I invite your attention to the
last book in the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ,
chapter 6. My text is found in verses 9
through 11, and my message is titled, Christ Comforts His Martyrs. Revelation chapter 6 verses 9
through 11 reads in these words, 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. A few weeks ago, we expounded
Revelation chapters 4 and 5. And in the fourth and the fifth
chapters of the revelation of Jesus Christ, we read of God's
throne in heaven and of a scroll in His hand. That scroll is His
decree for all events, especially regarding His people in this
present age. But there was no one in heaven
who could open the scroll. It had seven seals around it. No man was worthy to open the
seals and show the decrees. So how are we going to know what's
going to happen in this day and age in which we live? Then Jesus
Christ The slain and worthy Lamb ascended to God's throne and
took the scroll out of God's hand and then began to open the
seals of that scroll. And with the opening of each
seal, a different event is revealed and brought forth unto us. Now
we here are looking at the fifth seal in verse 9. Indeed, my first
point is Christ's martyrs are the subject of the fifth seal. Verse 9. when he, that is Christ,
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. Now observe, we're looking at
the fifth seal. If there is a fifth seal, there
of necessity were four seals before it. And these are described
in the same sixth chapter of the revelation of Jesus Christ
in verses 1 through 8. Now, we have already looked at
these first four seals. They describe what we commonly
call the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, or the four horsemen
of the book of the Revelation. But let's look at them now again. In verse 1, chapter 6, Now I saw when the
Lamb opened one of the seals, That would be the first seal.
And I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a loud
voice like thunder, Come and see! And I looked, and behold,
a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown
was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer."
The rider on the white horse is Jesus Christ. He's going through
this world on his white horse at this present time. and he's
looking for God's elect who still are at enmity and at war against
him. And he conquers God's elect,
he in mercy and grace saves them and causes them to be his disciples. That's the first seal. Now the
second seal, verses 3 and 4. We read, When he, that is Christ,
opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying,
Come and see! And another horse, fiery red,
went out. And it was granted to the one
who sat on it to take peace from the earth. and that people should
kill one another. And there was given to him a
great sword. Now the rider on this red horse
of the second seal, he represents all who kill and slay the disciples
of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ goes out to
make disciples of his people, this rider on the red horse comes
along behind Jesus Christ and he tries to kill them. There
are many that have died for their faith in Jesus Christ because
of this rider on the red horse. Now we come to the third seal
and the third horseman, verse 5. When he opened the third seal,
I heard the third living creature say, Come and see! And I looked,
and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of
scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst
of the four living creatures saying, A quart of wheat for
a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and
do not harm the oil and the wine. Now, the rider on the red horse
comes along after the rider on the white horse. The rider on
the white horse is Christ. He's going out to save his people
and make them his disciples. The rider on the red horse comes
along behind him. He's going to try to kill them,
but he does not kill them all. Then behind him comes the rider
on the black horse, and he makes life miserable for those who
are not killed. He persecutes them. He does this
and that against them. Then we come to the fourth seal
and the rider on the fourth horse in verse number 7. When He, that
is Christ, opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the
fourth living creature saying, Come and see. And I looked, and
behold, a pale horse, and the name who sat on it was Death,
and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over
a fourth of the earth to kill with the sword, with hunger,
with death, and by the beasts of the earth." Not all Christ's disciples are
killed by the rider on the red horse. Those who were not killed suffer
persecution in their workplace, in the school, in the community. They suffer by the rider on the
black horse. This rider on the pale horse
is willing to kill great portions of mankind in order to kill some
of Christ's disciples. He wages war. He sends pestilences
and plagues and disease, epidemics and things like this. And all
of these are directed against Christ's disciples. They have
followed him. Now as you can see, Christ's
disciples, a lot of them have been murdered. Even right now,
across the world, Christ's disciples are being murdered. Particularly
in Africa, and the Middle East, and in Asia, where Muslims are
in control. They're killing people. Why?
They're Christians. They claim to follow Christ.
