Part 5: Proof Texts (xii) Revelation 6:9-11

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)

While other passages do not explicitly say what most of us purport them to say, Revelation chapter six describes life after death but before the resurrection. In my opinion, if any Bible passage were to be used to support the idea of continued existence after death, it should be this one.

Nevertheless, upon reflection, I think there are some key points regarding the text that undermine our right to use it to establish such an important doctrine. The main point regards the book of which the statement is a part. Revelation comprises the visions given to the apostle John regarding ‘things which must shortly take place’ (1:1). It transpires to be a book about the future (at the very least from John’s perspective). The repetitive use of ‘like’ within the book serves to emphasise that John was seeing and hearing things that could not adequately be articulated to the reader. The future is therefore presented to us, via John, in visionary language. Irrespective of interpretation, this linguistic feature of the book seems to be acknowledged by all.

One imagines from John’s reaction to seeing the glorified Christ (1:17) that the Lord’s physical appearance was beyond frightening. One must also recognise, however, that, although He is described as having feet like fine brass, hair like white wool, a tongue like a two-edged sword and a voice like many waters, the Lord is more fearsome in appearance than what those words could ever communicate. If truth be told, our imaginations conjure up ridiculous images that probably make a mockery of what John saw.

It then becomes apparent that John saw visions that were not even visually represented as the events which would one day transpire. For example, does Revelation chapter twelve tell us that an actual woman clothed with the sun, moon and stars will give birth to a child who will be targeted by a dragon, before the woman herself flies into the wilderness with eagles’ wings? This is what John saw!

Will there be (or was there) an actual beast rising out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, who will be universally worshipped (Revelation 13)? This is what John saw! John saw the visions; he did not necessarily see the reality of what each vision represented.

This brings me to the vision of the fifth seal in chapter six. John saw ‘souls’ under the altar. Evidently these had been martyred for the proclamation of God’s message. Some kind of frustration was being expressed because their blood had not been avenged, after which (presumably) a representative of God assured them that justice would come. Their grievance was allayed by being clothing in white robes. For such a transaction to take place, the souls had to be alive. Those who are dead in entirety cannot carry out a conversation nor put on robes. Hence it is understandable why this text is used in support of the doctrine that says the saint goes to Heaven at the point of death in a permanent state of consciousness.

That said, Death probably does not ride a horse, and yet this occurs after the opening of the fourth seal (6:7-8). Nobody suggests that this is describing how the event will occur in actuality.

If the stars in the heavens literally fell to the earth, the planet would be extinct in an instant and there would be no need for all the men on earth to start speaking to rocks; and yet this is what John saw after the sixth seal was opened (6:12-17). Those who take the future literal interpretation of Revelation (including myself) have no difficulty in viewing this seal as describing catastrophic cosmic events, but few would argue that the sky will really look like a scroll being rolled up (v14). We accept that literal events are portrayed through figurative language.

Why then does the fifth seal have to be taken so literally as to describe an actual conversation that was/will be carried out in Heaven? Is there no validity to the suggestion that an ‘altar’ was present in the vision simply because the souls concerned had paid the ultimate price, just like a sacrificial animal within the Tabernacle or Temple? Or were these souls literally living under an altar in the heavenly Tabernacle, crying out for justice (calling into question the supposed bliss of their intermediate existence)?

Is there biblical significance to something being ‘under the altar’?

Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. (Leviticus 5:9)

In the Hebrew Levitical system of the Old Covenant, the blood of the sacrificial animal – the sin offering – was to be ‘drained out at the base of the altar’. Within the earthly tabernacle arrangement the altar here described was not in the Holy Sanctuary (‘Holiest of All’) but in the outer court (Exodus 40:1-8). A significance of the Holy Sanctuary is that this was a place into which only the High Priest could go – made even more significant because it prefigured the present-day ministry of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9). The souls ‘under the altar’ are therefore, for a start, not with the Lord Jesus. They are in a place from which animal remains are discarded.

If they were to be in Heaven one would hope that their experience of being the sacrifice had ended! Not only this, one would hope that frustration over God’s delayed vengeance would not be an issue. Is it not better to see the language describing the souls as those who are dead because of martyrdom, and nothing more than this? The giving of white robes could prefigure a post-resurrection event. 

Or were these souls (understood to be non-physical beings) actually clothed in physical white robes? If they were actually being clothed in white robes then ‘under the altar’ would be an odd place for this to occur – a place no doubt associated with disgust and foul stench. Could the language not simply be telling us that God recognises the sacrifices made for Him by the martyrs and will reward such people?
 
The account of Cain and Abel shows that there is certainly biblical precedent for ‘conversations’ between the dead and their Creator. However, this precedent is evidently of a linguistic nature. Abel’s blood did not have a voice but God recognised a death that was the result of obedience to Him and the recognition was described as if the blood were actually speaking. 

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. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.” (Genesis 4:8-10)

 

That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. (Matthew 23:35)

If there is no problem recognising this type of language in a book full of historic events but with relatively little use of figurative language and visions (Genesis), why is there a problem in recognising that the same is occurring in a book that is full of visions and figurative language (Revelation)? This seems to be a contradictory way of interpreting Revelation 6:9-11. If Abel’s blood did not actually cry in Genesis then why do the dead saints of Revelation have to actually cry? 

Though figurative language limits our knowledge of how the represented event will actually transpire, I believe that a future real event is nonetheless being described, that God will signal that the deaths of martyrs will be avenged in ‘a little while’, and that heavenly actions will be put into place to ensure that the faithful receive their reward. To say how this event will happen in actuality leads to speculation. But the vision is enough to ensure the reader that justice will be done.