The Fifth Seal
Revelation 6:9-11
"And when he opened the fifth seal I saw beneath the altar
the souls of those that had been slain on account of the word of God, and on
account of the testimony which they held fast: and they cried with a great
voice, saying: `Until when, thou Master, the holy and true, do you not judge
and avenge our blood from them that dwell on the earth?’ And there was
given to each of them a white robe, and it was said to them that they should
rest yet a little time, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren,
shall have been completed, who are about to be slain as also they themselves
[had been]." (Revelation 6:9-11, Revised Text)
It is hardly worth
while to occupy attention with the diverse and contradictory interpretations
that have been given of this seal. Though all are more or less intermingled
with some truth, the principles upon which the Apocalypse is to be construed,
and which have been followed in this exposition, lead us with directness and
certainty to conclusions which brush away, as only so much rubbish, most of
what has been written on the subject.
According to an older
commentator, "the scope of this seal is not prophetically to point out new
events, and to relate to a particular time." But this is exactly the opposite
of the truth. If the text means anything, "new events" are just what it is
intended prophetically to point out, and "a particular time" is precisely that
to which it does relate. As certainly as the Apocalypse is the book of the
consummation of God’s providence with this present world, and as certainly
as the action under these seven seals is the action of judgment upon faithless
Christians, usurpers, and rebels, just so certainly does this fifth seal refer
to a particular stage and phase in these judicial transactions, and to a class
of events which only then come to their full development.
As the
throne is a judgment throne, and the whole administration proceeding from it is
an administration of judgment, every seal that is broken must lay open a phase
of judgment, in one direction or another. All the seals, thus far, have been
judgment seals; and the two that follow are judgment seals, capable of being
identified, as such, from the nature of the events attending them. The symmetry
of the whole would therefore be interrupted, and an unaccountable break made in
the distinctly connected series, if this fifth in the list were to be taken in
any other acceptation.
The four horsemen are judgment powers. The
earthquake and the terrific commotions in earth and sky, under the sixth seal,
are directly linked with the presence of judgment. The seventh seal, with its
seven trumpets and seven last plagues, is nothing but judgment from beginning
to end. Whatever peculiarities may attend the breaking of the particular seal
now before us, it can be nothing other than judgment also.
The
manifestations under the breaking of this seal differ, in some respects, from
the four preceding. There is here no expression from the Living Ones. There are
no horsemen or horses. The burden of the description is exhibited in the
results rather than in the processes. Still, everything turns out as belonging
to the same general category of trial and suffering.
Under the first
seal we have the picture of moral conquest, by means of the arrow of truth,
sped by the power of sorrowful judgment. Under the second, we have war,
disorder, strife, and bloodshed. Under the third, we have famine and
distressing scarcity. Under the fourth, we have the combined fruit of all these
– pestilence, death-plague, and the living world largely overrun with the
regions of the dead.
Under this fifth seal, we have added bloody
persecution of those who hold and testify to the truth. The entire population
of the earth, at that period, being alike rejected from the company of those
accounted worthy to escape these evil times, is alike made to feel the stripes
of judgment. The good as well as the bad suffer the hour of trial. Though there
shall be multitudes then brought to the knowledge of the truth, they will all
be such as had failed to improve their more favourable opportunities in the
preceding days of Divine long-suffering and forbearance. By way of judgment for
their previous folly, their piety at this late hour becomes a thing of sore
cost. Having been unbelieving, worldly-minded, and hypocritical, when they
might have walked with God without serious risk, they now find the way of
salvation judicially become a way of torture and of death.
Evil and
depravity will hold the sovereignty and power in this world unto the last. And
it would be strange if the bad passions, which then are to reach their most
aggravated intensity, should not also develop particular violence in the
direction from which the Church, in every age, has suffered more or less.
Hence, this fifth seal is the picture of Persecution and Martyrdom. As
soon as it was opened, John saw souls of people "slain on account of the word
of God, and on account of the testimony that they held fast." It sets before us
the solemn fact that people who will not give their hearts to God now, when
once these judgment times set in, if they ever get to heaven at all, will be
compelled to go there through fire and blood.
