"This brings us to a statement over which multitudes have stumbled: concerning the blood flowing out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, for a distance of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. This is a scary scene for those who think this is literal or that there is a literal battle of Armageddon with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, horses, and rivers of blood flowing. Men who persist in teaching that this is a literal scene should stop to consider all the facts involved in what the prophet saw. We have a description of the harvest and vintage of the earth. No man can maintain other than that these are a figurative harvest and vintage of the earth, to be followed by the great spiritual feast of Tabernacles. Even the so-called “literalists” are not literal in this respect, for they don’t view it as a natural harvest or vintage of grain and grapes! We also find the reapers with sickles, gathering the clusters of the vine, whose grapes are fully ripe. No man can maintain that these are literal sickles, literal vines, and literal grapes! The grapes were cast into the winepress of the passion of God. However one interprets the scene, that winepress is not a literal winepress. No sane man can dispute these statements. Neither is the treading a literal treading. And yet in view of all these facts unspiritual men maintain that the balance of the prophecy has to be fulfilled literally, they doggedly persist in alleging, against all reason, that the predictions concerning blood, and horses, and bridles, and the sixteen hundred furlongs, must be fulfilled literally! In their folly they refuse to believe that this scripture is fulfilled unless it can be shown that such an impossible event has actually been seen by man!"
Much more on blood and wine in the link:
This poem reveals the fact that the time of harvest, and treading of the winepress, was a time of JOY!
To arrive at such a conclusion, one has to toss out the entire remaining Bible. God's wrath is a "time of joy?" Yes, I'll be genuinely happy to see evil being wiped out but that ain't what this dude is talking about. And why is he teaching this? He doesn't want to hurt your feelings? Why are we hiding God's vengeance? Are men free to murder, rape and kill children, rob the poor? Why not, God's wrath is a "joy," there's no just recompense. Have at it.
Yes they are Andy, it is up to man to put a stop to that stuff. I fully support just men bringing justice to murderers, rapists, and whatever other type of criminals are out there. The book of Revelation is not about God's wrath on the world directly, it is indirect in that Jesus Christ is revealed, and taking captive captivity. Jesus Christ is taking what is His, you, your heart, the life you have given to Him, that is what Revelation is about. The literalists who interpret the book as God’s retaliation on His creation are coming at it from a carnal perspective.
Hey Andy, the harvest is God’s joy, wine symbolizes joy, blood is the life of the fruit of the vine, blood symbolizes life.
I'm reading the next chaper now, hear's a quote of interest:
"This pouring is called the plague, for the outpouring of God’s determined passion, zeal, or wrath, as the King James Bible terms it, is indeed a plague to the carnal mind, the soulish disposition, and the flesh life! We must always remember that the code-word "wrath" in the Greek language of the Bible simply denotes "passion," not vengeance."
So, yes this is very exciting revelation, that God’s passion is to save all mankind, it is not about killing a bunch of people, Grapes make wine, a wole bunch of good wine. The carnal mind wants God’s wrath (passion) to be similar to it's wrath (anger). God is good my brother!
So Noah's flood that killed EVERYTHING that moved was a joyous occasion? Weeping and gnashing of teeth is akin to party favors?
Noah's salvation and the demise of the whole world was used on me when I was 10 years old. Scared me into being saved, I begged God to not kill me like that. I was raised in a legalistic Baptist Church and cried my eyes out about the fate of the unsaved. I had a real encounter with God in my late teens, and found a real relationship with our creator through the teachings of Jesus Christ. He did kill me, just not the way I begged him to do if I ever backslid again. He taught me to put to death the carnal man.
I'm no teacher of the Old Testament, I just know God through the love of my lifelong teacher, Jesus Christ. Weeping and gnashing of teeth does happen as we experience the wrath of God, we are God's passion, and we will be conformed to the image of His loving Son.
Yes, we are all born dead in our sins and born again/ made alive in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been made adopted sons of God. We accomplished this Joyous Rebirth by believing that Jesus Christ died for our sins.
Some people do not believe as we do. They have the Words of God, the same as we do, but they let pride, the world, money, etc lead them astray. They have no excuses. They will stand before God in Judgement. If they had knowledge of God but rejected Him, they will be rejected. And cast into the fire. This is the purification of the wheat and of the gold. Believers are the purified wheat and gold, without blemish before God.
Rev 14 is the judgement of nations, that is why the whole vine is thrown the press and trodden down. Those nations who bless Israel do not go into the press. Those who cursed Israel do go into the press. And it's not grape juice coming out of the press.
Adam and Eve ate grapes in the garden temptation and the blood of the grape defiled their blood. Christ was crushed as a grape and His Blood, perfectly sinless, paid the debt for our sins. If someone does not believe on this, their blood is the payment for their sins.