are the ones that should have been in the vine. They should have been able to continue, because they had a relationship with Christ. But, since they never actually, truly had a relationship, God views them as withering away. For instance, if we go back to Joel chapter 1 (it is the same Book that we went to before, but this time go to the first chapter), we read in Joel 1:10-12:
The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
That is language, pointing to Israel of old, but the church of the New Testament, the church of the time of the great tribulation, that came under judgment, when judgment began at the House of God. They lost connection with Christ. As soon as the Holy Spirit departed out of the midst, and as soon as Christ left the congregations to themselves—immediately, they withered away. Just as sure as when Christ cursed the fig tree, it withered away. It no longer had that connection with God (with the Lord Jesus), and that is exactly what happened to all the churches and congregations of the world.
When God began the judgment process, in Revelation 14:15, when the time has come for the first angel, with his sickle, to reap the harvest of the earth, because it is withered, this is the finalization. It is the completion, of the judgment on the churches. God was judging them throughout the 23 year great tribulation, but He had to finalize it. He had to complete that judgment upon them, and as soon as May 21 came, then it was complete, because all who remained in the churches, throughout that period of time, could not have experienced the salvation of God. God had forewarned them, and told them to get out of the churches, and the latter rain was falling outside of the churches and congregations, and not in the churches and congregations. Jeremiah said that, they had “no latter rain.” They have no blessing of the Gospel within.
And so, any who did not hearken to God, and remained—as soon as Judgment Day took place, God shut the door of Heaven, and what was true, within the confines of the church, throughout the 23 years, is now true, throughout the whole world, and in effect, it killed them. And, that is why in Revelation 9, it speaks of the third part being killed, because spiritually, when Judgment Day began, it ended hope for those in the churches and the congregations, and spiritually destroyed them.
I think, that is why we have a two part judgment here, where there are two angels, each with a sickle, and notice the similarity? Why would each angel have a sickle, and each angel reap? Because it is the same cup. The cup that God began to give to the city called by His name, is the same cup that He gives to the world. And so, once May 21 began, He finalized the Judgment on the churches, but still, the judgment on the unsaved of the world (those outside of the churches) commenced. It just got underway, and that is why, there is a second angel with a sickle, who will also reap.
It says in Revelation 14:16-18:
And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. And 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.
This is a different word, than the previous word “ripe.” This is a different Greek word, even though it is translated as the same English word. It adds the word “fully.” But, it is a different word, and it is just pointing, that now is the time. It has the same idea. The language (we would almost think that this is speaking of believers), “the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe,” sounds good, but when we see what happens, we know that it cannot be the believers, because it is taken and cast into the winepress of God’s wrath, and I think, an answer is found back in Deuteronomy 32, that just supports the idea that God speaks of judging the unsaved of the world, as in a harvest.
It says in Deuteronomy 32:32-33:
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
That uses some of the same words, “grapes,” and the “clusters.” And yet, the grapes are of gall, and the clusters are bitter, and so, that is exactly what is in view here. This is not a good harvest. This is a ruined harvest. It is a perished harvest. It is a harvest that brought forth, no real fruit, and no good fruit of any kind. And so, God is going to judge them, and destroy them, and this is the time for it.
It goes on to say here, in Revelation 14:19:
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.
We do not really read this kind of language, “the great winepress of the wrath of God,” too often, in the Bible. It is found in Revelation 19, where Christ is seen, seated on a white horse, and it says in Revelation 19:11-16:
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Now it is Judgment Day. Satan, the usurper, has been put down, just as Haman. And now, Christ is exalted, and He is wearing the golden crown, and He is judging, “clothed with a vesture dipped in blood.” What does that remind us of? Basically, the only other place that I can think of in the Bible, where we read about, treading the winepress of wrath, is in Isaiah 63. It says in Isaiah 63:1-5:
Who 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. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I 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. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.
Does the language not seem strange? Because, we know, and we are correct, that this man who comes from Edom, from Bozrah, is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is treading the winepress alone, and He is the one, who brings salvation. His own arm brought salvation. So, it is when He was experiencing the wrath of God, on behalf of His people since. Yet, why does it say, “I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury”? It almost sounds like what we are reading in Revelation 14, or what we have read in Revelation 19, with Christ seated upon the white horse, and the only answer is, that “them” is referring to the believers, as we are in Christ, as our sins were laid upon Him, before the foundation of the world. That is why it says in Isaiah 63:3:
I have trodden the winepress alone;…
Nobody was with Him then. Nobody at all. It continues:
…and of the people there was none with me:…
What people? His elect. They were not with “me” then. The world was not even created. They certainly were not born. It continues:
…for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury;…
So, Christ is indicating that, since He was bearing their sins, and when God (the Father) was pouring out His wrath upon the Lord Jesus, before the world began, it was in fact, an act of vengeance, of judgment, of fury, of the wrath of God, upon all those elect. That is why, now that Judgment Day is here, we can thank the LORD that it is not the individual child of God. It is not “me,” that is being taken and judged, and my blood that is coming out of the winepress unto the space of 1,600 furlongs.
