The Olivet Discourse - A Serious Look At Matthew 24 And Revelation 6 In Parallel – Part 2 Series

We see in that passage above that it will be a very hard time for the saints. These are the Jewish believers He refers to as later verses of Matthew 24 show. The saints will be suffering under great persecution, hated by ALL nations with many killed. It will be a time of fear and betrayal and apostasy and misleading, for ones will arise to teach full error, embracing satanism; lawlessness will prevail and people’s love (I think it means the saints here) will grow cold, probably because the way is too hard under such adverse circumstances. There will be many defections. That is what Jesus is teaching.

There are several aspects in those verses 9 - 12 which I would take to challenge those who say this has already happened (such as ALL nations; great apostasy; rise of multiple false prophets; increased lawlessness) but no time here to do that. Now we again have the parallel in the next seal broken and this is it:-

{{Revelation 6:9-11 “And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained, and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also.”}

That is a MOST interesting passage and a total challenge to those who would want to place it in the Church age before the Rapture! The picture here is of the Tribulation saints who had been killed as according to the Matthew 24: 9 - 12 verses. John was permitted to see them with the opening of the 5 th seal. These faithful saints died because they would not compromise their testimony of faithfulness; worship the beast or receive his mark. In heaven, under the altar, they cry for vengeance.

However we have to consider VERSE 10 most carefully. The saints here are calling out for vengeance! Is that the teaching we are given for the Church age? Certainly not, for we are told to do the following:-

{{Matthew 5 v 44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”}}

{{Romans 12 v 14 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not.”}}

In Revelation 6 verse 10 there is no blessing; no forgiveness; no praying for their souls. Instead there is the call for vengeance upon their enemies. You people who try to tell me that this is the Church in view, explain, please! This is NOT the Church, nor the Church age, and these are not Church saints.

What would you expect the Lord to do with an avenging prayer like this? Reprimand them? Tell them to love their enemies? No. They are given white robes and asked to wait until the full number of martyrs is complete. The Lord knows their prayers are correct. What a revelation this is! This passage is assuredly fixed in the days of vengeance of the Great God, and their prayer for an avenging hand is a correct prayer for the age they are in, which of course is the Tribulation Judgment. It would be totally inappropriate for the Church age.