The fifth and the sixth angel appear. The fifth angel comes out of the Temple in Heaven, and this deliberate addition demonstrates that verse 15 did indeed refer to the Temple on earth, calling to the enthroned Son of Man seated enthroned on the cloud. The focus of the end-time judgments is in Israel, but the repercussions and consequences are worldwide.
The fifth messenger from Heaven has a sharp sickle. A ‘sickle’, ‘bagging hook’ or ‘reaping-hook’, is a hand-held agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting, or reaping, grain crops, and clusters of wine grapes. The sixth angel comes from the altar. Is this the ‘altar of burnt offerings’ with the souls under it of those who were slain because of the ‘Word of God’ and their ‘testimony’? These are the ones who cry out with a loud voice: “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until You judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Is the ‘number’ of their fellow servants and brethren, who were to be killed just as they were, now complete?1 Or is this the ‘altar of incense’ upon which the prayers of all the saints are brought before the throne? Does this angel have power over fire and to throw down fire upon the earth, so that the judgments—peals of thunder, lightning, voices and earthquakes—descend?2
Whether it is the ‘blood of the martyrs’ or the ‘prayers of the saints’ that get these angels on the move, the time is right, for the harvest is ripe. Isaiah prophesies: “Why are Your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My wrath; their blood spattered My garments, and I stained all My clothing. It was for Me the day of vengeance; the year for Me to redeem had come…I trampled the nations in My anger; in My wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.”3
The fruits of the vine of Sodom and Gomorrah are trodden out here. Moses prophesies: “Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison and their clusters with bitterness. Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.”4 The apostate part of Israel will also be stricken, but not necessarily be destroyed. The Lord speaks about Israel through the mouth of Jeremiah: “I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against Me into a corrupt, wild vine?”5 Hosea 2:12 says: “I will ruin her vines.”
Part of Israel will worship the ‘false messiah’ in those days. This apostate Israel (clearly to be distinguished from ‘the woman in the desert’, the ‘hundred and forty-four thousand’ and the ‘rest of her seed’) is purified by the cleansing fire, Zechariah 13:8-9 “In the whole land/earth,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My Name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
“Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow—so great is their wickedness!”6
• The winepress in ancient Israel was a tank hewn out of the rock, which was connected to a deeper container by a groove. The grapes were crushed fine with the feet – trampled under the feet – and the grape juice collected in the deeper container. The winepress was situated outside the city.
• There is a tradition that part of the judgment upon the nations will be carried out in the vicinity of Jerusalem. “On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.”7
Bible References:
1.Revelation 6:9–11 2.Revelation 8:3–5 3.Isaiah 63:2–6 4.Deuteronomy 32:32–33 5.Jeremiah 2:21 6.Joel 3:12-13 7.Zechariah 12:9
