Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #51 of Revelation, chapter 14 and we are going to be reading Revelation 14:20:

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.

We were discussing the “winepress” and how it was being trodden.  We also saw in our last study that the “city” is a reference to the city of God or the kingdom of God, of which each person that becomes saved is a citizen.

I would like to talk a little more about that before we move on, so let us turn over to Hebrews, chapter 11, where we will see a few verses there that relate to the city of God.  Speaking of Abraham, it says in Hebrews 11:10:

For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

God speaks of building a city in the same way He speaks of building a house or building a temple.  They are all “figures” of the same thing, which is salvation.  When God built the city of heavenly Jerusalem, or new Jerusalem as it is called in Revelation 21, He built it “compact together” of the living stones of His people; each time He saved a person it was as if they were added to the city of God.  All through history, God was building the city and He completed that city when He saved the last of the elect just before shutting the door to heaven on May 21, 2011.  The city is now complete and God now dwells in that city because He indwells the souls of every one of His elect.  Again, it is the same figure as completing the house of God.

It goes on to say in Hebrews 11:14-16:

For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

This is that city.  Again, as it says in Revelation, “the winepress was trodden without the city,” and it is “without” the elect.  It is not an actual place as of yet, but at the very end of the world, God will create a new heaven and a new earth and gives His people new resurrected bodies, then He will place them in that new creation.  Then, I suppose, we could understand the city as being completed in that sense, when God’s people are living in it in a different way than we are inhabitants of it right now.  Now the saved people that are citizens of that heavenly country are “present” in that city in the Person of Christ, as we are seated in the heavenlies with Him.  We are “there,” but we are also here, if we are still alive physically and living on this earth.  So when God says, in Revelation 22:14, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city,” the gates are the portals or door to heaven and that is what was shut when God ended His salvation program.  Then it goes on to say in Revelation 22:15:

For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Again, these are outside the city, but, again, it is not a literal place, but it is outside of God’s kingdom of the elect.  If someone is not saved at this point in time (since May 21, 2011), they are “without the city” or without the kingdom of heaven.  It says in Hebrews 12:22-23:

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

The “church of the first born” would be a reference to the eternal church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead.  So this is where we are come when we become saved, “unto the city of the living God.” 

Remember what God said in the Old Testament (and this will help us to see how God counts us as “in the city” at present, even though we are still on earth), in Zechariah 14:1:

Behold, the day of JEHOVAH cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken…

This is referring to the earthly Jerusalem.  Remember how God makes the distinction between these two cities, in the Book of Galatians 4:22-25:

For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

(The word “answereth to” is better understood as “corresponds to.”)  So Jerusalem “which now is” is the earthly Jerusalem or historical Jerusalem, which points to the churches. 

Then it says in Galatians 4:26:

But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

These are the elect or the children of promise.

It says in Galatians 4:27-29:

For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

Here, God shows the difference between “Jerusalem which now is” and “Jerusalem above,” or heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.  It is the Mount Zion of the Bible and we always have to keep in mind when God makes reference to the city of God or to Jerusalem which city is in view.  In Zechariah 14:1, where it says, “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken,” the language fits in with God’s plan to loose Satan and bring him against the camp of the saints and overcome the “two witnesses,” and so forth, and it also fits with the language of Matthew 24:15, where it says, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation…stand in the holy place,” then depart out and this “city” is a reference to the churches; this “Jerusalem” is the earthly churches because they are taken. 

Going back to Zechariah, it goes on to say, in Zechariah 14:2:

For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

The “residue” is the “remnant.”  When we first read this, we do not understand it, but the ones that are not “cut off from the city” are God’s elect; we are not cut off from heavenly Jerusalem, even though the judgment on the churches impacted us.  We were commanded to come out of  the churches (earthly Jerusalem), but God is really comforting us by telling us that even though the “Jerusalem below” (the corporate church) is under my wrath and has been cut off, we are still citizens of “heavenly Jerusalem” and we will not be cut off from that city because we have been given eternal life.  We have an eternal citizenship.

We have to be aware of which “Jerusalem” God is speaking of when He talks of those being trodden in the winepress of His wrath “without the city,” not without the earthly Jerusalem (the church), but without the eternal city of the living God.  In other words, all those that are not safe and secure in Christ are going to experience the wrath of God, just as, historically, God commanded Noah and his family to get in the ark and the Lord shut them in; everyone “without the ark” (which meant everyone else in the world of that time) were under the wrath of God and they were being destroyed by the flood.  Only those within the ark were delivered from the flood.  This is what God is saying when He uses the language: “the winepress was trodden without the city.” 

When we read things related to Judgment Day and the end of the world, we find fairly often that God speaks of casting people out.  For instance, we read of the king that came into to see the wedding guests, in Matthew 22:11-12:

And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

Spiritually, the wedding garment refers to being covered in Christ’s righteousness and the king, who is God, is coming into the wedding, which means that there must be unsaved people present at the wedding.  We know that Judgment Day is likened to the wedding feast and as God comes in to see the guests, He does not cast every guest out, which implies there are true believers that do possess the proper wedding attire (Christ’s righteousness) and are also present.  But, there is a man there that does not have salvation.  He has no righteousness imputed to him.  He has no covering for his sin, so “he was speechless.”  Then it goes on to say in Matthew 22:13-14:

Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.

