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Hosea prophesied during the reigns of Israel’s last seven kings (northern kingdom) predicting the destruction of Israel
In this passage, he speaks of God’s judgment against Israel with a retrospective tone; a review of the past choices of Israel.
Israel had the privilege to plant goodness to reap God’s faithful love; instead, they have planted evil and continually experienced the harvest of trouble.
The prophet warned of war and invasion overtaking them, but they disregarded the warnings and presumed the strength of their military would outmarch any possible invasion.
He reminded them of Beth Arbel’s destruction, as an example of what God was about to do to Bethel, northern Israel’s worship center.
The king of Israel and the nation will be conquered by its enemies.
This is because of the idolatry of the people and their faithlessness towards God.
The revelation of John in the second lesson speaks of the harvest of the earth and the trampling of the winepress.
John saw the exalted Son of Man (Dan 7:13, Matt 24:30; 26:64) with the crown of God, instructed by an angel to harvest the earth, for the fruit on the earth is ripe.
And the earth was harvested.
The harvest of the earth depicts the gathering of God’s people into eternal rest while trampling the winepress describes the judgment of the wicked
The second harvest involves the gathering of grape clusters and crushing the grapes in the winepress.
This typical method of collecting juice symbolizes God’s wrath of destroying the wicked nations
The winepress was used as a relatable example for John’s immediate audience, to show how God would express his anger and judgment
Notably, the outcome of this crush was not wine but blood, representing pain and anguish for the wicked