There are no voices of
command from heaven under this seal and no messengers despatched from the
throne. The reason is that bloody persecutions of God’s servants come from
beneath, not from above. It is the devil who is the murderer from the
beginning, and by him and his seed has all martyr-blood been made to flow that
ever has flowed or ever will. It is the Dragon that makes war with the saints.
Celestial powers are concerned in it no further than to permit the malignant
butchery. It is not flashed forth from the sky, like the calamities with which
the wicked and rebellious are overwhelmed, but it is left to develop itself
from Satan’s reign and domination in the hearts of his children, unmoved
by any direct agency from heaven.
The Living ones do not say, Go!, for
they are neither directly nor indirectly concerned in bringing suffering upon
God’s servants for their fidelity to the truth. No horses dash out upon
the scene, because no Divine powers are employed in martyring the saints. The
entire earthly part of the proceeding enacts itself by the powers already in
sway among depraved mortals, and John beholds only the results. The seal opens,
and the invisible world has a vast accession of souls of martyrs, slain on
account of the word of God, and on account of the testimony which they held
fast.
They are not the martyrs of the past ages, for those by this
time already have their crowns and are seated on their heavenly thrones, and
are with Christ in glorified form, as can be seen in chapters 4 and 5. These
are, therefore, martyrs of this particular period – martyrs who suffer the
great tribulation which all preceding saints and martyrs escape – martyrs
of the judgment times who lose their lives for their faithful testimony during
the sharp and troublesome era in which God’s judgments are in the earth.
The Cause Of Their Martyrdom
It is an old maxim: "It is not death, but the cause in which death is incurred,
which constitutes a martyr." Millions upon millions perish under the preceding
seals, but they are not therefore martyrs. The cause for which the persons
mentioned here were slain constitutes them true martyrs. They "had been slain
on account of the word of God, and on account of the testimony which they held
fast."
However sceptical, rationalistic, or unbelieving they may have
been previous to the setting in of the judgment, the occurrences under the
first four seals had quite cured them of their erroneous thinking and
indifference. What they once held only in the coldness of mere speculative
faith, or received only with much subtle refining and rasping down to a
materialistic philosophy, or disbelieved altogether, they had now learned, to
their sorrow, to have been the literal and infallible word of God. The Bible
they now read with new eyes, and received and obeyed with a new heart. Its
literal teachings they now were brought to understand, appreciate, live, and
proclaim as the unmistakable Revelation of the Lord God Almighty.
There will still be plenty of unbelief, scepticism, and utter rejection of the
Scriptures, and the dominant spirit of the times will be the spirit of
rebellion against the Lord and of contempt for His word. But that spirit will
now have been quite cast out of the persons brought to view in this vision.
Having learned to deny themselves, to crucify their self-seeking, to cease from
their confidence in their own fancies, and to accept, live, and testify to the
true will and word of God, they will have come to be genuine servants of the
Most High. And this is one of the procuring causes of the world’s hatred
of them and wish to have them put out of the way.
But there is
something more special entering into the cause of their martyrdom. In addition
to their close adherence to the Divine word, and as one of the most marked
fruits of it, there was a particular "testimony which they held fast." On
account of this, the world could not abide them. Many have regarded their whole
testimony as nothing different from the common testimony of good and faithful
men in every age.
John says that he "was in the isle that is called
Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ," and the
testimony of these martyrs is considered to be the same for which John was
banished. But the phraseology is not the same and seems to indicate something
personal to these martyrs themselves. It was not the testimony of Jesus in
general, but "tain marturian – THAT testimony, which they held fast"
– some particular testimony specially in question in their times, and
specially obnoxious to the then reigning spirit.
When we consider the
character of the period in which they were called to testify, what it was that
had operated to bring them into this attitude of zeal for the Divine word, what
would naturally be uppermost in a mind enlightened as to the times on which
they had fallen, and what would be most offensive to an unbeliever in those
times, we can be at no loss to have suggested to us what the particular
character of that testimony was.
It was necessarily a testimony
touching the judgment already begun, a testimony which interpreted all the
plagues, disorders, and horrors around them. It was the veritable infliction of
the Almighty, now risen up to pay off all the long-accumulating arrears of His
wrath upon transgressors. This was a testimony declaring that the true elect
had already been received up into glory and that, in a few short years more,
the whole mystery of God should be finished, and all His enemies cast down to
irretrievable perdition.
