And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
And another angel – The fifth in order. This angel came for a different purpose – with reference to the cutting off of the enemies of God, represented by the gathering of a vintage. Compare Mat 13:41; Mat 24:31.
Came out of the temple which is in heaven – Sent or commissioned by God. See the notes on Rev 14:15.
He also having a sharp sickle – On the word sickle, see the notes on Rev 14:14.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
This angel some will have to be some instrument God would make use of to cut down antichrist: others would have it to be the word of God in the mouth of his ministers, which, Heb 4:12, is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit; and thus they judge this angel to be the same with the rider upon the white horse, Rev 19:11-21, out of whose mouth went a sharp sword, Rev 14:15.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. out of the temple . . . inheaven (Re 11:19).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven,…. It is a strange conceit of Mr. Brightman’s, that this angel is Thomas Lord Cromwell, in the days of King Henry the Eighth, a sincere favourer of pure religion; and that the following angel is Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, a martyr, that had power over fire; and that the vintage, here spoken of, refers to the destroying of religious houses, and disposing of abbey lands to other uses; which was done under the king’s authority, by the former of these, at the instigation of the latter, when those who were set over that business made such havoc of the goods of the Papists, that their houses seemed to swim in their spoils, as in a river of pressed grapes. Dr. Goodwin much better interprets it of God’s vengeance upon the carnal Protestants and professors of religion; since it is an angel out of the temple that will execute it, and another from the altar, zealous of God’s worship, that will provoke to it; and since the winepress will be trodden without the city, the church; and which began in the wars in Germany, in the last age, and will have its full accomplishment when the whole outward court is given to the Gentiles; but how these, who are but a few, when compared with the wicked of the world, should be called the vine of the earth, I see not. Mr. Daubuz thinks this vision of the vintage has had, at least in part, its fulfilment in the late wars in the times of Queen Anne, the Popish countries being then made the seat of war, in which they suffered much; rather they come nearest to the truth of the matter, who take this to be the battle of the great God Almighty, under the sixth vial, Re 16:14 fought by the word of God, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who will tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, Re 19:15 when the beast and false prophet will both be destroyed: but inasmuch as Babylon is before declared to be fallen, Re 14:8 and since the gathering in of the Lord’s wheat at the first resurrection is designed by the harvest, it is best to understand this vintage of the perdition of ungodly men by fire, at the conflagration of the world, which will be at the beginning of the thousand years’ reign, and of the gathering of them in at the second resurrection, at the end of it, for the destruction of them in hell, soul and body. And by this “angel” is meant, not the saints of the most High; for though they may be said to come out of the temple, the church, and shall judge the world, yet they will not be employed in gathering together the wicked, and casting them into the lake of fire, or winepress of God’s wrath: rather the ministering spirits are intended, who are the reapers at the end of the world, and who will gather the wicked, and bind them like tares in bundles, and cast them into the furnace of fire; though it is best to interpret this of Christ himself, who is often called an Angel in Scripture, as the Angel of God’s presence; and the Angel of the covenant; and frequently in this book, as in Re 7:2 because, as Mediator, he is God’s messenger; and he may be said to do that, which he does by others, as instruments, as to gather the vine of the earth, and cast it into the winepress; and he may be said to “come out of the temple which is in heaven”: whether this be understood of heaven itself, which the temple, and especially the most holy place in it, was a figure of; here Christ is, and from hence he is expected to come, and will come at the last day, as Judge of all the earth; or of the church of God, for here Christ dwells, and grants his gracious and spiritual presence until his second and personal coming, with all his saints: and now he will have them all with him, both quick and dead, and will be personally in his temple, the church, in the great congregation of the righteous, and out from among them will he display his power in the destruction of the wicked; and the rather he may be thought to be intended, since none but a divine person ever trod the winepress of God’s wrath; see Isa 63:1 to which may be added what follows,
he also having a sharp sickle; the same who is described as like to the son of man, on a white cloud, with a golden crown on his head, and such a sickle in his hand, Re 14:14 which is expressive of the same judiciary power and authority.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He also ( ). As well as the Reaper on the cloud. This is the fifth angel who is God’s messenger from heaven (temple where God dwells). This fifth angel with his sharp sickle is to gather the vintage (18-20) as Christ did the wheat.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Temple [] . Properly, sanctuary. See on Mt 4:5.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And another angel came,” (kai allos angelos ekselthen) “And (yet) another angel went forth,” of his own accord doing service for the Son of Man, the Christ.
2) “Out of the temple which is in heaven,” (ek tou naou tou en to ourano) “Out of the shrine of heaven,” located in heaven; Our Lord told of the time of the final reaping, at the end of the age, when angels should be sent forth to gather together both the tares and the wheat, each to its own final reward or retribution, Mat 13:36-43.
