Rev 6:9-11 The Witnesses That Were Slain 6/26/2005 ßà
#1. The Souls Under the Altar (Rev 6:9, Lev 4:7, 17:11)
#2. How Long, O Lord (Rev 6:10, Acts 7:60)
#3. The Answer to Their Prayers (Rev 6:11, Isa 1:18, Rev 19:11)
Please open your Bibles to the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Rev 6:9 (2X). Last week we have seen how The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse rode out into the world, sent by the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in the world, and how the same causes inflicted by the four horsemen do not produce the same effects. To those whom God elected to salvation these four horsemen are a blessing; to those who have not been elected to salvation these four horsemen are a curse. Today we will look at the people who were touched by the rider on the white horse, and were blessed by that experience. The title of today’s sermon is, “The Witnesses That Were Slain” (2X). Let us now read about these witnesses here in Rev 6:9-11, where the Lamb of God opened:
Re 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:
Re 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?
Re 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.
When the Lamb opened the first four seals we have already seen
that the words are symbolic and visionary. The vision is not for
a particular time in the future, or for any special period of time in the past
but it applies to the entire NT period of time. Likewise, this vision of
the souls under the altar does not apply to a specific period of time, but it
applies to the entire NT period of history. It is true that the sequence of
these seals is pointing to a certain progress in history, but it is not true
that the events belonging to these seals has already taken place in the past,
or are reserved for some time in the future. And to make sure that we do not
lose our trend of thought while we study these words that are highly symbolic
in nature, let us remember that the main goal of this prophecy is “The
Revelation of Jesus Christ”. The purpose of this prophecy is to show us a
clear view, as clear as possible, of Christ and of the second coming of Christ.
And thus, the vision of the fifth seal does not have the purpose to tell us if
the saints in heaven can see the people on the earth, or if the souls in heaven
are grieved by the sins of the people on earth, and so on. That is not the
purpose of this vision. But what we definitely see in this vision is that this
fifth seal speaks of martyrdom, of being slain for the Word of God and for
the testimony which the saints proclaim in the midst of this ungodly world.
And this martyrdom does not refer to any specific period in history. This
martyrdom occurs all throughout history, both in the OT as well as in the NT
period of time. Think for example of Abel, who was killed by his brother Cain.
Think of most the OT prophets who suffered violently at the hand of their
fellow Israelites. And was not John exiled to the Isle of Patmos for the Word
of God and for the testimony which he held, as we read in Rev 1:9? Think
of the many thousands who have been killed during the persecutions in the
#1. The Souls Under the Altar (Rev 6:9, Lev 4:7, 17:11)
Re 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:
What did John see? John saw an altar, and the altar he saw looked
like the altar of burnt offering, which originally stood in the outer
court of the temple. This is the altar that could be seen by the people,
whereas the altar of incense stood inside the temple before the Holy of Holies,
and could not be seen from the outside. Moreover, the souls that are under this
altar point to the shedding of blood, which is characteristic of the altar of
burnt offering, and not of the altar of incense. Moreover, under this altar of
burnt offering was a large basin, into which the blood of the sacrificial
animals was poured. Let me read to you Lev 4:7, “And the priest shall
put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense
before the LORD, which is in
the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the
bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is
at the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation”. And the sacrifices which were brought on
this altar were symbolic of reconciliation to the Lord God. But John does not
see the blood of animals under the altar, but the souls of men. Remember the
principle, “The life is in the blood” (Lev 17:11). And thus the
witnesses of Christ have laid their lives upon the altar of consecration to
their God and Savior Jesus Christ. They have fought the good fight and have
been faithful to the end. These were men and women who had been touched
by the rider on the white horse, so that they have been changed from
darkness into God’s marvellous light. They have been regenerated by the Spirit
of the Lord Jesus Christ, because He has earmarked them unto salvation by
paying for the guilt of their sins on the cross. They have been called by His
Word. They have obtained a glorious vision of the
You see, what they believed they also put into action. They did
not hide their light under a bushel, but they testified of it openly. When we
read about “the testimony which they held”, it does not refer to a testimony
which Christ gave of them before the Father in heaven. O No! They were killed
for the testimony which they held, and thus it was a testimony that they gave
of what they believed the Word of God says. And what they witnessed, we also
declare, because our witness is the same witness as of those who have been
slain and whose souls are presently under the altar. We witness that all
mankind is lost in himself because of his fallen and sinful state, and
therefore there is no hope for anyone outside of Christ Jesus and His cross. We
witness also of the necessity of regeneration before we can enter into the true
