Purpose
In the fifth seal, the souls of those who have been killed for their faith are under the altar, crying out to God for revenge. But they are given white robes and told to wait until their fellow brethren, who are to be killed as they were, are completed.
This seems to support the idea that people have immortal and conscious souls that continue to live after death. However, the previous article discussed this and concluded that the “souls underneath the altar” are not literal people under a literal altar. Rather, it uses an Old Testament sacrificial ritual to symbolize that God’s people have been sacrificed on a symbolic altar. Their cry to God symbolizes God’s awareness of the suffering of His people and His desire to restore justice. That article covered many of the concepts in the fifth seal and should be read before the current article (Read Article).
The purpose of the current article is to determine what the fifth seal means. Does it describe a specific event in history? What are the white robes given to God’s people? Does the seal say we must wait for a specific number of people to be killed before Christ may return?
Overview
Previous articles concluded that the four horsemen of the first four seals (Rev 6:1-8) describe the Church Age. The white horse of the first is the gospel going out. (Read Article) The three horses in the next three seals are the consequences of preaching the gospel, namely, persecution of God’s witnesses (second seal), causing famine for the Word of God (third seal), and resulting in spiritual death (fourth seal). (Read Article)
The first and sixth seals begin with the words “and I saw,” meaning that these are the beginning of two sections of the vision, which also means that the fifth seal belongs with the first four. However, since it does not have a horse and does not cause calamities, it is different from the previous four.
This is not only the injustice to the people of God who have been killed that calls out to God but all persecution of God’s people. This cry does not go out at a specific time but always.
In response to their cry, the “souls” are given white robes, symbolizing redemption (acceptance by God), and told to rest a little while longer until their fellow servants, who must be killed as they were, are completed. Translations often imply that a certain number of God’s people must be killed. However, it means that God’s people must overcome. This is explained by the wider context:
When He arrived in heaven after He had been resurrected, Jesus Christ received a book that was sealed with seven seals (Rev 5:7). (Read Article)
This is the Book of Life, identifying the people God has chosen for eternal life. The seals are Satan’s accusations against them. By accusing God’s elect, he effectively accuses God of unfair judgment. The book is sealed in the sense that nobody was able to refute Satan and show that God’s judgments (who will live and who will die) are always perfect. (Read Article) However, by overcoming, Jesus earned the right to break the seals and open the book (Rev 5:5).
Revelation 6, 7, and 8:1 describe what happens when Jesus breaks the seals. Breaking the seals means showing that Satan’s accusations are unfounded and that God’s judgments are perfect. Christ has not yet returned because Satan’s accusations have not yet been fully refuted and because God will not execute His judgments until they are understood. Particularly through the end-time crisis, Jesus will prove that God judges perfectly, namely, that God’s elect are worthy of election and no other person is.
This is what the “souls underneath the altar” must wait for.
Like the cry of the souls goes out all the time, the command to wait a little longer also goes out all the time. In Revelation, people receive white robes while alive (Rev 3:4; 7:14). Therefore, this is also not a specific event. In conclusion, the fifth seal is a general principle, which is also the central theme of the vision of the sealed book, namely that the suffering of God’s people is necessary to validate God’s judgments. (Read Article)
6:9
| When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; |
| This is the altar of burnt offerings. |
This is the fifth of the seven seals of the book Christ received in Revelation 5:1, 7. The “Lamb” is Jesus Christ (Rev 5:6).
There were two altars in the ancient Jewish temple. The altar of incense was inside the temple but the very large altar of burnt offerings was outside the temple in the center of the courtyard. Smoke from this altar would rise over the city. Since the “souls” are symbolically underneath the altar, the altar here is the altar of burnt offerings (See previous article).
6:10
| and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” |
| The cry to God is not from literal people. The cruelty of God’s enemies calls out for justice. |
This is another indication that these are not literal people under a literal altar. God’s people do not seek revenge (Acts 7:60; Luke 23:34). God said that the blood of Abel cried out to Him from the ground (Gen 4:10). It was not Abel who cried out but the injustice done to Abel. In the same way, it is the injustice to God’s people that cry out to Him to set things right. (See previous article)
| God’s people have always been crying, How long?” |
“How long” is a cry of protest over persecution. People suffer, but God does not seem to be doing anything. All believers of all ages ask this question. [Show More]
| Revelation uses the title “lord” for God and Jesus and the 24 elders. It means ‘master.’ |
It is not clear whether “Lord” here addresses God or Christ. Revelation clearly distinguishes between God and Jesus but refers to both as “Lord.” [Show More]
Since, in our verse, the souls call for revenge, and since God is later praised for revenging the blood of His people Rev 19:1), the “souls” under the altar probably address God.
John also addressed one of the elders as “lord” (Rev 7:14). In the Greek, it is the same word (kurios). Whether the first letter is capitalized depends on who it refers to.
| The phrase “holy and true” may refer to God or Jesus. |
“Holy and true” recalls how Jesus introduced Himself to the church in Philadelphia (Rev 3:7). Furthermore, the word for “holy” in Revelation 6:10 is hagios, which means ‘set apart’ by God, and is a more appropriate choice for Christ than for God.
On the other hand, Revelation says of the “Lord God, the Almighty … You alone are holy” (Rev 15:3-4; cf. Rev 16:5), and the title “Almighty” refers exclusively to the Father (e.g., Rev 21:22). As the One who exists without a cause, the Almighty is truly different from all else.