3) “He also having a sickle,” (echon kai autos drepanon oksue) “He (was) also holding a sharp sickle,” an instrument for harvesting or reaping, Joe 3:13; Luk 18:7-8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Rev. 14:20. The number here, four multiplied into itself, and then multiplied by a hundred is symbolical of a judgment complete and full, and reaching to all corners of the earth.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Rev. 14:17-20
The Harvest of the Earth for Crushing.The harvest of the earth is not only the ingathering of the saints. It includes the ingathering of those whose earth-lives have been a failure: who have died in their sin; who stand on the earth, in the great reaping day, in their sin. The farmer of the yearly harvest gathers in much besides good wheat: wheat that has gone bad, weeds, and chaff even, with the good wheat. If there is a barn for the good wheat, there is a fire in the field for burning up the bad, the mock wheat, the tares, and the weeds. And this seems to have suggested to the writer his vision of the other side of the last great harvest scene. But, in accordance with the symbolic ideas of the times, he takes the yield of the vines to represent the evil side of earths harvest. It is a simple and natural symbol. The corn of the fields is the source of renewed life and health: it is the fitting symbol of the good results of earths endeavour. The fruits of the vine have been, in all ages, since Noah stepped forth upon the cleansed earth, the fruitful source of vice, and self-indulgence, and misery, to men. So the clusters of the vine are represented as cast into the winepress, and trodden under foot; crushed down; made by stern discipline to become something other than they are. The men who have come through their earth story self-indulgent, defiant of God, and refusers of His holy gospel, must be gathered in with the stern sickle of the angel, cast like grape-clusters into the great winepress of the wrath of God. What can there be for them in that great day but indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil?
I. They who die in their sins are kept for their judgment.In the indulging of the larger hope that one day all men will be saved, it is forgotten that, through the long ages, men have died in their sins. There is a fact which must be taken into full account. Thousands of completed earth-lives have proved moral failures. Thousands of men now exist somewhere who resisted every good influence, lived without God and without hope in the world, and died in defiant rebellion against the God who made them and the Saviour who redeemed them; crimson-stained in their souls with all the pollutions of earth. They must be in keeping against their judgment day, as truly as the blessed dead are in keeping for their reward. Do we not needlessly confuse ourselves, by regarding the earth-trial of humanity as a perfect and final trial? We expect the results to be perfect, and then set ourselves to invent theories concerning the future, which can have no value, because they have no foundation. We want the issue to be that everybody comes out righteous at last; and Scripture gives no ground whatever for such an interpretation. Our Lords parable of the tares should destroy any such ideas once for all. What we need to see is that man is a limited and imperfect being, placed in limited and imperfect circumstances; subjected to a limited and imperfect trial; and the issues will bear the character of the probation, and will include both failure and success. It is not, indeed, a question of it will. It does. Men do come through the probation of the earth-life evil stillworse evil for the misused probation. There must be a judgment day which they are awaiting, when the Divine dealing with their failure must be made known to them and to all; and God must be clearly seen to stand for ever for the right and against the wrong. He must do something with the vintage, as well as with the grain, of the harvest of the earth. What He will do no man knows, or can know. If the discipline of the earth-life has failed to accomplish its due result, they must go into the great winepress of the wrath of God, which must be punishment, need not be destruction, and may be the sterner, harder discipline in new and other spheres.
II. They who stand in their sins are ready for their judgment.The vision seems to deal with those who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord; but, by reason of their self-willedness and rebellion, have no interest in, only the dread of, that coming. They are represented by the hanging clusters of over-ripe grapes; their cup of iniquity is full. The angel is bidden, Send forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. Then the number of the wicked, the number of life-failures, will be complete, as the number of the saintsthe life-successes, will be complete; and the story of the earth may be wound up. Can we find more fitting words in which to express the result of it all, so far as that result can come into human ken, than the solemn words of our Divine Lord, And these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life? Can we do any more than wonder, with a great wondering, what can be the lot of the wicked, when that lot is figured so impressively as in this passage: And the angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the winepress, the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and there came out blood from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs? Whether, then, we die in our sins, or stand in our sins when Gods harvest-day dawns, there is no escaping the just and fiery indignation. That day will overtake some as a thief. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Then, O my Lord, prepare
My soul for that great day.
O wash me in Thy precious blood,
And take my sins away.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
17. And The misty forms of the white cloud, its occupant, and the harvest field, have all instantly disappeared. But a second and more terrible, though equally transient, volume of the sky-picture appears in its place to complete the series of omens. To the harvest of wrath succeeds the vintage of blood. By the phrase temple in heaven Dusterdieck and Alford are somewhat nonplussed. The word heaven means, as often elsewhere, the firmamental heaven, (note Rev 4:11,) or sky. And the simple meaning is, that a visional temple, with its altar, outlined itself in the sky-vision as part of the omen scenery.