Please turn in your Bibles to the Second Epistle to Timothy, 2Tim 1:7 (2X). You find the Second Epistle to Timothy toward the end of the letters of the Apostle Paul, shortly before Hebrews, near the end of your Bibles. God is writing to us these words through the hand of the Apostle Paul writing this letter to his disciple Timothy, wherein he admonishes Timothy to use the gifts God has given him. God gave him not only the command, but He also gave him the things to say. He says in 2Tim 1:7-8,
2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2Ti 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
In this world we should not fear to be His witnesses, for God has given us the spirit of power (power over the Devil) and of love (loving the unlovable enemies of God), and God gave us a sound mind to believe what we read in the Bible. There are those who read, but do not believe, because God has not given them a sound mind. In their own natural mind they conceive a god and then they start to worship that god. Utterly silly! Absolute insanity! And so, paraphrased God says in verse 8, “Do not be afraid or ashamed to declare the truth of the Word of God, but be a partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel, for all this is under the control of the power of God”. All believers are commanded to be verbal witnesses of the Gospel and to be partakers of the afflictions of the Gospel. Now this is very important, because the Lord Jesus backs this up in Luke 9:26, where He says, “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels”. Is it not remarkable that here in 2Tim 1 in the following verse God gives us a summary of the Gospel that we must not be ashamed of, and that we must declare:
2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
Paraphrased
God says: “He SAVED us. On the cross He guaranteed our salvation. He saved US.
He did not pay for the sins of everyone in the whole world, but He saved only
US, His elect people. On the cross Christ paid only for the sins of all those
whom He elected unto salvation. Then He called us, with a holy irresistible calling,
whereby He regenerated our souls and made us able to hear His call. He did not
call us according to our good works, or according to something nice we were
going to do, for we have nothing to offer to God that is good enough. He did
not save us because God looked down the corridors of time and saw that we would
turn to Jesus, for then He would have saved us for a work that we would have
done. But He called us according to His own purpose and grace, according to the
good pleasure of His will. God will save whom He chooses to save. Our God is
sovereign. And His purpose and grace was given us before the world began, for “He
chose us before the foundation of the world”, according to Eph 1:4”.
This then was the Gospel that the faithful witnesses proclaimed, and this must
be the Gospel that we tell the world. We will be persecuted for declaring this.
You will find an innumerable host of souls under the altar, who were slain for
the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And what is the reason
for all this killing? It is simply the tremendous contrast between the
#2. How Long, O Lord (Rev 6:10, Acts 7:60)
Re 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?
Do these souls in a state of perfection cry out for vengeance? Is there a hatred within these souls for the enemies who killed them? But this is incongruous with the statement of Stephen, when he was stoned to death, he cried out, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”, as we find in Acts 7:60. And so, the cry of the souls under the altar is not a cry for vengeance, but for the final manifestation of justice and righteousness, and for the glory of their God. We have in this outcry a symbolism in the highest sense of the word. The altar under which they are found is visionary and symbolic. And thus the outcry must also be understood as visionary and symbolic. It is an outcry which ascends to the throne of God throughout all the history of the church in the world. It represents a longing for their final justification when they have received their glorified bodies, and for a just retribution on all the unsaved to remove all the unrighteous away from the presence of God. First of all, the saints under the altar address the Lord Jesus Christ, who is exalted at the right hand of God, and who is King over His church and the sovereign ruler over the whole world. Not to God directly, but to Jesus Christ their Lord do these saints address this outcry. It is not an expression of sinful longing for vengeance, but of just and necessary judgment. That is why they are addressing Him as “Holy and True”. According to His holiness, He cannot allow sin to have the victory. He must execute wrath against all iniquity, and injustice, and oppression of men. And according to His truth, He must reveal Himself as He is, in harmony with His holiness and with His justice against all sin and unrighteousness, in harmony with all things that we find in His Word. The souls under the altar, therefore, long and cry for nothing less than the perfect manifestation of the holiness and truth of their King and Master. For His glory they have suffered in the midst of the world at the hands of those that hate Christ. The enemies of Christ have not persecuted them for any unrighteousness that was found on them while they lived in this world, but only because they hated the Name of Jesus and were opposed to His cause in the world. They nailed Him to a tree and they thought that they had cast Him out of the world. But His saints are still on this earth. What the enemies of Christ can no longer do to Him personally, they now do against His people, against the saints who represent Him. And the principle of this persecution of the saints in the midst of the world is the same as that which motivated them in casting out the Christ. To harass, and persecute, and butcher the saints who are still in the world is their manifestation of their hatred against Jesus the Christ. And so, the holiness and truth of Christ is trampled under foot when the world kills His saints.
