ACC ~ Revelation 14 v17 - 20

OVERVIEW:

At the consummation Christ will also reap a harvest in his church, which is both his field and his vineyard (CAESARIUS OF ARLES, BEDE). He will also be assisted by ministering angels who will serve in cutting off those who are the most wicked (OECUMENIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA). The church daily prays with a fervent desire that the kingdom of the Lord come. And when the sins of the wicked are completed (BEDE), then the impious and serious transgressors will receive the wrath of demons in the place prepared for the devil and his angels (ANDREW OF CAESAREA). These sinners will be regarded as not even worthy of a defense, but they will rather go immediately to their banishment (OECUMENIUS). Those who had become like horses full of lust and eager for sin will be overtaken themselves by tortures equal to their unbridled passions (ANDREW OF CAESAREA). Likewise, the devil and his accomplices will be requited for the blood of the saints that they spilled and for the wars begun by the heretics (PRIMASIUS). The angels, too, who administer the final judgment will wreak such a vengeance that they figuratively are said to be soaked in blood (OECUMENIUS). The judgment will destroy all that is useless and vain but will prove worthy that which is incorruptible (PRIMASIUS, BEDE). There is, however, a great chasm between the godly and the ungodly so that the rewarding of the sinners will occur neither in the church (PRIMASIUS) nor in the heavenly Jerusalem. Therefore, the bliss of the saints will not be spoiled by those who are being justly punished (OECUMENIUS).

14:17 | Another Angel Came Out of the Temple

AN ANGEL WILL SERVE AS A MINISTER OF GOD. OECUMENIUS: The angel that has the sickle and comes out of the heavenly temple is in [God’s] service and the same will also be a servant of the coming consummation. Since he is heavenly and a minister of God, he is described as one who has come out of the temple in heaven. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.17-20.

THE THREE ANGELS RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE WORD OF TRUTH. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: If we must understand the reaper seated on the white cloud to be Christ himself, who is this vintager, unless it is the Selfsame, only in his body which is the church? Perhaps we would not be far wrong were we to understand those three angels who come out to represent the threefold sense of the Scriptures, namely, the historical, the moral and the spiritual senses. The sickle would then be the difference [between them]. EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.17, HOMILY 11.

CUTTING OFF THE IMPIOUS. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: Although Christ is called the “angel of great counsel” of the Father, nonetheless from the following words the present angel is shown to be one of the ministering angels, for he comes out of the heavenly temple with a sharp sickle in order to accomplish the cutting off of those who are the most impious. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.17.

THE CARETAKERS OF THE CHURCH. BEDE: If Christ was seen on the white cloud as a reaper, who is this vintager, unless he be the Selfsame, the repetition nicely occurring because of the twofold fruit of the church? For he who sowed good seed in his field is also he who planted a vineyard in a fertile place. However, both plantings have come to ruin because of the neglect of the caretakers. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 14.17.

14:18 | Another Angel Came from the Altar

AN ANGEL APPOINTED FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF SINNERS. OECUMENIUS: I think that this angel has been appointed for the punishment of the ungodly. Therefore, he says, “Put in [the sickle] and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth.” The harvest mentioned above described the righteous and the sinners being brought to completion together. Their separation will be accomplished through “the winnowing fork of the Lord, by which he will clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire,” according to the words of the Gospels. However, this vintage of the clusters of grapes refers especially to the serious transgressors, for the vision depicts them lifelike as drunken and deranged. It is clear from the passage that their Lord did not regard them as worthy to be gathered in as were the first ones. Rather, a certain angel casts them immediately outside “into the winepress of the wrath of God,” since they were thought worthy for neither a defense nor an interrogation. They come straightway to judgment, just as sinners are prosecuted in the Gospels, for whom exclusion and banishment become an occasion for punishment. I think that the prophet spoke of these persons when he said, “The wicked will not stand in the judgment.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.17-20.