Angel sharp sickle The Lord of the harvest has reaped the grain; but leaves to his servants the treading of the bloody winepress. The blood-red colour of the juice of the grape suggests the thought of carnage; and the pressure by which it is crushed out suggests the wrath that compels the carnage. The image is taken from Isa 63:3, where Jehovah’s treading the winepress and pouring forth the blood of the grape, is an image of the crushing of the wicked powers in behalf of his people.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And another angel came out from the Temple which is in Heaven, he also having a sharp sickle, and another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire, and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Send forth your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe”.’
John is at pains to demonstrate that He Who sits on the throne is at one with the Son of Man in the action about to take place, for the angel with the sickle comes forth from His Temple. He is to help with the reaping.
The angel from the altar who has power over fire was described in Rev 8:5. He represents the prayers of God’s people and here we find that this final hour of judgment is in response to those prayers (Luk 18:7; Rev 6:10). Creation itself has groaned and waited (Rom 8:19-22). Now its hour too has come. This is intrinsic in the Lord’s prayer. ‘May your name be hallowed, your rule come, your will be done’ (Mat 6:9-10). They were prayers for the fulfilment of God’s purposes.
The angels are the assistants of the Son of Man in judgment. The Son of Man initiates the reaping, the angels carry it out and gather the remains of the harvest to be burned (Mat 13:40-42). This is assumed here and illustrated by the treatment of the vintage. John sees the two harvests as taking place at the same time. The emphasis is on the fact that nothing is excluded.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The wine-press of God’s wrath:
v. 17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
v. 18. 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.
v. 19. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God.
v. 20. And the wine-press was trodden with out the city, and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto the horse-bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. See Isa 63:4-6. This picture carries the same idea as the previous one, but instead of the harvest of grain we have here the harvest of grapes: And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle; and still another angel came out of the altar, having power over the fire, and he shouted with a loud voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send forth thy sharp sickle and cull the grape-clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes have matured. Here the fire of God’s wrath, of God’s Judgment, is in evidence. The final Judgment will not be a partial judgment, but will strike fruit, branches, stem, and roots. Not only the grapes are gathered, but all the shoots and branches are cut off. The fruit of sin and unbelief has reached its full maturity, the patience of the Lord is exhausted.
The result is pictured in a scene which is almost ghastly in its vividness: And the angel cast his sickle on the earth and harvested the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God; and the winepress was trodden outside of the city, and there came out blood from the wine-press up to the bridles of the horses. a space of a thousand six hundred stadia. This is the second death. Outside of the city of God, the Church of Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem, is the place of wrath. There the grapes that have grown in the soil of the spiritual Sodom and Gomorrah are pressed out. The battle is won. The blood of the enemies flows forth in a stream like an immense flood, measuring, since a stadium is between 600 and 625 feet, almost two hundred miles in width, with a depth of about five feet. The victory of the Lord is complete, His righteous wrath is punishing the unbelievers and scoffers with an eternal punishment.
Summary
In a series of pictures the seer shows the bliss of the perfected saints, the work of the Reformation, and the final harvest of the wrath of God upon the unbelievers.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Rev 14:17-20 . Another angel, [3555] likewise coming from the heavenly temple, and therefore from God himself, intrusted with a work symbolizing the final judgment, has, as one like the Son of man (Rev 14:14 ), a sharp sickle, by which the ripened clusters in the vineyard of the earth are to be harvested. Not only does this occur at the command brought again by another angel, but the clusters are also pressed.
[3555] Cf. Rev 14:15 .
. The formula [3556] marks only that the same thing is said by this person as by the person designated in Rev 14:14 ; but in other respects the persons are by no means “put on the same level,” [3557] so that it does not follow from Rev 14:17 that the one like the Son of man is an angel. Still less, however, can it be inferred to the contrary, from Rev 14:14 , that the (Rev 14:17 ) is not an angel, but the Lord himself. [3558]
The other angel (Rev 14:18 ), who brings to the one mentioned in Rev 14:17 the command for harvesting the vineyard of the earth, is in a twofold respect significantly characterized, according to his place of starting: , and according to his peculiar power: . He came forth “out of the altar.” [3559] This idea is derived from the , which is to be rendered here “from,” [3560] as little as the in Rev 9:13 . Its meaning is to be derived from the description (Rev 8:3 sqq.), [3561] in connection with the designation of the which the angel has over fire. [3562] The same altar beneath which the souls of the martyrs lie, crying for vengeance, and from which not only the fire is taken which, cast upon the earth, gives the signal in general for the trumpet-visions announcing the beginning of the vengeance, but whence, also, in the sixth trumpet-vision especially, the voice sounds that calls forth a destructive army upon the earth, appears significantly in this passage as the proper place of an angel who transmits the command for the execution of judgment, and who, since he has power over fire, [3563] manifests himself as one whose sending brings an answer to the prayers of the martyrs, and thus, by his entire manner and appearance, recalls the blood-guilt of the enemies whose blood is now to cover the earth (Rev 14:20 ).
. Luk 6:44 .
