The Promised Vengeance

At the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation, another piece of unfinished business which God was morally obligated to fulfill was that of vengeance. He had promised:

• (A) To avenge the breaking of His Covenant;
• (B) To avenge His saints and martyrs, both as their God and as their Kinsman-Redeemer; and:
• (C) To avenge the shedding of innocent blood and to cleanse the land from defilement

(A) To Avenge The Breaking Of His Covenant

The passage in Leviticus 26:14-46  describes the penalty for the national sin of breaking the Covenant. The penalty was to be exacted through sword, famine, pestilence, wild beasts, destruction, desolation, and dispersion. The Babylonian captivity had come because Israel had broken the Covenant, yet God in His mercy used it to rebuke and chasten His erring children rather than executing His full measure of divine wrath.

At the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation, fleshly Israel was again in full disobedience except for those in Christ. The penalty for breaking the Covenant was therefore due and it was morally imperative that God fulfill the wrath promised. The Book shows these penalties being executed. The pattern of sevens in the Book may be a reminder of the oath of the Covenant, reflecting the seven-times-over nature of the penalty that was promised in Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28. (See “The Number Seven in the Bible” Commentary on 1:4.)

The Goodness And The Severity Of God

In reference to this passage in Leviticus, it was morally imperative that God fulfill His Covenant while at the same time, He was morally obligated to forgive the repentant who confessed their sins, (26:40); and, when their “uncircumcised hearts are humbled,” (26:41, see also Rom. 2:28-29), then He would reinstate them into His Covenant, (v. 45). In the destruction of Jerusalem vengeance was accomplished and in the Revelation of Jesus Christ reinstatement into the New Jerusalem was possible. Since Christ was made the New Covenant, (Isa. 42:6-7), when Judaism rejected Him, if for no other reason, they had broken both the Old and the New Covenants. That put them on equal footing with the Gentiles; there was no difference. Salvation for all depended upon God’s mercy in Christ.

To Avenge His Covenant People As Promised

Vengeance is a major theme of the Book of Revelation and shows that God has fulfilled this aspect of His Covenant. In Revelation 6:9-11, the opening of the fifth seal reveals the souls of the slain martyrs as they cry out to be avenged. This vengeance is promised as soon as their number is completed. From here the tension builds throughout the seals and the trumpets.  The climax comes and the vengeance is completed in the destruction of Mystery Babylon, the fallen city of Jerusalem, chapters 17 and 18. Following this, the saints rejoice in triumphal praise to God for vengeance has been executed, (Revelation 18:20, 24; 19:1-3).

Jerusalem Had Become the “Mystery Babylon”

Revelation 18:24 corresponds to Christ’s prediction in Matthew 23:29-36 of vengeance against Jerusalem for “all the righteous blood shed on earth,” (v. 35), when the full number of martyrs should be accomplished. That Christ’s prophecy was spoken directly against Jerusalem is clear from verse 37a: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent unto you!”

Christ foretold that many of these martyrs were to be the Christians sent by Himself. Addressing Jerusalem He said: “I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,” (v. 34 RSV).

This vengeance was not to be delayed beyond the lifetime of the generation that heard Christ predict it, (v. 36). So the complete number of martyrs for which fleshly Judaism was held responsible was to be fulfilled within “this generation” of time.

Next Lesson: The Sixth and Seventh Seals