Winepress of Wrath!

The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia (about 180 miles.)

Revelation 14:19-20

If God is love then where does the wrath of God come from? How can love and wrath co-exist in One so perfect as God? The slogan “Make Love not War!” was the catch phrase of the 1960’s. Our imperfect definition of love excludes the possibility of wrath or any kind of violent action. We, like in the recent video of the speaker of the House of Representatives begin to quiver and shed tears when we speak of anything that might cause violence to erupt.

But Revelation 14 says that the wrath of God is violent and bloody. It is not just a little bloody; it is the bloodiest description I have ever read. One hundred and eighty miles of a five foot deep stream of blood are the result of the wrath of God.

The “Battle Hymn of the Republic” clearly refers to these verses:

Mine Eyes hath seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

He is trampling out the vintage where the Grapes of Wrath are stored!

I began to understand the relationship between love and wrath when Linda and I were married. All of the gentleness of love was to be directed toward her, but I discovered that my wrath was ready for anyone who threatened her. When children arrived in the family circle my potential for wrath increased exponentially. I became a gentle man of peace but ready for war at the slightest threat or provocation to the objects of my love.

Could it be that the wrath of God is the same? The final expression of the wrath of God will be directed at the world system that threatens the objects of His love?

What can an evil man do in opposing God? Of course he can do nothing that could thwart the designs of God. What can a man do in opposing one of the Children of God or the Bride of Christ? That is where an evil man has the ability to inflict a wound and incite the wrath of God.

When you attack me, I can ignore it and laugh it off. But when you attack one of my loved ones you will suffer from my wrath. When you attack God Himself there may be no apparent consequence, but when you attack the object of God’s love the blood will flow!

So there is the paradoxical miracle of the Gospel. The Wrath of God was turned on Jesus for my sake. The Blood of Jesus flowed so that mine will not in the winepress of His Wrath! That is how God solved the problem of Love and Wrath and that is how I escape the Winepress of Wrath!