And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous [are] thy judgments. (Revelation 16:5-7)


With each passing day it seems the world we live in is growing ever increasingly violent. Their is a sort of 'bloodthirstiness' in our times that is growing increasingly disturbing. Our text is an expression employing 'blood' as a metaphor for extreme blood-shedding violence. Sports are becoming more and more violent. Particularly, I find a return to the Roman and Medieval 'type' practices. I walked into a Walmart yesterday and in front of me was a large violent-looking advert for Ultimate Fighting. I thought to myself, "Just 20 years ago a person would have done prison time for hosting an event like that." While here on vacation I turned on the TV and was stunned to see a new program coming out on the History Channel of all places called, "Full Metal Jousting." The advert reads, "HISTORY is bringing back the most dangerous collision sport in history, and transforming it into a 21st century event." The sad thing is that people will line up for miles to defend these type of things; but for believers let us assure ourselves right now, Heaven will not be a place where violence and blood are sports.


Progressive Rage and Anger


The book of Genesis tells us how this all started and the book of the Revelation tells us how this will all end. By Genesis 6 we read, And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (Genesis 6:13) Notice a pattern here as with our passage Revelation16:5-7; God rewards man according to his/her works. You want violence, I'll give you violence. You want blood, I'll give you blood. You see, It's all fun and games until God gets in on the act. Then things start to go very bad. One commentator explains it, "In the former clause of this verse Moses describes that impious contempt of God, which had left no longer any religion in the world; but the light of equity being extinct, all men had plunged into sin. In the second clause he declares, that the love of oppression, that frauds, injuries, rapines (the violent seizure of someone's property), and all kinds of injustice, prevailed. And these are the fruits of impiety, that men, when they have revolted from God, — forgetful of mutual equity among themselves, — are carried forward to insane ferocity, to rapines, and to oppressions of all sorts. God again declares that he had seen this; in order that he may commend his longsuffering to us." (Calvin)


A Common Path


It's cliche to say, but the true definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things expecting different results. The sinfulness of man follows a predictable pattern. We are headed towards Genesis 6 all over again. Someone is going to have to zoom out and see the pattern. We need a sort of spiritual radar so we can see this thing building and growing. But the trouble is that folk get a taste for violence and then that violent expression becomes acceptable in society. I have to ask, at the current trajectory, how long will it be until people are fighting to the death on Pay-Per-View? The advert for jousting shows a man with face covered in blood, carted off on a stretcher. In boxing a fight used to be stopped if a person was bleeding too badly, but in ultimate fighting the blood flows and the people cheer all the more ravenous. If these things are happening in the green tree what do you suspect will happen in the dry?


Tired of the Madness?


In time the enemy will so dull the collective conscience of society that killing people and even Christians for sport will be no different the watching an UFC fight or a Full Metal Joust event. Man will become so entangled in the lies and desires of Satan that God will have to come in with a battering ram in an attempt to split up the cohesion. God pours out what can only be described as a foretaste of Hell itself on the people in Revelation. Do you think they change their minds? A few verses later from our text we read, And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. (Revelation 16:9)


Hell not a Source of Grief, but Praise


The classic work by Jonathon Edwards titled "The End of the Wicked Contemplated by the Righteous" is a sobering look at the wisdom of God in bringing judgments to those that refuse to repent of their ways. As believers we ought to loath the confusion and hurt and pain satan is bringing on this world through lust. (2 Peter 1:4) We weep for the lost in our present hour and grieve at the thought that they will not repent and be saved. But friend, there is coming a day when God will wipe all tears from our eyes and we will praise him for the wisdom of His judgments. The collective enemy of God (angelic and human), having joined forces in Adam against Christ will be seen in eternity as utterly worthy of all that God pours upon them. Today we live in a world that sympathizes with sin and Satan. As if the propaganda machine has brainwashed the masses into agreement with the destructiveness of this world and the devil. Have we forgotten that friendship with this world is enmity with God? Surely one day we will have our minds set aright. God is wise in His judgments and will be shown to be. We will agree with Him as He does it. Sound strange? Only because this world has blinded the mind to the truth. Satan is God's enemy and his works are readied for destruction. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. This is the angelic hosts estimate of the situation. And if I might dare to say, we will echo this sentiment when our change comes.


Love Not the World


Rather than advocate for sin and Satan why not choose today to celebrate all of God's works. Let's recognize what team we are on. The enemy wants to conform us to this world, but God has called us out as His Peculiar Treasure in all the earth. We need to be cutting against the grain in these areas of worldliness and diabolical pleasures.

from: http://realrevival.blogspot.com/2012/02/give-them-blood-to-drink.html

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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon