Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 14:20

"And the winepress are trodden without the city, and there came out blood from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs." — Revelation 14:20 (ASV)

“Another” angel here has no more necessary connection with the Son of Man than “another” angel in v.15; it may simply mean another of the same kind of angel mentioned in the succession of personages in the book (cf. 14:6, where no other angel is involved except the one mentioned). This angel (v.17) will gather the vintage of the earth. He is associated with the angel from the altar who has authority over its fire. Though opinion about the identification of the altar is divided, it seems to be the incense altar, and the fire is symbolic of God’s vindication of his martyred people (cf. 8:3–5 and comments on 6:9–11).

The divine final judgment is presented in three images: the unmixed wine in the cup (v.10), the grain harvest (vv.14–16), and the vintage harvest (vv.17–20). These are best understood as three metaphors describing different views of the same reality, i.e., the divine judgment. Again the OT provides the background for this imagery of divine judgment (Isaiah 63:1–6; Lamentations 1:15; Joel 3:13; cf. Revelation 19:13, 15). The reference to the “great winepress of God’s wrath” in v.19 should clarify the imagery and leave no doubt that it denotes God’s judgment on the rebellious world.

The final verse (v.20) is gruesome: blood flows up to the horses’ bridles for a distance of about 1,600 stadia (200 miles). Once again the source of the imagery is Isa 63:1–6, heightened by John’s hyperbole. A similar apocalyptic image for the final judgment on idolaters occurs in the pre-Christian book of Enoch, where the righteous will slay the wicked. Here in Revelation the judgment is not the task of human vengeance but belongs exclusively to the Son of Man and his angelic reapers (cf. Romans 12:19–21). The symbolism is that of a head-on battle, a great defeat of the enemy, a sea of spilled blood. To go beyond this to find a symbolic meaning of the 1,600 stadia or to link the scene to some geographic location (cf. 16:4–6) is pure speculation.

The term “outside the city” requires explanation. It may refer merely to ancient warfare when a besieging army was slaughtered at the city walls, and the blood flowed outside the city. Some think John may have had an actual city in mind and have suggested Jerusalem because of the OT predictions of a final battle to be fought near the city (Daniel 11:45; Joel 3:12; Zechariah 14:4; but cf. Revelation 16:16 —“Armageddon” is not near Jerusalem). On the other hand, John’s symbolic use of “city” in every other reference favors taking the word symbolically here. In Revelation there are in essence only two cities: the city of God, which is the camp of the saints, and the city of Satan, Babylon, which is made up of the followers of the beast. There is no way to be really sure of the identity of the city, nor is its identity important. It is sufficient to take it as the same city that was persecuted by the pagans (11:2) and is seen in 20:9, i.e., the community of the saints.