17 Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” 19 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
This hits a number of historical notes. The Battle Hymn of the Republic's "grapes of wrath" springs quickly to mind, which has Civil War overtones, where God's wrath was done by the Union army in the popular mythos. The Grapes of Wrath book has the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl as the avenging angel afflicting the Joads.
Today isn't nearly as traumatic as the Civil War or the 1930s, even with COVID, Black lives matter stuff, a trade war and a looming political war over both the election and the confirmation for the Notorious RBG's replacement. It's a nervous-making year.
There will come a day when God will unleash his wrath on the world, with the things that I mentioned being mere warm-up acts. The world has it coming, as yesterday's Edifier from Romans 1 would testify to. However, it's somewhat comforting to remember that we've been through far worse traumas without the Second Coming kicking in.
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