Revelation 14:13 ¶ And I heard a
voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labours; and their works do follow them. 14
And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like
unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp
sickle. 15 And another angel came out of
the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in
thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of
the earth is ripe. 16 And he that sat on
the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. 17 And another angel came out of the temple
which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar,
which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp
sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine
of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. 19
And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine
of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden without the
city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the
space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
There is a special blessing for
those who die after this pronouncement about those who worship the Beast and
take his mark is made. One like unto Christ, is told by another angel to reap
the harvest on the earth as judgment is upon them, the full force of God’s
wrath. Outside of the city of Jerusalem it is said that the blood will rise to
the level of horses’ bridles, about 4-5 feet in a space of 1600 furlongs which
is roughly 200 miles. This can simply mean that the bloodbath cannot be
imagined. This is usually associated by commentators with Armageddon coming up
in 16:16 and linked to the 200 million
number of the spiritual creatures in 9:16-19 and the kings of the east in 16:12. If this is true then the clearly
supernatural creatures of chapter 9 mean
that for every event on earth there are similar events happening in the
invisible world that precede the events on earth. Or it means that the
description in chapter 9 is a metaphorical description of the massive army that
comes from the east to meet at Armageddon for a climactic battle that results
in a huge bloodbath of unimaginable proportions. Whatever the case, the blood
shows us that these events will happen in the physical world and not just the
spiritual. What happens on earth is echoed in the world of the spirit.
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