Apocalisse 14:20 Commento

After an account of the great trials and sufferings which the servants of God had endured, we have now a more pleasant scene opening; the day begins now to dawn, and here we have represented, I. The Lord Jesus at the head of his faithful followers (Rev 14:1-5). II. Three angels sent successively to proclaim the fall of Babylon and the things antecedent and consequent to so great an event (Rev 14:6-13). III. The vision of the harvest (Rev 14:14, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION 14 This chapter contains three visions; one of the Lamb on Mount Zion, another of the three angels preaching against Babylon, and the third of the harvest and vintage. The vision of the Lamb is in Rev 14:1, which is no other than Christ, described by his similitude, as a Lamb; by the place where he was, Mount Zion; by his position there, standing, and by the company that were with him, whose number were 144,000, and their character, his Father's name written on their foreheads; at the same time a voice was heard from heaven, comparable to the sound of many waters, of thunders, and of harps: and a song sung which none learn but the above number with the Lamb, Rev 14:2, who are described by their purity, chastity, and strict adherence to Christ; by their redemption through him; by their being the firstfruits of God and of the Lamb, and by their integrity and unblemished character, Rev 14:4; next follows the account of the three angels; the first comes with the everlasting Gospel, to preach it to all men, loudly calling upon all to fear and worship God, and give glory to him, since he is the Creator of all, and the hour of his judgment is come, Rev 14:6; the second proclaims the fall of Babylon, with the reason of it, Rev 14:8; and the third denounces the wrath of God upon the worshippers of the beast in the most public manner, and that for ever, Rev 14:9; and this vision is closed with some expressions, showing that, till this was done, the patience of the saints would be tried, and the true worshippers of the Lamb be discovered, and comforting them with an assurance of that rest that remains after death for the faithful followers of Christ, Rev 14:12; after this is the vision of the harvest and vintage of the earth. The reaper is described by his form, like the son of man; by his seat, a white cloud; by a golden crown on his head, and by a sharp sickle in his hand, Rev 14:14; who is called upon by an angel out of the temple to make use of his sickle, and reap, because the time of reaping was come, the harvest being ripe, Rev 14:15, upon which he thrusts in his sickle, and reaps the earth, Rev 14:16; after this, another angel appears out of the temple, with a sharp sickle, to whom another angel from the altar, that had power over fire, calls to make use of his sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine, since the grapes were fully ripe, Rev 14:17; upon which he thrusts in his sickle, and gathers them, and casts them into the winepress of divine wrath, which being trodden, blood comes out of it to the horses' bridles for the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs, Rev 14:19.

And the winepress was trodden without the city,.... The beloved city, the new Jerusalem, into which none of the wicked will enter, and without which are dogs, &c. Rev 20:9. The allusion may be, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, to the olive presses, which were without the city of Jerusalem, from whence Gethsemane had its name, whither our Lord went, and where his sorrows began the night he was betrayed: hell is sometimes expressed by outer darkness, and said to be far off from heaven, and between the one and the other a great gulf is fixed, the distance is considerable; hence men are said to go forth to behold the miseries of the wicked; see Mat 22:13. and blood came out of the winepress; alluding to the juice squeezed out of grapes, called the blood of grapes, Gen 49:11. Even unto the horses' bridles, for the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs; which is only an hyperbolical expression, setting forth the largeness and universality of the destruction of the wicked, and the impossibility of their escaping it. In like manner the Jews express a great slaughter of men; so of the slaughter at Bither, by Adrian, they say (e), they went on slaying , "until a horse plunged in blood up to his nostrils", and the blood ran four miles into the sea; which is not to be understood literally, but as expressing a prodigious effusion of blood: and as to the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs, perhaps there may be an allusion to the measure of the land of Israel, and the common notion of it among the Jews, who make it to be the square of four hundred parsoe (f): hence they often speak of the land of Israel shaking and moving four hundred "parsoe", upon some extraordinary occasions (g); and a "parsa" contained four miles (h), so that four hundred "parsoe" made a thousand and six hundred miles; and if miles and furlongs are the same, in which sense only the land of Israel could be so large, here is the exact space; for Jerom (i), who was an inhabitant of it, says, it was scarce 160 miles in length, to which agrees R. Menachem (k); and it may be observed, that the Arabic version renders the words, "by the space of a thousand and six hundred miles". The Ethiopic version, very wrongly, reads, "sixteen furlongs". (e) T. Hieros. Taanioth, fol. 69. 1. (f) T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 28. 1. Gloss. in ib. (g) T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 3. 1. & Bava Kama, fol. 82. 2. & Menachot, fol. 64. 2. (h) T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 92. 2. Gloss. in ib. (i) Ad Dardanum, fol. 22. 1. Tom. 3. (k) In Gen. fol. 60. Next: Revelation Chapter 15

