9. What were these martyrs represented as doing?
“And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Verse 10.
Note.—The cruel treatment which they had received cried for vengeance, just as Abel's blood cried to God from the ground. Gen. 4:10. They were not in heaven, but under the altar on which they had been slain. On this point Dr. Adam Clarke says: “The altar is upon earth, not in heaven.” See note under next question.
10. What was given these martyrs?
“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 [have fulfilled their course, R. V.].” Verse 11.
Note.—These had been slain during the hundreds of years covered by the preceding seal. Their persecutors, most of them, at least, had died. And if they had at death passed to their punishment, as is by some supposed, why should the martyred ones still importune for their punishment? In this, as in other parts of the Bible, the figure of personification is used, in which inanimate objects are represented as alive and speaking, and things that are not as though they were. See Judges 9:8-15; Heb. 2:11; Rom. 4:17. These martyrs had gone down as heretics under the darkness and superstition of the preceding seal, covered with ignominy and shame. Now, in the light of the Reformation, their true character appears, and they are seen to have been righteous, and hence are given “white robes.” “The fine linen [white robes] is the righteousness of saints.” Rev. 19:8. Righteousness is ascribed to them; and when they have rested a little longer where they are,—under the altar,—till all others who are to fall for their faith have followed them, then together they will be raised to life and immortality.
11. What was first seen on the opening of the sixth seal?
“And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake.” Verse 12, first part.
Note.—This doubtless refers to the great earthquake of Nov. 1, 1755, commonly known as the Lisbon earthquake, the effects of which were felt over an area of 4,000,000 square miles. Lisbon, Portugal, a city containing 150,000 inhabitants, was almost entirely destroyed. The shock of the earthquake, says Mr. Sears, in his “Wonders of the World,” page 200, “was instantly followed by the fall of every church and convent, almost all the large public buildings, and one fourth of the houses. In about two hours afterward, fires broke out in different quarters, and raged with such [pg 287] violence for the space of nearly three days that the city was completely desolated. The earthquake happened on a holy day, when the churches and convents were full of people, very few of whom escaped.... The terror of the people was beyond description. Nobody wept: it was beyond tears. They ran hither and thither, delirious with horror and astonishment, beating their faces and breasts, crying, ‘Misericordia! the world's at an end!’ Mothers forgot their children, and ran about loaded with crucifixed images. Unfortunately, many ran to the churches for protection; but in vain was the sacrament exposed; in vain did the poor creatures embrace the altars; images, priests, and people were buried in one common ruin.... Ninety thousand persons are supposed to have been lost on that fatal day.”
12. What was to follow the great earthquake?