Slaughtered Souls Rewarded

GOD'S Kingdom rules!   The Rider of the white horses is about to complete  his conquest!  The white horse, the black 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 dats of this system of things. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)  That being so, let us pay close attention  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 that 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,  ad the 24 elders carrying incense-all of these resembling features of the earthly tabernacle, Jehovah's  sanctuary in Israel.  (Exodus 25:17, 18; 40:24-27, 30-32; 1 Chronicles 24:4) Should it, then, surprise us  to find a symbolic altar of sacrifice also in heaven? - EXODUS 40:29.

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?  These could not be disembodied souls-like those  believed in by  the 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" or poured it "at the base of the altar of burnt offering." (Leviticus 3:2, 8, 13, 4:7; 17:6, 1, 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 atar in heaven? Because their deaths are viewed as sacrificial.

Next time; Slaughtered Souls Rewarded

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