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The references to blood that remain fall into two groups:
(1) The call for vengeance.
Rev.
6:10
'Avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth'.
16:6
'For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
and Thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are
worthy'.
17:6
'Drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the
blood of the martyrs of Jesus'.
18:24
'... and in her was found the blood of prophets, and
of saints, and of all that were slain upon the
earth'.
19:2
'Avenged the blood of His servants at her hand'.
19:13
'He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood'.
(2) The Judgment by blood
Rev.
6:12
'The moon became as blood'.
8:7
'Hail and fire mingled with blood'.
8:8
'Third part of the sea became blood'.
11:6
'Power over waters to turn them to blood'.
14:20
'Blood came out of the winepress'.
16:3
'The sea ... became as the blood of a dead man'.
16:4
'Rivers and fountains ... became blood'.
16:6
'Thou hast given them blood to drink'.
18:24
'And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of
saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth'.
The recording and the reading of this list is nauseating, but the facts
that are recorded will be horrible beyond description. Here again we add one
more of the many correspondences which these studies are making with the book
of Genesis, namely the solemn words of Genesis 9:6:
'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed',
to which is added both the basic reason and another connection with the
Revelation:
'For in the image of God made He man'.
It is a solemn thing to know that it is possible to 'blaspheme' our fellow
men who are made in the 'image' of God (Titus 3:2 and Rev. 13:6). Idolatry
violates that glory conferred upon man as well as the glory of God Himself:
'They ... changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made
like unto corruptible man ... who changed the truth of God into a lie
(or "exchanged the glory" for "THE LIE"), and worshipped and served the
creature more than the Creator, Who is blessed for ever. Amen' (Rom.
1:21 -25).
This abandonment leads straight on with excessive abuse of the gift of sex,
even as this same evil is seen to preponderate in the book of the Revelation.
The worship of the Beast and of his Image dethrones not only God, but man,
and turns the whole direction of life toward 'the lie', Satan's counterfeit.
Because of this we read of 'the wrath of God' (Rom. 1:18).