, . . . , Rev 14:19 . Cf. Rev 14:16 . Here, however, the figure is not limited to the mere cutting-off of the clusters, but the pressing also follows: . . . . . In reference to the remarkable combination of the masc. . with the fem. , [3564] cf. Winer, p. 490, who explains the masc. by the fact that . also occurs. But a reason why this change of the gen. has happened is scarcely to be found. At all events, Pro 18:14 should be recalled, where the word occurs first as masc. because the spirit appears in more forcible activity, and afterwards as fem., because, since it suffers from disease, it is represented in feminine weakness. So, too, the masc. . could be attached to the ordinary feminine form ., because this form appears appropriate to the representation of the wrath of God as active in the pressing.
. The standing expression: cf. Joe 3:13 ; Isa 63:2 sq.
. “The city,” without further designation, cannot be Rome, [3565] but only Jerusalem; yet not the heavenly Jerusalem, [3566] also not Jerusalem so far as the holy city represents the Church, [3567] but the real, earthly Jerusalem, against which, as is stated in Rev 20:9 , the hosts of the world rush, but will be annihilated there before the holy city. [3568] Incorrectly, Grotius: “This did not occur in the city, because there were no Jews there.” [3569]
. In Isa 63:3 , LXX., the blood is also expressly mentioned, which is properly meant by the figure of the juice of grapes.
, . . . How fearful the bloodshed is, is illustrated by designating it as a stream of blood which is so deep as to reach to the reins of the horses wading therein, while its extent is given as sixteen hundred furlongs. [3570] In this sense, the first expression, . . . ., is understood by almost all expositors; [3571] but the reference to the extent of the stream of blood is not without difficulty. Passing by purely arbitrary explanations, [3572] only two possibilities are offered: either the designation of the measure must be regarded as schematical, whether it depend upon the adoption of an hyperbole not to be urged with respect to details, [3573] or the number four [3574] be considered as a root, and then the number 1,600 reduced to 4 4 100, [3575] or 40 40, [3576] or 4 400, [3577] be taken in the sense which Victorin. [3578] and Beda already have; or the sixteen hundred furlongs must be understood accurately and properly, so that the length of Palestine is designated, according to the statement of Jerome, who [3579] says: “From Dan to Beersheba, which is extended scarcely to the distance of clx. miles.” In accordance with this are the explanations not only of Eichh., Heinr., Zll., Ewald, etc., who [3580] maintained that the scene of Rev 14:20 is in the Holy Land, but also of C. a Lap., etc., who understand by the Holy Land the Church; and of Grot. and Beng., who, in a different respect, wanted to reach the meaning that the bloodshed occurred even beyond the boundaries of Palestine. [3581] But the entire explanation, based upon the statement of Jerome, is hardly tenable, because, if John had wished, by means of a geographical designation of length, to refer to the Holy Land, the number must have been accurate. But this is not the case; for, as a Roman mile contained eight furlongs, [3582] the one hundred and sixty Roman miles of Jerome would correspond to twelve hundred and eighty, but not to sixteen hundred stadia. [3583] It is highly probable, therefore, that the schematic number, which is intended to represent the vast extent of the stream of blood proceeding from the horns of the altar, has grown in a similar way from the number four, which refers to all four ends of the earth, [3584] to that in which, in Rev 7:4 , Rev 14:1 , the number one hundred and forty-four thousand has been developed from the holy radical twelve.
[3556] Cf. Rev 14:10 .
[3557] De Wette.
[3558] Against Hengstenb.
[3559] Mentioned in Rev 8:3 sqq., Rev 16:7 .
[3560] Ew. i., De Wette, Ebrard.
[3561] Cf. Rev 6:9 , Rev 9:13 , Rev 16:7 .
[3562] . ., as Rev 11:6 ; cf. Rev 6:8 .
[3563] Viz., of that altar; cf. Grot., Vitr., Ewald; but not over fire in general (cf. Rev 16:5 ), for this general reference is here entirely out of place.
[3564] The MSS. allow neither .
., nor .
. . occurs also in Rev 14:20 ; Rev 19:15 . Lcke ( Einl ., II., p. 464) regards it possible, even though very harsh, for the , by a construction according to the sense, to refer to . ., and to have the meaning of . Yet he also recurs to Winer’s explanation.
[3565] Hammond, Wetst., Calov., Hilgenf., Kienlen, etc.
[3566] Beda, Marlorat., who recall that the lost shall suffer pain outside of heaven, viz., in hell.
[3567] Hengstenb.: “It is declared that not the members of the Church, but the world outside the Church, shall be judged.”
[3568] Cf. Eichh., Zll., Ew., De Wette, etc.
[3569] Cf. the close of the verse.
[3570] On the before ., cf. Meyer on Joh 11:18 .
[3571] Nevertheless, many of the older commentators have allegorized also here. Thus Victorin. found it indicated that also “the princes,” Beda that even the devil, would not be exempt. Hengstenb., incorrectly, brings in the horsemen of Rev 19:14 . Cf. Ebrard.
