Vengeance Is Mine, I Will Repay, Saith the Lord.

Rom_12:19  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

 

 

Rev 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

 

John saw Jesus open the fifth seal and this time there was no beast to tell John to come and look. John immediately could see something without having to be told. There the astounding sight John saw were people, dead people, people who had died for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. The people were dead in an obvious fashion. Unlike the horses and riders in the previously opened seals, this symbolic sight, this vision given to John by Jesus was quite different. No horse, no rider taking that horse forward. These most obvious by sight dead people had died for the word God. How did John know that's how they died? He knew because God allowed him to discern that the times shown before where great persecution was represented that these were the result of that extended persecution. So great were the numbers of those martyred they needed to be portrayed as the greatest of the persecutions was halted, slowed under a new era.

 

Rev 6:10  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? 

 

These obviously dead martyrs, just like Abel's blood (Gen 4:10  … the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.) Were allowed a voice in this vision. They wanted their death's avenged. How long they wanted to know, how long would it be until what happened to them would be avenged, those who caused such unimaginable death in the name of Christianity, would be held accountable.

 

Rev 6:11  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. 

 

Remember this-

 

Rev 3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. 

Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment;

 

Walking in white, clothed in white raiment.

 

Rev 4:4  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. 

 

Clothed in white raiment.

 

White robes are white raiment- the fact is being clothed in the white raiment is being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The redeemed alone will be clothed in this white raiment no longer having to wear the filthy rags of their own righteousness.

 

Isa_64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

 

Those who die martyrs will be clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

 

Rev 6:11  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. 

 

After being given the robes, after John being assured that those dying under great persecution would not have died in vain, he hears the truth that they would not yet be with Christ. They would still sleep death's sleep. They are not given immortality just yet because there would be more, many more killed for their faith right until the time Christ allows no more of those who are His to be martyred. There will be a certain number of Christ's followers who will be living when Christ returns, but so many more will be dead. All of these will be raised at the last trump we are told, when Christ announces His return to redeem all who are His- dead (sleeping, resting) and living.

 

1Co_15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

 

*******
I'm going to insert here an excerpt from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith on this seal- it's very lengthy and informative.

 

VERSE 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, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11. And white

p 439 -- 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 fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

The events set forth as transpiring under the fifth seal are the crying of the martyrs for vengeance, and the giving to them of white robes. The questions that at once suggest themselves for solution are, Does this seal cover a period of time? and if so, what period? Where is the altar under which these souls were seen? What are these souls, and what is their condition? What is meant by their cry for vengeance? What is meant by white robes being given to them? When do they rest for a little season? and what is signified by their brethren being killed as they were? To all these questions we believe a satisfactory answer can be returned.

1. The Fifth Seal Covers a Period of Time. - It seems consistent that this seal, like all the others, should cover a period of time; and the date of its application cannot be mistaken, if the preceding seals have been rightly located. Following the period of the papal persecution, the time covered by this seal would commence when the Reformation began to undermine the antichristian papal fabric, and restrain the persecuting power of the Romish Church.

2. The Altar. - This cannot denote any altar in heaven, as it is evidently the place where these victims had been slain, - the altar of sacrifice. On this point, Dr. A. Clarke says: "A symbolical vision was exhibited, in which he saw an altar. And under it the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God - martyred for their attachment to Christianity - are represented as being newly slain as victims to idolatry and superstition. The altar is upon earth, not in heaven." A confirmation of this view is found in the fact that John is beholding scenes upon the earth. The souls are represented under the altar, just as victims slain upon it would pour out their blood beneath it, and fall by its side.

3. The Souls under the Altar. - This representation is popularly regarded as a strong proof of the doctrine of the disembodied and conscious state of the dead. Here, it is

p 440 -- claimed, are souls seen by John in a disembodied state; and they were conscious, and had knowledge of passing events; for they cried for vengeance on their persecutors. This view of the passages is inadmissible, for several reasons: (1) The popular view places these souls in heaven; but the altar of sacrifice on which they were slain, and beneath which they were seen, cannot be there. The only altar we read of in heaven is the altar of incense; but it would not be correct to represent victims just slain as under the altar of incense, as that altar was never devoted to such a use. (2) It would be repugnant to all our ideas of the heavenly state, to represent souls in heaven shut up under an altar. (3) Can we suppose that the idea of vengeance would reign so supreme in the minds of souls in heaven as to render them, despite the joy and glory of that ineffable state, dissatisfied and uneasy till vengeance was inflicted upon their enemies? Would they not rather rejoice that persecution raised its hand against them, and thus hastened them into the presence of their Redeemer, at whose right hand there is fulness of joy, and pleasuires forevermore? But, further, the popular view which puts these souls in heaven, puts the wicked at the same time in the lake of fire, writhing in unutterable torment, and in full view of the heavenly host. This, it is claimed, is proved by the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, as recorded in Luke 16. Now the souls brought to view under the fifth seal were those who had been slain under the preceding seal, scores of years, and most of them centuries, before. Beyond any question, their persecutors had all passed off the stage of action, and, according to the view under consideration, were suffering all the torments of hell right before their eyes.

