[the fifth seal]
When the fifth seal was opened,
John 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). In its end-time fulfillment, the
fifth seal is the natural consequence
of the coming on the scene of the
four horses and their riders.
These forms of tyranny would naturally lead to much blood
shed, especially against
those having the conscience
and will to resist their
encroachments. And such are they who truly
have the Word of God and a living testimony. That which is
described under the fifth seal continues to the
end, as the intensity of
persecution and martyrdom increases as forces of
entrenched evil gain greater dominion
and boldness. Those initially martyred as the fifth
seal opens are pictured as saying, 'How
long; O Lord, holy and true do you not judge
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth?' (Rev. 6:10).
Therefore they are aware that judgment is being readied
against the forces that were
responsible for their death. But there is a time of
waiting, 'and white robes were given
to every one of them; and it
was said to them, that they should rest
yet for a little season,
until their fellow servants
also and their brethren, that should be killed as they
were, should be fulfilled.'
(Rev. 6:11). They are resting in that
realm
called paradise, clothed in
their purified
(white) soul bodies, waiting until the
first, or out-resurrection, from the
dead, when they will have their physical bodies restored
to them in glorified power, being received of the
Lord into His heavenly Kingdom. This shall
be at the final sound of the seventh trumpet when
the 'dead in Christ' are
raised and the living saints are changed (I Thess. 4:16-17).