Fifth Seal

Revelation 6:9-11

Rev 6:9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, (Soul's slain under the previous seal, see Gen 4:9 the blood of Abel cries from the ground) and for the testimony which they held:

Verse 10  And they cried with a loud voice, saying , How long , O Lord, Holy and true, doest thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 

Verse 11  And white robes were 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.

The fifth seal raises the question of justice (Gen 4:10) throughout history men have wondered why wickedness seems to always go unpunished. The fifth seal brings assurance that it will not, but history must first run its course in order to allow as many as possible to accept Jesus Christ and even to die for Him if need be. At the close of the middle ages, the Reformation of the sixteenth century brought a new realization on the part of many Christians of faith and valor of those who had died for their faith under the oppression of the church-state system that had developed.