[3572] e.g., Wetst., who referred it to the vastness of Otho’s camp on the Po.
[3573] Zeger.
[3574] Cf. Rev 7:1 .
[3575] Hengstenb.
[3576] Ebrard.
[3577] Marlorat., Vitr., etc.
[3578] “Throughout all the four parts of the world.”
[3579] Ep. ad Dard. Opp. , T. III., p. 46.
[3580] Cf. the . .
[3581] Grot. refers to the fact that Trajan put to death Jews in Syria, Egypt, etc.
[3582] Cf. Winer, Rwb. , II. 588. Stadium.
[3583] Another circumstance is, that the length of the Holy Land is not sixteen hundred stadia, i.e., forty German miles, but, as Jerome correctly says, scarcely one hundred and sixty Roman miles, i.e., thirty-two German miles. Ew. ii., indeed, tries to find in the text only a large round number, by mentioning at the same time, that clusters of grapes appear, e.g., on coins, as a symbol of the Holy Land. But he errs in finding a devastation of the Holy Land here set forth, while the subject has really to do with the inhabitants of the earth, whose place of execution, as in Rev 20:9 , is outside the city, and, therefore, in the Holy Land, and in urging the special reference of the “cluster of grapes “to the Holy Land; and thereby injures the parallelism between the “harvest,” Rev 14:15 sqq., and the “wine harvest,” Rev 14:18 sqq., which then affords only a more general significance.
[3584] Cf. Rev 4:6 .
In the systematic connection of the entire Apocalyptic development, the vision (Rev 14:14-20 ) has the same relation to the express description of the actual final judgment (ch. 17 sqq.), as the sixth seal-vision (Rev 6:12 sqq.) has already to the fulfilment of the mystery of God, [3585] which does not occur until in the seventh seal. Both the sense and the expression [3586] show that the judgment portrayed in Rev 14:14 sqq. is the final judgment itself; this is indicated also by the appearance on the cloud of one like the Son of man (Rev 14:14 ), and therefore of the coming Judge himself, besides the special point in Rev 14:20 ( . . .) comprised in the account of Rev 20:9 . But, on the other hand, it is to be observed that a complete account of the catastrophe is not yet given; in what way the various enemies (the secular power, the false prophet, even the dragon himself) are judged, is not at all described here; add to this, that the manifestation of the Judge (Rev 14:14-17 ) does not at all correspond with what is to be expected according to Rev 1:7 , [3587] and that immediately afterwards, in Rev 14:19 sqq., it is an angel, and not the Lord himself, who appears as executor of the vengeance. From all this, it is to be inferred that the vision (Rev 14:14-20 ) [3588] brings, it is true, a preliminary representation of the final judgment, but, nevertheless, that the systematic introduction of the complete account is not disturbed; because of its proleptical character, the scheme of the prophetical development does not become apparent, and especially the actual end is not set before us in Rev 14:20 , in the sense, as though by “recapitulating” in some way with Rev 15:1 , [3589] it were again retraced. [3590]
Vitr. interprets Rev 14:14-20 of the judgment of the false (i.e., the Papal) Church.
[3585] Cf. Rev 10:7 .
[3586] Rev 14:16 : ; Rev 14:19 : , ; Rev 14:20 : .
[3587] Cf. Rev 6:2 ; Rev 6:12 sqq., Rev 11:15 sqq.
[3588] Cf. also Rev 14:1-6 .
[3589] Cf. Introduction, p. 13 sq.
[3590] Against Beda, etc.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
Ver. 17. And another angel ] The community of faithful Christians that combine against Antichrist, to pull him out of his throne and cut his comb.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17 20 .] The vintage of wrath . And another angel (the may perhaps refer to the three angels who have already appeared in this vision: or, which is more probable, referring to the last-mentioned Agent, may be a general term, not necessarily implying that He was a mere angel) came out from the temple which was in heaven (from which come forth God’s judgments: see ch. Rev 11:19 ), having himself also (as well as that other: but the rather raises a distinction between the two personages than sets them on an equality: there is some slight degree of strangeness, after what has gone before, in this angel having a sickle) a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar (viz. that elsewhere several times mentioned, ch. Rev 6:9 , Rev 8:3 , Rev 16:7 , in connexion with the fulfilment of God’s judgments in answer to the prayers of His saints), he who hath power over the fire (viz. that on the altar; the same angel who is introduced ch. Rev 8:3-5 as presenting the prayers of the saints, and casting some of the fire of the altar to the earth as introductory to the judgments of the trumpets), and he cried with a great cry to him who had the sharp sickle (it is to be observed that the whole description of this angel, coming from the altar of vengeance, differs widely from any thing in the former part of the vision, and favours the idea that this vintage is of a different nature from that harvest), saying, Put in thy sharp sickle, and gather the bunches of the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe. And the angel (no such expression is used above, Rev 14:16 . There it is . All these signs of difference are worthy of notice) put in (reff.) his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast (viz. what he had gathered) into the great winepress of the wrath of God (the curious combination, , is only to be accounted for by an uncertainty in the gender of the substantive (it is masc. Gen 30:38 ; Gen 30:41 ed. Rom. See Winer, edn. 6, 59. 4, b), and perhaps a tendency, when emphatically subjoining an epithet describing greatness, to substitute the worthier gender.