The message of this testimony was that swift
and utter destruction now impended over all the governments, fabrics, powers,
and hopes of this world. It said that the fires were then already burning which
should never more be extinguished or repressed till everything of this world,
and all its devotees, should be consumed from root to leaf. They testified that
Christ, the angry Judge, was then present in the clouds, ready to be revealed
in all the terrors of His consuming power.
The day of grace was in its
last darkening twilight of departure, after which nothing should remain but
everlasting discomfiture and death. This was a testimony that the world was
then already trembling in the agonies of its dissolution, and that the last
hope of salvation was flickering in its socket, ready to expire.
In a
modified degree, this is ever the testimony of the true people and ministers of
God. However, at such a time, and in such surroundings as these martyrs
testified, there would needs be an intensity, a certainty, and a pressing
urgency in their convictions and utterances, such as had never before appeared.
People who had been cool, complacent, and philosophic in their religion before
will then have been awakened to a state of warmth, and earnestness, and
excitement, and zeal, a thousand-fold more irrepressible and energetic than
what they had previously regarded as sheer fanaticism and piety run mad. Oh,
there will be fervour then, and outspoken testifying for God then, and warnings
with tears and entreaties then, and striking expositions of the prophecies
then, and appeals and outpourings from the men of God more thrilling than the
cries of Jonah in the streets of Nineveh!
It will be more than the
hardened hearts of scorning unbelievers can bear. And because of being besieged
and pressed by the irresistible arguments and fervency which then shall be
brought to bear upon them, they will seize the witnesses of the truth and
punish them. They will resort to all sorts of murderous violence to silence
them and put them out of the world.
Thus, because their days of
indifference toward the Divine predictions have passed away, and because they
now are faithful in standing to the truth as to what God has said and as to
what times they have fallen upon, and because they will no more keep silence
touching the awful perdition about to break forth upon the guilty world, they
are massacred and slain.
Their Estate As John
Beholds Them
They are "souls" – disembodied souls –
souls in that state which ensues as the result of corporeal death.
Their slaying, then, is not the end of them. It is not the total interruption
of their being in all respects. It makes them invisible to men in the flesh, in
the natural state, but it does not hinder their living on as souls, or their
being visible to heavenly eyes or to the eyes of John in his supernatural and
prophetic exaltation. The holy Apocalyptist tells us that he "saw" them,
although they "had been slain." He also heard them speaking with loud voices,
though their material tongues had been burnt to ashes, and their corporeal
organs of speech had been stiffened in death.
It is altogether a wrong
interpretation of the Scriptures which represents the dead in a state of
non-existence, unconsciousness, or oblivion. I am not among those who think
that "they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished," either forever, or
for a limited time. There is such a thing as an intermediate state between
death and the resurrection, but it is not a state of utter dilapidation and
cessation of being. It is an abnormal and unsatisfactory state, far below what
is to be gained by the resurrection; but it is not a state of vacancy and
nothingness.
However strongly the ruinous character and evil of death
may be stated in some Old Testament passages, there are others in the
Scriptures which, by all just and fair exegesis, prove and demonstrate that
mental and psychical life continues under it, and continues in wakeful
consciousness. If any one has doubts upon this point, let him candidly consult
and determine the positive meaning of the following texts:
Matthew
10:28: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul;
but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." The
argument from this text is plain, unanswerable, and conclusive. If the soul
dies or goes into oblivion when the body dies, then he that kills the body
would, with the same stroke, kill the soul too. But our Saviour tells us that
those who kill the body cannot kill the soul. There is, then, a life which the
death of the body cannot touch.
Luke 20:38: "He [the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob] is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live
unto Him." So far as the righteous are concerned, we are here assured that,
although they "sleep in Jesus," as regards the body, and are "absent from the
body," as regards the soul, they still "ALL LIVE UNTO GOD." Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob were dead, and had been dead for centuries; and yet He proclaims himself
"the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." The conclusion is thus deduced by the
Saviour, that though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were dead, as to their bodies,
they were still, in some sense, living unto God.
