Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. (Revelation 14:19, NRSVCE)
Wine making was not for the weak at the time the Book of Revelation was being written. The grapes would be placed in some 
sort of basin and stomped—and stomped and stomped. The liquid would be caught as runoff in containers. The liquid then would be fermented. The better the stomping, the more liquid. When the grapes were harvested would make a difference. How well they were pressed would make a difference. It was a backbreaking process, but the wine was worth it, whether it was used for religious, medicinal, or social purposes. Or at least, the people making the wine hoped it would be.
In the same way, our vanities and sins, large and small, are headed for the Lord’s great wine press. However, our wrongdoings don’t improve with age. Rather, waiting for a sign that the time is right to seek God’s forgiveness or to start anew only results in bitterness and anxiety… and still more distance. As we approach Advent, may we be patient in our waiting—but never tarry in going to the Lord for correction, mercy, and love.
