He also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mingled with pure wine in the cup of his wrath: and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb.
και αυτος πιεται εκ του οινου του θυμου του θεου του κεκερασμενου ακρατου εν τω ποτηριω της οργης αυτου και βασανισθησεται εν πυρι και θειω ενωπιον των αγιων αγγελων και ενωπιον του αρνιου
6 Church Fathers comment on this verse
[...] that one will drink with him the cup of torments, mixed according to righteous Judgment and diluted not with compassions, but with many different punishments.
The wine of wrath means punishment as the consequence of the wine of impiety, which intoxicates the one who drinks it. For in whatever a man sins, in that he will receive punishment.
The third angel forbids men to worship the beast and to take his seal. For it is utterly impious to worship as God anything other than the real and true God.
"He shall drink the wine of the wrath of God, unmixed wine, prepared in the cup of His anger." The divine David recalls this cup and this wine, saying: "For in the hand of the Lord is a cup of unmixed wine, full of mixture, and He pours from it this way and that. Yet its dregs will not be exhausted. All the sinners of the earth shall drink it" (Ps 74:9).
He calls the wrath of God wine, using this metaphor not because of gladness, but because of the darkening and madness by which those who experience the wrath of God are tormented.
"Unmixed, prepared" means fully prepared. For when the wrath of God is mixed with love for mankind and goodness, it is definitively prepared. The measure of wrath and goodness is not the same, for love for mankind greatly surpasses it.
If righteous wrath and goodness were equal, no living thing would stand. Understanding this, the prophet said: "If You, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" (Ps 129:3).
The same prophet hinted that the goodness in God's cup greatly surpasses righteous wrath in the words: "The Lord is merciful and righteous, and our God has mercy" (Ps 114:5).
He placed His righteousness in the middle, so that it might be constrained by the mercy set beside it and could not act according to its own character. For it belongs to righteousness to render to each according to his deserts.
Having once mentioned wine and thereby spoken of wrath, John keeps to this image and calls a cup what was given to sinners from the hand of God.
The Septuagint reads this way. In the Synodal translation it is: "For a cup is in the hand of the Lord, and the wine foams in it, full of mixture, and He pours from it. Even its dregs all the wicked of the earth will drain and drink."
Some heretics have separated from us because of evil faith, while also having a decline in morals. Others have deviated from our traditions. But there were also those appointed to perish because of both faith and morals.
Here all the living who receive the mark of the beast on their forehead and hand are embraced together. The cup of wrath here must be understood not only as the cup of that wrath of which the Lord says, "the wrath of God remains on him" (Jn 3:36), indicating a particular sin.
It is also like that cup of which He says to the obstinate Jews: "You will die in your sin" (Jn 8:21), indicating an increasing measure of deeds worthy of condemnation.
He says that they will be tormented in the presence of the Lamb. They suffer because they condemned Him, whom they proudly despised, and over whose members they unlawfully desired to rule.
They will also be tormented before His angels, who know by the revelation of God that these people bear a just punishment.
The saints who reign with the Lord can always behold the punishment of the wicked. Giving thanks all the more fervently to their Redeemer, they sing forever of the mercy of the Lord.
For the sight of the torments of the corrupt does not grieve those who are in agreement with the righteous Judge. Likewise, the sight of Lazarus at rest could not ease the suffering of the rich man consumed by flame (cf. Lk 16:23-24).
"If anyone," says St. Andrew, "submits to the beast-like antichrist, takes part in his lawless life by word or deed, and proclaims him God, this may signify receiving the mark on the forehead and hand.
Such a one will share with him in drinking the cup of punishments. It is not mixed or diluted with the mercy of God, but mixed with various punishments because evil is manifold and many-shaped."
"Of unmixed wine in the cup of His wrath." In Palestine and in hot countries, wine is never used whole and unmixed with water, but always blended with it.
The wrath of the Lord, represented here by the cup of wine, is very strong. It is not mixed with the mercy or longsuffering of God.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 32 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS