This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to day four of our look together through Revelation
chapter six. It is a chapter as we're walking through it together that has some
truths that are hard to hear. Some truths that honestly I, probably you, would
rather ignore.

But I'm so glad God tells me the truth. And I am glad that he comforts me with
the fact that he's in control, he's with me in the midst of even these kind of
events. We're walking through these different seals and as we come to the fifth
seal, we pass through the four horsemen of the apocalypse and get to a different
description.

Verses nine to 11, listen to what happens. And then he opened the fifth seal. I
saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of
God and the testimony they had maintained.

They called out in a loud voice, how long sovereign Lord, holy and true, until
you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood. Then each of them
was given a white robe and they were told to wait a little longer until the
number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had
been was completed. Well, what is this seal about?

This fifth seal has the martyrs asking a question, how long? But as I read these
verses, it brings up a lot of questions for us too. So let's just go through the
questions that you might have about what's happening with this fifth seal.

First of all, who are these people? These martyrs. These are people described
who have lost their lives because of their testimony.

I believe that it is martyrs, people who have been killed for their faith of all
ages. Not just those who have lost their lives during the tribulation, but all
believers of all ages who have given their lives because of their faith in Jesus
Christ. Now, that's just a supposition based on the broad description that's
here.

It's going to be who God wants there, obviously. And some people think that it is
focused on those who lose their lives during this time of tribulation. Whoever
they are, they're people who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

They have given their life because they love Jesus Christ, literally given their
life. You may know that the Greek word for witnessing, martyrios, is the word
that we transliterate into the word martyr today. There is a sense in every time
that I witness that I'm giving my life for Jesus Christ, I'm risking my life by
sharing my faith.

That person might reject me. That person may not want to work with me. That person
may judge me simply because I've shared my faith with them.

But there's also an ultimate sense in which some people, beginning with the
first martyr, Stephen, have given their life because other people have
persecuted them for their faith. And here we see these people being honored.
They're under the altar.

What does that mean? What altar are they under? Well, there are two choices if
you're talking about the temple, and this is a picture of the temple of God.

There were two altars there. There was the altar of incense and the altar of
sacrifice. Whichever one it would be, they both have great pictures behind them.

The altar of sacrifice, they're not the sacrifice, obviously, Jesus is. Under
this altar, they're protected by the altar of sacrifice, by the gift of what
Jesus has given for them. Also, there's an expression of them being willing to
suffer as Jesus suffered.

They're suffering under the suffering of Jesus. I love that picture. In fact, it
says here that they had been slain because of the word of God.

Not just martyred, but slain. That is the Greek word, the sacrificial term, for
the slaughter of animals when they were sacrificed. These people who gave their
life for Christ, they're doing it because he has given his life for us.

That's an incredible picture. If it's the altar of incense, there's also an
awesome picture. It's the picture of the prayers of the saints that have gone up
again and again for the vindication of these martyrs of Christ.

When you prayed for someone who was suffering for their faith, when you prayed
for someone who might be facing a loss of their very life because they're
suffering for their faith in another country today, and they do lose their life,
they're still under this altar of all those prayers that were prayed for them.
I'm not sure exactly which altar they're under, but both of them express the
fact that God loves these people as he loves you. He loves them for their faith
in him through any and every circumstance.

As we continue to walk through these verses, another question that comes up for
many is, why are they asking the question they ask? They say, "How long, Lord,
"until you judge the inhabitants of the earth? " Why do they care about how
long?

They're with Jesus already. Why in the world should they care? And then other
people ask, I thought in heaven there was no time.

If there's no sense of time in heaven, why would anybody ask how long in heaven?
Well, first, it is not true that there's no sense of time at all in heaven. We
see many times in the book of Revelation, there is a sense of time in heaven.

No doubt about that. It's just that the sense of time in heaven is different
from the sense of time on earth. So if you've heard there's no time in heaven, I
don't believe that the Bible teaches that.

I think you'll see that as we walk through the book of Revelation. But I do
believe that time in heaven and on earth are very different things. That God has
a different timing than we'd ever have.