Luke 16:19-31: The
case of the rich man and Lazarus. In this startling parable, if such an
unveiling of the invisible world may be called a parable, we have not only
principles on which to argue the non-oblivion of the dead, but literal
instances and illustrations of the continued life and consciousness of departed
souls of both classes – good and bad. The whole scene necessarily fixes
itself to the period immediately succeeding the death of the body. All the
terms and relations of the narrative require this location of it. The received
belief of the orthodox Jews was such that they could not otherwise understand
it. And there is no show of right to accept the picture in any other relation.
Taking it, then, as we are in reason bound to take it, we have it
settled, by Christ himself, that wicked souls have a life and consciousness
which death does not interrupt, and that there is still a form of being for
both good and bad between death and the resurrection.
Luke 23:43:
"Verily I say unto you, Today you shall be with me in Paradise." Language more
clear and precise, as to the life and conscious happiness of a saved soul
immediately after death, cannot be framed. As both died that day, so they both
went that day, and before the resurrection of either, into Paradise. Be that
Paradise what it may, Christ and the thief were not yet in it while they lived
on their crosses, and yet were in it before the day ended, and while their
bodies yet hung upon those stakes. It was not a state of non-existence or
oblivion, for it was the subject of consoling hope and promise, and the
declaration embraced the idea of conscious presence and fellowship with each
other, on reaching the blessed place.
In our original text, John saw
the souls of these martyrs "beneath the altar." Many regard this as "simply
symbolical," but I am not clear that it is to be taken as such. No earthly
altar is meant, for none existed at the time of the vision or shall exist at
the time of its fulfilment – at any rate, none acknowledged of God. It is
something heavenly, partaking of the same heavenly and spiritual nature of the
scene out of which all these proceedings issue and from which they are
contemplated.
There is a heavenly Temple, and everything that related
to the earthly one was patterned after the celestial one. There is a "true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man," of which that which Moses built
was the material picture and copy (Hebrews 8:1-5; 9:21-24). And this altar
pertains to that heavenly sanctuary whence the "pattern" of the earthly was
taken.
It was at the altar of burnt-offerings that all bloody
sacrifices were made. Under it there was a deep excavation in the solid rock,
into which the blood of the slain victims was poured. The law commanded the
officiating priest to "pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the
altar of the burnt-offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation" (Leviticus 4:7). As the deep cavern under the earthly altar was
the appointed receptacle of the lives of the animal sacrifices, so the souls of
God’s witnesses who fall in His service are received into a corresponding
receptacle beneath the heavenly altar.
Some describe that altar as
Christ under whose protection and shade the souls of the martyrs are preserved,
free from all perils and evils till their recall in renewed bodies by the
resurrection. It denotes a near and holy relation to God, a place of sacred
rest under the protection of Christ and His sacrifice, and a state of
blessedness, to which, however, higher stages are to come.
The idea of
sacrifice also pervades the language of Scripture in general, respecting
eminent devotion in the Divine service, especially when life is jeopardised or
lost in consequence of it. Hence our bodies are to be offered a willing
sacrifice unto the Lord. Paul spoke of his sufferings for Christ, and of his
approaching martyrdom, as an offering in the sacrificial sense. All martyrs are
contemplated as sacrifices to God. As sacrifices to the heavenly altar, their
souls pass into the sacred receptacle beneath that altar. It is precisely the
place where we would most naturally expect them to be and where they are most
sacredly kept, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body.
("The souls of Martyrs repose in peace under the Altar and cherish a
spirit of patience until others are admitted to fill up their company of
glory." – Tertullian)
The Cry They
Utter
It is not a mere metaphorical cry, like that of the blood
of Abel from the ground, but a literal cry of visible and conscious existences
– an articulate cry, the voice of which is heard, and the utterances of
which are in literal words. "Until when, Master, the holy and true, do you not
judge and avenge our blood from them that dwell on the earth?" It appears from
this that their murderers are then still living. Consequently these crying ones
are a specific class of martyrs who had then very recently been slain. It is
another item to fix the vision to this particular time.
