And I heard from the altar, saying, "Yes! Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments." Rev. 16:7.
This is something new--an altar that talks! A lot of strange creatures speak in Revelation, but this beats them all. It reminds me a little of Jesus' comment about the stones crying out to honor Him if the people would not do it. But why is the altar before the throne of God making a proclamation about God's justice?
We find a clue in Revelation 8:3, 4. There it tells us that the golden altar is the place from which the prayers of the saints arise, mingled with the incense of the altar. The "prayers of the saints" is actually an echo of the souls under the altar in Revelation 6:9, 10. These souls plead to God because of the unjust treatment they have received from those who live on earth.
So the altar is the place that stores, so to speak, the prayers of all the saints who have been treated unjustly, killed, or tortured for their faith. It is the place in heaven where all the requests for justice that have ever ascended from earth gather together. Coals of fire, which symbolize God's anger regarding such injustice, fill the altar. The book of Revelation portrays the time when the fire of God's judgment erupts against every perpetrator of injustice.
But the altar represents something else as well. It is also the place where the blood of sacrifice is brought, sanctified in a cloud of incense. So the altar also symbolizes forgiveness. Every sinner can go to it to have the weight of sin removed. Even those who have done heinous crimes can come to the altar in repentance and receive forgiveness.
The horrors that are poured out on the wicked are not inevitable for you and me. God has made provision for every sinner to be forgiven and cleansed. He forces no one to face His wrath. The Lamb has died for those sins. Christ has allowed Himself to experience the fires of divine wrath so that no one else need to, except by their own choice.
If we lay our sins on the altar, they will be burned up there. But if we choose not to repent--if we insist on clinging to our sins--the altar will draw those sins to itself, consuming us along with them. Those who feel they are "good enough on their own" will not be separated from their sins or from the ultimate consequence of those sins.
That's why we find so many plagues and so much bloodshed in the book of Revelation. It is picturing the full, natural outcome of our daily choices. Revelation gives us God's call to come back to Him before it is forever too late. In order to get our attention, it portrays the consequences of not returning to our Creator and Savior. The choice is ours.
Lord, I see more clearly the reality of sin in my life and the consequence of not seeking Your forgiveness and cleansing. I choose to come to You today.
This is something new--an altar that talks! A lot of strange creatures speak in Revelation, but this beats them all. It reminds me a little of Jesus' comment about the stones crying out to honor Him if the people would not do it. But why is the altar before the throne of God making a proclamation about God's justice?
We find a clue in Revelation 8:3, 4. There it tells us that the golden altar is the place from which the prayers of the saints arise, mingled with the incense of the altar. The "prayers of the saints" is actually an echo of the souls under the altar in Revelation 6:9, 10. These souls plead to God because of the unjust treatment they have received from those who live on earth.
So the altar is the place that stores, so to speak, the prayers of all the saints who have been treated unjustly, killed, or tortured for their faith. It is the place in heaven where all the requests for justice that have ever ascended from earth gather together. Coals of fire, which symbolize God's anger regarding such injustice, fill the altar. The book of Revelation portrays the time when the fire of God's judgment erupts against every perpetrator of injustice.
But the altar represents something else as well. It is also the place where the blood of sacrifice is brought, sanctified in a cloud of incense. So the altar also symbolizes forgiveness. Every sinner can go to it to have the weight of sin removed. Even those who have done heinous crimes can come to the altar in repentance and receive forgiveness.
The horrors that are poured out on the wicked are not inevitable for you and me. God has made provision for every sinner to be forgiven and cleansed. He forces no one to face His wrath. The Lamb has died for those sins. Christ has allowed Himself to experience the fires of divine wrath so that no one else need to, except by their own choice.
If we lay our sins on the altar, they will be burned up there. But if we choose not to repent--if we insist on clinging to our sins--the altar will draw those sins to itself, consuming us along with them. Those who feel they are "good enough on their own" will not be separated from their sins or from the ultimate consequence of those sins.
That's why we find so many plagues and so much bloodshed in the book of Revelation. It is picturing the full, natural outcome of our daily choices. Revelation gives us God's call to come back to Him before it is forever too late. In order to get our attention, it portrays the consequences of not returning to our Creator and Savior. The choice is ours.
Lord, I see more clearly the reality of sin in my life and the consequence of not seeking Your forgiveness and cleansing. I choose to come to You today.
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