The word for true means the perfect realization of an idea. For example, Moses gave the Israelites bread, but Jesus is the true bread (John 6:31-32). Israel was the vine of God’s planting (Psa 80:8; Isa 5:1-7), but Christ is the true vine (John 15:1). The Bible refers to Jesus as theos (God or god) several times (Read Article), but the Father is “the only true God” (John 17:3).
| The cry of the souls will be answered with God’s judgment on Babylon. |
Revelation 19:1-2 uses the same words “judge” and “avenge” when “a great multitude in heaven” says:
“He has judged the great harlot … He has
avenged the blood of his bond-servants on her.”
This great multitude, therefore, praises God for answering the cry in the fifth seal. Revelation 19 is a continuation of the seventh plague, which was God’s judgment on Babylon (Rev 16:19), who killed all of God’s people (Rev 18:24). Therefore, God’s judgment of Babylon is the answer to the cry of the souls under the altar. [Show More]
| The phrase “those who dwell on the earth” always refers to God’s enemies on Earth. |
The Book of Revelation uses this phrase consistently for those who oppose God and His people (Rev 1:10; 8:13; 11:10; 13:8, 14; 17:2). In contrast, God’s people are represented as “those who live in heaven” (Rev 13:6; cf. 14:3; 15:2). [Show More]
6:11
| And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. |
| A white robe symbolizes redemption. |
The robe (Gr. stolê) is a long, flowing robe (Luke 15:22; 20:46) that is also worn by angels (Mark 16:5) and by Jesus (Rev 1:13).
Revelation always associates the color white with God and His people. (See first seal.) White robes are a sign of acceptance by God. For example, “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life” (Rev 3:4-5). [Show More]
White and “clean” have the same meaning (Rev 7:14) and are the opposite of “soiled” (Rev 3:4). [Show More]
| The souls are “resting,” a term used in Daniel and Revelation to describe death as a sleep. |
The souls under the altar were told to rest for a little while longer. This implies that they have been resting and currently still are resting. It is the injustice they suffered that cries out to God, not living beings. “Rest” means that they are sleeping. [Show More]
| From an earthly perspective, the time is not short. |
The phrase “little while” occurs again in Revelation 20:3, saying that Satan, at the end of the millennium, will be loosed for a short time from his chains in the Abyss. Revelation always describes time as short (Rev 1:1, 3, and 12:12). The time on this earth is short compared to what must be achieved in that time. Therefore, this verse’s “little while” should not be taken literally.
| The “souls” must wait, not until a specific number of saints are killed but until God’s people are proven. |
The souls under the altar are told to continue resting until the number of their fellow servants to be killed has been completed (Rev 6:11). But the phrase “number of” does not appear in the Greek. It just says they must wait until their fellow servants have been completed. [Show More]
For the following reasons, it is proposed that “completed” should be understood qualitatively (in character), not quantitatively (a specific number):
1) If John meant that a certain “number” must be killed, he would probably have said so.
2) These same “fellow servants” are described as an innumerable multitude before God’s throne. But the innumerable multitude “no one could count” (Rev 7:9). So, the exact number seems unimportant. [Show More]
3) Would a God of love arbitrarily decree that a fixed number of His people must be killed before Christ may return?
4) There are many indications in Revelation that God’s end-time people will be made ‘complete’ in character (spiritually mature) before Christ returns. [Show More]
God’s end-time people will not be without sin, but they will be completely loyal to God as David apparently was despite his flaws (1 Kings 11:4-6). [Show More]
| The cry of the souls, “How long,” is not a specific event but timeless. |
The souls under the altar cry out for revenge (Rev 6:10). But they are given white robes and told to wait a little longer (Rev 6:11). Is this a specific event at a particular time or a general principle?
God’s people would not seek revenge, as they are symbolized to do in the fifth seal. Rather, like Jesus and Stephan, they would say:
“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34)!
Therefore, as stated, the fifth seal is not literal people crying out for revenge. Instead, like Abel’s blood that cried out to God from the ground (Gen 4:10), it is the injustice done to God’s people that cries out to God to set things right. This is not limited to a specific point in time but happens all the time.
| The entire fifth seal is not a specific event but timeless. |
There is a progression in the seals. As stated:
The white horse of the first seal symbolizes the gospel going out.
The sword of the red horse of the second seal is the consequence of preaching the gospel, namely, the persecution of God’s people.
The black horse of the third seal is the consequence of the second, namely, a famine for the Word of God.
The pale horse of the fourth seal is spiritual death, which is the consequence of the third.
However, this is a logical progression, not a historical one, meaning that this sequence can occur at any time and place. One cannot allocate these to four specific periods in history. Similarly, the cry of the souls is not a particular event. In Revelation, people receive their robes while alive (e.g., Rev 3:4-5, 18; 7:7-14; 16:15; 19:7-8) and, therefore, not a specific event in history. The same applies to the command to wait a little while longer. Thus, the entire fifth seal is timeless. [Show More]
Other Articles
The Seven Seals
Other
- I recommend Jon Paulien’s commentary on Revelation for further reading. For general theological discussions, I recommend Graham Maxwell, who you will find on the Pineknoll website.
The word translated as “soul” (