The cry is
addressed to the throne. It is not a vindictive cry, although it looks to the
avenging of their blood. If the whole scene did not relate to the judgment
period, it would be difficult to avoid attaching the idea of intense
vindictiveness to this utterance. Such a cry would be out of season except in
this place. But it is the time of judgment. The judgment throne is set. The
judgment proceedings have commenced. The years have come in which God had long
ago promised that the principles of His righteous government should be
enforced, to the recompense of His people, the vindication of their wrongs, and
the overthrow of evil.
They had every assurance that such was the
Divine intention and that this was the period for its fulfilment. They could
not, therefore, understand why there should be delay. The thing had begun. Why
was it not at once carried to its consummation? They had sacrificed their lives
to this particular testimony, and everything had appeared to them in the very
article of the long-predicted fulfilment. How was it, then, that it now
tarried?
Even the titles by which they address the Lord show that this
was the feeling and spirit of their inquiry. It was not so much impatience that
their blood was not avenged as their perplexity about the hesitation that
seemed to retard the ongoing of what they knew had commenced. They do not
address Christ as the Saviour but as Despotes – the centre of irresistible
power already in force – the holy and true DESPOT now on His judicial
throne.
Their hearts are set, as they were in life, on the glorious
consummation begun before they were slain. They had died for their testimony
that the time for that consummation had come. As it still delayed and could
only be realised in the visitation of vengeance upon the wicked hosts who had
murdered them, they cry to the great and holy Avenger, to know why it tarried
and how long the suspense was to last. It was an utterance from the world of
disembodied saints, somewhat akin in feeling and meaning to that which John the
Baptist sent from his prison to the Saviour (Matthew 11:2-10).
It
shows us that the intermediate state is still an imperfect state and that the
proper hope of saints is connected with the resurrection of the body. Bede has
remarked upon this passage that "those souls which offered themselves a living
sacrifice to God, pray eternally for His coming to judgment. This is not from
any vindictive feeling against their enemies, but in a spirit of zeal and love
for God’s glory and justice, and for the coming of that day, when sin,
which is rebellion against Him, will be destroyed and their own bodies raised."
The Answer They Receive
Jehovah does not disdain to lend an ear to the cry of His faithful servants. He
is concerned for their rest, comfort, and right information, even while they
lie disembodied beneath His altar. The prayers of His people are always
precious before Him, and their peace He will ever consult. He heard the appeal
of His slain ones and came to minister to their souls the requisite comfort.
Living or dead, if we are faithful to God and His word, we shall not want for
any merciful grace and help appropriate to us. The Lord remembers us in our
sufferings and trials on earth, and He will not fail to come to us under the
altar, to comfort and establish us concerning His purposes and ways.
"There was given to each of them a white robe." Can lifeless shades and
non-existences receive white robes? Can spilled blood, dead and absorbed in the
earth, wear the livery of heaven? Yet these souls of slain ones received each
the celestial gown, even while their resurrection delayed. That gown was the
symbol of their justification – the Divine assurance of the truth and
acceptability of their testimony. It was the cheering token from the throne
that they were approved, and precious, and near to their Lord, and blessed with
His favour, notwithstanding that what they hoped and testified was still
deferred.
White robes, in such connections, are always the emblems of
Divine approval and blessed relationship with God. And the giving of them to
these zealous and anxious souls under the altar was the cheering proof of their
preciousness in the Master’s sight.
"And it was said to them..."
How could dead ashes hear and understand? Where was the use and meaning of
speaking promises to unconscious dust that knows not anything? Where is the
sense or intelligibility of such a converse if no living and wakeful beings are
concerned? God does not speak His comforts and promises to nothings. Yet it was
said to these souls of martyrs, in advance of their resurrection, "that they
should rest yet a little time."
This implies that they had been
resting and that their state was one of blessed repose and quiet, though
imperfect. The dead in the Lord are not wandering, melancholy ghosts. They are
experiencing the meaning of that sweetest word of our language – rest.
But after this rest comes a brighter day and a sublimer station. "Yet
a little time," these slain ones are told, and then that day will come. The
reason for the delay is also explained to them. Their number is not yet full,
and the world is not yet quite ripe for its doom. Hence it was said to them,
that they should rest yet a little time until their fellow-servants also, and
their brethren, shall have been completed, who are about to be slain, as also
they themselves [had been].
