Chapter Seventeen/'Slaughtered Souls' Rewarded - Continue

 By the fourth century C.E., that old Serpent, Satan the Devil, had brought forth his masterpiece of deception, the apostate religion of Christendom -a Babylonish system hidden under a "Christian" veneer. It is the principal part of the seed of the Serpent and has developed into a multitude of conflicting sects. Like faithful Judah of old, Christendom carries a heavy bloodguilt, having been deeply involved in both sides of World Wars I and II. Some political rulers in Christendom even used these wars as pretext for slaughtering anointed servants of God. Reporting on Hitler's persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses, a review of Friedrich Zipfel's book Kirchenkamph in Deutschland (flight of he Churches in Germany) stated: "One third of them [the Witnesses] were killed, either by execution, other violent acts, hunger, sickness, or slave labor. The severity of this subjection was without precedent and was the result of uncompromising faith that could not be harmonized with National Socialistic ideology." Truly, it can be said of Christendom, including its priesthood: "In your skirts there have been found the blood marks of the souls of the innocent poor ones." -JEREMIAH 2:34. 

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 John himself witnessed martyrdom in the first century as the cruel serpent and his earthly seed waged war on the growing congregation of anointed Christians. John had seen our Lord impaled and had survived through the slayings of Stephen, of his own brother James and of Peter, Paul and close associates. (John 19:26, 27; 21:15, 18, 19; Acts 7:59, 60; 8:2; 12:2; 2 Timothy 1:1; 4:6, 7) In 64 C.E., Roman emperor Nero has made a scapegoat of the Christians, accusing them of burning the city, to counteract a rumor that he was the guilty one. The historian Tacitus reports: "They [Christians] died by methods of mockery; some were covered with the skins of wild beast and then torn by dogs, some were [impaled], some were burned as torches to light at night." A further wave of persecution under Emperor Domitian (81-96 C.E.) had resulted in John's being exiled to the island of Patmos. As Jesus said: "If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also." - JOHN 15:20; MATTHEW 10:22. 

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 The situation may be likened to that in apostate Judah when King Manasseh came to the throne in 716 B.C.E. He shed much innocent blood, probably 'sawing asunder' the prophet Isaiah. (Hebrews 11:37; 2 Kings 21:16) Although Manasseh later repented and reformed, that bloodguilt remained. In 607 B.C.E., when the Babylonians desolated the kingdom of Judah, "it was only by order of Jehovah that it took place against Judah to remove it from his sight for sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done; and also for the innocent blood that he had shed, so that he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Jehovah did not consent to grant forgiveness." - 1 KINGS 24:3, 4. 

As in Bible times, so today many of the individuals who killed God's witnesses may be long dead. But the organization that caused their martyrdom is still very much alive and bloodguilty. It is Satan's earthly organization, his earthly seed. Prominent therein is Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. She is described as being "drunk with the blood of the holy ones and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus." Yes, "in her was found the blood of prophets and of holy ones who have been slaughtered on the earth." (Revelation17:5, 6; 18:24; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 12:28) What a load of bloodguiltiness! as long as Babylon the Great exists, the blood of her victims will cry out for justice. - REVELATION 19:1, 2. 

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 The scenario continues to unfold: "And they cried with a loud voice, saying: 'Until when, Sovereign Lord holy and true, are you refraining from  judging and avenging our blood upon those who dwell on the earth?' " (Revelation 6:10) How can their souls, or blood, cry out for vengeance, since the Bible shows that the dead are unconscious? (Ecclesiastes 9:5) Well, did not righteous Abel's blood cry out after Cain murdered him? Jehovah then said to Cain; "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground." (Genesis 4:10, 11; Hebrews 12:24) It was not that Abel's blood was literally uttering words. Rather, Abel had died as innocent victim, and justice called out for his murderer to be punished. Similarly, those Christian martyrs are innocent, and in justice they must be avenged. (Luke 18:7, 8) The cry for vengeance is loud because many thousands have thus died. - Compare JEREMIAH 15:15, 16. 

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 Underneath this altar are "the souls of those slaughtered because of the word of God and because of the witness work that they used to have? What does this mean? This could not be disembodied souls-like those believed in by pagan Greeks. (Genesis 2:7; Ezekiel 18:4) Rather, John knows that the soul, or life, is symbolized by the blood, and when the priests at the ancient Jewish tabernacle slaughtered a sacrificial animal, they sprinkled the blood "round about upon the altar" of burnt offering." (Leviticus 3:2, 8, 13; 4:7; 17:6, 11,12) Hence, the animal's soul was closely identified with the altar of sacrifice. But why would the souls, or blood of these particular servants of God be seen underneath a symbolic altar in heaven? Because their deaths are viewed as sacrificial. 