We're going to kill them. In those places, if you even
identify yourself as a Christian, they're going to try to kill
you. Not everyone is killed, but almost all of Jesus' disciples
suffer persecution. Now we come to the fifth seal. And I read it again. 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. These are the
ones who had been killed by the rider on the red horse, persecuted
by the rider on the black horse, and suffered many things by the
rider on the pale horse. And they cried with a loud voice,
These are the martyrs of Jesus Christ. These are the ones we're
considering here today. Look at that word testimony in
verse number nine. They were slain for the word
of God and for the testimony. Now that word in English, testimony,
is the Greek word martyria. and it means the witness of a
martyr. Now you have heard that word
martyr, M-A-R-T-Y-R, and actually our English word martyr is just
the Greek word martyr brought over into our language. What is a martyr? If you would
ask most people what a martyr is, Whether the religious or
the secular definition, they would say, that is someone who
suffers or is killed because of his beliefs. If you believe
in something, and it matters not what it is, if you are willing
to suffer for your beliefs, they call you a martyr. If you're
willing to die, not just willing, If you do suffer persecution,
if you do suffer death, they call you a martyr. You are not
a martyr unless you suffer death for what you believe. But that
definition goes beyond the biblical definition of the word martyr. A martyr in the biblical sense
is merely a witness who testifies of what he sees or hears or knows. Jesus said to all his apostles,
you shall be witnesses to me. And when he did that, he said,
you shall be martyrs to me. Now, not all of them were killed.
When the judge calls you to the stand in a court trial and you
are called to give witness, you are there as a martyr. That is
simply what a martyr is. A martyr is a witness. He testifies of what he has seen,
of what he has heard, and of what he knows. All Jesus Christ's
disciples are martyrs. Some of us will die for our testimony. The rest of us will die in our
testimony. And not all of us will be physically
slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which we hold.
But we're willing to do so. I want you to bear this in mind.
Jesus Christ judges us not merely by our outward deeds and actions. He judges us by the motives and
the intents of our heart. If you are willing to suffer
for Him, you have suffered for Him. If you are willing to be
slain for His testimony, you have been slain for His testimony. Furthermore, bear this in mind,
Jesus said, that a man who hates his brother without a cause is
guilty of murder. We think of murder as something
that has not been done unless we take a gun and shoot him to
death or take a knife and stab him to death. If we, in our mind,
look upon someone and say, I hate that person, and you do not have
a just cause for it, I hate that person, the Lord says, you're
guilty of murder. I wish that person were dead,
you may say. And the Lord says, you just murdered
him. God judges the intents and the thoughts of our heart and
not merely the deeds and the actions of our hands. When this
wicked world looks upon the witnesses of Jesus Christ and desires that
they be slain, they've slain them. They have slain them. If
you witness for Christ, And the world hates you because of your
witness. If they persecute you because
of your witness, you have been slain for your testimony and
the witness that you have given of Jesus Christ. You are a martyr. Consider here that John saw only
the souls of Christ's martyrs. He says, I saw the souls of these
people. Souls. Your soul is that spiritual
part inside of you. You cannot see it. I can see
your body that's physical. But I cannot see your soul that's
inside you. Now, when you die on this earth,
your body will fall to the ground and be buried, but your soul
will be taken to the heaven, into God's presence. Now, the
physical eye cannot see the soul, but it has substance. It's just
that the physical eye cannot see it. But the spiritual eye
in heaven can indeed see the soul. These souls in heaven are
not in their earthly bodies. Their bodies are down on earth
in the tombs, in the graves, scattered to the four winds.
But John says, I saw their souls. I saw the souls of those who
had been slain for the testimony of their Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. And remember that John was in
the spirit. He could see these souls. They
do not have bodies, but He can see the souls of all God's people,
and He sees the souls of His martyrs. Notice also that John
saw the souls of Christ's martyrs under the altar. Under the altar. Which altar? Well, here on earth. They have been slain on the altar
of religion and of Antichrist and of wickedness. They've been
slain on the altars of men. But there in heaven, their souls
are under another altar. It is a golden altar. That is
what it is described in another text in chapter 9, verse 13. And it is a golden altar that
is before God's throne. And God sits on His throne And
there in heaven, there is a golden altar that is there before him.
