6:9. And when He had opened the fifth seal.—Disclosing the Reformation in the days of Luther. See Rev. 3:7‐13.
I saw under the altar.—Altars were originally made of earth. (Ex. 20:24.) To see under the altar is to see underground, in the tomb, the grave. At the bottom of the brazen altar all the blood of the victim was poured.—Lev. 4:7; 8:15; Heb. 8:5; 13:10; Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6.
The souls.—The beings of those who had died. These souls were not in Heaven.
Of [them] MEN that were slain.—Spiritually beheaded (some of them literally, also).—Rev. 20:4.
The Word of God.—“Of His own will begat He us with the Word of Truth.” (James 1:18.) It is this Sword of the Spirit that cuts us off from the world.—Heb. 4:12.
And for the testimony.—“And _through_ the testimony”; through the Word of God. The word _dia_ is here used again. It is the Word that does the beheading.
Which they held.—As witnesses in their hearts (Rom. 8:16) and to which they adhered at any cost.
6:10. And they cried with a loud voice.—Not actually, but in the same way that the voice of Abel’s blood cried from the ground.—Gen. 4:10.
Saying, How long, O Lord.—How long will it be from this particular time, the Spring of 1518?—Rev. 3:7.
Holy and true.—See Rev. 3:7; 1 John 5:20; Mark 1:24.
[Dost] WILT Thou not judge.—Deliver us from the tomb. The judges of old were _deliverers_.—Judges 3:9‐11.
And avenge our blood.—Cast off from all favor a system of nominal Christianity which is not Christianity at all.
On them that dwell on the earth.—On these that are “Of the earth, earthy.”—Rev. 17:5; 3:10; 8:13; 13:8, 14. “The answer is given by the angel of the waters. See Rev. 16:4‐7.” (Cook.) Quite true. The answer is in Vol. III of SCRIPTURE STUDIES.
6:11. And [white robes were] THERE WAS given unto [every one] EACH of them a white robe.—“God’s grace cannot admit to heavenly perfection those who have not robes of spotless righteousness. How gracious is the provision of our God in thus presenting us with the Robe which covers all the repented‐ of blemishes of the past as well as the unintentional and unwitting imperfections of the present!”—Z. ’11‐342; Rev. 3:4, 5; 19:8.
And it was said unto them.—Not actually, but by the teachings of the parallel dispensations, which show that as Christ was raised from the dead in A. D. 33, the sleeping saints would be raised 1845 years later, in the Spring of 1878. See Rev. 3:14, 20.