Yet, as if not satisfied with this, they cry to God as though he were delaying vengeance on their murderers. What greater vengeance could they want? Or, if their persecutors were still on the earth, they must know that they would, in a few years at most, join the vast multitude daily pouring through the gate of death into the world of woe. Their amiability is put in no better light even by this supposition. One thing, at least, is evident: The popular theory concerning the condition of the

p 441 -- dead, righteous and wicked, cannot be correct; or the interpretation usually given to this passage is not correct; for they devour each other.

But it is urged that these souls must be conscious; for they cry to God. This argument would be of weight, were there no such figure of speech as personification. But while there is, it will be proper, on certain conditions, to attribute life, action, and intelligence to inanimate objects. Thus the blood of Abel is said to have cried to God from the ground. Gen. 4: 9, 10. The stone cried out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber answered it. Hab. 2:11. The hire of the laborers kept back by fraud cried, and the cry entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. James 5:4. So the souls mentioned in our text could cry, and not thereby be proved to be conscious.

The incongruity of the popular view on this verse is so apparent that Albert Barnes makes the following concession: "We are not to suppose that this literally occurred, and that John actually saw the souls of the martyrs beneath the altar, for the whole representation is symbolical; nor are we to suppose that the injured and the wronged in heaven actually pray for vengeance on those who wronged them, or that the redeemed in heaven will continue to pray with reference to things on earth; but it may be fairly inferred from this that there will be as real a remembrance of the wrongs of the persecuted, the injured, and the oppressed, as if such a prayer were offered there; and that the oppressor has as much to dread from the divine vengeance as if those whom he has injured should cry in heaven to the God who hears prayer, and who takes vengeance." - Notes on Revelation 6.

On such passages as this, the reader is misled by the popular definition of the word soul. From that definition, he is led to suppose that this text speaks of an immaterial, invisible, immortal essence in man, which soars into its coveted freedom on the death of its hindrance and clog, the mortal body. No instance of the occurrence of the word in the original Hebrew or Greek will sustain such a definition. It oftenest means life, and is not infrequently rendered person. It applies to the dead as well as to the living, as may be seen by reference

p 442 -- to Gen. 2:7, where the word living, need not have been expressed were life an inseparable attribute of the soul; and to Num. 19:13, where the Hebrew Concordance reads "dead soul." Moreover, these souls pray that their blood may be avenged, - an article which the immaterial soul, as popularly understood, is not supposed to possess. The word souls may be regarded as here meaning simply the martyrs, those who had been slain, the words souls of them being a periphrasis for the whole person. They were represented to John as having been slain upon the altar of papal sacrifice, on this earth, and lying dead beneath it. They certainly were not alive when John saw them under the fifth seal; for he again brings to view the same company, in almost the same language, and assures us that the first time they live after their martyrdom, is at the resurrection of the just. Rev. 20:4-6. Lying there, victims of papal bloodthirstiness and oppression, they cried to God for vengeance in the same manner that Abel's blood cried to him from the ground. Gen. 4:10.

4. The White Robes. - These were given as a partial answer to their cry, "How long, 0 Lord, ... dost thou not judge and avenge our blood?" How was it? - They had gone down to the grave in the most ignominious manner. Their lives had been misrepresented, their reputations tarnished, their names defamed, their motives maligned, and their graves covered with shame and reproach, as containing the dishonored dust of the most vile and despicable of characters. Thus the Church of Rome, which then molded the sentiment of the principal nations of the earth, spared no pains to make her victims an abhorring unto all flesh.

But the Reformation began its work. It began to be seen that the church was the corrupt and disreputable party, and those against whom it vented its rage were the good, the pure, and the true. The work went on among the most enlightened nations, the reputation of the church going down, and that of the martyrs coming up, until the corruptions of the papal abominations were fully exposed, and that huge system of iniquity stood forth before the world in all its naked deformity, while the martyrs were vindicated from all the aspersions under

p 443 -- which that antichristian church had sought to bury them. Then it was seen that they had suffered, not for being vile and criminal, but "for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held." Then their praises were sung, their virtues admired, their fortitude applauded, their names honored, and their memories cherished. White robes were thus given unto every one of them.

5. The Little Season. - The cruel work of Romanism did not altogether cease, even after the work of the Reformation had become wide-spread and well established. Not a few terrible outbursts of Romish hate and persecution were yet to be felt by the church. Multitudes more were to be punished as heretics, and to join the great army of martyrs. The full vindication of their cause was to be delayed a little season. And during this time, Rome added hundreds of thousands to the vast throng of whose blood she had already become guilty. (See Buck's Theological Dictionary, art. Persecution.) But the spirit of persecution was finally restrained; the cause of the martyrs was vindicated; and the "little season" of the fifth seal came to a close.