"And the angel thrust in the sickle, and reaped the vine of the earth, and cast it into the wine-press of the wrath of God. And the wine-press of His fury was trodden down without the city." In that he says that it was cast into the wine-press of the wrath of God, and trodden down without the city, the treading of the wine-press is the retribution on the sinner. "And blood went out from the wine-press, even unto the horse-bridles." The vengeance of shed blood as was before predicted, "In blood thou hast sinned, and blood shall follow thee." "For a thousand and six hundred furlongs." That is, through all the four parts of the world: for there is a quadrate put together by fours, as in four faces and four appearances, and wheels by fours; for forty times four is one thousand six hundred.

And he says the winepress was trodden outside of the city; for it was not lawful that those being punished should receive the returns of evils and defile the joy of the holy ones in the heavenly Jerusalem, which has been called out, through sympathy for those rightly punished, not that a great chasm does not separate the pious from the impious according to the words of the patriarch Abraham, which he made toward the rich in the Gospels. (Luke 16:26) And blood, it says, flowed from the winepress. He rightly said blood, to show that having spoken of a cluster of grapes he had spoken metaphorically, since indeed the sufferers and the thrashers were people, and they thresh with the bridles of horses for a thousand six hundred stadia, he says. Certain horses of God are handed over to us in the divine Scripture, signifying angelic power that holds God's dominion; for he says in the Song of Songs to the bride, "The heavenly bridegroom I likened to my horse in Pharaoh's chariot, the near one, my near one." (Song 1:9) And the prophet Habakkuk sings to God that he will "mount upon your horses, and your cavalry is salvation." (Hab. 3:8) The Revelation says that the bridles of these horses are wet with the blood of sinners, not nearby but standing apart by length; and the whole statement is figurative, the riddle showing that the blood is so great. For those who travel the broad way are far more numerous than those on the narrow and pressed path (Matt. 7:14), just as those bridles might well be soaked from the horses set over punishment, whether of angels or whatever else.

[The winepress is trodden] outside the city, that is to say, outside of the church. This will obviously take place when the future separation has been accomplished, for then every person of sin will be outside. This trodding of the winepress or the threshing of the field will destroy all that is useless, but it will prove that which is incorruptible, for the trials of tribulations test the righteous, just as a vase is tested by fire. The blood flowing as high as horses’ bridles represents the vengeance that reaches even to the leaders of the nations. When the devil, together with his accomplices, begin to pay the penalties for the persecutions that they initiated, it is aptly said that the blood of the saints, which was once spilled, reaches as far as him and his princes, that is, those horses which in the person of the heretics started wars, as well as those who followed their errors. As it had been foretold, in the blood of sin “also the blood shall pursue you” for 1, stadia, that is, into all the four corners of the world. For four is multiplied by four, as in four square-shaped faces and in wheels. Four times four hundred gives 1,600.

However, it is possible to understand this another way. For since those who transgressed by giving themselves over to pleasure have become horses full of lust, they will be overtaken by tortures up to their bridles, for they knew no bridle in their pleasures. By the “1, stadia” we learn of the great chasm that separates the righteous from the sinners. For these were perfect in evil and did that which is abominable, and therefore ten times one hundred signifies the complete magnitude of their evil, while the six hundred suggests their eager engagement in sin through the misuse of the creation, which was created in six days, and also in the six hundredth year of Noah all land was inundated by water.

And blood came out of the winepress, etc. Vengeance came out even to the rulers of the peoples. For vengeance for the blood of the saints poured out has reached even to the devil and his angels in the final struggle. As it is written: In blood you sinned, and blood will pursue you. It was said above concerning the horses:

For a distance of sixteen hundred stadia. That is, through all four parts of the world. For fourfoldness is compounded four times, as in the four-faced quadriform and wheels. Four times four hundred is sixteen hundred. Tyconius interprets the reaper and the grape gatherer as the Church, shining forth after the flames of persecutions, holding the power to bind and to loose. The angel from the temple or altar giving the command of the Lord, not with a clear voice, but by the suggestion of the Holy Spirit, who works in His body, teaching that it is now time for the wicked to be anathematized, having power over fire, namely that which comes from the mouth of the witnesses, and consumes their enemies. Thus far concerning the conflict of the Church and the ripe end of the struggle for both.

