OPENING OF THE FIFTH SEAL—PRAYER OF THE MARTYRED REMNANT
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls
of them that were 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, dost
thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? [Rev.
6:9–10].
And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of burnt sacrifice
the souls [Gr.: psuchas] of those slain on account of the Word of God, and on
account of the witness which they had; and they cried with a great voice,
saying, How long (until when) O Master, the Holy and True, dost Thou not judge
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth (earth dwellers)?
This altar is in heaven and is evidently where Christ offered His blood for the
sins of the world. I take the position that His literal blood is in heaven. Let
me confirm that with Hebrews 9:23–24 which says: “It was therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but
the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is
not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
The souls mentioned here are the Old Testament saints. As the Lord Jesus put it:
“That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the
world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood
of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto
you, It shall be required of this generation” (Luke 11:50–51).
Included with these are those who will be slain in the Great Tribulation period,
as we have already found that one–fourth of the population will be wiped out.
They are resting on solid Old Testament ground as they plead for justice on the
basis of God’s holy law. McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The
Prophecy (Revelation 6-13) (electronic ed., Vol. 59, pp. 48–49). Nashville:
Thomas Nelson.
SAINTS OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION REIGN WITH CHRIST ONE THOUSAND YEARS
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto
them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus,
and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his
image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;
and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.
This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the
second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and
shall reign with him a thousand years [Rev. 20:4–6].
And I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them;
and (I saw) the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus,
and for the Word of God; and whosoever worshiped not the wild beast neither his
image, and received not the mark upon their forehead, or upon their hand. And
they lived again and reigned with Christ one thousand years. This is the first
resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection;
over these the second death hath no authority [Gr.: exousian], but they shall be
priests of God and of the Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Many are going to die for Christ in the Great Tribulation period, but they will
live again and reign with Christ one thousand years. The Tribulation saints are
going to trade in three and one–half years for one thousand years. I would say
they are getting a pretty good deal. Those three and one–half years will be
rugged and terrible, but the thousand years are going to be wonderful—imagine
living and reigning with Christ upon this earth!
This prophecy is like any other prophecy in Scripture: “Knowing this first, that
no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” (2 Pet. 1:20).
That is, you cannot just lift out a verse of Scripture and base doctrine on it;
you need to have the corroboration of other Scriptures. When this passage here
is treated as a dignified statement of literal facts, it becomes reasonable, and
it fits into the entire program of prophecy which we have been following. Any
attempt to reduce it to the lowest common denominator of fanciful and figurative
symbols makes the passage an absurdity. To spiritualize this passage is to
disembowel all Scripture of vital meaning, making the interpretation of
Scripture a reductio ad absurdum.
The thrones are literal; the martyrs are literal; Jesus is literal; the Word of
God is literal; the Beast is literal; the image is literal; the mark of the
Beast is literal; their foreheads and their hands are literal; and the thousand
years are literal. It is all literal. A thousand years means a thousand years.
If God meant that it was eternal, I think He would have said so. If He meant it
was five hundred years, He would have said so. Cannot God say what He means? Of
course He can, and when He says a thousand years, He means a thousand years.
The Greek word for “resurrection” is anastasei, which means “to stand up, a
bodily resurrection.” It is rather difficult for a spirit to stand up, and those
who spiritualize this section are at a loss to explain just how a spirit stands
up! This is the same word used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 for the resurrection
of Christ and believers.
“And I saw thrones and they sat upon them” is the one statement that is not
entirely clear. Who are “they”? It is my judgment that they must be the total
number of those who have part in the first resurrection, which includes the
saved of all ages.
The first resurrection began with the resurrection of Christ. Then it is
followed by the resurrection (at the Rapture) of His church sometime more than
nineteen hundred years later—but before the Great Tribulation (see Rev. 4). At
the end of the Great Tribulation is the resurrection of both the Tribulation
saints (“the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus,
and for the Word of God; and whosoever worshiped not the wild beast”) and the
Old Testament saints (see Dan. 12:1–2). The diagram above gives the resurrection
as a parade. Christ, the firstfruits of resurrection, leads the parade.
It is a rather simple and naive notion to think that somehow or another the
world is going to end, Jesus will come, the dead will be raised, He will put the
good guys on one side and the bad guys on the other, they will move into
eternity, and that is it. My friend, God follows a very definite program; He
always has, and He moves intelligently.
The Tribulation saints and the Old Testament saints will evidently reign on this
earth with Christ. I believe that David will be His vicegerent. The church,
which is the bride of Christ, will reside in the New Jerusalem where she reigns
with Him from that exalted place and, I believe, over a great deal of God’s
creation. Christ will commute from the New Jerusalem to the old Jerusalem on
this earth. And I suppose that the church also will travel back and forth
between its heavenly home and the earth.
Multitudes of both Israel and the Gentiles will enter the Kingdom in natural
bodies, not having died. These are the ones, together with those who are born
during the Millennium, who are tested during this millennial period. As Christ
in a glorified body mingled with His apostles and followers, so the church in
glorified bodies will mingle with the multitudes in their natural bodies here on
the earth. In glorified bodies, the church will be able to move out into space.
That will be the first time I will do any space traveling. I can assure you of
that. Gravitation will not be able to grab me by my pants and pull me back to
the earth in that day.
“They shall be priests of God” refers to the entire nation of Israel. This was
God’s original purpose for Israel: “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of
priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the
children of Israel” (Exod. 19:6). Abraham was a priest in his family. Levi was
the priestly tribe, with the family of Aaron serving as high priest. In the
theocratic kingdom here on this earth, the entire nation of Israel will be
priests.
In Scripture there is more prophecy concerning the Millennium than of any other
period. The Kingdom was the theme of the Old Testament prophets. I do not know
how else you would interpret it. In our day we hear very little about the minor
prophets. There is a great silence, a great vacuum and void, when it comes to
the teaching of the minor prophets, yet all of them look forward to the
Millennium, that Kingdom which is coming on the earth. McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru
the Bible commentary: The Prophecy (Revelation 14-22) (electronic ed., Vol. 60,
pp. 147–151). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.