Now, this altar is an incense altar. There was one of those
in the tabernacle and in the temple. This incense would be
put onto this altar and it would be set to fire and it burned
and put out a sweet fragrance and put smoke into the tabernacle. These prayers of God's people
are represented by that incense. The prayers of God's people come
up from that altar, and He smells it, and He hears their prayers,
and He's mindful of their needs. John says, I saw the souls of
those who had been slain, and their souls were under the altar. They had been slain for the word
of God and for the testimony which they held. Now what is
the word of God? That is the very name of Jesus
Christ. They had testified of Jesus Christ. We can do this in our workplace. Our lives should be a living
testimony of Jesus Christ. The way we live should be done
in such a way that if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, people
should see it in the way you live and act. I mean, you can
tell if someone's a follower of the devil, they live like
the devil. But the witnesses of Christ speak
of Him at every opportunity that they have. They live their lives
in such a way as to bring honor and glory to Him. Now John says,
I saw the souls of those who had been slain under the altar. But I want you
to bear in mind that every witness, every martyr of Christ is under
that altar, at least their souls. They that have died, their souls
are under that altar in heaven because John in another place
in chapter 8 verse 3 declares that the prayers of all the saints
ascend from this altar as sweet incense unto God. Every one of
us that faithfully witnesses of Jesus Christ in this present
world and life. We are martyrs of Jesus Christ,
and when we have left this earth, our bodies returned to the earth
whence they came, our souls go to heaven, and there they are
under this golden altar that is before God, and our prayers
ascend from that altar into God's ears. The fact that all Christ's
people are His martyrs is indicated also in Revelation 20 verse 4. John says, I saw the souls of
those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for
the Word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image,
and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their
hands. and they lived and reigned with
Christ for a thousand years. This is the millennial reign
of Christ. This is that reign of Christ
even at this present age. This is that reign of Christ
that commenced when He took His throne as King in heaven, and
it will go until He returns to this earth for His people. Now
observe that all God's saints reign with Christ and all who
reign with Christ are martyrs. Second point is this. Christ's
martyrs cry for vengeance. Verse 10. 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? The martyrs cry for vengeance,
not revenge. There's a difference between
vengeance and revenge, and it is a difference that we need
to know. Revenge is inflicting pain or
harm in retaliation by one who feels himself to be a victim. It may be that someone does something
to you and you say, all right, I'll get back at him. And you
bide your time. You wait for the occasion and
then you strike. That's revenge. But that is not
what these martyrs cry for. They cry for vengeance. Vengeance
is punishing a wrongdoing with the intent of seeing justice
done. If you have something wrong done
against you, you are not to seek revenge, rather you are to let
the court see that vengeance is done, that justice is served,
and that is what these martyrs want. They're not wanting to
go out and get revenge, they're wanting the Lord to do the right
thing and avenge them. We do not avenge ourselves, for
we obey the exhortation, do not avenge yourselves, but rather
give place to wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I
will repay, says the Lord. Romans 12 verse 19. We read that
he will avenge the blood of his servants and render vengeance
to his adversaries. Deuteronomy 32 verse 43. So here are the martyrs. They
have been hated on this earth. They've been persecuted on this
earth. Some of them have been slain
for their testimony. Some have been burned at the
stake, crucified on crosses, had their heads cut off from
their bodies. They have suffered all kinds
of ignomies for the cause of Jesus Christ. And what happened
to them was unjust. That was not right. They did
not deserve to be killed in such a manner as that. They want justice
to be served. They want the glory of God's
name to be honored. And so they're crying out, How
long, O Lord, will it be? Until you do so. How long? Jesus commended a man who said,
Shall not God avenge his own elect who cry out day and night
to him? God's elect, oh. We have here a mother and a grandmother
today. And she has her daughter and
her grandson here with her. And she has a son in another
place and yet another son in another. I dare say she loves
her children and her grandson. What if somebody did something
wrong to this young girl right here? Just went up and just did
something wrong. Something that you did not deserve.
They just did something real bad to you. I dare say somebody's
gonna jump to your defense and it'll be that woman right there.
Because somebody did something wrong to her little girl. Well,
that's right. We expect that. What mother who
loves her daughter or her son would not come to see that justice
is served if some wrong is done against the child? And will not
God avenge His own elect that cry out to Him? Lord, do you
not see these injustices that are done against us? Do you not
see how the world is persecuting Your people? How long will it
be? It'll happen. It'll happen in
good time. We see this in verse number 11. Here's my third point. Christ
comforts his martyrs. Verse 11. 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. A robe was given to them. Now
remember, their bodies are still on earth, their souls have been
taken to heaven, but their bodies are still on earth, and so Jesus
is Just wait a while. Okay, just here. Put on this
robe. When you are taken to heaven,
you are given a robe to wear as a cloak or a garment for your
soul. Now, this robe is white. Actually,
the word white does not do justice to what this word actually means. It means dazzling white, lustrous
white. Heaven is a shining place, and
the garments are white, and that's befitting, because white is the
color of sinlessness and purity and holiness. White is appropriate
for all who are in heaven. Then the martyrs in their white
robes are told that they should rest a little while longer. Just
a little while longer. Now, heaven is a place of rest. Work on earth is done. No more
toil. No more labor. Heaven is a place
of rest. And the Lord says, now you just
rest a little longer. Lord, how much longer? Some of
these martyrs have been in heaven now for almost 2,000 years. Almost
2,000 years. Stephen is one of them, for example.
