When the 5th seal was broken, John 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.
I guess you can say that writing this blog puts my life at risk. That's ok, I have always known the risk of defending and proclaiming the truth. The reward far out ways the consequences. With my love for Jesus, it has never been a conscern. One thing to notice is that it says that they maintained their testimony. Despite what might happen to them, they did not shy away from their testimony of Jesus.
John saw these souls crying out with a loud voice, saying,
"How long , O Lord, holy and true, wilt thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Those left on the earth who are quilty of killing and shedding the blood of the saints, will reap what they have sown.
The saints were each given a white robe, and were told that they should rest a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be complete also.
When it says that they are under the altar, it made me think as to why are they under the altar. Paul wrote in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians, in the 5th chapter, verse 8, "we are of good courage, I say, and to prefer rather to be absent from the body and too be at home with the Lord." What Paul is saying is that, for a believer, when they die their soul is present with the Lord. Then why do we see them under the altar? We find them in heaven, where the presence of the Lord is, but they are waiting in white robes under the altar for what? We know that they are waiting for the full number of martyrs to be complete, but why?
The altar is where the sacifices are made for the forgiveness of sins. We saw in Chapter 5, verse 6, that John saw a Lamb in the middle of the throne. The Lambs ( Jesus' ) blood that was slain on the altar of God, for the forgiveness of sin, is what allows us to come into His presence. We read that, though our sins are red like cremson, they will be white as snow. From His throne, when Jesus looks through His altar, where His blood flows red and looks at the believers red sin, He sees white. If you look at anything colored red though red glass, it is white. Thus the white robes.
John writes in Revelation Chapter 7, verse 14,
".....These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." The overcomers reward in the letter to the church in Sardis was that they would be clothed in white garments. Why are they waiting under the altar?
The Apostle Paul wrote this in his letter to the Ephesians in Chapter 5, verses 25 -27, when comparing the relationship between a man and his wife, to Jesus and the church.
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having clensed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless."
Jesus will return to call to himself a spotless and blameless bride, the church. Those under the altar are waiting because the bride is not yet complete. Jesus will not return for a bride that still has parts missing. Part of the bride is still on the earth with sinful bodies. So Jesus still has to view them through His blood to see them without sin. When the body is complete, then Jesus will return to call her to Himself.
This is what we have read in Paul's letter to the Thessalonian's in Chapter 4, verses 16 and 17,
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then those who are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord."
The dead are raised first because the souls of the dead are under the altar and their bodies are buried or in ashes throughout the earth. It will take a twinkle of an eye longer to transform their bodies to the new glorified bodies when they join up with their souls, since those who are still alive are intact with soul and body. Jesus will gather them all together ( One Body ) to Himself in the air, with their new glorified bodies, and there they shall always be with Him. They will be One with Him on His throne of rule. A creation that will be higher than the angels.
In Revelation Chapter 19, verses 7 and 8;
" Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made Herself ready." And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints."
What are the righteous acts of the saints? The main one is the act of receiving what Jesus did for them on the cross and coming under His blood and allowing Him to come into their hearts to make them a new creation.
In verses 11 and 14 John saw this;
" And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He will wage war............And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, where following Him on white horses."
So these souls will go from waiting under the altar, to receiving their new glorified bodies. They will then be given white horses to ride with Jesus, when Jesus comes to the earth to avenge the blood of the saints and to destroy those who are detroying the earth.
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