The Altar of the Abyss – 4
“And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the Land, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the Land and gathered the grape harvest of the Land and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.” Revelation 14:18-20
Like Pharaoh, the “plagues” Trumpet warnings only hardened the hearts of the Jewish leaders. Like Pharaoh, he had raised up the Herods only to demonstrate His power in their destruction (Romans 9:17).
Their final response, when under siege, was to scapegoat the Christian converts in the city. This massacre of Christians in the middle of this final “week” of Judaism is the subject of Revelation 14. Jesus forgave His murderers, but for the murder of His bride in the same manner, He would not forgive. James Jordan writes:
“…the fact that the wine press is outside the city is not a sign of judgment but of union with Christ. The saints die as their Master did. In fact, Hebrews 13:12-13 makes the association clear: “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate; hence let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.”
Bearing His reproach to the ultimate extent means martyrdom. Moreover, Jesus had predicted that the saints would be put out of the synagogues (John 16:2), and in Acts 8:1 they were driven from the city (compare Revelation 12:14, which speaks of the same event). Thus, dying outside the city is not a symbol of judgment but of blessing, for the city in 14:20 has already been identified as apostate Jerusalem (11:8).”1
Mother Israel was giving birth to a son of man (the totus Christus), and in childbirth she would die. The body of the sacrifice was now following the head, fulfilling the Law (Lev. 1).
For Mother Babylon, however, it was an issue of blood that made the Land ceremonially unclean and called up the Avenger upon all her firstborn, men and animals.2
Symbolically, the entire four-square Land was flooded to its uttermost edges with the blood of the saints. The Ark lid was covered with blood after the first goat ascended.
It was time to deal with the second goat—Judas—in the Field of Blood. The Jews had revived Tophet. Using the Roman armies, Jesus was about to revive the Valley of Hinnom, Gehenna. TAOTA
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1 See James B. Jordan, The Grape Harvest of Revelation 14:17-20 .
2 See Genesis 4:10; Exodus 1:22; 7:20; 12:23; Numbers 35:9-34; Deuteronomy 21:1-9.
