Plucking the Eagle's Wings

Plucking the Eagle's Wings

(Romans 11:26). God will begin to pour out His wrath upon Gentile nations. This is called the "winepress of the wrath of God" (Revelation 14:19). The ancient winepress was used to crush grapes to produce wine. John saw an angel gathering a cluster of grapes and throwing them into the winepress of God's wrath. “And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.” (Revelation 14:19) Notice that the vine is gathered up and thrown into a winepress that applies great weight to crush the grapes. This is a picture of God's judgment on the nations for their blasphemy, sin, and faithlessness. Two thousand years ago, the vine of Israel was destroyed and a new vine was planted. During the tribulation, the Gentile vine will be crushed, and God will establish His original vineyard, Israel, once again. This is the teaching of the Hebrew prophets and Paul. The process of crushing olives and grapes to produce oil and wine is threefold: 1. The separating

The olives are shaken from the tree, and grapes are cut from the vine. In Revelation 14:19, an angel comes with a sickle and severs clusters of grapes from the vine. During the first process, there must be a separating of the olives from the tree and the grapes from the vine.

2. The crushing

The same process is used to crush both the olives and the grapes. The olives are placed under a large stone with heavy weights, and oil emerges when they are crushed. Grapes were crushed in a similar way.

3. The gathering together

The oil or grape juice is then collected and stored in a safe place. Leftover by-products are discarded.

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