Lesson Two

The Fifth Seal - The Martyred Saints

Revelation 6: 8-11

A. Verse 8

- The slaughter of the saints occurs as a result of the slaughter of the first four seals.

B. Verse 9

- Heaven as the temple of God is a common Jewish thought (Hab 2:20; cf. Ps 18:6)

- “blood under the altar” is reference to altar of burnt offering; prayers directed at the altar is a reference of altar of incense.

- Burnt offering had the blood poured out at the base of Altar (Lev 4:7). The blood contained the life, or soul of the flesh (Lev 17:11).

- The souls of the martyrs were under the altar is a way of saying their ultimate deaths on earth are a sacrifice on the altar of heaven (from God’’s perspective). Paul followed this train of thought in 2 Tim 4:6; cf Phil 2:17).

- The martyrs had given up their lives because of the word of God and the testimony they had borne. Their testimony was not primarily their witness about Jesus but the witness that they had received from him (cf. Rev12:17; Rev 20:4). They gave their lives in faithfulness to God as revealed in and through Jesus Christ.

- Note that John knows nothing of a “rapture” of the church by which Christians are spared the tribulation that normally accompanies godly life (cf. 2 Tim 3:12). Rather they ascended to heaven through suffering and death as Jesus did.

C. Verse 10

- The question points out how it is going to get worse before it gets better. In God’s own time table, he will pour out his wrath on the unbelieving who will call frantically on the mountains and rocks to hide them.

- From beneath the altar rises the plea for vindication. The idea of divine vindication of the people of God is common in OT (Ps 79:10). This is not a personal desire for revenge but out of concern for the reputation of God. The real point at issue is not the relation of the martyrs to their accusers, but the validity of their faith.

- God is “holy and true” who will vindicate with integrity those who have given their lives for the cause of righteousness.

- Vindication (not bitter revenge) is the theme.

- The inhabitants of the earth = human race in its hostility to God. In verse 11:10, they are those who rejoice in the death of the two witnesses. In chapter 13, they are pictured as worshiping the beast (Rev 13: 8, 12) and in chapter 17 as intoxicated with the wine of the great prostitute’s adulterers (Rev 17: 2). Their names are not written in the book of life (Rev 17:8). and they are subject to the coming hour of trial (Rev 3:10; Rev 8:13).