ACC ~ Revelation 14 v18

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.

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