The Immensity of Eternity is Yours for the Taking.
And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” – Revelation 16:7 (NASB)
A lot of strange creatures speak in Revelation, but a talking altar beats them all! But why is the altar making a proclamation about God’s justice?
There is a clue in Rev 8: 3-4. There it tells us that the golden altar is the place from which the prayers of God’s people arise, mingled with incense. The “prayers of God’s people” is actually an echo of the souls under the altar in Rev 6:9-10. Metaphorically, these souls cry out to God because of the unjust treatment they have received from those who live on the earth. They are not conscious, neither are they in heaven, they are awaiting the consummation of all things. This should remind us of the story of Abel’s murder by Cain, where in Genesis 4:10 God said to Cain that the blood of Abel was crying out to Him from the ground. Obviously, Abel wasn’t in heaven either!
So, the altar is the place that metaphorically “stores,” the prayers of all who have been treated unjustly, killed, or tortured for their faith. (Like a data base in heaven if you will.) God is Omniscient, “knowing the end from the beginning” Isaiah 46:10 says. That altar is filled with coals of fire, which symbolize God’s anger regarding all of that injustice.
Revelation portrays the time when the fire of God’s judgment erupts against all the perpetrators of injustice.
But the altar represents something else as well. It is also the place where the blood of sacrifice was brought, sanctified in a cloud of incense. So the altar also represents forgiveness. It is the place where every sinner can go to have the weight of sin removed. Provision has been made for every sinner to be forgiven and cleansed. No one is forced to face the wrath of God. The Lamb has died for their sins. He has allowed Himself to experience the fires of God’s wrath so that no one else need experience it, except by their own choice.
If we lay our sins on the altar, they are burned up there. But if we choose not to repent, the altar will draw our sins to itself, consuming us along with them.
That’s why there are 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 the call to come back to God, before it is forever too late. In order to get our attention, it portrays the consequences of not coming back to God. The choice is ours. The immensity of eternity is yours for the taking!
Praise God for His unspeakable love, forgiveness, mercy and grace to me, a sinner!
Amen and amen!