When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I 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. (Revelation 6:9)
It is obvious if you review history and current events that maintaining a testimony anchored in the word of God can get you killed. Revelation 12:17 refers to these martyrs as “those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” It started with Jesus himself and continues on. These souls include James, John’s brother, Stephen, Paul, many, many others, and possibly in the future, you and me. “Maintaining” means preserving, upholding, supporting, defending, or vindicating God’s word. All bases are covered, and all these acts make you culpable.
As sure as I’m sitting here, if the truth were known, in the right setting, my head would be on the chopping block. You can see how low the bar is set. We’ll never know when the question will be asked, “do you believe in Jesus?” We know what the answer must be. Consequently, we live on borrowed time as Christ followers. Persecution and martyrdom seem to be closing in on those of us in “free” countries, even without the apparent initiation of the sequence of events presented in this passage. It can only get worse.
They cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10)
There is a finite number of those who will give of their lives for Christ (see verse 11 below). But here the number appears to have swelled to the point that even the martyrs in heaven had grown concerned. At the heart of the delay is God’s mercy. The martyr’s impact on his or her’s enemy is the Lord’s focus. In terms of time, martyrs for the cause of Christ will find instantaneous relief, but there remains the lingering gnawing impact of their deaths on the minds of their executioners. In Stephen’s case, the end result of what he did and said was the life and ministry of the Apostle Paul.
And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. (Revelation 6:11)
The white robe is not a consolation prize, but the heavenly garb of righteousness and purity. It assumes a body to put it on, so the martyr’s death on earth is immediately resolved in the safe confines of heaven. To this, Stephen gave us a glimpse. “But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55)
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