He was slain there in Jerusalem. All the Lord's Apostles, all
of them that were slain, and also John the Apostle. He was
not physically slain for his testimony, but he's there. He's one of the martyrs. They
have been there for almost 2,000 years. That's a long time. 2,000 years. And it is with good reason
they might say, Lord, how long? How long? It's been 2, almost
2,000 years. But what we need to remember
is this. One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a
thousand years is as one day. God does not treat time the way
that you and I do. So that if they have been in
heaven at rest for almost two thousand years, that in God's
schedule is a little less than two days. Now surely they can
wait a few more minutes. Jesus says, you just rest a little
while longer, just rest a little while longer, and your prayer
will be answered. They were told to rest until
both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren,
who would be killed as they were, was completed. Christ's martyrs
will not be avenged until Christ returns. And Christ will not
return until two things have happened. First, the number of
the martyrs' fellow servants must be completed. The text speaks
of their fellow servants. Now, who are they? The fellow
servants are God's elect still in rebellion against Him, and
Christ is going out on His white horse to save them. They become
the fellow servants of the martyrs, and He's not saved them all yet. There are still some of God's
elect who are in rebellion against Him, and Christ must go out and
find every one of them, and conquer them, and save them, and then
make their number complete. Save the very last one of them.
And these whom are fellow servants must become witnesses of Christ,
or martyrs of Christ. They must testify of Him. in order that they may be martyrs
and hated by the world. And when the last of God's elect
has been saved by Jesus Christ, when the last of these fellow
servants have testified of Christ and obtained a good testimony
for themselves, then Christ will return. We do not know how large
that number is and we do not know the day when Jesus Christ
will return, but God does. God does. When the number of
God's elect brought into the fold and made witnesses of Christ
has been completed, then Christ comes. And by the way, you can
read about that in the sixth and seventh seals. Now, someone
said, Rest a little longer. Just rest. Here, take this white
robe and you rest a little longer. I'll take care of all this."
Who said that? He's not identified by name.
but he is either Jesus Christ or someone representing him. Now this we know because he responds
to the martyr's prayer in verse 10. They said, Oh Lord, holy
and true. That's to whom they addressed
their prayer. Oh Lord, holy and true. Now look at that word Lord. It
is not the one that is usually translated Lord in the New Testament. It is the Greek word despotis. Now, we get our word despot from
that, and the word despot usually has a bad connotation. But the
word simply means the supreme ruler. The one who rules over
all the others. He is the despot. And the martyrs
are crying, how long, oh despot? How long? Who is the despot? It is Jesus Christ, for He is
King of kings and Lord of lords. And then they say, How long,
O Lord, holy and true? You must avenge our blood. You
are holy and You are true. You must do what is right and
truthful. How long will it be, O holy and
true? And again, This is Jesus Christ,
for He ascribes these two attributes to Himself when He says, These
things says He who is holy, He who is true. Revelation 3 verse
7. And His martyrs now implore Him
to judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. He will do so. We read in chapter
19, verse 11, that he will come in righteousness to judge and
to make war against those who made war against his witnesses. He'll do so. Right now, he says,
you just wait your time. You sit down in your white robe
and you just rest a little longer. Don't you worry. I'm gonna take
care of your enemies. They made war against you. I'm going to go and make war
against them. They will receive justice, and
I will avenge the blood that they have shed on this earth. You know what? He greatly comforts
his martyrs in heaven. Yes, he does. Oh, these are such
comforting words. These are also comforting words
to me, and I hope they are comforting words to you. These words declare
this to us. If you are a witness of Jesus
Christ, you are His martyr. Because that's what a martyr
is. A martyr is a witness for Jesus Christ. The wicked will persecute you.
They will hate you. But Christ will never forget
you. Never forget you! As surely as
a loving mother will come to the defense of her victimized
daughter, so surely will Christ come to the defense of his persecuted
people. He will receive you in glory.
give to you eternal rest, clothe you with the white robe, and
judge your enemies, and avenge your blood, because he is holy
and true, Lord of lords and king of kings. I take great comfort
in that. Oh, yes, I do. Oh, God, our father,
make witnesses of us. Let us be the martyrs of your
son. Let us testify of him, of his
free and sovereign grace, of his love and tender care, of
the glory of his gospel, of the glory of his person, of the glory
of his offices and all that he is and all that he does. Let
us testify of Jesus Christ and thereby be martyrs for him. And when the world hates us and
persecutes us, let us be comforted by the fact that Jesus says,
just wait a while, just wait a while, justice will be served. To your glory, in Jesus' name,
we humbly pray, amen.