The Fifth Seal

This seal discloses something very different. It is a distinct notice, that there have been saints on the earth since the rapture, some of whom have yielded up their lives as sacrifices to God for the truth’s sake. The apostle John says,
I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held {Rev. 6:9}.
This is very solemn. The removal of the saints from earth to heaven at the coming of the Lord, though it excite alarm and distress for a time, does not improve mankind. Soon again the enmity of the carnal mind is manifested; for His servants with a new testimony are martyred for the word of God.
We saw, in the fifth chapter, that some persons were praying on earth, while the elders were in heaven, having bowls full of incense, which are said to be
the prayers of saints {Rev. 5:8}:
Though “saints,” these are not “the Church,” indwelt by the Holy Ghost, and baptized into “one body”; but after the Church has been caught up to meet the Lord at His coming, the Spirit of God will move the hearts of a remnant of Israel — not all Israel, but a few, who have the hope of Messiah’s coming, and pray for the kingdom to be set up of which prophets prophesied. These will be God’s witnesses in the earth, who will go out among the Gentiles,
and declare the gospel of the kingdom {Matt. 4:23, 9:35; Mark 1:14}
among all nations. This will be their
testimony {Rev. 6:9},
and their authority, that which the Holy Spirit always gives
the word of God {Rev. 6:9}.
They will witness to Messiah’s coming to deliver His people Israel, and to reign as King over all the earth. We now wait for God’s Son from heaven, to be caught up to meet Him in the air, and so be for ever with the Lord; but they who are on the earth after this rapture will wait for Messiah coming in glory as Deliverer of Israel, to sit on the throne of David, reign before His ancients gloriously, and, like the true Solomon, bring in by judgment and power the promised day of the Lord, when all the earth shall be filled with His glory. This is the hope proper to a godly Jew. The difference in the two expectations is obvious. The former agrees with a heavenly standing, citizenship, and union with Christ ascended, as members of His body; the latter is consistent with those whose promise is blessing in the earth, and is suited to such when they are groaning under persecution, and sighing for present deliverance on earth, according to God’s promises to Abraham and his seed. The two expectations will be clear to those who carefully read and compare the last chapter of Malachi with the last chapter of Revelation.
Those in the fifth seal, then, clearly do not belong to the Church. The altar reminds us of the temple. Their cry is not for mercy on their enemies, but for vengeance. This, too, shows us that they are on Jewish ground. The Church of God is taught to love her enemies, and, like Jesus, to cry,
Father forgive them {Luke 23:34};
or, like Stephen on behalf of his murderers,
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge {Acts 7:60}.
Whereas these disembodied souls under the altar cry with a loud voice,
How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? {Rev. 6:10}.
Many judgments had been poured out from the hand of God on opening the previous seals, but their blood had not been avenged; and it nay be that their cry brings out the fearful signs and wonders, terror, distress, earthquakes, and lightnings, of the two next seals, and the terrible wrath that will be inflicted by the personal revelation of Christ Himself. Their cry, then, may hasten His revelation from heaven, in flaming fire to take vengeance, etc. His Church will accompany Him; for
when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory {see Col. 3:4}.
These “souls” had been God’s witnesses in the earth. In the face of frowning infidelity and ignorance, they contended that the earth belonged to God, and that the feet of Messiah would soon stand on the Mount of Olives, and all the earth be in subjection to Him. Like the experience of those in the book of Psalms, they expect God to judge and avenge in the earth, whereas we simply wait for God’s Son from heaven to take us to Himself.
These martyred ones know full well that vengeance will come, that God will make inquisition for blood, and judge
righteously in the earth; but it seems long to wait, and they cry, “How long?”
God answers their cry at once, by giving to each of them a white robe, in token of their standing in acceptance before Him, and by telling them that they must rest for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren should be killed as they were. This we find described in Rev. 13:7. It is well to see that the Lord calls them
brethren {Rev. 6:11};
and those who are spoken of as suffering, in Matt. 25:40, are also called “brethren,” which seems to refer to the same class and period.
These “souls,” having lost by faithful testimony their looked- for inheritance on earth, have it more than made up by living and reigning with Christ in the first resurrection. This is brought out in Rev. 20:4, where they are spoken of as
beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God.