This would apply to someone who has given every appearance of being a true believer, professing Christ and identifying with God’s elect by coming out of the churches.  They have associated with the true people of God.  It is not as obvious as the “wheat and the tares,” as the tares remained in the churches and there is no question about them.  But now during the wedding feast, the king does an inspection of the guests that have come to the wedding.  Again, it is always the same issue between God and man: Are you saved?  “Ye must be born again.”  There is no way around it and there is no substitution for it.  Doing “good works” is fine, but it will not save anyone.  Anyone attempting to get right with God through their works is going to come under the wrath of God.  Ultimately, God will find every one out.  He has put forth a severe test in the Day of Judgment to make sure the “guests” that arrived at the wedding feast are discovered and it will become evident if they do not have upon themselves the righteousness of the Lord Jesus and they do not have the proper wedding garment.  Once they are identified, they are cast into outer darkness.  Where are they coming from and to where do they go?   It is as though (through their profession and identification with the true Gospel and the people of God) they were in the “city,” but they had never become born again, so in the Day of Judgment, God puts them “without the city” with the “sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”  In other words, they are placed with all the other unsaved people.  They are placed “without the city” of God and “without the city” can be anywhere in this world that is outside of salvation in Christ because all that are “without” in the world today are in “outer darkness.”  It is the condition of this world once God put out the light of the sun and the moon and the stars and the world lieth in darkness.  To be outside of salvation means that one is in “outer darkness.”

In the parable of the ten virgins, in Matthew, chapter 25, five are wise and five are foolish and they heard the cry that the bride groom was coming.  Then it says in Matthew 25:10:

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

The marriage is the same as wedding.  Again, just as in Matthew 22, God has a wedding in view and there are those that come in with Him to the wedding.  We can understand that as if they entered into the city, into the kingdom of heaven.  That entry way, spiritually, takes place the moment someone is saved.  They are brought into the city.  Now all of those that God determined to save from the foundation of the world have been brought in and the five wise virgins, representing all those whom the Lord had made atonement for, are safely brought in and the door is shut.  It is just as Noah and his family was brought safely into the ark and then God shut them in.  Judgment Day was May 21, 2011 and there is the tie-in with the flood, which was exactly 7,000 years earlier “on the seventeenth day of the second month” in Noah’s 600^th year.  May 21, 2011 had the underlying Hebrew calendar date of the seventeenth day of the second month.  It was the identical day and the identical month, but exactly 7,000 years later, and God is indicating, “This is the day I shut the door to heaven.  This is the day all the elect are brought into the kingdom and the door is shut.”

Notice what follows with the foolish virgins, in Matthew 25:11-13:

Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Since they want the door opened, they are “without.”  They are “without” the door, “without” the kingdom, and “without” the city of God.  It is that location of outer darkness that the unsaved of the world have entered into, because immediately after the Tribulation the sun went dark and the Gospel lights went out all over the earth.  It is there God begins to punish the wicked of the earth and to tread them under foot in His winepress.

Let us just go to one other place in Luke 13:24:

Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

Remember the gates of the city?  It has a straight or narrow gate.  It is that narrow way that only God can bring someone through because it is so narrow.  Man cannot do it himself.  It is impossible with men, but there was a way that had been open through the salvation of God.

Then it says in Luke 13:25:

When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without…

The word “without” is the same word we find in Revelation 14:20, where it says, “without the city.”  Then it goes on to say in Luke 13:25-28:

… and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.

The word “out” is the same word as “without” that is in Revelation 14:20.  We can see so clearly now what God is saying here.  He brought a spiritual judgment on May 21, 2011 and He shut the door to heaven and, yet, some people insist it cannot be and they insist He must still save.  They are not submitting and humbling themselves to the counsel and will of God as He declared to all the world that May 21, 2011 would be the end of His salvation program when the door would shut.  Instead, they say, “Oh, no, since I am still here, it must be that God is still saving.  They are encouraging other to go with them to the door of heaven and knock on the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, let us in.”  But, of course, God will not allow it.  He does not recognize them and He does not know “from whence” they are, because He has already brought in His firstfruits and He has already brought in His final fruits, the great multitude that was saved out of Great Tribulation.  He has no other “time and season” for fruit so it is not known where those others are coming from and their request is denied: “Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.” 

There is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” when they see (not with their physical eyes) and understand that the Bible is teaching and the people of God are declaring that God has already saved “Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets.”   All the prophets include all of God’s people, everyone whose name was recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life has been saved and there are no more names in that registry.  There is no one else to be discovered and brought in.  This leaves the unsaved people “without” and that is the cause of the “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  It is the reason for the resentment and anger that some are experiencing when they learn that “Jacob” has received the blessing and they have not – they are “Esau.”  They have not received the blessing of the firstborn and in their hearts, like Esau, they are determined to kill their brother Jacob; they are bitter toward him and they are so angry they cannot even think straight.  Well, this is what is in view in during these days of Judgment Day in these days after the Tribulation.