7 Seals of REVELATION SERIES: Fifth Seal

 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the

testimony which they held and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

Revelation 6:9-11

The blood of the martyrs that the papacy killed during her reign now cry out for justice. God gives these martyrs a white robe and tells them to rest for a while until the number of the end time martyrs is complete.

Following the period of papal persecution, the time covered by this seal would begin when the Reformation began to undermine the papal fabrication, and restrain the persecuting power of the Roman Catholic Church.

Here observe, (1.) Where he saw them - under the altar; at the foot of the altar of incense, in the most holy place; (2.) What was the cause in which they suffered - the word of God and the testimony which they held, for believing the word of God, and attesting or confessing the truth of it; this profession of their faith they held fast without wavering, even though they died for it.

Q: How can dead souls cry out?
Genesis 4:3, 4: And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.  Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering. 

Note: Both Cain and Abel brought an offering to place on the altar of sacrifice. Besides bringing a grain offering, Abel also offered an animal sacrifice. Thus, Abel obeyed God and worshiped Him as He had commanded. Abel was righteous. The central issue of the story of Cain and Abel was obedience and worship.

Hebrews 11:4: By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness [marturía] that he was righteous, God testifying [marturía] of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. 

Note: Abel’s sacrifice gave witness. Remarkably, the word ‘witness’, used twice in this verse, is marturía from where we get the word ‘martyr’. Even after his death, Abel’s sacrifice gives witness or testimony of his faithfulness to God.

Genesis 4:8: Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Genesis 4:10: And He said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground. 

Note: Satan was the ringleader in Abel’s death: not as Cain who was

of the wicked one and murdered his brother, and why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. 1 John 3:12. The death of Abel was a great travesty in justice.

Abel’s blood cried out for vindication and justice. To all appearances, the unrighteous won and righteous lost. At some point, the record needed to be rectified. The blood of Abel symbolically cried out for reparation.

Hebrews 12:24: To Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. Note: The blood of Jesus speaks more powerfully than that of Abel. Abel’s blood cried out for justice, however, the blood of Jesus provides justice.

Leviticus 17:11: For the life [nephesh] of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Note: The Bible describes the death of the righteous at the hands of the wicked as an oblation or offering. In John 16:2 Jesus explained that those who would slay His followers would actually believe that they were offering God an act of worship. The word “service” in this text is latrein (where we get the word idolatry from) which is generally translated ‘service’ in the King James Version but actually means ‘worship’.

Significantly, Paul refers to his martyr’s death as a pouring out of sacrifice (2 Timothy 4:6-8). The death of the righteous at the hands of the wicked was a sweet savor unto God because it revealed the faithfulness of His people (Ephesians 5:2)

“In the thirteenth century was established that most terrible of all the engines of the papacy—the Inquisition. The prince of darkness wrought with the leaders of the papal hierarchy. In their secret councils Satan and his angels controlled the minds of evil men, while unseen in the midst stood an angel of God, taking the fearful record of their iniquitous decrees and writing the history of deeds too horrible to appear to human eyes. “Babylon the great” was “drunken with the blood of the saints.” The mangled forms of millions of martyrs cried to God for vengeance [notice the allusion to the fifth seal] upon that apostate power.” E.G.W.

*The fifth seal makes it clear that the crying out of the martyrs has two distinct historical stages—the martyrs of the past (those that the papacy killed during the fourth seal) and the martyrs of the future (those whom the papacy will kill when it resurrects from its deadly wound).  

*The conferral of the white robe is another way of expressing that the martyrs formed a character fit for heaven. In the investigative judgment, God will vindicate before the universe the martyrs who were faithful to Jesus and died for Him.

*The Second Stage of Martyrs Revelation 13:3: And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed and all the world marveled and followed the beast. After the deadly wound heals, the papacy will persecute a future group of martyrs as it did the martyrs of the past.

Summarizing: The papacy slew the saints of the Most High during the 1260 years and therefore their innocent blood symbolically cried out for justice and vindication. 

In 1844, God began to examine the case of each one. God assigned to the faithful martyrs white robes and told them to rest (in the grave) until the number of the future martyrs is complete. The Roman Catholic papacy, in union with apostate Protestantism during the little time of trouble preceding probation will slay the rest of the martyrs when the land beast heals the wound of the sea beast. Those who refuse to worship the beast and his image and to receive the mark will be slain (Revelation 20:4). God will then vindicate the end time martyrs and assign them white robes in the final stages of the judgment of the living.

The Protestant Reformation began its work. It began to be seen that the church was corrupt and disreputable, and those against whom it vented its rage were the good, the pure, and the true.

Drawn/taken from the book Daniel & Revelation by Uriah Smith---Study Guide by Stephen Bohr---Sermon by Walter Veith---Commentaries from Matthew Henry/Adam Clark---Revelation Made Clear