Heaven speaks up
5 And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say,
“Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was,
for you brought these judgments.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!”
7 And I heard the altar saying,
“Yes, Lord God the Almighty,
true and just are your judgments!” (Revelation 16:5-7–ESV)
The angels do not raise a lament for the waters. Even the angel in charge of the waters is not recorded as having sorrow. This does not mean that the angel did not have sorrow or grief over such widespread, irrevocable destruction. We simply are not told about that aspect of this. Sadness was not the focus.
An expression was evoked though. Right in the middle of these bowls speaks up a highly connected angel and his voice in some manner is echoed by the altar. What was that expression? Acceptance.
Bloodied waters = judgment on murderous society
Acceptance of God’s choices is part of the angel’s core, but that does not mean they are blindly watching God. It is clear to them why this is happening and the angel goes on to express that. See the world had been killing Christ’s followers. If you think back to the story of Cain and Abel you don’t have to go far before you see God’s response. God said the blood of Abel was crying out from the earth to God. When Abel’s blood was shed in murder it does not go unnoticed in heaven. The earth is a witness to it.
What had been happening on the earth under the direction of Satan’s evil network? The Dragon, Beast One, Beast Two and the men allied to them? The saints and the prophets had been killed. Their blood had been shed.
Now the killers, the God-rejectors, the rebellious the blood-shedders are made into blood-drinkers. It was justice from God wreaked upon them before eternity would even dawn.
lulrich says
In class we use the NIV version and in that version verse 9 says “…but they refused to repent and glorify him.” One class member raised a question about this phrase. If these people are all those who have taken the mark of the beast defying God and discarding the warning of the missionary angel that went about the earth in chapter 14 then why does this verse say they refused to repent. That implies that the choice was still available to them. The Bibles that have Strong’s numbers attached to the words (NASB, KJV, and Holman Christian Standard Bible) do not include a word for refused. The original languages did not imply a choice was available. The phrase before what I mentioned here says that the people cursed or blasphemed God. The lack of repentance and lack of God glorifying is not meant to speak of an optional response for these people, but to emphasize the thorough rejection of God on the part of these people.