Voice of the Martyrs

I've been waiting to dance with you
In fields full of colors you've never seen
I've been waiting to show you beauty
You never dreamed that's always been in you
I've been waiting to see you tremble as you're embraced
By a world saturated with my love
I've been waiting for the day when at last I get to say
My child you are finally home

Sing O son of Zion
Shout O child of mine
Rejoice with all your heart and soul and mind
For you are finally home

I've been waiting to watch you realize
What all your longing was for
I've been waiting to show you the thread of grace
That ran through all your pain
I've been waiting to let you drink the water of which
Your greatest joy on earth was just a taste
I've been waiting for the day when at last I get to say
My child you are finally home

Sing O son of Zion
Shout O child of mine
Rejoice with all your heart and soul and mind
Sing O daughter of Zion
Cry out O child of mine
Dance with all the strength that you can find
For you are finally home

Every tear you cried dried in the palm of my hand
Every lonely hour was by my side
every loved one lost, every river crossed
Every moment, every hour was pointing to this day
*I've been longing for this day"

NPR reporter Kelly McEvers has completed a five-part series on the civil war in Syria. In the last installment, aired today, she interviews poor residents of the villages being shelled by the government forces, because it was thought that the villages were Rebel outposts. "In Derat Azza,"she says, "it's not just about how the world perceives the rebel movement. It's about how its own people perceive it. The more the people in these towns think the rebels are their only hope, the more they are likely to support the rebels. The next stop on the tour is to see women cooking over a fire because gas is too scarce and expensive these days. It's 100 degrees outside, but they're bent over hot coals, simmering eggplant, tomatoes and peppers in a kind of stew. We try to shoo the rebels away so I can ask the women a question. I have to come in close and whisper my question: Do you ever blame the rebels for this? Do you feel that the regime is shelling your town because the rebels are here?"

"Maybe", the elder one says. "I don't know."

Now maybe I am cynical, and maybe I am not in sync with the problems and perils of another culture, but it seems to me that this is just another example of a liberal media type who wants to shape the story instead of just report the facts. Ms. McEvers may believe that all war is unjust. She may think that if only the Rebels weren't there, these poor villagers could live their lives in peace. If only the people would toe the Government line, then the Government would not have to go on the offensive.

If everyone thought like that, there would have been no American Revolution; there would have been no Protestant Reformation; and there would be no martyrs.

In Revelation 6:9-11, the Fifth Seal is broken open, and the martyrs speak.  You will recall that when the first four seals were opened, angelic beings spoke and summoned Conquest, Bloodshed, Famine and Death to do their bidding.  But when the Fifth Seal is opened, this is what happened:  

When he had 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. (Revelation 6:9-11)

A few weeks ago I mentioned that in Roman times (when this book was written), a Ruler would bind his Last Will and Testament with seven seals, each one sealed by a witness to the Will.  I suggested that these seals were opened by those who had witnessed God's Will for the earth.  The first four seals were opened by angelic beings, bearing the likeness of a Lion, and Ox, a Man, and a Flying Eagle.  These creatures, or the persons whom they represent, were all witnesses to the Final Will of God concerning the Earth.  But in this case, the voices that are heard are human.  These specific humans are positioned under the altar; they had been slain because of the testimony they had maintained; they knew the word of God; and they were impatient.

Under the Altar In Exodus 29:12, we see this specific instruction given to the priests: "Take some of the bull's blood and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar."  We know the bulls were sacrifices made on behalf of the people of Israel.  The blood shed in the sacrifices was sacred.  It epitomized the life of the sacrificial victim.  Hebrews 9:22 says, "In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Since life was sacred, blood (a symbol of life) had to be treated with respect.  Eating blood was strictly forbidden.  Practically every sacrifice included the smearing or sprinkling of blood on the altar within the tabernacle, thus teaching that atonement involves the substitution of life for life.  The blood of the Old Testament sacrifice pointed forward to the Blood of the Lamb of God, who obtained for his people "eternal redemption".  Hebrews 9:12 says, "He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption."

Similarly, the blood of the martyrs was sacred, pointing backward to the sacrifice of Christ.  This is the image that John portrays; a voice is heard from under the altar, where the blood of the martyrs has collected, saying, "How long, O Lord, until you avenge our blood?"  The position of the blood is what is important here.  It was placed there by the priests in the Old Testament because God commanded it.  It appears there in the Temple of Heaven, under the Altar that God Himself built.  It is collected there because it is precious, sacred and pure.

Souls of those who had been slain
The identity is what is important here.  These had been slain because of the Word of God, and the testimony that they held to.
The Twelfth Legion (historically identified as Legio XII Fulminata)
 was a historic and legendary group of soldiers that commanded both fear and respect within the Roman Empire. Their thunderbolt emblem immediately identified them to the populace as the soldiers that had been conscripted, trained, and implemented first by Julius Caesar in 58 BCE.They had fought battles that were immortalized in stories told to young men to inspire them to courage and valor. To serve in the Twelfth Legion was to be an integral part of the Roman power system as they served under not only Julius Caesar but, also, Mark Anthony. Thus it was considered unacceptable in 320 when the Twelfth Legion, which was guarding the Euphrates River at the time by order of the emperor Licinius, was found to be harboring forty Christians shortly after persecution of Christians was renewed. These forty were given the opportunity to renounce their faith and when they refused they were condemned to die.

