Read Revelation 14:14–20
Today’s passage is another difficult one, but not because it is hard to understand what it means. John is talking about salvation and judgment. In the first harvest, God is calling His own to Himself. Whether you think this involves a rapture or not, and whether it happens in a six-year tribulation or at the end of history, the simplicity of this first harvest assures us that it will happen. When will it happen? When the harvest is ready. What will it be like? Like the swinging of a sickle, swift and sure. The details are not ours to know, but the hope of being taken out of this world and joined with God is ours to know and to take precious hold of.
The hard part of this passage is the second harvest. As confident as we are that those who are in Christ will be saved and delivered, we are equally confident that those apart from Christ will be crushed. No one can escape having an eternal fate. It will either be one of glory or punishment, and it is the same God who assigns both.
So, how would we apply this passage? What are we supposed to do with the fact that God will surely save the righteous and punish the wicked? First, take comfort in its hope. No matter how much it seems like the evil prosper and the good suffer, there will come a day when perfect justice is perfectly delivered. No evil will go unpunished, and no good will go unrewarded. Second, be motivated by its severity. While it is not in our power to save, it is in our power to share the hope of the gospel with those on a path of destruction. We are one of the means God uses to save people from the winepress of His wrath.