The Lamb on mount Sion, and his company and their character, Rev 14:1-5. The angel flying in the midst of heaven, with the everlasting Gospel, Rev 14:6, Rev 14:7. Another angel proclaims the fall of Babylon, Rev 14:8. A third angel denounces God's judgments against those who worship the beast or his image, Rev 14:9-11. The patience of the saints, and the blessedness of them who die in the Lord, Rev 14:12, Rev 14:13. The man on the white cloud, with a sickle, reaping the earth, Rev 14:14-16. The angel with the sickle commanded by another angel, who had power over fire, to gather the clusters of the vines of the earth, Rev 14:17, Rev 14:18. They are gathered and thrown into the great winepress of God's wrath, which is trodden without the city, and the blood comes out 1600 furlongs, Rev 14:19, Rev 14:20.

Even unto the horse bridles - A hyperbolical expression, to denote a great effusion of blood. The Jews said, "When Hadrian besieged the city called Bitter, he slew so many that the horses waded in blood up to their mouths." The same kind of hyperbole with that above. See Wetstein on this verse. The space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs - It is said that the state of the Church, or St. Peter's patrimony, extends from Rome to the Po, two hundred Italian miles, which make exactly one thousand six hundred furlongs! If this be really so, the coincidence is certainly surprising, and worthy of deep regard. On these two last verses pious Quesnel thus speaks: "As the favorable sickle of Jesus Christ reaps his wheat when ripe for heaven, so that of the executioners of his justice cuts off from this life the tares which are only fit for the fire of hell. Then shall the blood of Christ cease to be trampled on by sinners; and that of the wicked shall be eternally trodden down in hell, which is the winepress of the wrath of God. "And the winepress was trodden without the city, eternally without the city of the heavenly Jerusalem, and far from the presence of God; eternally crushed and trodden down by his justice; eternally tormented in body and soul, without any hope either of living or dying! This is the miserable lot and portion of those who shall have despised the law of God, and died in impenitence. My God, pierce my heart with a salutary dread of thy judgments!" Whatever these passages may mean, this is a prudent and Christian use of them.

THE LAMB SEEN ON ZION WITH THE 144,000. THEIR SONG. THE GOSPEL PROCLAIMED BEFORE THE END BY ONE ANGEL: THE FALL OF BABYLON, BY ANOTHER: THE DOOM OF THE BEAST WORSHIPPERS, BY A THIRD. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE DEAD IN THE LORD. THE HARVEST. THE VINTAGE. (Rev. 14:1-20) a--A, B, C, Coptic, and ORIGEN read, "the." Lamb . . . on . . . Sion--having left His position "in the midst of the throne," and now taking His stand on Sion. his Father's name--A, B, and C read, "His name and His Father's name." in--Greek, "upon." God's and Christ's name here answers to the seal "upon their foreheads" in Rev 7:3. As the 144,000 of Israel are "the first-fruits" (Rev 14:4), so "the harvest" (Rev 14:15) is the general assembly of Gentile saints to be translated by Christ as His first act in assuming His kingdom, prior to His judgment (Rev 16:17-21, the last seven vials) on the Antichristian world, in executing which His saints shall share. As Noah and Lot were taken seasonably out of the judgment, but exposed to the trial to the last moment [DE BURGH], so those who shall reign with Christ shall first suffer with Him, being delivered out of the judgments, but not out of the trials. The Jews are meant by "the saints of the Most High": against them Antichrist makes war, changing their times and laws; for true Israelites cannot join in the idolatry of the beast, any more than true Christians. The common affliction will draw closely together, in opposing the beast's worship, the Old Testament and New Testament people of God. Thus the way is paved for Israel's conversion. This last utter scattering of the holy people's power leads them, under the Spirit, to seek Messiah, and to cry at His approach, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord."

without the city--Jerusalem. The scene of the blood-shedding of Christ and His people shall be also the scene of God's vengeance on the Antichristian foe. Compare the "horsemen," Rev 9:16-17. blood--answering to the red wine. The slaughter of the apostates is what is here spoken of, not their eternal punishment. even unto the horse bridles--of the avenging "armies of heaven." by the space of a thousand . . . six hundred furlongs--literally, "a thousand six hundred furlongs off" [W. KELLY]. Sixteen hundred is a square number; four by four by one hundred. The four quarters, north, south, east, and west, of the Holy Land, or else of the world (the completeness and universality of the world-wide destruction being hereby indicated). It does not exactly answer to the length of Palestine as given by JEROME, one hundred sixty Roman miles. BENGEL thinks the valley of Kedron, between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, is meant, the torrent in that valley being about to be discolored with blood to the extent of sixteen hundred furlongs. This view accords with Joel's prophecy that the valley of Jehoshaphat is to be the scene of the overthrow of the Antichristian foes. Next: Revelation Chapter 15