Friday, December 12 Revelation 16:1-9: Three of these four
plagues are right out of the arsenal of Moses. Sores on the
flesh of the bad guys (verse 2) were his sixth plague. As in the
account in Exodus, the intent of this plague is that the
idolaters should repent, but in neither case does it happen. The
second and third plagues here (verses 3-4), the changing of
water into blood, are identical to Moses’ first plague, which
was regarded, we recall, as a rather easy plague, in the sense
that even Pharaoh’s magicians could do it (Exodus 7:22). Here in
Revelation, these two plagues are related to the great bloodshed
of persecution caused by the enemies of God’s people (verse 6;
16:5-7). This crying out of the altar puts one in mind of the
earlier scene where the souls (that is, the blood) of the
martyrs cried from the altar (6:9-10). In that earlier scene the
saints prayed for justice to be done on earth, for the
righteousness of God to be vindicated in history. Now, in the
present instance, the voice from the a