The 5th
seal of Revelation speaks of Martyrs who ask when their deaths will be
avenged. I think these martyrs refer to
those who die during the great tribulation, but if they include those of past
times, the reference to more martyrs to come before the expected vengeance
would support the conclusion that the great tribulation is not the Day of
vengeance but precedes it. The great
tribulation will be a time of persecution unlike any other, and certainly those
who will die during the persecutions of that time would be included with these martyrs that are in view. Those martyrs will be
resurrected at the coming of Christ and be given their rest at that time. The Day of vengeance will come after great
tribulation.
Revelation
6: “9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those
who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they
held. 10
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy
and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the
earth?" 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them;
and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer,
until both
[the] [number] [of] their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be
killed as they [were], was completed.”
This is
consistent with Chapter 1 of second Thessalonians: “4 we ourselves boast of you
among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions
and tribulations that you endure, 5 [which] [is] manifest evidence of the
righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of
God, for which you also suffer;
6 since [it] [is] a righteous thing with God to
repay with tribulation those who trouble you,
7 and to [give] you who are troubled rest with
us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who
do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ.”
Notice that
those who are persecuted will be given rest when Jesus is revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels. The timing of
this has to be after great tribulation.
This Day of Vengeance is when Jesus is revealed from Heaven with his
mighty angels. This “Day” and the
revealing of Jesus from heaven follows the same scenario Jesus gave in his “Olivet
Discourse.” Jesus spoke of Great
Tribulation, and then after that tribulation, He will be revealed, coming with His angels. That coming will be
like the days of Noah. It will be the
Day of divine judgment, and it will be a more direct judgment of Christ himself coming to
earth to make war with the nations.
Matthew 24: “21 "For then there will be great
tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this
time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 "And unless those days were shortened,
no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. … Immediately
after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will
not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the
heavens will be shaken. 30 "Then the sign of the Son of Man will
appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they
will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory. 31 "And He will send His angels with a
great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four
winds, from one end of heaven to the other. … 37
"But as the days of Noah [were], so also will the coming of the Son
of Man be. 38 "For as in the days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day
that Noah entered the ark, 39 "and did not know until the flood came
and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Obadiah
1: “15
"For the day
of the Lord
upon all the nations [is]
near; As you have done, it shall be done
to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head. 16 For
as you drank on my holy mountain, [So]
shall all the nations drink continually; Yes, they shall drink, and swallow, And they shall be as though they had never
been.”
Joel 1: “15 Alas for
the day ! For
the day of
the Lord [is] at hand;
It shall come as destruction from
the Almighty.”
Jeremiah 46:
“10 For this [is] the
day of the
Lord God of hosts,
A day of
vengeance, That He may avenge
Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; It shall be satiated and made drunk with
their blood;”
Isaiah 13: “6 Wail, for
the day of
the Lord [is] at hand! It will come as destruction
from the Almighty. …9 Behold,
the day of
the Lord comes,
Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,
To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it. 10
For the stars
of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The
sun will be darkened in its going forth,
And the moon will not cause its light to shine. 11
"I will punish the world for [its] evil, And
the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt
the arrogance of the
proud, And will lay low the
haughtiness of the terrible. …13 Therefore I will shake the
heavens, And the
earth will move out of her place,
In the wrath
of the Lord
of hosts And in
the day of
His fierce anger.”
Joel 2: “31 The
sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood, Before
the coming of
the great and awesome day
of the Lord.”
Joel 3: “14 Multitudes, multitudes in the
valley of decision! For
the day of
the Lord [is] near in
the valley of decision.
15 The sun and moon will grow dark, And
the stars will diminish their
brightness.”
Revelation
6: “12 I looked when He opened the sixth
seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as
sackcloth of hair, and the moon became
like blood. 13 And the stars
of heaven fell to the earth, as a
fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then
the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island
was moved out of its place.
15 And the kings of the
earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave
and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the
mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks,
"Fall on us and hide us from the face
of Him who sits on the throne and
from the wrath of
the Lamb! 17 "For the great day
of His wrath
has come, and who is able to stand?"
The day of Vengeance
and wrath comes in the sixth seal, after the fifth seal which represents the
martyrs whose number is complete coming out of great tribulation. The sixth seal reveals the cosmic events that
come after the tribulation and immediately precede the coming of Christ and his
direct judgment of the nations, and it is at that time he gathers his elect and
gives rest to those who were persecuted by the nations who do not know God.
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