Any thing corresponding to this feature is entirely wanting in the previous description of the harvest. See on it, ch. Rev 19:15 , and the prophetic passages in reff. especially Isa. from which the symbolism comes). And the winepress was trodden (reff.) outside the city (see below), and blood (so Isa 63:3 ) came forth from the winepress as far as to the bits of the horses, to the distance (ref.) of a thousand six hundred stadii (it is exceedingly difficult to say what the meaning is, further than that the idea of a tremendous final act of vengeance is denoted. The city evidently = of ch. Rev 11:2 (not that of Rev 11:8 , see note there), viz. Jerusalem , where the scene has been tacitly laid, with occasional express allusions such as that in our Rev 14:1 . The blood coming forth from the treading of the winepress is in accordance with the O. T. prophecy alluded to, Isa 63:3 . It is in the depth, and the distance indicated, that the principal difficulty lies. The number of stadii is supposed by some to be the length of the Holy Land as given by Jerome (Ep. (cxxix.) ad Dard., 4, vol. i. p. 971) at 160 Roman miles. But the great objection to this is, that 160 miles = 1280, not 1600 stadii. Another view has been, that 1600 has been chosen as a square number, = 40 40, or 4 400, or 4 4 100. Victorinus explains it “per omnes mundi quatuor partes: quaternitas enim est conquaternata, sicut in quatuor faciebus et quadriformibus et rotis quadratis.” He gives a very curious interpretation of the depth, “usque ad principes populorum.” We may fairly say, either that the number is assigned simply to signify completeness and magnitude (in which case some other apocalyptic numbers which have been much insisted on will fall perhaps under the same canon of interpretation), or else this is one of the riddles of the Apocalypse to which not even a proximate solution has ever yet been given).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 14:17-20
17And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” 19So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.
Rev 14:17 “another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven” This refers to the spiritual tabernacle in heaven (cf. Heb 8:2; Heb 9:11; Heb 9:23-24).
Rev 14:18 “who has power over fire” Angels have power over the wind (cf. Rev 7:1), over fire (cf. Rev 14:18), and over the water (cf. Rev 16:5). This reflects rabbinical Judaism’s concept of angelic involvement in the natural world. Although the NT does not emphasize this, that does not mean that it is inaccurate (cf. Heb 1:7; Heb 1:14).
Rev 14:20 “outside the city” Some see this as an allusion to Christ being crucified outside the city (cf. Heb 13:12). Others see it as simply an allusion to OT purification laws where the unclean were taken outside the camp (cf. Lev 8:17; Lev 9:11). However, it may refer to the end-time gathering of the enemies of God around the city of Jerusalem (cf. Psa 2:2; Psa 2:6; Dan 11:45; Joe 3:12-14; Zec 14:1-4; and the intertestamental apocalyptic book of I Enoch 53:1). Here again, the problem of what is literal and what is figurative becomes a major interpretive issue!
“the blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles” This will be the result of a huge battle which is described in later chapters, or simply a metaphor coming from the color of grape juice. The real question is whether it is literal or symbolic. Does this describe a battle in time/space or a symbolic cosmic battle of good and evil? The genre leans toward the latter, but Jesus’ words of Matthew 24 : Mark 13 and Luke 21 lean toward the former.
The exact distance is uncertain. Some say (1) 165 miles; (2) 184 miles; or (3) 200 miles. The exact words are 6,600 furlongs. This is an unusual symbolic number. Some say that it refers to the distance from Dan to Beersheba, which means judgment symbolically covering the entire Holy Land.
The “wine press” is an OT metaphor for judgment (cf. Isa 63:3; Lam 1:15). This is probably because of the similarity between red grape juice and blood. It is also mentioned in Rev 19:15.