But then the question still comes, why are they concerned? Why do they care how
long? And these verses tell us, they give us the answer, they want their blood
to be avenged.

How long until you judge the inhabitants of the earth? How long till you avenge
their blood? And that brings up the number one question I hear people asking
about this verse.

Our research team, this was the number one question they asked. Why in the world
would these martyrs, these people who love Jesus Christ, want vengeance? God's
not a God of vengeance.

He tells us not to take vengeance. Why would they be asking for some kind of
vengeance? You need to understand the heart, the attitude that's behind this.

They call upon God to be the judge. They call upon God to be the one who
avenges. What they're calling for here is not some human form of vengeance.

What they're calling for here is justice. They're saying, when will justice be
done? Isn't that your question?

Isn't that the question every one of us have? And here are these Christian
martyrs in heaven, they're still asking this question, when will justice be
done? This is a question that in a very small way parents have when one of their
children gets judged at school, misjudged at school.

When is it going to be made right? How can I go to that teacher? How can I go to
that parent and make this right?

When will justice be done? When will this be seen for what it really is? We live
in a world today where those who live only for themselves, those who live only
for celebrity, they get splashed across the biggest newspaper headlines, they
get in all the magazines, they get the jets and the big islands and the big
vacations and the millions of dollars.

And those who give their lives for Jesus Christ, never in a newspaper, never in
a headline, never noticed. That's not justice. That's not right, that's upside
down.

And every one of us knows that. And so they are asking when will justice be
done? In an eternal sense, when will justice be done?

Every one of us wants justice. Every time you've seen someone take advantage of
someone else in your place of work and their lack of integrity has allowed them
to get a job or to take advantage of someone, your heart cries out when will
justice be done? Every time you look at world events, what's happening in world
history, and you see some dictator taking advantage of his or her people in such
a way that they're starving while this dictator's becoming rich, your heart
cries out when will justice be done?

Every time you look at the events of world history and you see Hitler or
Mussolini who at the end lost their lives, but justice wasn't done for all the
atrocities that they committed, your heart cries out when will justice be done?
That's what the heart of these martyrs was crying out. How long, when will
justice be done?

And God had an answer. First he gave them a white robe, tell them to recognize
who they are. We've been made holy in Jesus Christ.

We are new, we are fresh people in him. And then he said, you're going to wait a
little longer. And he says, I want you to wait.

Here's how long you're going to wait until the number of your fellow servants and
brothers who are to be killed has been completed. Was that justice? Is God just
waiting for more martyrs to come?

That's not the idea here. Martyrs come out of the fact that we are a witness.
And every time a witness is given, an opportunity is given for someone to come
to Christ.

So I read this not as more martyrs. I read this as the result of more martyrs.
The first martyr, that man by the name of Stephen, there was an apostle by the
name, an eventual apostle by the name of Paul.

Saul, he was named at the time, who watched Stephen give his life. And that was
one of the witnesses in his life that brought Paul to faith in Jesus Christ. So
when I hear about martyrs giving their lives, I also hear about people giving
their hearts to Jesus Christ.

Why does God wait? Why hasn't this world ended already? Because God is patient.

He is patient, waiting for more people to come to faith. So God says to these
martyrs, I'm waiting for justice to be done 'cause there's still more to be
brought into the family of God. Now, as we think about that today, as we pray
about that today, you might just pray for somebody that you know that needs to
cross that line.

If you're like me, it's easier to focus on justice, what's been done that's
wrong to me. Pray, God, please make it right. Let people see what's right.

But what about praying about the witness? Praying that God would use you, even
if you've been put in an unjust situation, to be a witness. These martyrs were
unjustly killed, but God used that to bring people to him.

How could God use your situation? Who do you need to be praying for right now in
that situation? God, bring my friend, bring my family member.

Bring them to come to know you as they see Christ in me, even through this. I
need you. I need to trust you through this.

And let people see Christ in me, I pray. In your name, Jesus. Amen.

Well, join us tomorrow. We're going to look together at the sixth sign.