Revelation 6:10, commentary and pictures

John is shown the souls of those slain for the word of God and for the testimony they held, lying beneath the altar and crying with a loud voice to the holy and true Lord, asking how long He will wait to judge and avenge their blood on those who dwell on the earth. The white robes given to each one declare them pure and holy with reproach removed, and their being told to rest for a little season means they must wait until their fellow servants and brethren who are to be killed as they were shall be fulfilled. God will bring just retribution upon their enemies so that persecution of His commandment-keepers cannot destroy them, and the cry is answered in the terrible judgments when the Lord punishes the inhabitants of the earth and the earth no longer covers her slain. That company includes the millions put to death under papal power and the faithful slain in the Waldensian valleys in dens and dungeons and hidden graves, whose blood cries for vengeance like the blood of Abel and who will be called forth by the Life-giver to walk with Him in white. The same cry becomes the prayer of every true child of God when His law is made void and national apostasy comes, and of the saints crying day and night for deliverance in the time of Jacob's trouble until they are delivered by the voice of God.

Vision Words and Setting

The vision belongs to the opening of the fifth seal, in which John is shown beneath the altar the souls of those slain for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ which they held. That company of the slain comes before the calling of those who are faithful and true out of Babylon described in Revelation 18. With a loud voice they ask the holy and true Lord how long He will delay judging and avenging their blood on those who dwell on the earth. It is the cry of God's faithful persecuted people for judgment, justice, and vindication against those who have persecuted them.

The passage stands within the unrolling of the book held in God's open hand. That book is the roll of the history of His providences and the prophetic history of nations and the church, containing His utterances, authority, commandments, laws, the whole symbolic counsel of the Eternal, and the history of all ruling powers in the nations, with in symbolic language the influence of every nation, tongue, and people from the beginning of earth's history to its close, written within and without. As the book is unrolled all who look upon it are filled with awe, and there are no blanks in the book and no space for more writing. The scene beneath the altar was presented as prophecy of what would be in a future period of time, not as reality already occurring at the time it was shown.

White robes were given to every one of them, meaning they are pronounced pure and holy. Those who have suffered for the truth's sake and have been maligned by Satan and his host shall be clothed with a change of raiment and their reproach shall be taken away. They were told to rest yet for a little season, meaning they must wait until their fellow servants and their brethren who should be killed as they were should be fulfilled.

Judgment and Vindication Answered

God will bring just retribution on the enemies of His faithful people, and persecution of those who keep His commandments will not destroy them or their influence. The cry for judgment and vengeance on the blood of the slain is answered by the terrible judgments of God described in Revelation 6 and 7. The Lord goes forth to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth discloses her blood and no more covers her slain.

That punishing work is carried out through commissioned angels with seven trumpets and culminates when the plagues come upon the wicked. Those punished are they who would not obey God but insulted Him and despised His mercies, upon whom hail about the weight of a talent falls. The cry for judgment and avenging is now held back by the patience of God, while each century of wickedness treasures up wrath against the day of wrath. Christ permits the wicked to fill up the measure of their fathers until their cup of iniquity is full, and when it is full it will be shown that wearing out God's patience brings tremendous consequences on the disobedient. That filling is hastened by the shortsighted policy of the nations through which priests and rulers restore the lost ascendancy of the man of sin.

At a crisis when the earth was filled with transgression and God's holy law lay prostrate, despised and trampled underfoot, the voices of those sacrificed to envy and hatred called beneath the altar for judgment and vengeance on them that dwell on the earth. All heaven was prepared to move to the help of His elect, with heavenly intelligences ready for a fearful manifestation of power and angels expecting justice in punishment of the inhabitants of the earth. One word would have brought fire and flame, thunderings and lightnings, earthquakes and destruction. Instead in amazing grace God sent His Son not to condemn the world but to save the world as the propitiation for sins.

The cry is that of those killed for God's word and the testimony of Jesus and of oppressed keepers of His commandments when His law is made void, with their blood crying from graves and places of burial for Him to judge and avenge. It is the prayer that will ascend from every true child of God when national apostasy comes, when Roman Catholic principles are taken under the care and protection of the state, when Protestants work upon rulers to restore the man of sin, and when the protest of Bible truth will no longer be tolerated by those who have not made God's law their rule. Then the How long cry becomes, It is time for Thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void Thy law, calling Him to interpose, hear, protect and vindicate. It follows the final apostasy and persecution when the nation's iniquity is full and God's people enter the time of Jacob's trouble.

The same cry is the saints crying day and night with anguish of spirit for deliverance in the time of Jacob's trouble when a decree goes forth to slay them. It is answered when they are delivered by the voice of God. Then the 144,000 triumph with faces lighted by God's glory.

Martyrs History and Glory

The cry for justice and vengeance belongs to the millions put to death under the Inquisition, whose suffering calls for judgment upon the power that shed their blood. Their blood cries out against the papal power that persecuted them and against apostate Babylon as responsible for shedding the blood of the saints.

Like the blood of Abel, the blood of slaughtered martyrs cries from the ground to God for vengeance, and the ground where they fell was sanctified by it. This is especially true of those put to death by Roman power in the Waldensian valleys, who hid in mountains, rocky caverns, dens, caves, dungeons, and pits beneath monasteries, with some dying in exile, by starvation, by cruel torture and slaughter. They walked with God, valued integrity of soul toward Him above ease, property, and life itself, and counted not their lives dear unto themselves. Their vindication comes on God's great retributive day of judgment, when the Life-giver calls them to life with the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God, and they come forth from their hidden graves to walk with Him in white because they are found worthy.

They are Christians killed in cruel persecution for remaining faithful to God and for preserving the purity of their religion, pursued by authorities who thirsted for their blood. God looks upon them with approval, and their suffering increases their reward in heaven. Their deaths do not separate them from Christ or His kingdom, and their faithfulness strengthens the church, while Satan rejoices over their suffering and seeks both to persecute the church and to corrupt it.

The same cry points to loyal ones in the end time who stay true and will not worship the beast or his image and will not accept and revere an idol sabbath. They pass through anguish in the time of trouble, in great distress, poverty, and hatred from the world, and then are vindicated when heaven opens. They are seen close about the throne of God among ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands upon thousands, the very ones so recently in abject misery, unknown, hated and despised by the world, now revealed and exalted around the throne.

Those slain for Jesus are shown honored among the redeemed in the heavenly world and in the new earth, wearing brilliant crowns and pure white robes with a red border as they travel toward Mount Zion. An innumerable company of little ones is seen with them in garments with a red hem, sharing in the glories of the new earth. The day of God will reveal the harvest of souls gathered through the faithful labor of those who carried the word and through the witness borne by blood shed for the truth.

The words How long, O Lord, how long have also been borrowed as the imagined cry of the lost while suffering in an eternally burning hell, with God's answer given as torment continuing forever and through all eternity. That frightening portrayal of endless torment is questioned as lacking proper authority and as misrepresenting God's character, and as a terrifying teaching that distorted His character and caused intense fear and despair.