One would expect a winepress to be in proximity to a vineyard and hence out in the country. So the statement of Revelation 14:20 is surprising. Is “the city” (notice the definite article “the”) a reference to Babylon, (Revelation 14:8)? Or a reference to Mount Zion (Jerusalem; Revelation 14:1)? Or is the identity of the city not important (a possibility, given that we are not expressly told)? As this harvest of the earth appears within the context of the blowing of the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15), it certainly seems best to look within the chapters following Revelation 11:15–16 for what John means with his reference to the city.
John can scarcely be referring to Babylon since that city (= civilization, culture) is fallen, fallen,
and so her inhabitants (as well as the nations whom she enticed) are invariably part of the grape harvest the angel has gathered and thrown into the winepress of God’s wrath. Mount Zion, however, is the protected domain of the Lamb and so a place of safety for the 144,000 who are with him on that mount (Revelation 14:1). To understand “the city” of Revelation 14:20 as Mount Zion is to say that these 144,000 do not experience the wrath of God on the day of judgment. That conclusion is consistent with the observation of v. Revelation 14:18 that it was the prayers of the saints calling for vengeance that triggered the command to harvest the earth. This also ties in neatly with the declaration of the heavenly voice of Revelation 14:13: “The dead who die in the Lord” (and that would include the martyrs who were wronged on earth on account of their faith, Revelation 6:9–11) are blessed,
happy. For they see God answering their petitions and so taking vengeance on their enemies.
20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.