What does Revelation 14:18 mean?
Another angel, who has control over fire, emerges from the altar. John reports that this angel shouted to the angel with the sickle to use his sickle to harvest fully ripe grapes from earth's vine.This passage carries several layers of symbolism. The original language portrays the grapes as mature and full of juice. Perhaps the reference to mature, juicy grapes indicates the wickedness of unbelievers has reached its peak or perhaps it points to the wicked rich who live luxuriously in the kingdom of the beast. Either way, the days of sinful indulgence are coming quickly to an end. Psalm 73:18–20 describes the wicked rich as they feel God's hand of judgment upon them. The passage says: "Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms."
Upcoming verses will continue the symbolic—and graphic—use of grapes to depict the results of God's judgment on sin during the end times.