Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 186 · July 5
Under the Altar
“And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”
How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? That is prayed in heaven, at full volume, by people who are already dead.
Look at where they are lying. I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. Under the altar is no poetic address. It is the working part of the furniture: the priest shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar, which is where blood went and where it stayed.
The picture, then: blood pooled at the base of the altar. In Scripture blood at the bottom of things has a voice. What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. The first murder is discovered by a sound coming out of the dirt, and the fifth seal opens on that sound, louder, with words in it.
What they ask for is a verdict. Judge and avenge, said to a Lord they address as holy and true, and nobody in the chapter tells them to soften it. They are with God, and this is what they say.
The answer they get is a robe and a delay. White robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. How long is answered with a duration nobody can measure and a total nobody is shown, and the total is made of more of them.
The blood is still at the bottom of the altar and still audible.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 186 is Never Cast Off (Psalm 94:14).