“the wrath of God” See full note at Rev 7:14.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
17-20.] The vintage of wrath. And another angel (the may perhaps refer to the three angels who have already appeared in this vision: or, which is more probable, referring to the last-mentioned Agent, may be a general term, not necessarily implying that He was a mere angel) came out from the temple which was in heaven (from which come forth Gods judgments: see ch. Rev 11:19), having himself also (as well as that other: but the rather raises a distinction between the two personages than sets them on an equality: there is some slight degree of strangeness, after what has gone before, in this angel having a sickle) a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar (viz. that elsewhere several times mentioned, ch. Rev 6:9, Rev 8:3, Rev 16:7, in connexion with the fulfilment of Gods judgments in answer to the prayers of His saints), he who hath power over the fire (viz. that on the altar; the same angel who is introduced ch. Rev 8:3-5 as presenting the prayers of the saints, and casting some of the fire of the altar to the earth as introductory to the judgments of the trumpets), and he cried with a great cry to him who had the sharp sickle (it is to be observed that the whole description of this angel, coming from the altar of vengeance, differs widely from any thing in the former part of the vision, and favours the idea that this vintage is of a different nature from that harvest), saying, Put in thy sharp sickle, and gather the bunches of the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe. And the angel (no such expression is used above, Rev 14:16. There it is . All these signs of difference are worthy of notice) put in (reff.) his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast (viz. what he had gathered) into the great winepress of the wrath of God (the curious combination, , is only to be accounted for by an uncertainty in the gender of the substantive (it is masc. Gen 30:38; Gen 30:41 ed. Rom. See Winer, edn. 6, 59. 4, b), and perhaps a tendency, when emphatically subjoining an epithet describing greatness, to substitute the worthier gender.
Any thing corresponding to this feature is entirely wanting in the previous description of the harvest. See on it, ch. Rev 19:15, and the prophetic passages in reff. especially Isa. from which the symbolism comes). And the winepress was trodden (reff.) outside the city (see below), and blood (so Isa 63:3) came forth from the winepress as far as to the bits of the horses, to the distance (ref.) of a thousand six hundred stadii (it is exceedingly difficult to say what the meaning is, further than that the idea of a tremendous final act of vengeance is denoted. The city evidently = of ch. Rev 11:2 (not that of Rev 11:8, see note there), viz. Jerusalem, where the scene has been tacitly laid, with occasional express allusions such as that in our Rev 14:1. The blood coming forth from the treading of the winepress is in accordance with the O. T. prophecy alluded to, Isa 63:3. It is in the depth, and the distance indicated, that the principal difficulty lies. The number of stadii is supposed by some to be the length of the Holy Land as given by Jerome (Ep. (cxxix.) ad Dard., 4, vol. i. p. 971) at 160 Roman miles. But the great objection to this is, that 160 miles = 1280, not 1600 stadii. Another view has been, that 1600 has been chosen as a square number, = 40 40, or 4 400, or 4 4 100. Victorinus explains it per omnes mundi quatuor partes: quaternitas enim est conquaternata, sicut in quatuor faciebus et quadriformibus et rotis quadratis. He gives a very curious interpretation of the depth,-usque ad principes populorum. We may fairly say, either that the number is assigned simply to signify completeness and magnitude (in which case some other apocalyptic numbers which have been much insisted on will fall perhaps under the same canon of interpretation), or else this is one of the riddles of the Apocalypse to which not even a proximate solution has ever yet been given).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
angel
(See Scofield “Heb 1:4”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
came: Rev 14:14, Rev 14:15, Rev 14:18, Rev 15:5, Rev 15:6, Rev 16:1
Reciprocal: Joe 3:13 – for the press Rev 16:17 – there Rev 19:15 – and he treadeth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 14:17. The other sickle was in the hands of an angel instead of Him who was on the cloud. This also agrees with the language of Christ in Mat 13:39 where he says “the angels are the reapers.” Notice these angels are said to come out of the temple. That is because it is in heaven from where the authority of God is issued.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 17.
Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sickle in his hand–Rev 14:17. There was a distinction between the two angels and the two temples; the first angel came out of the temple which symbolized the sanctuary of the Jews, and was a proclaimer, having no sickle in his hand; the second angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, the abode of God, with a sickle in his hand, symbolizing a minister with power to execute judgment.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 14:17. In this verse the second of the second group of three angels appears. He also has a sharp sickle like that of the Person mentioned in Rev 14:14. But he is not on that account to be identified with Himhe only carries out His will. The sickle too is to be used for another purpose, there for reaping, here for gathering the vintage.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
In the former verses we meet with the metaphor of an harvest, in these we meet with that of a vintage; there the wicked were compared to rice corn fit for the harvest, here to ripe grapes fit for the winepress; signifying by both, that the wicked, by filling up the measure of their sins, do make themselves ripe and ready for judgment.
Note here, 1. That as the true church is called a vine, so is the wicked antichristian church here called; but with this addition, a vine of the earth, cleaving to, and only favouring of, the earth; a good name will signify little in judgment; to be called Christians, virgins, &c. what will it profit, without burning and shining lamps?
Note, 2. Whereas the grapes of this vine are said to be not only ripe, but fully ripe, how great is the forbearance and long-suffering of God towards to wicked! Maximum miraculum est Dei longanimitas, the patience of God towards sinners is the greatest miracle in the world: but though lasting it will not be everlasting; when long abused, it turns at last into fury; ripening in sin, is a sure prognostication of judgment at hand.
Note, 3. The vine with all its clusters are gathered, small and great, one and another, all shall appear before the bar of Christ, Rev 20:12 I saw the dead small and great stand before God: and the books were opened, and the dead were judged out of those books.