We thank God because there is no need. It has already been accomplished. It was already finished, before the foundation of the world, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, that is why His garments were splattered with blood, and God continues to maintain that language, when we see the Lord Jesus, finally at the end, and it said of Him, in Revelation 19:13:
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
And then, He, as Eternal God, as the Almighty, begins to do to the unsaved people, what was done to Him, on behalf of His chosen, whose names were written down in the Lamb’s Book of life, because they had no Saviour. They had no blood, spilled on their behalf, to cover their sins, so therefore, their blood must be spilled. Their blood must come out of them, and be crushed out of them, in order to pay the penalty. The penalty that Christ paid, was the giving of blood (His life), and the penalty that all man must pay, is their life, because “the wages of sin is death;” and so you must forfeit your life. You have to die for your sins, unless you have a Saviour, who did it for you, and that is the great cause of thanksgiving, for all of the people of God.
Let us go back to Revelation 14:20:
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.
The first thing that we want to notice is, the location of the winepress, is without the city. It is not in the city. It is outside of the city. It is at anywhere without, and the “city” in the Bible, could be Christ Himself. If you read Daniel 9, He is called “the city” there. Or, it could be the body of believers, because the elect (the Body of Christ) become New Jerusalem (the city of God), and in either case, both are representative of the Kingdom of God (Kingdom of Heaven). If it is Christ, He is the essence of it. He is it, and the believers have made a part of it.
And so, the judgment of God, is taking place, without the Kingdom of God, and just as it says in Revelation 22:14:
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
So, each one of us (if we are a true believer), may enter in the gates, through the city, but we are also the city itself. We will not spend any time in proving that. It can be proved by looking at Revelation 21, and how God speaks of that New Jerusalem (that Holy city). It is made up of the Body of believers.
And so, here it says in Revelation 22:14, that those that do His commandments, and we would only do it, because He has given us a new heart, and saved us already, to perform the doing of it. Therefore, we are able to enter in, through the gates, into the city.
And then, in Revelation 14:15, we read:
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Without the city, are these six groups of people. It says “dogs,” in Revelation 14:15, but that is referring to unsaved individuals. Remember, Philippians 3:2 gives us that great Bible verse, “Beware of dogs,….” When you see that sign, just think, “oh, there is another Scripture verse.” God had people who teach contrary to the Gospel, in mind there. In Revelation 14:15, we read:
…without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers,…
Those are people. It continues:
…and murderers,…
Those are people that murder. It continues:
…and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
There might be people who say, “I am not a dog, I am not a sorcerer, I am not a murderer and an idolater.” But, God has everyone, when He says, “whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” There is mankind. Nobody escapes that one. We have all lied. We have all spoken contrary to the truth, and man love lies. We love lies. The whole modern culture is built upon lies, and the love of the lie, or else, there would not be television, or books, or all sorts of things, that are going on in the world today. And, when “the truth” is presented, people may say, “let me get away from that. I do not want anything to do with that.” And, “the truth” would be God’s Word.
But, these people, are without. How are they without the city, at the time of judgment? The traditional understanding of the church, had an explanation. They are in hell. It is that place of outer darkness. It is that place, where all the ungodly go, to suffer forever more. But, what is the explanation, to those of us who understand, since God opened up the Scriptures, to reveal this, that there is no place called “hell,” that the unsaved man will just die, and be annihilated. We do understand it, once we realize that May 21, 2011 was Judgment Day, all of God’s people, spiritually, have entered the city (they are all saved), and without, are the unsaved (typified by these six things), and they are still out there, in the world, like they have always been, and they are in outer darkness, because the world is in darkness (the sun is dark, and the moon is not giving its light). It is happening on earth, during these days, after the tribulation. There is the wrath of God, being poured out, at this time.
Going back to Revelation 14:20:
And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles,…
Let us just look at one verse. I think I might have mentioned it earlier. In Leviticus 17:11, we read:
For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
See how Jesus’ blood was an atoning work for the souls, of those that He came to save, or that He predestinated to salvation. And so, all the sacrifices, the blood of the sacrificial animal, would be poured out on the altar. I do not know about all of them, but many of them would be, and that was to picture, the blood of Christ.
