The earth's harvest
14 Then I looked, and I saw a white cloud in front of me. I saw someone who was like a son of man. He was sitting on the cloud. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp knife in his hand. 15 Then another angel came out from God's house in heaven. He shouted with a loud voice to the person who was sitting on the cloud. He told him, ‘Use your sharp knife and start to work. It is time to bring in the harvest. Cut down the plants and bring them in. The harvest on the earth is now ready.’
14:14‘a son of man’ or ‘a human’. This person seems to be the Lord Jesus. Jesus often called himself the Son of Man. See Daniel 7:13. 14:14The sharp knife had a round shape to cut crops.
16 Then the person who sat on the cloud moved his sharp knife over the earth. He cut down the earth's plants and he brought in the harvest.
14:16The Lord Jesus brings in the harvest of people from all the earth. He will bring all the people together. He will decide who is good. He will also decide who is bad. See Matthew 13:30. 17 Then another angel came out from God's house in heaven. He also had a sharp knife in his hand. 18 Again, another angel came from the altar where people offered gifts to God. This angel had authority for the fire on the altar. He shouted with a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp knife. He told him, ‘Use your knife and cut the grapes off the earth's vine. The grapes are ready now to make wine.’
14:18Fire destroys what the farmer does not need after the harvest.
19 So the angel moved his sharp knife over the earth. He cut off the grapes which grew in the earth's vineyard. He threw the grapes into the winepress where God stamps on the grapes because he is very angry. 20 The winepress was outside the city. When God stamped on the grapes, the juice that came out of the winepress was blood. The river of blood was very deep. It rose as high as horses' necks and it went as far as 300 kilometres.
14:20God is showing how angry he is. He is angry with everyone who will not obey him. The grapes are like a picture of bad people. At the time when John was writing Revelation, this is how people made wine. They put the grapes in a big hole that they had cut in the rock. This was called a winepress. Then they walked on the grapes, to squeeze them. Pipes went out of the winepress. The juice from the grapes went out through the pipes. It was red like blood. This is a picture of how God will punish his enemies. So, in fact, John was describing the deaths of these people. See also Revelation 19:15 and Isaiah 63:3. 