This lesson continues to show the “things which must shortly come to pass” of Revelation 1:1. These things were morally necessary.

To Avenge His People As Their Kinsman-Redeemer

According to the Law, the Kinsman-Redeemer was to slay the murderer: Numbers 35:19-34.  God, Himself, claimed to be the Kinsman-Redeemer of Israel: Deuteronomy 32:35-43, quoted in Romans 12:19: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

Because of the Jewish persecution and murders of the Christians and the crucifixion of Christ, it was morally necessary that God carry out His duties as the Kinsman-Redeemer of His people.

In the New Testament era the Jews were in dispersion throughout the Roman world. Although of only one racially identifiable tribe, Judah, they were sometimes called “the twelve tribes scattered abroad,” for scattered individuals of other tribes had joined themselves to them in the past. The Jewish trade-routes throughout the Roman Empire had produced flourishing communities of Jews and their synagogues. The wrath of God’s judgment came also upon these, for they too had persecuted the Christians in their synagogues.

Historically we know that there were Jewish uprisings against Rome in Alexandria and other major centers of Jewish populations. Rome put down these rebellions with terrible violence as the instrument of God’s wrath.

But the ultimate recipient of God’s wrath, the seventh bowl of the Book of Revelation, is Mystery Babylon: Revelation 16: 19b: “And God remembered great Babylon, to make her drain the cup of the fury of His wrath.”

Mystery Babylon Accountable For Deaths of the Martyrs

Chapters seventeen and eighteen of the Book of Revelation are devoted entirely to describing her destruction. Her identity is not left in doubt when considered in the light of Matthew 23:34-35. In Revelation 17:6 John sees that this woman, Mystery Babylon is: “drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” This is a direct allusion to Matthew 23:34 where Jesus told Jerusalem that they were accountable for the blood of all the martyrs. It positively identifies her as apostate Judaism, represented by their religious capitol, Jerusalem. God has a moral obligation to avenge His people upon her.

In Revelation 18:20, while the world laments, heaven rejoices: “Rejoice over her, O heaven, O saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!” (RSV).

And again in 18:24: “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth,” – another direct allusion to Matthew 23:34-35.

The Rationale For God’s Judgments Against Jerusalem

Again in Revelation 19:2 the reason for her destruction is made explicit: “For His judgments are true and just; He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth [land] with her fornication, and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants,” (RSV).

Christ’s Garments Of Vengeance

In Revelation 19:11 our eyes are turned to the glorious appearing of Christ. In the context of the destruction of Jerusalem, this is the fulfillment of Matthew 24:30, (also 16:27-28). Note that Christ is clothed in “a robe dipped in blood,” (Revelation 19:13).

This is the “garments of vengeance” described in Isaiah 59:17b-18: “He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped Himself in fury as a mantle. According to their deeds, so will He repay, wrath to His adversaries, requital to His enemies,” (RSV).

The vengeance of God in the Book of Revelation vindicates the faith of the saints based upon such Scriptures as Isaiah 63:1-6: “Who is this that comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, He that is glorious in His apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength? ‘It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save.’ Why is thy apparel red, and thy garments like his that treads in the wine press? ‘I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption has come. I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me victory, and my wrath upheld me. I trod down the peoples in my anger, I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth,’” (RSV).

Next Lesson: Lesson 13: Parables of Vengeance