Revelation

Observations about true Christian martyrs and their relationship with the rest of the Christians. Some commentators are convinced that God makes no distinction whatsoever between Christians who have been killed because of their faith and all other Christians who have died “in the Lord” as a result of natural causes or accidents not specifically related to their faith.

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1. They affirm that the vision of the Fifth Seal of Revelation (Revelation 6:9-11) includes all Christians who have died in the Lord, whatever the cause of their death might have been. I respectfully disagree, finding their interpretation of this Fifth Seal to be deficient and erroneous, one of the strong reasons being that we have already proven irrefutably in these studies (to be translated from the original Spanish version - (https://www.editoriallapaz.org/apocalipsis_sello_5.htm- to English) that the martyrs are the sole subject of this Seal. Since the martyrs are the particular, exclusive subject being presented, not all Christians figure in the apocalyptic picture of the Fifth Seal!

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2. One of their arguments is that all the dead in Christ receive “white robes.” Revelation 7:9. Agreed, but the martyrs “under the altar” (Revelation 6:9) receive theirs BEFORE the whole number of martyrs is completed during the “little while,” as also BEFORE the Second Resurrection when the rest of the saved receive a new, glorified body, white robes, and the crown of immortality. Therefore, the “Spirit of Prophecy” makes a clear distinction in his revelations between the martyrs and the vast majority of Christians who are not martyrs, a distinction highlighted even in the bestowal of the “white robes.”

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3. It is alleged that martyrdom is not a sacrifice greater than that of withstanding long years of arduous work and very hard trials in the church, life on earth coming to an end as a consequence of natural causes, accidents, or other circumstances unrelated to keeping the faith. I am strongly inclined to think such an opinion would be made only by the person who has not had to be “faithful, even to the point of death,” (NIV) even to martyrdom. Revelation 2:10. That has not had to resist “even to the point of your blood.” Hebrews 12:4. That has never been in true danger of being crucified, burned alive, torn apart and devoured by savage beasts, beheaded, thrust through with a sword, or tortured until expiring.

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In my humble judgment, martyrdom is held to be, with overwhelming reason, the supreme sacrifice, the maximum trial of faith and commitment. Obviously, God recognizes it as such and rewards in special ways Christians who have paid with their lives for the conviction they have obstinately and courageously maintained.

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I, personally, profoundly admire the true martyrs of Christ and applaud the special recognition, prizes, and honors the Sovereign God chooses to confer on them, including, granting them the grandiose privilege of reigning with his Son during the Millennium, as also that of passing the “little while” in the sacrosanct place identified as “under the altar” of God in Heaven. To me, it is inconceivable that the rest of the Christians would envy them for their special privileges, blessings, and honors.

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All these considerations are vital to understanding the WHY of the reign of the true martyrs of Jesus Christ during the Millennium that precedes the Second Coming of Christ, for the Millennium is an age, a “thousand years,” when RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, with all its tremendous blessings, triumphs over the deeply evil, grievously painful, enormously cruel deaths of horrendous persecutions by apostate religions in diabolical cahoots with deceived secular, political authorities. The question would be: Why should the true martyrs of Christ not participate right up there in Heaven in such a powerful, beautiful REIGN?

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The above paragraphs, with the exception of the last one, are a translation from Spanish to English of a portion of Chapter 3, Section 3, a rather exhaustive exposition in Spanish on the Fifth Seal. Plans are to translate the entire study, together with the rest of the Commentary on Revelation in Spanish not yet translated. HDS