In the present world this hatred an enmity appears to be quite
victorious. It seems as if the enemy can kill and persecute the people of
God with impunity. And that is partly true. On this side of Judgment Day Christ
does not avenge the blood of His saints. Many years and centuries have elapsed,
and rivers of blood of the defenseless and of the innocent have flowed. And the
souls under the altar have always been crowded out of the world. But the world
still goes on. The enemies of Christ are still trampling under foot His saints,
and are still trampling under foot the truth and holiness of the Lord, and they
have never been punished for that. Therefore, this is the essential meaning of
the outcry of the saints under the altar. It is the blood of the saints that
cries out with a great voice. They are especially the souls of the NT
saints that are represented here under the altar. Think of the Apostles who
were killed for the testimony of Jesus which they proclaimed in an increasingly
hostile world. If that world was entertained by the sight of Christians being
torn up by lions, then we can say that it was a very hostile world. Their
blood has never been avenged. Then there are all the saints who followed
the Apostles throughout the history of the church. The Church of Rome, through
the Inquisition, made sure that they were severely tortured and burned at the
stake. It was the manifestation of the kingdom of the Devil in all its
wickedness and evil that this counterfeit kingdom could muster. Their blood
has never been avenged. In fact, all the saints of the NT era, as
they have suffered in the world for the sake of Christ, are represented by the
souls under the altar. Their blood must be avenged. The holiness and truth of
their Lord is at stake. Therefore, all history cries out for revenge and for
the final manifestation of the holiness and truth of the Lord. And so we
hear the outcry which swells and grows louder and stronger as time goes on,
a longing for the final day of Judgment, and a longing for the second coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven with all His saints. And what we now see is
that the opening of this fifth seal is an important step for the
completion of the
#3. The Answer to Their Prayers (Rev 6:11, Isa 1:18, Rev 19:11)
Re 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.
The saints are given a twofold answer. In the first place they receive a white robe. This white robe
is symbolic of
their glorified nature. White is the symbol of their justification in the blood
of the cross. All their sins have been covered and only white is outwardly
visible. God speaks of this covering by the blood of Christ in Isa 1:18,
“though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool”. White is also the symbol of
victory in battle. Just like the white horse and its rider is the symbol of
victory for the cause of Christ, so also is the white of these robes, given to
the souls under the altar, symbolic of the fact that they have conquered in
battle, the battle of faith. Moreover, in Rev 19:11 the Lord Jesus
Christ appears on a white horse to take possession of all the earth. And thus
we can surely say that white is symbolic of victory in battle. And thus,
the meaning of Rev 6:11 is as follows: The saints have suffered for the
cause of Christ. They have been put to death violently. Therefore, here upon
this earth their blood cries out for just revenge and for the manifestation of
the holiness and truth of Jesus Christ. But as the saints entered into their
blessed heaven they immediately received their white robes, robes that speak of
justification, and holiness, and purity, and victory. In the world they were
despised. In heaven they are glorified. In the world they were treated unjustly
and trampled under foot. In heaven they are justified the moment of their
entrance into the
In the second place the saints are told that they must wait a
little while. Their outcry was, “How Long, O Lord?” The answer they
received was, “Not yet, but within a short time”. Centuries have elapsed
since this was written, and yet these souls under the altar cry upon the earth.
In this prophecy of Revelation we are assured by the Lord Himself that He will
come quickly. We know that He comes as quickly as possible. There are some
tremendous events that must take place before the time is ripe for the coming
of the Lord. How long must they wait? Until their fellowservants and
brethren, that should be killed as they were, should have fulfilled their
course. And thus the time is not yet ripe for judgment. The world has not yet
shown its real character in all the hatred of its corruption. God said in Gen
15:16, “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full”, and God
waited more than 500 years before He brought judgment on the Amorites by the
hand of the children of
AMEN. Let us turn to the Lord in prayer.