What of the unsaved? We already see that God speaks of a harvest of believers, and then He has a harvest of the unsaved, because they sowed iniquity, and now it is time for them to reap His wrath, and He is treading them in the winepress, just as Christ was trodden, in the winepress, for the sake of His people. So, God really is carrying out the same judgment, upon the unsaved, that was carried out, upon the Lord Jesus Christ, for the elect. And, Christ’s blood was spilled, and now, it is time for judgment, and it is necessary that the blood of all the unsaved, be spilled, in order to atone for their souls. Of course, they cannot pay the penalty in full, and still have life. They are going to pay the penalty for their sins, and die, forevermore, because they are not God. They are just man. And yet, the penalty is their life.
And so, God uses that idea, in Revelation 14, when He speaks of the vine, of the clusters of the earth. These grapes that are typifying unsaved mankind, are cast into the winepress, and He is the one trodding it, and you maybe knowing the picture of the individual, who is walking around in the winefat, and trampling the grapes, and squishing (crushing) them, in order that the juice of the grapes, squirts out, and that is the picture.
Here is the mass of mankind, placed in this awful winepress, and here is the Almighty, who is certainly big enough, to bring about their judgment, and as He is judging them, their blood is coming out like the juice of the grape. And, it is squirting out of the winepress, and flowing. What does that blood typify? It typifies their life, which is coming out of them, and it is flowing on, for a space of 1,600 furlongs. Not 1,700. Not 1,500, but 1,600 furlongs, the blood is flowing like a river.
And so, we wonder and we know that the blood is typifying the life of the unsaved. We actually know the beginning point, of when their life is beginning to be trodden under foot, and crushed, and the life blood is beginning to come out, is May 21, 2011. That is the beginning point, of the winepress, and then, it flows out, even unto the horse bridles.
Let us look at “the horse bridles,” before we look at “the space.” In Revelation 14:20, we read:
…even unto the horse bridles,…
Why “horse bridles”? I think, we actually read the answer to this, already. You will find the horse bridle, on a horse. That is the key, and where else do we read about, the LORD God treading out the wicked of the world, in a winepress.
Let us go back to Revelation 19. What was in view, when we read that there? Christ was upon a white horse, and the elect were upon white horses. Everyone is on a horse, and so everyone had a horse bridle. There is the Lord Jesus, and there are the elect, and here it says in Revelation 19:15:
…he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
That is a very similar statement to Revelation 14, and while Christ is trodding it, the believers are on their horses. We do not read that they go off. We do not read of them joining in, even though God does say that we will judge the world with Him, but He has something very specific in mind, when He makes that statement. We are certainly, not actively judging man, as God is. But, we are on the horses, here is the winepress, and the blood is coming out, unto where the elect are seated upon their horses, unto their horse bridles. I do not completely understand that, except it seems to point to all of the elect. They have judged the world, with Christ, and there has been some sort of satisfaction with that. But, I think, that is what is in view, by this statement and Revelation 14:20, that the “blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.”
“Space” is from one point, to another. It is a distance. It starts here, at the winepress, and it flowed forth. 1,600 furlongs sounds pretty far actually, because in Luke 24:13, we read:
And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore (or 60) furlongs.
It is a distance. From Emmaus to Jerusalem, was 60 furlongs, and that is some distance, because there was another town where Lazarus and his sisters were from, that was about 15 furlongs, from Jerusalem. So, that would have been a closer city to Jerusalem, and then you have Emmaus, which was 60 furlongs off, and so 1,600 furlongs is a considerable distance, and it also helps us to realize, that this is talking about distance.
“Furlongs” has to do with, how far from here, to there, and actually, a little bit more than that, because the Greek word translated as “furlong,” is also translated as “race.”
Let us go to 1 Corinthians 9:24. As soon as I read it, you will recall the verse. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, we read:
Know ye not that they which run in a race (that is “furlong”) run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
What does that mean? What is that telling us? It is telling us that, the Christian life, is like a race that we run. And, what is at the end of the furlong? An incorruptible crown. When you run the “race” (which is the same word as “furlong”), then at the end, you obtain (if you are one of God’s elect, and He has truly made you born again) the incorruptible crown, and not a corruptible (like a gold medal, or a trophy, or all the things that athletes in our world, strive for), but that incorruptible crown (which really is pointing to eternal life, and the salvation of God), is at the end of the furlong. So, that is interesting. That is interesting how God says that.