Indeed, all those who are begotten as spirit sons of God die a sacrificial death.  Because of the role they are to play in Jehovah's heavenly Kingdom, it is God's will that they renounce and sacrifice any hope of life everlasting on earth. In this respect, they submit to a sacrificial death in behalf of Jehovah's sovereignty. (Philippians 3:8-11; and compare 2:17.) This is true in a very real sense of those whom John saw under the altar. They are anointed ones who in their day were martyred for their zealous ministry in upholding Jehovah's Word and sovereignty.  Their "souls [were] slaughtered because of the word of God and because of the witness work [mar- ty-ry' an] that they used to have." 

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Chapter Seventeen/'Slaughtered Souls' Rewarded

 GOD'S Kingdom rules!  The Rider of the white horse is about to complete his conquest! The red horse, the black horse, and the pales horse are galloping through the earth! Indisputably, Jesus' own prophecies concerning his royal presence are being fulfilled. (Matthew, chapters, 24, 25; Mark, chapter 13; Luke, chapter 21) Yes, we are living in the last days of this system of things. (2 Timothy 3:1-5) That being so, let us pay close attention as the Lamb, Jesus Christ, breaks open the fifth seal of that scroll. In what further revelation are we now to share?

John describes a moving scene: "And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those slaughtered because of the word of God and because of the witness work they used to have." (Revelation 6:9) What is that? A sacrificial altar up in heaven?  Yes! It is the first time that John mentions an altar. Already, though, he has described Jehovah on His throne, the surrounding cherubs, the glassy sea, the lamps, and the 24 elders carrying incense-all of these resembling features if the earthly tabernacle, Jehovah's sanctuary in Israel. (Exodus25:17, 18; 40:24-27, 30--32; 1 Chronicles 23:4) Should it, then, surprise us to find a symbolic altar of sacrifice also in heaven! - EXODUS 40:29. 

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Chapter Sixteen/Four Horsemen at the Gallop! - The Pale Horse and Its Rider - Conclusion

 The opening of each of the first four seals has been followed by the summons "Come!' " Each time, a horse and its rider came charging forth. Starting with the fifth seal, we no longer hear such a summons. But those horsemen are still riding, and they will continue at the gallop throughout the conclusion of the system of things. (Compare Matthew 28:20.) With other momentous events does Jesus reveal as he opens the remaining three seals? Some of the happenings are invisible to human eyes. Others, though visible, are yet future. Nevertheless, their fulfillment is certain. Let us see what they are. 

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 The information revealed by the opening of the first four seals reassures us because it teaches us not despair at the warfare, hunger, disease, and other causes of untimely death that are so rampant today; neither should we lose hope because human leaders have failed to solve current problems. If world conditions make it evident that the riders of the red, black, and pale horses are abroad, do not forget that the Rider of the white horse was first to begin his ride. Jesus has become King, and he has already conquered to the extent of casting Satan out of the heavens. His further conquests have included his gathering out the remaining ones of the sons of spiritual Israel and the international great crowd, numbering into the millions for survival through the great tribulation.  (Revelation 7:4, 9, 14) His ride must continue until he completes his conquest. 

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 Death by wild beasts has seldom made headlines in modern times, though in tropical countries wild animals have steadily claimed victims throughout the 20th century. In the future, they may claim even more if lands become desolated because of warfare or people become too emaciated by famine to fight off hungry animals. Additionally, there are many humans today who, like unreasoning animals, display beastly dispositions quite contrary to those described at Isaiah 11:6, 9. Those people are largely responsible for the global expansion of sex-related crimes, murder, terrorism, and bombings in the modern world. (Compare Ezkiel 21:31; Romans 1:28-31; 2 Peter 2:12.) The fourth horseman reaps their victims too. Indeed, the main point of this prophetic scene appears to be that the rider of the pale horse harvests untimely death of mankind in many ways.

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 Of current importance here is "deadly plague." Following in the wake of the ravages of World War I, the Spanish flu reaped over 20 million human lives in just a few months of 1918-1919. The only territory on earth to escape this scourge was the small island of St. Helena. in other places where the population was decimated, funeral pyres were lit to burn the piles of bodies. And today there is the incidence of heart disease and cancer, much of which is caused by tobacco pollution. In what has been described as "the ugly decade" of the 1980's, a way of life that is lawless by Bible standards has added the scourge of AIDS to the "deadly plague." At the time of this writing, all who contract this disease and die, and die, and it is estimated that in the United States alone 27,000 will be sick with AIDS by 1991; millions appear to be doomed in Africa. How thankful Jehovah's people are that the wise counsel of his Word keeps them away from fornication and misuse of blood, through which so many diseases are transmitted today! - ACTS 15:28, 29; Compare 1 CORINTHIANS 6:9-11. 

John's vision mentions wild beasts as a fourth cause of timely death. Indeed, the four things featured by the opening of the fourth seal-warfare, famine, disease, and wild beasts-were in ancient times viewed as predominant causes of untimely death. So, they would foreshadow all causes of untimely death today. It is just as Jehovah warned Israel: ""So, too, it will be when there will my four injurious acts of judgment-sword and famine-that I shall actually send upon Jerusalem in order to cut off from it earthling man and domestic animal." - EZKIEL 14:21.

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