7. Treading the Winepress

This is not the harvest, but the vintage, gathering and treading grapes fully ripe. Now Satan works in sowing tares, and God bears with it till the iniquity is full. Christ is the true vine, and Israel is called a vine brought out of Egypt; but this is called
the vine of the earth {Rev. 14:16}.
Not connected with Christ risen and ascended into heaven; it is carnal, Satanic, earthly religion. The tares are the children of the wicked one. It may be apostate Jews and apostate Gentiles, but now they are fully ripe. They have unmixed judgment — wrath without any mercy. The extent is beyond anything the world has ever known. It may be figurative, but we are surely to understand by it its unparalleled character.
And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs (Rev. 14:20).