Who are these martyrs? If we continue drawing parallels with the Lord Jesus’ ‘discourse on the last things’, the great tribulation He speaks about has yet to come. In that case they must be people who have been killed during the past centuries—slaughtered Jews and slaughtered Christians, one group because of the Word of God, the other because of the testimony of Jesus and the Word of God? Looking closer to this group: they address the Lord as ‘Despotes’, not as ‘Kurios’, that is, as ‘Ruler’ and not as ‘Lord’. They call for revenge, as in the Old Testament Psalms of revenge. And another question sometimes people ask is whether the altar with the souls under it is really situated in Heaven? Or on earth, as the altar of sacrifice stood in the forecourt, outside the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies or in the earth? Were they slaughtered on earth and are they still in the Paradise section1 of the realm of the dead in the earth, like poor Lazarus? Or did Christ, at His ascension, take these souls, as ‘prisoners of war’2 with Him to the Paradise in Heaven? Questions can sometimes go too far—questions such as whether the shaft of the bottomless pit, the abyss,3 is situated in the fiery core of the earth and if this perhaps is also the location of the separation—the great chasm4—between the Paradise section and the pain section in the story of the rich man and Lazarus? And is ‘gehenna’, hell, there as well?5 What about ‘tartarus’, the abyss for the fallen angels?6 Maybe we should learn to think more in multiple dimensions than in trying to find locations in our four-dimensional Universe! This much is certain – the souls of those who have been slaughtered are safe with God, in His realm of existence. In Heaven. They are given white robes and they have still to rest for a short time, until the great day of the resurrection of the body. Until the number of their fellow servants—fellow brethren, who also will die as martyrs—has been completed. In other words, they wait until sin has reached its full measure.
The blood calls to God from the earth.7 This already started with the first murder of a righteous person, Abel. That blood has been calling throughout all the centuries, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of “Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar”8—the blood of the martyrs of Hebrews 11:32–38, who were tortured, scourged, stoned, sawn in two, murdered with the sword. Will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night?9 This great multitude includes countless innocent people being killed over the centuries, the final great streams of martyrs at the end of this part of world history and in the future such as the six million victims of the Holocaust, the Christians murdered in Russia and China during the last century, and those who will follow during the trials and tribulations to come, and in the Great Tribulation. And what about the millions of babies killed in their mothers’ womb by abortion? Will they be among them? To me that is absolutely sure! ‘How long, Lord, will you look on?’ ‘Not to us, Lord, not to us but to Your Name.’10 Just rest, just for a short while, is the answer they get. For first the hundred and forty-four thousand people sealed from Israel,11 then the multitude no one could count,12 and then …
• ‘Those who inhabit the earth’ is the expression for the corrupt generation of mankind in its rebellion against God. Compare Revelation 3:10, 11:10, 13:8, 12 and 14, 14:6 and 17:8.
• ‘Despotes’, Ruler, is one of the common names for God in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. ‘Kurios’, Lord, is the usual name for Christ in the New Testament.
• However much the saints of God are persecuted, it is the responsibility of the Church of Christ to pray for the forgiveness of the enemies, as He Himself did.13 Think of Stephen,14 of the fire over the Samaritans,15 of Paul.16 Look at these Bible verses!
• Consider how Stephen cried out to the Lord not to hold the sin of stoning him to death against his enemies and how the Lord rebuked His disciples who suggested calling fire from Heaven to destroy the Samaritans who did not welcome the Lord and His disciples. Paul exemplifies this spirit of forgiveness of his enemies when he delights in persecutions rather than fighting for his rights because he leaves the Lord to deal with those who persecute him. “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.17
Bible References:
1.Luke 23:43 2.Ephesians 4:8 3.Revelation 9:1–2, 13 4.Luke 16:26 5.Matthew 25:41; Revelation 19:20, 20:10, 14–15 6.2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6 7.Genesis 4:10 8.Matthew 23:35 9.Luke 18:6–8 10.Psalm 35:17, 74:10–11, 79:1–7 and 10–15, 115:2; Joel 2:17 11.Revelation 7:1–8 12.Revelation 7:9–17 13.Matthew 5:43–47; Luke 23:34 14.Acts 7:60 15.Luke 9:55 16.2 Corinthians 12:10 17.Romans 12:18–21
