Reading for April 24th

Read Revelation 6.9-17 In 6.9-8.1: The thre seals of judgment and salvation. In 6.9-11: The fifth seal. The altar is for sacrifice and these been slaughtered, implying that these lost lives have some significance (see 5.6; 12.11). Souls is simply "lives": thus, the battered lives of the oppressed call for justice. In verse 10: The call to avenge their blood is hardly in the spirit of the Jesus of the gospels (Lk 23.34). However, the retribution John images is based on justice (Rev 16.5-6). There is a similar scene in 2 Esd 4.35-37. In verse 11: The judgment is deferred until the number would be complete, implying both the patience of God and the correlation between the extent of evil and its judgment. In verses 12-17: The sixth seal. All the elements of the final judgment appear here, but no act of judgment is portrayed. We are shown onlythe anxiety of the judged. For these images see Isa 34.4. This anticipation of universal judgement seems to raise the issue of what will happen to the righteous. Comments or Questions..