Note, 4. Whither this degenerated vine, with all its clusters, was cast, namely, into the wine-press of God’s wrath, which is called a great wine-press, because it can contain all the wicked; it will hold them all, be they never so many; and is said to be trodden, that is, by Christ, denoting the severity of that vengeance which will be inflicted upon sinners; the grapes which have hung a long time ripening in the sun are severely pressed at last.
Note, 5. That the blood which came out of the wine-press (the blood of the grape) was so much in quantity, that it came up the the horses’ bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs; all metaphorical expressions, signifying that wine is the wrath of God, and the cup of his indignation; and the hyperbolical expression of its height, reaching as high as the horses’ bridles; and of its length, reaching more than a thousand furlongs, shows that mighty deluge and inundation of God’s wrath, which the wicked in general, and all Antichrist’s followers in particular, shall not only drink of, but swim in: and as they shed the blood of the saints abundantly, in like manner God will give them blood to drink in great abundance.
Note lastly, That although these two metaphors of the harvest and the vintage signify one thing, only the vision is doubled, like Pharaoh’s dream, to show the certainty thereof, yet we may conceive that the similitude of a vintage here holds forth greater judgment than the harvest: Almighty God, in his providential dispensation towards the wicked, proceeds gradually; as they proceed from one degree of wickedness, so does he from one degree of wrath and vengeance, to another; the vintage follows the harvest, the sharp sickle follows the sickle, the harvest is said to be ripe, the vintage to be fully ripe; if the flood of God’s anger in this life will not wash sinners clean, the deluge of his wrath in the next will wash them quite away: Blood came out of the wine-press, even to the horses’ bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
Eternal thanks to Christ the Lamb, who has delivered his from this dreadful wrath to come!
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
This angel coming out from the altar with power over fire is likely the same as in Rev 8:3-5 . He, too, is to reap. The clusters are described as fully matured, thus ripe for judgment. It may be that this angel merely helps the Lord in harvesting the whole earth for judgment. However, in light of other descriptions of the order of resurrection, it seems likely Jesus harvested the righteous and this angel harvests the wicked.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 14:17-20. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven As the former had done; he also having a sharp sickle To assist in this execution, and finish the destruction of the enemies of the truth. And another angel, just at that instant, came out from the altar Of burnt-offering, from whence the martyrs had cried for vengeance. Which angel, it is said, had power over fire This, according to Daubuz, is spoken in allusion to the office of that priest who was appointed by lot in the temple-service to take care of the fire upon the altar, and who was therefore called the priest over the fire. Grotius interprets it, habens ministerium ir divin, having the office of Gods vengeance. And he cried with a loud voice With great vehemence; to him that had the sharp sickle Being sent to bring a message to him; saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters, &c. Begin to put in execution the righteous judgments of God on this wicked generation; for her grapes are fully ripe The time of Gods vengeance, his appointed time, is fully come, for the iniquities of the inhabitants of the earth have made them fully ripe for destruction. And the angel thrust in his sickle Immediately upon this order the angel began to cut down those wicked persons whose iniquities had made them ripe for destruction; and gathered Or lopped off the grapes of the vine of the earth, and cast them into the great wine- press of the wrath of God Which seemed to stand ready to receive them; that is, delivered them over to divine vengeance, which should press them hard with grievous afflictions, as grapes are pressed in a wine-press. And the wine-press was trodden without the city The images in this vision are very strong and expressive. The largest wine-presses used to be in some places out of the city. This expression, therefore, seems to intimate the great numbers that should be involved in this general destruction. And the blood came out of the wine-press even unto the horses-bridles, &c. Which is a strong hyperbolical expression, to signify a vast slaughter and effusion of blood; a way of speaking not unknown to the Jews, for the Jerusalem Talmud, describing the woful slaughter which the Roman Emperor Adrian made of the Jews at the destruction of the city of Bitter, saith, that the horses waded in blood up to the nostrils. Nor are similar examples wanting even in classic authors; for Silius Italicus, speaking of Hannibals descent into Italy, useth a like expression of the bridles flowing with much blood. The stage where this bloody tragedy is acted is without the city, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs, which, as Mr. Mede ingeniously observes, is the measure of stato dello chiesa, or the state of the Roman Church, or St. Peters patrimony, which, reaching from the walls of Rome unto the river Po and the marshes of Verona, contains the space of two hundred Italian miles, which make exactly sixteen hundred furlongs.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
14:17 {14} And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
(14) The other type (as I said in) see Geneva “Rev 14:14” is the vintage: the manner of which is the same as that which went before, except for this, that the grape gathering is more exact in seeking out everything, then is the harvest labour. This is therefore a more grievous judgment, both because it succeeds the other, and because it is executed with great diligence.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The fifth angel in this group came out of the heavenly temple ready to execute judgment (cf. Mat 13:30; Mat 13:39-42; Mat 13:49-50).