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.

Upon the opening of this seal the scene changes entirely.  No more horsemen appear, but instead the souls of the martyrs are seen at the altar crying for vindication of their blood upon the cruel oppressors of earth.  The question arises, Are these souls symbols of something else, or are they what they are here stated to be, “the souls of them that were slain”?  Evidently, the latter, appearing under their own name and character, because they can not properly be symbolized.  They were disembodied spirits, and where is there anything of analagous character to represent such?  Angels can not; for whenever they are employed as symbols, it is to designate distinguished agencies among men.  They therefore appear under their own appropriate title as “the souls of them that were slain.”

These souls appeared “under the altar,” that is, at the foot of the altar, being the same as that described in chap. 8:3—­“And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.”  Thus, the heavenly world, as opened up before John, appeared symbolized after the sanctuary of the temple in which stood the golden altar, or altar of incense.  Some have supposed that the brazen altar was the one referred to, signifying the living sacrifice these souls made of themselves to God.  But there is no altar mentioned in the symbols except the golden altar.  Besides, these were not sacrificial victims; for Christ was made a complete sacrifice for sin, while these only suffered martyrdom because of their faithfulness to the cause of Christ.  It is much more reasonable to suppose that their interceding cries went up from the golden altar, where the “prayers of all saints” ascended with much incense.

Their prayers to God for the avenging of their blood shows the expectation on their part that the judgments of Heaven would descend upon the cruel and haughty persecutors and oppressors of earth, and their surprise was that the day of retribution had been so long delayed.  The history of the church as developed under the preceding seals gives particular force to this cry of the martyrs.  For nearly three centuries the civil power of Pagan Rome had been employed to crush the cause of God.