651. And threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. This symbolizes an examination of the character of the people's works, revealing that their works were evil.

To throw clusters of grapes into a winepress means, symbolically, to examine people's works, for clusters of grapes symbolize works (see no. 649 above). But because the winepress is called the great winepress of the wrath of God, it symbolizes a finding that their works were evil; for the wrath of God is predicated of evil (no. 635).

A winepress symbolizes examination because in presses the juice is expressed from grapes, and oil from olives, and one perceives the character of the grapes and olives from the juice and oil expressed. Moreover, because the vineyard symbolizes the Christian Church, and its clusters of grapes the people's works, therefore throwing the clusters into a winepress symbolizes an examination among people in the Christian Church. But because they have divorced faith from charity and made faith saving without the works of the law, and because a faith divorced from charity produces only evil works, the winepress is therefore called the great winepress of the wrath of God.

An examination of people's works is symbolized also by a winepress in the following passages:

My beloved had a vineyard on a fruitful hill. He... planted it with a choice vine. He also... hewed out a winepress in it; and he expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced wild grapes. (Isaiah 5:1-2)

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. ...go down, for the winepress is full, the vats have overflowed; for their wickedness is great. (Joel 3:13)

The threshing floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall deceive them. (Hosea 9:1-2)

The plunderer has fallen on... your grape harvest... I have caused wine to fail from the winepress; no one will tread with joyous shouting. There is no joyous shouting! (Jeremiah 48:32-33)

...a householder... planted a vineyard..., and dug in it a wine-press..., and leased it to farmers... (Matthew 21:33)

But they killed the servants he sent to them, and finally killed his son. ¹

A winepress mentioned in Joel refers to goods of charity from which spring truths of faith:

Rejoice, you children of Zion... The threshing floors are full of grain, and the presses overflow with new wine and oil. (Joel 2:23-24)

Footnotes:

6614. I have been shown by actual experience how angelic ideas flow into the ideas of the spirits who are beneath them, therefore into ideas that are grosser. An abundance of ideas from the angelic heaven presented themselves visually as a shining white cloud that could be distinguished into separate little tufts; and each little tuft, which consisted of countless strands, presented a spirit with one simple idea. After that I was shown that such an idea contained thousands and thousands of strands, which were also represented by means of a cloud composed of the spirits' speech. After this I spoke to the spirits on these matters, saying that the objects of sight can be used by way of illustration. When an object which looks like a simple whole is examined with an optical device thousands of unseen details present themselves to view, as when tiny grubs which look like one dark blob are examined with a microscope; not only the multiplicity of them is seen but also the shape of each one. If even greater magnification is used to examine them, their organs, members, viscera, and vessels and fibres too can be seen. So also with the ideas constituting thought. Each one has thousands and thousands of strands to it; yet a number of ideas together from which a thought is formed are seen merely as a simple whole. Even so, the ideas that constitute one thought can contain more than the ideas constituting another. How much it contains is determined by its spread into communities round about.