14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.
17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 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 earth, for its grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 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.
The last vision of the chapter is that of final judgment. Two figures are used - that or harvest and that of vintage. These have been variously interpreted. It has been thought by some that the first, the grain harvest (15, 16) refers to the gathering in of the saints, while the second, the grape harvest (18, 19) refers to the unbelieving. Others believe that both pictures are of judgment, the elect of God having already been gathered into glory. It is certainly true that the wheat-harvest is associated elsewhere in Scripture with the gathering of the elect (cf Matthew 3:12), and that the winepress almost invariably refers to the wrath of God, and it may be that we are to think of this two-fold reaping at the end in terms of the urgent 'either/ or' given in the previous verses. At the same time, however, the reference to the sickle brings to mind the passage in Joel 3:13, which seems to be the origin of John's vision, and there it is judgment alone that is in mind. Whichever view we may take, the great thing to recognise is that at the end of the day there comes a reckoning, and that underlying this there are inflexible logical principles of righteousness. It could not be otherwise. The only alternative to eternal destruction is the destruction of God - and God is not prepared to be destroyed by the thing He has made. He is determined to be, and remain, God. That is why we are warned in the gospel to fear Him, and give glory to Him in a life that yields to His claims, and own Him Lord of all.