So, they were led to a frozen pond by members of their legion and informed that they would die in the most painful way the emperor could imagine at the time. At the point of their colleagues' swords they were stripped of their clothing and forced to march to the center of the frozen pond so that they might die of exposure. As the forty men huddled together they began rotating who would stand on the outside of the group and who would experience the relative warmth of the interior. They knew that the biting winds would eventually kill them but they comforted each other with prayers and songs. In a moment of diabolical creativity, the guards began building hot baths on the shore of the frozen pond as Licinius had ordered them to do. They called to the huddled Christians that any of them might leave the pond at any time and warm themselves in a bath and by the fire if they would renounce their faith. Finally, one of the Christians broke and ran whimpering to the warm bath. He was willing to sell his faith for relief and though we cannot know his suffering we can look back through history and offer him our pity mixed with knowing compassion.

The remaining thirty-nine were surely shaken by their brother's renunciationbut they had little time to reflect upon it as the derisive cheers of their guards soon turned to astonishment when one of the guards dropped his weapon, stripped himself of his clothing, and joined the thirty-nine Christians on the pond. He came screaming his confession of faith and was welcomed with shouts of joy and happy songs. As the once-again-forty martyrs slowly died of exposure they shared their faith with the one who had recently converted at the testimony of thirty-nine men willing to die instead of renounce the Faith that sustained them. That guard received his first instruction in the Faith barefoot on a frozen pond only hours before dying. As the cold began to claim its first victims, the guards became tired of the affair and gathered up the lethargic and unconscious Christians. They burned them alive and scattered the ashes. After they had left, Chrisitans came and collected what remains they could so that they might bury the men who had chosen faith over life and honor.

Revelation 20:4 says, "I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands."

And what did these brave souls sacrifice their lives for?

Because of the Word of God

• To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:16)
• We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.  Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.  (1 Thessalonians 2:8-9)
• We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. (Acts 13:32)
• A faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time. (Titus 1:2)
• He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he said through his holy prophets of long ago. (Luke 1:69-70)
• But now a righteousness of God, apart from the Law, has been made known, to which the Law and Prophets testify. (Romans 3:21)
• The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: All nations will be blessed through you. (Galatians 3:8)
• For the Word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Even as we hold fast to the Gospel, even to the point of death, we long for the Second Coming of Christ.  With the martyrs of the book of Revelation, we pine for God's justice and final judgement.  "How long must your servant wait? When will you punish my persecutors?" (Psalm 119:84)  "My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long?" (Psalm 6:3).  

Then the angel of the Lord said, "Lord almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?" (Zechariah 1:12)

The overriding theme here is patience.  If it were left up to us humans, we would wreak havoc on the world right now.  But in every situation that has been quoted, the final decision has been left up to the Sovereign Lord.  Luke 2:29 says, "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace."  Failure to humble yourself before God will certainly result in dire consequences.  2 Peter 2:1 says, "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves."

Not only is God sovereign, he is Holy and True.  Revelation 3:7 says, "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David.  What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts, no one can open."  God promises to reward patience.  Revelation 3:10 says, "Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth."

A number of scriptures deal with vengeance, and I will not quote them here.  Among them are 2 Kings 9:7, Psalm 78:10, Revelation 16:6, and Revelation 18:20.  Suffice it to say: Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.

So these martyrs who want to see God's vengeance on their blood, but who also want to see the Kingdom of God with the Lamb of God enthroned, the message they received was to be patient.  Their number was not yet complete.  That is to say, there would be more deaths; more souls would be added to their numbers. Apparently the first four seal visions did not completely kill off every living person; in fact, it did not kill off every sinful person, because the martyrs that had yet to die would have to be killed by someone.  Jewish thought held that God rules the world according to a predetermined time schedule and that the end awaits the death of a certain number of the righteous.  The 1988 Demi Moore movie The Seventh Sign deals with this: the end of the world awaited the birth of the child she carried, as the Guf, or "pool of souls" would be empty when her child was born.  The movie plot borrowed from Christian tradition, bringing in Apocalyptic events surrounding the end of the world, as well as Jewish traditions, that say only that the Messiah would come once the last soul is freed from the Guf.  The movie didn't really work as either a religious treatise or an apocalyptic horror film.  But it does discuss the various views of the end of the world and the events that lead up to it.

We all have a desire to know what will happen at the end of the world.  But are we prepared?  Hebrews 11:40 says, "God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."  We cannot attain perfection without God.  The only way to know God is through His Son, Jesus Christ, who was the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  Do not attempt to navigate the end of the world without knowing and trusting in Him.


Let's live a life for Jesus
And work for Him each day
Tell some poor soul who is lost in sin
About the Christian way
Then all the angels in glory
Will sing the glory song
Because we've helped some newborn soul
Make Heaven his home.

Heaven is a wonderful place,
Filled with glory and grace,
I want to see my Saviour's face,
Heaven is a wonderful place.

Many folks talk about Jesus,
And say they're going there some day
But you can't tell by the way they live
That they're heading that way
So we've got to be kind of careful
Of the things we say and do
Because someone's future in Heaven may
Depend on you.

Heaven is a wonderful
filled with glory and grace;
I want to see my Saviour's face,
for Heaven is a wonderful,
Heaven is a wonderful, yes,
Heaven is a wonderful place.