1. Revelation 16:6 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why is the punishment deserved?

Revelation 16:6 (ESV)

6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!”

God responds to sin in fair measure. He does not punish sin in a fit of uncontrolled anger nor does he give to a sinner a penalty far beyond what his transgression deserves. Every plague or punishment God gives to a person or a people is precisely in proportion to what each deserves. So hideous is sin to God that even giving worshippers of the beast blood to drink is fitting. This gives us a sense of how revolted God himself is to our sin.