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The work of the house of Joseph, part 7

The third bowl of wine was poured out in Revelation 16:4-7,

⁴ Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood. ⁵ And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; ⁶ for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets; and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” ⁷ And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

This bowl comes with an interpretation from “the angel of the waters” and from “the altar.” The angel is the one who is responsible to bring the nations to repentance so that they can be saved. During the times of the Gentiles, the nations were dominated by beast systems, and in the final phase by the great harlot, Mystery Babylon. Revelation 17:15 says,

¹⁵ And he said to me, “The waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.”

These are the same nations which, when finally set free, will praise Christ, for we read in Revelation 5:13,

¹³ And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all things in them I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

Later, in Revelation 15:3, 4 we are given the text of the Song of Moses, which prophesies about the salvation of the nations,

³ And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!” ⁴ Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; for all the nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

This is again reflected in Psalm 67:4,

² That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. ³ let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. ⁴ Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You will judge the peoples with uprightness and guide the nations on the earth.

The time will come when the nations will sing the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb in harmony. Once the full plan of God is revealed, all will understand and marvel at it. At that time, it will be said, “Who wouldn’t bow to Him and glorify His name?” Anything else would make no sense, because it is self-evident.

The Witness of the Altar

The altar then bore witness to the angel of the waters. One might find it strange that an altar would have the power of speech, but this is probably a reference to the appeal made by the souls under the altar in Revelation 6:9-11. These souls are the martyrs for the witness of Christ and are treated as sacrificial lambs. In the sacrificial system, the blood of the animal was to be poured out upon the ground under the bronze altar in the outer court (Leviticus 17:11, 12, 13).

This prophesied primarily of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, where His blood was shed for the remission of sin. Yet the prophecy also applied to the martyrs, who, as members of the body of Christ, saw their blood poured out under the altar as well. These are called “souls” because Leviticus 17:11 says literally, “the soul of the flesh is in the blood.” The Hebrew word is nephesh (“soul”), not chay (“life”). Both the KJV and the NASB render nephesh as “life” in Leviticus 17:11, but they translate Revelation 6:9 properly as “souls” under the altar.

This is also why Isaiah 53:12 KJV says of Christ, "He hath poured out His soul unto death." When the blood of Jesus was shed on the cross, He poured out His soul, because the soul is in the blood.

The witness of the altar shows that the third bowl is about righting the wrongs of evil men who have killed the righteous on account of their testimony. The martyrs bore witness that Jesus Christ is the rightful King of the nations. The ungodly rulers during the times of the Gentiles took offense at this, calling their testimony treason. Yet these ungodly rulers were given authority to rule, not to please themselves, but to rule as stewards of the One who gave them such authority. Every day they should have asked themselves, “What would Jesus do?”

The nations as a whole have suffered as well through the injustice of the laws of men. The ungodly rulers thought they were allowed to rule according to their own will, so judgment was inevitable at some point in time. The angel of the waters acts as the guardian of the nations, much like the kinsman redeemer of a family was responsible to safeguard those of his family and to represent them in court (as the family lawyer) when necessary.

Unfortunately, the KJV renders the term “revenger of blood” (Numbers 35:24 KJV). The NASB renders it “blood avenger.” The Hebrew word ga’al means a redeemer, not a “revenger” or an “avenger.” In fact, the word is translated “redeem” 50 times and 18 times as “redeemer” in the KJV. It is translated “revenger” just 7 times and “avenger” another 6 times.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1350/kjv/wlc/0-1/

The Hebrew word dam is translated "blood," which can mean a number of things. In this case it refers to a kinsman, one who is of a particular bloodline.

The angel of the waters is neither a revenger nor an avenger in the modern sense. He does not take the law into his own hands but carries out the sentence of the righteous Judge. He is responsible to seek justice for those who have been martyred unjustly, so that the wrongs can be made right. Numbers 35:24, 25 makes it clear that the “blood avenger,” (i.e., the Kinsman-redeemer), was assigned to carry out the sentence of “the congregation” (assembly of jurors) and did not have the right to take the law into his own hands.

²⁴ then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the blood avenger according to these ordinances. ²⁵ The congregation [eda, “jury”] shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he fled…

The difference between a kinsman redeemer and a blood avenger is that one is responsible to carry out the sentence of the Judge, whereas the other is both judge and executioner.

Righteous Judgment

Revelation 16:7 says that God’s judgments are righteous. They do not support injustice, as we often see in the judgments of men. The justice of God is based on the principle that the judgment always fits the crime. In this case, because the ungodly had “poured out the blood of saints and prophets” (Revelation 16:6), they were in turn given “blood to drink.” In other words, the ungodly had drunk the blood of the innocent, being bloodthirsty, so to speak; so they in turn were given blood to drink.

Justice being in direct proportion to the crime (sin) is the basis of the law in Exodus 21:23-25,

²³ But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, ²⁴ eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵ burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

Most cases could be settled out of court with some form of monetary compensation for such injuries. But if they could not agree on the amount of compensation, as a last resort the law would impose the “eye for eye” principle, so that no one could argue that the sentence was unequal or unjust.

The angel of the waters was to impose the justice of blood for blood, unless, of course, the murderers were to repent and cover the sin with the blood of Jesus. In such cases each martyr would be given the right to forgive the judge who had sentenced him to death, because only the victim of injustice has the right to extend grace and forgiveness to the one who sinned.

The problem, of course, is that men and women have been martyred since Cain killed Abel. Many generations have seen such injustice. That is why the souls under the altar complained that they had not yet received justice due to them. Justice for the martyrs had been deferred to the time of the end.

The ungodly judges who condemned the righteous to death usually lived and died without paying the penalty for their unjust ways. As individuals, of course, they will be judged at the great White Throne (Revelation 20:12). However, the angel of the waters was called to bring judgment to nations, rather than individuals.

This judgment was deferred until the time that their authority came to an end. The beast nations had been given “seven times” in which to rule (Leviticus 26:18), beginning with the transfer of authority from the king of Judah to the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 27:6).

The judgment of nations is pictured in Daniel 2:35 as a stone striking the image on its feet and toes. This is said to judge all of the previous empires (gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay). Each empire from the past was judged by the next empire that was coming to power, but yet there is said to be an overall judgment upon the empires—as if they were a single unit. Hence, the image as a whole did not collapse until the time of the end, when the stone hit its feet.

In such a case, the final empire was to become the focal point of divine judgment. The Mandate of Heaven was first given to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, but it was passed down to the Persians, then the Greeks, then the Romans, then the “little horn” of the Vatican, and finally to the combination of iron and clay (feet and toes). It is this final form that was to be made liable for all the sins of the past empires which refused to rule as stewards of the throne of Christ.

The final form of Babylon will be judged as the representative of the entire system back to the beginning of time. This is seen in Revelation 18:24,

²⁴ And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.

This restates what we read in Revelation 16:6, “for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets.”

The question is this: which national entity will be held accountable for the martyrdoms that have gone on since Cain killed Abel?