THE ANGEL COMMANDS THE JUDGMENT OF THE IMPIOUS. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: From this passage we learn that angelic powers have been placed over the creatures, one is over water, another is over fire, and another is over some other part of creation. We learn of the fearsomeness of this particular angel because he is placed over fire. It says that he is of the highest angels, for with a cry he commands the one having a sickle to gather grapes of the vine of the earth. The “grapes” indicate the impious and the transgressors who have filled the cup of the wrath of the Lord and who receive as harvest the wrath of demons and of asps instead of the wine of gladness from the good husbandman. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.18.

THE CHURCH PRAYS DAILY THAT THE KINGDOM OF THE LORD COME. BEDE: As Jerome says, “The duty of the angels is twofold. Some assign rewards to the righteous; others preside over the various torments.” As it is said, “Who makes the winds to be his messengers and the flaming fire his ministers.” The two angels who announce that the harvest is dry and that the vineyard is ripe can be understood to represent the prayers of the church, which with a loud voice, that is, with a fervent desire, daily prays that the kingdom of the Lord come, saying: “Put in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth.” As it was with the harvest, so also the vintage is partly of the earth and partly of heaven. But the maturation of both indicates the end of the age. “For its grapes were ripe.” This means that their sins are completed, although the perfection of that which is good can also be called “ripeness.” EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 14.18.

14:19 | The Angel Gathered the Vintage of the Earth

THE PLACE OF TORMENT IS WIDE AND SPACIOUS. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: The “wine press of God” is the place of torment prepared for the devil and his angels. Because of the multitude of those who are to be punished, it is “great.” For the “way of destruction is wide” and spacious. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.19.

14:20 | The Winepress Was Trodden

THE BLISS OF THE SAINTS. OECUMENIUS: And he has called the punishment a “winepress,” fittingly extending the metaphor of the grape clusters and the vintage. “And the winepress was trodden outside the city.” It would not be seemly were those punished to receive the rewards of their evil deeds in the heavenly Jerusalem allotted to the saints or if the happiness of the saints was spoiled by any experience with those who are justly being punished. Moreover, there is a “great chasm” that separates the godly from the ungodly, as the patriarch Abraham said when he spoke to the rich man in the Gospels. “And blood flowed from the winepress,” it says. He speaks rightly of “blood,” to show that he was speaking figuratively when he spoke of “clusters of grapes.” For, to be sure, it is real persons who are being trampled up and cut up, so that [their blood flowed] “as high as a horse’s bridle, for one thousand and six hundred stadia.” In the holy Scriptures there is a common usage whereby God has certain horses with himself as the rider, these horses symbolizing an angelic power. For in the Song of Songs the heavenly bridegroom says to the bride, “I have compared you, my love, my love, to my horse in the chariot of Pharaoh,” and Habakkuk the prophet sings to God, “You will mount upon your horses, and your chariots are salvation.” The Apocalypse says that the bridles of these horses are soaked with the blood of sinners, not only of those close by but also of those standing far away. The passage is wholly figurative, intending to show the great amount of blood. For those who walk in the wide road are much more numerous than those who walk in the straight and narrow path, so that they soak the bridles of the horses responsible for punishment, even though these be angels. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.17-20.

THE BLOOD OF THE SAINTS. PRIMASIUS: [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 1,600 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. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.20.

OVERTAKEN BY TORTURES. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: 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 “1,600 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. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 14.20.

TRIALS TEST WHAT IS USEFUL. BEDE: Should this harvest and vintage pertain only to the evil, the winepress signifies punishment. However, should they also pertain to the good, then the treading of the winepress and the threshing of the floor grinds down that which is useless and tests that which is useful. For it is as the apostle said, precious metals are tested by fire, but wood, hay and stubble are consumed by fire. And both are accomplished outside the heavenly Jerusalem. The winevat of wrath is so called by a manner of speaking, as it is said: “On the evil day the Lord delivered him.” … Tyconius interprets the harvester and the vintager to be the church, which shines after the fires of persecution and holds the power of binding and loosing. He says that the angels from the temple and the altar announce the kingdom of the Lord, not with an audible voice but by the suggestion of the Holy Spirit who works in [Christ’s] body and teaches that now is the time for the evil to be accursed. And he has power over the fire, that is, that which comes out of the mouth of the witnesses and consumes their enemies. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 14.20.