Revelation's Fifth Seal -- Martyrs Under the Altar

Below is the 14th of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of Revelation from The Parousia, the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell:

"OPENING OF THE FIFTH SEAL [MARTYRS UNDER THE ALTAR].

"Chap. vi. 9-11 [Rev. 6:9-11]---‘And when he [the Lamb] had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were 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, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell in [on] the earth (land [Greek: epi tes ges])? And a white robe was given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.’ 

"This passage may be regarded as a crucial test of [the validity of] any interpretation of the Apocalypse [Book of Revelation].  It may be truly said that anything more unsatisfactory, uncertain, and conjectural than the explanation given by those interpreters who find in the Apocalypse a syllabus of ecclesiastical history can scarcely be imagined.  But if our guiding principle [of Revelation's imminent fulfillment in the 1st century] be correct, it will lead us to such an interpretation as will be demonstrated by its self-evidence that it is the true one.

"The scene now changes from the battle-field, and the scenes of carnage and blood in the besieged and famished city [i.e., Jerusalem in A.D. 70], to the temple of God. But it [the scene] is still Jerusalem. The Christian martyrs whom Jerusalem had slain are represented as crying aloud from under the altar, and appealing to the justice of God no longer to delay the vindication of their cause, and the avenging of their blood ‘on them that dwell in the land.’ This is a new and important scene in the tragic drama, but one that is in perfect keeping with the teaching of the New Testament. Our Lord forewarned the Jews that ‘upon them [you, i.e., Jerusalem] should come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth [land], from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation’ (Matt. xxiii. 35,36  [Matt. 23:35-36]). In like manner He forewarned His disciples that some of them would fall victims to Jewish enmity: ‘Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you’ (Matt. xxiv. 9 [Matt. 24:9]). All this was to precede ‘the end’ (Matt. xxiv. 13 [Matt. 24:13]). Our Lord also declared that Jerusalem was deepest in the guilt of shedding innocent blood: she was the murderess of the prophets; and upon her the most signal punishment was to fall (Matt. xxiii. 31-39 [Matt. 23:31-39]). 

"Here, then, we have the chief elements of the scene before us. But this is not all. It is impossible not to be struck with the marked resemblance between the vision of the fifth seal and our Lord’s parable of the unjust judge (Luke xviii. 1-8 [Luke 18:1-8]): ‘And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith in [on] the land [Greek: epi tes ges]?’ This is more than resemblance: it is identity. In both we find the same complainants,---the elect of God; they appeal to Him for redress; in both we find the response to the appeal, ‘He will avenge them speedily;’ in both we find the scene of their sufferings laid in the same place---‘in [on] the land’---i.e. the land of Judea. The vision and the parable also mutually supplement one another. The vision and the parable also mutually supplement one another.  The vision tells us the cause of the cry for vengeance, and who the appellants are, viz. [that is] the martyred disciples of Jesus who have sealed their testimony with their blood.  The parable suggests when the retribution would arrive,---'when the Son of man cometh;' and likewise the mournful fact that when the Parousia [Second Coming] took place it would find [1st-century] Israel still impenitent and still unbelieving.

"The vision of the fifth seal likewise elucidates an obscure passage which has hitherto baffled all attempts to solve its meaning. In 1 Peter iv. 6 [1 Pet. 4:6] we find the following statement: ‘For, for this cause was the gospel [good news] preached [Greek: euengelisthe] also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.’ ...The statement really is, ‘For, for this cause a comforting message was brought even to the dead, that they, though condemned in the flesh by man’s judgment, should live in the spirit by the judgment of God.’ This evidently [i.e., in an evident manner, thus clearly] points to the vindication of those who had by the unrighteous judgment of men suffered death for the truth of God; it declares that they had been comforted after death by the tidings that they should, by the divine judgment, enjoy eternal life. There is no allusion [corresponding to 1 Pet. 4:6] anywhere to be found in Scripture to any such transaction [i.e., bringing good tidings to the dead], except in the passage before us,---the vision of the fifth seal. ...We think it must be obvious that this scene under the fifth seal exactly corresponds with the allusion of St. Peter and the parable [of the unjust judge] of our Lord."