The Seven Seals
Seals 4,5,6,7

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Fifth Seal

 

Now that we have completed our overview of the seven seals, Let’s examine the fifth seal…

 

Revelation 6:9   When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

 

Revelation 6:10   They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

 

Revelation 6:11   Then each one of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

 

What is the fifth seal all about?

 

1.   When the fourth seal is broken, the Great Tribulation begins. About three years later, the fifth seal is broken open and there will be a great slaughter of the saints. Their slaughter coincides with the sixth trumpet.

 

“…. I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God [that is, they were faithful in obeying the Word of God] and the testimony they had maintained [that is, they would not surrender nor capitulate].”

 

What does this language mean --- “souls under the altar that had been slain?”

 

Some people use this text to demonstrate that when martyrs die for Jesus, they go to Heaven and live under the altar. They say, “John heard them speaking, so these martyrs must be alive.” If this text was the only text on the topic of what happens after death, that might be true. But, look at this text:

 

Genesis 4:9   Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

 

Genesis 4:10   The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.”

 

Did Abel’s blood audibly speak? No. The Lord used personification in the first chapter of the Bible to describe the justice that Abel’s innocent blood demanded and the same is true in the last chapters of the Bible. The innocent blood of martyr’s cries out for justice – from beneath the altar of burnt offering in Heaven.

 

Personification is a literary device. It is used to speak forcibly with few words. When an inanimate object is given the properties of a human being this is person-ification. Personification enables an inanimate object to identify with human feeling. In this particular case, the blood of martyrs cry out for justice!

 

“How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the wicked actions ofthe inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

 

Since the souls of the martyrs were seen under the alter, let’s examine 4 texts that concern the Altar of Burnt Offering.

 

Many people say the Altar of Burnt Offering is not seen in Heaven’s temple. This is not true. In fact, the Altar of Burnt Offering is the altar where these souls are crying out! How do we know this? Look at these Old Testament references and notice where the blood of sacrifices was put:

 

Leviticus 8:15   “Moses slaughtered the bull and took some of the blood, and with his finger he put it on all the horns of the alter to purify the alter. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. So he consecrated it to make atonement for it.”

 

Exodus 29:12   “Take some of the bull’s blood and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar.”

 

Leviticus 4:18   “He is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord in the Tent of Meeting. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.”

 

Leviticus 9:9   “His sons brought the blood to him, and he dipped his finger into  the blood and put it on the horns of the altar; the rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar.”

 

In the wilderness temple, the blood of animal sacrificeswas poured into a container that was kept at the base of the Altar of Burnt Offering. (Animals were not sacrificed nor was blood poured out at the base of the Altar of Incense.) When the container at the base of the altar became full, the blood was removed and buried in the ground.

 

The language, “I saw under the alter the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they maintained.” Indicates three things:

 

1.   These martyrs are sacrifices - this is the reason their souls are represented as being under the altar (of Burnt Offering) because that is the only place where the blood of sacrifices was stored.

 

2.   These martyrs die after the fourth seal is broken. In other words, this passage in Revelation is not concerned with martyrs who died through the centuries. These saints have not yet died. They will be martyredwhen the fifth seal is broken because they will take a bold and defiant stand against the demands of Babylon at that time. They would rather die than to disobey God and this is why they are killed: “…. Because of the word of God and the testimony (of Jesus) they had maintained.”

 

3.   Those who die under the fifth seal will be given the grace and faith necessary to take such a bold stand. This uncommon courage, this holy boldness will come as an enabling gift from Jesus. Jesus grants a martyrs faith when a martyrs faith is needed. What a Savior! 

 

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