If your sound is on, your are listening to “Come And Dine.”

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, and for the testimony which they held: 10 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? 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 fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

As noted previously, the seven seals are summaries of prophetic history for the earth during the time of the gentiles. That which has been revealed under the fifth seal describes the patience of the saints during the time that the Gospel will be spread over the earth as prophesied in Rev, 6:1-8. The first 4 seals of The Revelation describe the forces that have been working, and which will continue to work, over the earth during the prophetic period known as the Age of the Gentiles. The Fifth Seal reveals the truth that this process will not stop until all souls that should be saved have been saved. Such an understanding is in complete agreement with the admonition in 2 Pet. 3:9-15 that tells us we are to understand that the Lord will delay his return until everyone that he has “fore known” in eternity is saved.

Since Rev. 6:9 only speaks of those who have been killed or martyred for their faith, the first question that must be answered is, “Why are those the only saints mentioned here? Are they the only Christians who will be saved?” Jesus never told us in the Gospels how many people would be saved. In Luke 13:23-30 he was asked that question directly by one who asked him , “Are there only going to be a few people saved?”

Looking at those verses, it is plain that Jesus was speaking directly to the person who asked the question, “Lord, are there few that be saved?” This should be apparent because he said they would say that they had eaten and drunk in His presence, and that He had taught in their streets. He was addressing the Jews of Jerusalem directly when he said they must strive to enter the strait gate because he said that they would see see people come from the all over the earth and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they themselves would not be allowed in. He said the way they were seeking to enter would be closed when once the Master of the House had risen up an closed the door.  This is the distinction that Jesus made between the Old Testament Saints and the New Testament Saints: The door to salvation by the works of the Old Testament was closed on the day He rose up from the dead. A new and living way was then opened through faith in Him. Jesus told those who were present and striving to enter in through the Old Testament door that they would see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but that they themselves would be thrust out. After Jesus told them that people from all over the earth would come in to the kingdom, he told them the First would be last and the Last would be first. There should be no confusion then that Jesus was saying the door to salvation by works was going to be closed when he arose from the dead, and that those who were still trying to enter in by that Old Covenant of works would be shut out until after those who would come to Him from all over the earth had entered in.

He said that those who were continuing to trust in the Old Covenant for their salvation would see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all of the prophets inside the gate, but after his resurrection those who were yet striving to enter the kingdom from that covenant would be thrust aside and called workers of iniquity. In Rev. 7:4 Jesus said there would only be 144,000 from this group who would sit down in the Kingdom. In Luke 22: 28-29 he told his twelve disciples that they would sit at his table and judge these twelve tribes of Israel. But in Rev. 4:4, John said he saw 24 elders sitting upon thrones around The Throne of the King of Heaven. Twelve others have to be accounted for and they can only be the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel that were named in Rev. 7:5-8. But this does not mean that these other twelve are present back on earth during the Millennium.

Examining this list of the twelve tribes given in The Revelation reveals that the tribe of Dan is missing, but that the half tribe of Manassah as well as the entire tribe of Joseph are included. Yet when Ezekiel was told to list the twelve tribes that would inherit the land, Dan was first on the list, and he was told that the tribe of Joseph would have two portions, one for Manassah and one for Ephraim. Gen. 49:16 says that “Dan will judge his people.” It is apparent then that the two different lists are speaking of inheritances at different times. The list from the Revelation should be applied only to the Millennial Kingdom, and the the list from Ezekiel should be applied to the Eternal Kingdom that follows when the First will enter last.

The prophecies in the first 14 chapters of Ezekiel are mostly explanations of why Jehovah has judged Jerusalem, but from the 15th Chapter onward, the prophecy begins to look ahead at what is going to happen from the time of the Babylonian Exile until the establishment of the Eternal Kingdom. These Prophecies seem to follow a chronological sequence that is going to unfold during the time of the Babylonian Exile until the establishment of this Eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

Chapter 37 begins with a vision of the Son of Man preaching in a valley full of skeletons that God said represented the whole house of Israel. Clearly this prophecy predicts a time when Israel will be regenerated as a Nation following the long period of spiritual death they brought upon themselves by the spiritual adultery of worshiping the gods of their heathen neighbors. Then Ezekiel Chapter 38 begins a prophecy of a war in Jerusalem between Jehovah and the forces of an entity known as Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. According to The Revelation, Chapter 20, this war is not fought until after Satan has been loosed again following his one thousand year imprisonment in the bottomless pit. Therefore, we should conclude the list of the tribes that will have an inheritance in the Millennium is not the same as the list of the tribes that will have an inheritance in the Eternal Kingdom. We are not told why Dan is not present in the Millenium, but we are told that Dan will be first for the rest of Eternity. It could be that God is using the two different lists to make clear to us that the Millennial Kingdom is not the same Kingdom as the Eternal Kingdom. The tribes of Israel listed in the Revelation are made up of people who will be protected through the time of judgment on the earth just before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. These people will go into the Millennium and become priests of the earth during the Millennium. The tribes listed from Ezekiel are the tribes that will go into the Eternal Kingdom after the Millenium when the Second Resurrection occurs and the books are opened and the dead are judged according to their works. 

Rev. 7:1-8 says that the 144,000 will be sealed on earth to protect them during the time of judgment that will follow after they have been sealed. But in Rev. 7:9 the scene is shifted to the Heavens where a great multitude that no man can number is shown standing before the Throne wearing the white robes of faith in Jesus Christ (see Rev. 7:14, Rev. 19:8, and Rom. 4:5) Therefore, this group is that great group of Christians who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation, and who will return with him to earth when he returns. But Rev. 7:13-14 says of this group that they came out of great tribulation. The word great translates the Greek Word mega, which can mean many as well as great. Mega in this verse must be understood to mean many instead of great, otherwise we would have to understand that the only saints to be in the first resurrection will be those who were killed in The Great Tribulation. When understanding that these are those who have come out of many tribulations and have endured in the faith we can see that there will be a great number of saints returning with Jesus at the end of the age. These are those whom Jesus called The Last. When talking to the Centurion, whose faith he admired in Matt. 8:11-12, he said that there would be many in this group of The Last. In Luke 13:29 he said that this group would come from all over the earth. In Rev. 7:9 Jesus said that this group would come out from every race and nation of people on the earth, and that they would be so numerous that no man would be able to count them.

So the events depicted by the removal of the Fifth Seal are showing us that from the time of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ to the time of His return the door to salvation by Faith in Him will remain open. Those who die in Christ during this time frame are told to rest with Him until He returns. Those who are living between those two events are told that persecution unto death can come upon His servants at any time, and they must prepare themselves to endure it if and when it comes.