John is made to hear these words, because
they are a prophecy for the Church on earth as well as an explanation to the
souls waiting in heaven. They tell of continued persecution and bloody
sufferings for God’s witnesses among men.
Many good people are
wont to think the days for killing men on account of their religious principles
have long since passed, never to return. They flatter themselves that the world
has become too enlightened, too humane, too civilised, too much pervaded with a
reasonable and forbearing spirit, ever to repeat such scenes as were enacted by
Pagan rule or in the dark ages of Christendom. But they are entirely mistaken.
We may think the world has changed, but it still has that ancient
murderer for its god and prince, and its malignity towards the Lord’s
people, especially when they come to be sifted out from their present
adulterous intimacy with the world, will again head up into an intensity to
which there has been no parallel in the past. This fifth seal is a revelation
of nothing but slaughter for the saints, as regards this world and the times to
which it relates. It shows us slaughtered saints in heaven and tells of the
slaughter of many more. Elsewhere, in this book, we are advised of coming times
when an idol shall be the object of the world’s adoration, and as many as
will not worship it shall be killed (13:15).
This might seem to be but
poor consolation to these resting souls; yet a real consolation it was. It
assured them that they were not alone in the sufferings they had experienced.
Theirs was but the common lot of all faithful ones in those trying times.
Though they were dead, the cause in which they died still had representatives
who would stand to it unto death, as they had done. It stated that, though the
consummation was delayed yet for a little while, their sufferings were over,
and there was a flood of sorrow still to deluge the earth from which they now
were free.
Above all was the assurance, pervading and implied in each
particular, that what they had hoped and testified was presently to be
accomplished. Those white robes were the earnest of a more sublime life. Their
martyrdom for their steadfast maintenance of the truth was duly remembered and,
in a little while, should be fully requited to them and to the godless hosts
who had inflicted it. Their blood was not long to remain unavenged from them
that dwell on the earth.
The years of waiting and of suffering were
now on the margin of their close. Yet a little time and the consummation should
be complete. Yet a little while and the wicked should not be. The thrones were
already set; the work was really in progress. The time of the end had truly
come. After a short space more, they would be able to say, "I have seen the
wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay-tree; yet he
passed away, and he was not. I sought him, but he could not be found" (Psalm
37:35-36).
Striking and impressive is the fact here brought to view,
that that which the saints of all ages have been "looking for," and which has
been their "blessed hope" in every time of earthly trial and adversity –
"the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus
2:13-14) – is also the chief comfort and stay of the pious dead in their
heavenly rest. They rest, but their desire for the end still rises, and glows,
and pleads. And the chief element of the consolation that they receive is that
that consummation comes.
If the holy martyrs, in their white robes
under the heavenly altar, make so much of it and find their chief comfort in
the contemplation of its nearness, how unreasonable and unjust that we should
be accounted enthusiasts and fanatics for pointing to it as our hope and joy
amid these earthly tribulations? Why should it be branded as lunacy when we
wish and pray, with departed saints, that sin’s long war against the
majesty of heaven were over – that the rending strife of spiritual evil,
which has so long torn God’s world, should come to an end – that the
vast train of wrongs, with which Satan has been oppressing Heaven’s sons
and beautiful creations, should be done away?
Would it really be for
the peace, and piety, and consolation of the Church that all such interest
should cease and that all such testimony should be silenced? Would it really be
God’s kingdom come, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven if
all prayer and prophecy of coming and nearing judgment were to be hushed from
such a world as ours?
Or should we not rather be grateful that there
are on earth and will be, even in its darkest times, some to echo the spirit
which thrills in the hearts of departed souls, testifying to an evil and
adulterous generation, of a coming vengeance in order to a completed
redemption? Let men scowl and mutter their ill-timed reproaches, if they will.
Let them persecute, even unto death, those who hold it fast. There is in this
theme what constitutes the true hope of the saints, whether suffering in the
flesh or resting in heaven, and on account of which we may well ever "Thank
God, there’s still a vanguard fighting for the right!"