26 Jul 2013

Revelation 6:9-11

Posted by joncooper

Revelation 6:9: “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 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?
11 And 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.”

Here we see a group of people who were executed for their faith in Jesus. These people are crying out to the Lord, asking Him to avenge them. This is a fascinating passage and there is a great deal we can glean from it.

First of all, these people must be Tribulation martyrs. They are not part of the Church because the Church is represented by the 24 elders. The elders are seated on thrones; they are not huddled under the altar. Since these people are saved but are not a part of the Church, that means they must have been saved after the Rapture. This puts an end to the idea that no one is saved after the Rapture. As it turns out, a tremendous number of people will become Christians after the Church is gone.

As we know, the Church is resurrected at the time of the Rapture. These Tribulation saints, however, are represented as souls. They have not yet been resurrected. As it turns out, their resurrection will not happen until after the Tribulation is over and the Lord returns.

Notice that these people – who are dead and in Heaven – are quite aware of what’s going on back on Earth. People have wondered if they will know what is going on when they reach Heaven; well, these people certainly do! So that answers that question. Also, notice that these people are not happy: they know that they were murdered and they want revenge. They are not resting in peace, even though they are in the presence of God Himself. They are crying out for justice and the Lord has promised to give it to them.

Also, notice that they are given white robes, which are symbolic of righteousness. These white robes did not originally belong to them; instead the robes were given to them. Their righteousness is not their own; it is a gift from Jesus. We do not stand before God dressed in our own righteousness; instead we stand before God dressed in Christ’s righteousness. It is a gift from Jesus, paid for by His death and resurrection.

Another startling thing is what is said in verse 10. Even though a quarter of the planet was just killed, these martyrs are asking when they will be avenged! That means that the previous seal judgment was actually not God’s vengeance for the death of His saints. God agrees that they have not yet been avenged and promises that this will happen when those who “should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled”. In other words, there are still more people who will be martyred. After the number of martyrs have been completed the Lord will avenge their blood on those that dwell on the Earth. (That is something that we will see addressed later in Revelation.)

The Bible does not say when these people were martyred. All we know is that these people are not war casualties; they are people who were executed because of their faith. This means that after the Rapture many people are saved – and those people are then intensely persecuted, and many will be murdered.

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