To tell the truth

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

TO TELL THE TRUTH

Rev 14:17-20

17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.  

NIV

Jesus has come to harvest his people, those who accepted him as Lord and Savior, he came riding on a cloud and took the people to himself. Now another angel comes from the temple, but this time not with a message for Jesus to go collect his people, but this time this angel had a sharp sickle. We also see there was a second angel who had charge of the fire. He ordered the angel with the sickle to harvest the clusters of grapes from the earth. There can be nothing other than meaning those people who did not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior because they are thrown into the winepress of God’s wrath. When we think about the blood that flowed out of this winepress, this wrath of God and how it was as high or as deep as that of the bridle on a horse and it was over one hundred and eighty miles long, that is a whole lot of people who are going to experience his wrath. This is not burning in hell for all of eternity as some would suppose is the fate of the unsaved. Although there seems to be evidence of those who accept the mark of the best being thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, or fire and brimstone as the Greek text would use. We do have this angel who is in charge of fire giving the order to harvest those souls who refused to accept Jesus. God’s wrath is pictured here as a winepress and their fate is for certain death, and not just a physical one, but the second death which we believers will not be hurt by. If this doesn’t scare someone into the kingdom what would? Because we love the Lord and have accepted his grace, his forgiveness of our sin, we have nothing to fear from God. But those who refuse him certainly have much to fear from his hand. It would behoove us to remain faithful to his calling upon our lives. Yet at the same time it would also be wise for us to share the gospel message with as many people as possible so they would have the choice to escape this winepress. Although we cannot make someone choose God over self, or another form of a god made by the hands of man, we can at least tell them the message thus giving them the opportunity to make an informed decision. Perhaps just telling them that Jesus saves is enough, but then what does he save them from? If people think they will go to heaven because they are a good person, they are uninformed. If they think they will live forever either in heaven or hell they are misinformed. If they think because God is love he will forgive them no matter if they ask or not, or continue living without accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, then they are without knowledge of the truth or simply not informed. God’s wrath is coming to a city near you. That is the message of this passage and it was written so people would be informed of the truth, but how are they to know unless they hear it? How can they hear it unless someone tells them? Who is going to tell them if it is not us? We need to tell the truth.