Let us go back to Revelation 14, and again read the last part of Revelation 14:20:
…by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
Let us look at the number 1,600. How do you break that down? 40 X 40.
40 is the number of testing. And, what about 40 X 40? What have we been saying, for some time? We are being severely tested. This is a fiery trial, that God has placed His people in, and when did it begin? There was great tribulation for 23 years, yes. But, that was not the fiery trial. We are always tried, throughout our lives, and all people are. But, there is a special fiery trial (1 Corinthians 3 speaks of), that takes place, in the day of judgment.
And so, since May 21, we have all entered into this period of trial, and it is interesting, that there is a space, from the winepress, which began on that day also. That is when Judgment Day began (on May 21, 2011). The space of 1,600 furlongs, which breaks down to 40 X 40. You really cannot get a better number, if you want to emphasize “trying,” like Israel was tried in the wilderness. They wandered for 40 years. Christ was under trial for 40 days, and so on. 40 X 40, makes up the number 1,600.
Let us just look at this one last thing. But before we do, I should point out, that when it comes to time paths, and having a date for the return of Christ, really at this point, it does not mean too much. The important date was May 21, that all the world heard. Why? Because, we had to blow the trumpet, that people might go to God, before He shut the door to Heaven. Now, He has already shut the door. So, we could learn of the actual date, of Christ’s return, and we cannot publish it, or we could share it, but we would not do, what we did, prior to May 21, because it would not impact anyone, to the point of salvation. It is already done. Whatever condition, a person is in, is the condition that they will stay in.
And also, a second thing is that, there is support in the Bible for this, in certain areas, but not support in other areas. That is, other time paths do not seem to fit it. So, I am just going to mention this, so you can study it, and maybe you will find something in addition, or maybe find something to show that it is of no concern. But, it is something that we can look at, and that is 1,600 days (1,600 days from May 21).
Why 1,600 days? How many days was the great tribulation? It was of 8,400 days. Judgment began at the House of God, and went for 8,400 days (May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011). Was judgment complete? No; because God still had to judge the world. And so, there was a transition on that day. Judgment was not completed as yet, so God had to transition, from the church to the world, and if you add 1,600 to 8,400, you get 10,000 days of judgment, overall, and 10 is the number of completeness, and 10,000 would be like super completeness. It would be the final completion of judgment. He has judged the church for 23 years (8,400 days), then a judgment, switched to all the world, for 1,600 days. But, the sum total of judgment on all mankind, that have come under His wrath is 10,000 days, and that is a possibility that we should look at.
1,600 days from May 21, 2011, takes us to 2015. And again, I cannot find any support (you know how other time paths and other dates) to point to that date. It does take us to the month of Tishrei (the seventh Hebrew month in 2015). I think Tishrei 3 or Tishrei 4 is what it points to. Tishrei is the month, where all the feasts are. The blowing of trumpets is on the first day of the month, the day of atonement is on the 10th day of the month, tabernacles is on the 15th day of the month. They are all in Tishrei. This seems to fall in Tishrei 3 or Tishrei 4, but I have not checked it out thoroughly. And again, even though it is interesting, that it does take us to the seventh month, but those dates do not seem to tie to anything. So, it is something that we as believers are privileged to do.
We can check anything out, in the Bible. We have no prohibition. Nothing in the Bible says that we cannot look into any idea. Does the Bible say that we are not to know the day or hour? Yes; but it also says that Noah did know the timing of the flood, and that Lot did know the timing of the destruction of Sodom, and we know all the many verses. But actually, this does not even relate to that, because we already know the day.
The important day of judgment was May 21, 2011. God already revealed the day, and made us aware of it. If not this date, I think God will open up something, at some point, for the comfort and spiritual nourishment of His people, if He is pleased to do it.
We are going to stop here, and we will close with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for Your grace, and we thank You for Your constant companionship, that You never leave nor forsake us, that you are always with us, and though, things can be hard, trying, and difficult, we know that this is but a momentary affliction, that will soon pass. And so, Father we pray for patience, to continue waiting on You. We pray that, whether it be a day, or however long, that we take each day, one day at a time. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” And, just as we have lived our lives, You have been faithful, You have helped us, and provided for us, and we pray that we would just trust You, and continue on, as You would have us to do. Father, we pray for everyone here. We ask that You would bless them, bless our families, our children, and our neighbors. We pray that You would be with us, in the rest of this day, and we pray these things, in Christ name. Amen.