3. The angel of judgment gathered the clusters of the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God--14:19. This was the vision of the terrible wrath of God that would be administered to the persecutors of His people. The winepress of ancient time was an excavation in rock, formed in the ground, and lined with masonry, in which to crush the grapes. Another cavity was made in the proper place and shape to receive the juice. Such excavations are even yet to be found in Palestine and Syria. The treading of the winepress was performed with the feet, the red juice of the grapes flowing like blood. The reference to it was the symbolic description of the war against Jerusalem: