The wine press of the wrath of God is God's judgment against the Christ-rejecting armies of the world gathered at Armageddon—He crushes them as grapes are crushed in a vat.
In Revelation 14, the gathered vine of the earth is cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God, and that winepress is trodden without the city. Les Feldick teaches that this is not a literal rock, cement, or oak vat but the wrath of God itself, poured out when the armies of the world are gathered to the valley of Megiddo and trampled—even by the plague of hailstones.
Revelation 14:19-20 — The exact phrase 'the great winepress of the wrath of God' appears here, with the winepress trodden without the city.
Isaiah 63:2-4 — Isaiah uses the same winepress-treading imagery to describe God's day of vengeance.
In Revelation 14, an angel comes out from the altar with power over fire and tells the one with the sharp sickle to thrust it in and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, 'for her grapes are fully ripe' (Revelation 14:18). The angel then gathers the vine of the earth and casts it into the great winepress of the wrath of God (Revelation 14:19). That winepress is trodden without the city, and blood comes out even to the horse bridles for 1,600 furlongs (Revelation 14:20). The Old Testament use of the same image is Isaiah 63:2-4. The Lord answers why His apparel is red: 'I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.' The context is 'the day of vengeance.' Revelation 9:20 also shows that after earlier death and destruction, the surviving men still repented not of the works of their hands—worshiping demons and idols, and continuing in murders, sorceries, fornication, and thefts—showing why the final wrath is poured out.
Les Feldick emphasizes that the 'great wine press' in Revelation 14 is not a huge physical vat—not a big rock hewn out, not a big cement one, not an oaken one—but the wrath of God. A day is coming when God says 'Enough!' as He did at Sodom and Gomorrah and the Noach flood, and He gathers the unrepentant into this wine vat of wrath. Les explains the harvest analogy: just as vineyard keepers gathered clusters of grapes and put them into a vat where someone trampled them, so God is harvesting the remaining peoples and armies of the earth and bringing them to the Middle East. Most of them will be congregated in the valley of Megiddo, the valley of Esdraelon. The 'winepress was trodden without the city' is, in Les's words, 'up there northeast of Jerusalem.' Les connects this to Isaiah 63. The Lord comes from Edom with dyed garments, and Les says the treader's clothes are stained with the blood of His victims, not His own blood. The passage is the day of vengeance—a God of wrath, not a God of grace. The gathered troops will be literally squashed like grapes in a vat, and Les identifies the mechanism as the final plague of giant hailstones.
Scripture says the winepress was trodden 'without the city' (Revelation 14:20). Les Feldick clarifies this as northeast of Jerusalem, identifying the location with the valley of Esdraelon and the area of Megiddo, where the armies of the world are gathered. This is Les's interpretation of the biblical phrase 'without the city.'
Les teaches that God gathers the peoples of the earth like a husbandman gathering grapes. They are put into the wine vat—the Middle East—and most congregate in the valley of Megiddo. Revelation 14:18 says the grapes are fully ripe; Les says the Greek word means overripe, past harvest time, ready for the crushing.
Les Feldick teaches that in Isaiah 63 the Lord's garments are red because He alone treads the winepress. The blood sprinkled on His garments is the blood of His victims, not His own. He quotes Isaiah 63:4—'for the day of vengeance is in mine heart'—to show this is a God of wrath, not a God of grace.
Les pictures the gathered troops squashed just like grapes in a vat. He says God will trample them with the final plague of hailstones, each stone about a talent in weight, falling on masses of troops who have only tents for shelter. The result is the same as the winepress being trodden: the armies are crushed under the wrath of God.
Wrath After Unrepentance
Les reads Revelation 9:20 showing that even after death and destruction, the survivors still refuse to repent of idolatry and immorality—setting the stage for God's final wrath.
The Great Winepress Is the Wrath of God
Les explains that the 'great wine press' in Revelation 14 is not a huge physical vat but the wrath of God, and it will be trodden outside the city near Jerusalem.
Hailstones Crush the Gathered Armies
Les connects the trampling of the wine vat to the final plague of huge hailstones that will squash millions of troops gathered in the Middle East like grapes in a vat.
The Treader's Stained Garments and Megiddo
Les uses the wine-vat trampler covered in juice to explain how the Lord's red apparel in Isaiah 63 pictures Him treading down the gathered armies in the valley of Esdraelon/Megiddo.
Noah’s Ark: How Did All the Animals Fit? (Genesis 6-7)
Now flip back real quickly with me to Revelation 14, where we finish that analogy of the grape vat. Can you hold all this together? Just like the vineyard keepers put all their grapes into the vats and had somebody trample them, so God has brought all the armies of the world to the Middle East. How is He going to trample them? With this final plague of the hailstones.
God Harvests the World's People Like Grapes
Les compares God's gathering of the remaining peoples and armies to a husbandman gathering grapes into a huge vat, with most congregating at Megiddo.
Isaiah 63: The Day of Vengeance
Les shows that in Isaiah 63 the Lord treads the winepress alone, and the blood on His garments is the blood of His victims—it is a day of vengeance, the wrath of God.
'Fully Ripe' Means Overripe
Les notes that 'fully ripe' in Greek means overripe and past harvest time, signifying that the world is ready to be gathered and crushed into the wine vat.
Revelation 14:18: And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
This verse sets up the harvest of the earth's grape clusters before they are cast into the winepress.
Revelation 14:19: 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.
This is the direct reference to the 'winepress of the wrath of God.'
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.
Reveals where and with what result the winepress of God's wrath is trodden.
Isaiah 63:2: Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?
The prophet asks why the Lord's garments are red, setting up the winepress answer.
Isaiah 63:3: I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
God explains that He alone tramples the winepress in anger, staining His garments with the blood of His victims.
Isaiah 63:4: For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.
Identifies this winepress treading as the day of vengeance, not a work of grace.
Revelation 9:20: And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Shows that even after plagues, the survivors refused to repent, leading to the final wrath.
Revelation 16:21: And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
Les identifies this final hail plague as the means by which the gathered armies are trampled like grapes.
Les Feldick says it is not a big rock-hewn, cement, or oaken vat; it is the wrath of God itself. The imagery of a winepress pictures God gathering and crushing the unrepentant armies of the world in judgment.
Les says it will be trodden 'without the city'—northeast of Jerusalem—where the world's armies have been gathered to the valley of Megiddo and the area of Esdraelon.
Les teaches that it is not the Lord's blood, but the blood of His victims. The Lord says, 'their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments,' because this is the day of vengeance.
Les says the Greek word translated 'fully' means overripe—past harvest time. It means the earth's rebellious inhabitants are ready to be gathered and cast into the winepress of God's wrath.
Watch the Teaching: Why God "Gave Them Up" — Romans 1 & the Wrath to Come