Revelation 19:15

He Himself treads the winepress
He Himself treads is αὐτὸς πατεῖ [autos patei] : He, He is presently treading. As with His rule, His identity as the One Who treads is emphasized. His rule is future tense whereas His treading is present tense. This indicates He is treading the winepress at His Second Coming before He takes up His rule over the nations. This provides further evidence that His rule upon the throne of David begins after His return (Mtt. Mat. 25:31).

Although the armies of heaven are with Him (Rev. Rev. 19:14+, Rev. 19:19+), it appears that He alone does the work of judgment: “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. . . . I looked, but there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me” [emphasis added] (Isa. Isa. 63:3-5).

Isaiah Isa. 63:1-6 made it clear that although the armies of saints and angels will return with him, they will not participate in the fighting. Messiah will fight this battle by Himself.¹¹

of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God
Fierceness and wrath are τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς ὀργῆς [tou thymou tēs orgēs] . Θυμοῦ [Thymou] describes a shorter-term, intense anger. ὀργῆς [orgēs] refers to a longer-term steady smoldering desire for revenge. See commentary on Revelation 14:10.

Almighty is παντοκράτορος [pantokratoros] . See commentary on Revelation 1:8.

This is the “great winepress of the wrath of God” (Rev. Rev. 14:19+). The NU and MT texts have “fierceness of the wrath.”

Notes

¹ Frederick William Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 634.

² Timothy Friberg, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 303.

³ Rev. Rev. 2:26+; Rev. 5:9+; Rev. 7:9+; Rev. 10:11+; Rev. 11:2+, Rev. 11:9+, Rev. 11:18+; Rev. 12:5+; Rev. 13:7+; Rev. 14:6+, Rev. 14:8+; Rev. 15:4+; Rev. 16:19+; Rev. 17:15+; Rev. 18:3+, Rev. 18:23+; Rev. 19:15+; Rev. 20:3+, Rev. 20:8+; Rev. 21:24+, Rev. 21:26+; Rev. 22:2+.

⁴ Merrill C. Tenney, Interpreting Revelation (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1957), 164.

⁵ Tom Huckel, The Rabbinic Messiah (Philadelphia, PA: Hananeel House, 1998), Num. 24:7.

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Ibid., Gen. 49:10.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Ibid.

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, rev ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003), 352.