Page 86 - Heavenly Signs II by Mel Gable

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The faithful servants cry 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”? They plead for retribution against their persecutors. Therefore, this
cannot be “God’s Wrath or Day of the Lord.” This is because the martyred souls plead to God for judgment. We
are to be blessed when we are persecuted because of Christ according to the scripture in Matthew 5.

Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all
kinds of evil against you because of Me.”

12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.”
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It says that our reward in heaven will be great due to persecution on this earth. In Revelation 6, the multitude is
said to be souls “under the altar”. They are given to “each of them a white robe”. Notice, they are not wearing the white
robes. They are spirits without a body as of yet. This is evidence that the Rapture of the believer has not occurred
at this time, since they have not received their glorified bodies. Please see, the commentary by J. F. Walvoord
below that states the “Spirits without any substance could not wear robes.”

The Fifth Seal

REVELATION 6:9-11 6:9. With the opening of the fifth seal John had another revelation of heaven itself and his attention was
directed to souls pictured as under the altar and identified as those who had been slain because of the Word of God and the testimony
they had maintained. (For “under the altar,” see Ex. 29:12; Lev. 4:7.) These are obviously martyrs, mentioned in more detail in
Revelation 7. This makes it clear that souls will be saved in the Great Tribulation, but many of them will be martyred. 6:10-11.
They will cry out to the Lord, asking how long it will be before He will avenge them. In reply each is given a white robe and
informed that the Tribulation is not over and that others must be martyred before God’s judgment on the wicked and deliverance of
the righteous occurs at the Second Coming. This passage shows that the time period is the Great Tribulation, but not its end. Spirits
without any substance could not wear robes.
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However, in Revelation 7, the multitude is said to be standing “before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes.” This event occurs after the opening of the sixth seal by Christ. We will see later that this will occur in the
next month. It is why the martyred believers are asked to “rest for a little while longer.” The martyred are now seen
in their glorified bodies. Therefore, the Rapture must have occurred prior to the opening of the seventh seal,
which follows in Revelation 8. What is the meaning and purpose of the statement of “under the altar”?

Under the altar—As the blood of sacrificial victims slain on the altar was poured at the bottom of the altar, so the souls of those
sacrificed for Christ’s testimony are symbolically represented as under the altar, in heaven; for the life or animal soul is in the blood,
and blood is often represented as crying for vengeance (Ge 4:10). The altar in heaven, antitypical to the altar of sacrifice, is Christ
crucified. As it is the altar that sanctifies the gift, so it is Christ alone who makes our obedience, and even our sacrifice of life for the
truth, acceptable to God. The sacrificial altar was not in the sanctuary, but outside; so Christ’s literal sacrifice and the figurative
sacrifice of the martyrs took place, not in the heavenly sanctuary, but outside, here on earth. The only altar in heaven is that
antitypical to the temple altar of incense. The blood of the martyrs cries from the earth under Christ’s cross, whereon they may be
considered virtually to have been sacrificed; their souls cry from under the altar of incense, which is Christ in heaven, by whom alone
the incense of praise is accepted before God. They are under Christ, in His immediate presence, shut up unto Him in joyful eager
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expectancy until He shall come to raise the sleeping dead.

131 New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Mt 5:11–12). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

132 Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures
(Re 5:13–6:17). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
133 Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and
New Testaments (Re 6:9). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.