Study 10: Souls Under the Altar -- Answer Key¶
Revelation 6:9-11 -- What Does This Vision Teach?
A Note on How to Study
Throughout this series, we distinguish between what the Bible explicitly says and what people infer from the Bible. These are not the same thing.
- Explicit: You can point to a verse and quote it. The text directly says this.
- Inference: Someone claims the Bible teaches something, but no single verse says it. They have drawn a conclusion -- possibly a good one, possibly not -- but the conclusion itself is not in the text.
This distinction is especially important in this study. Revelation 6:9-11 is one of the most frequently cited passages in debates about the state of the dead. But does the passage describe what happens to people after death, or is something else going on?
Section A: The Apocalyptic Setting¶
1. Read Revelation 1:1. The text says the book was "signified" (Greek: semaino, to communicate through signs/symbols). What does this tell you about how Revelation communicates its message?
Revelation communicates through signs and symbols. The word semaino (from which we get "semaphore") means to signify or make known by signs. The book itself declares its mode of communication: it is a vision communicated through symbolic imagery, not a straightforward didactic description of reality.
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified [esemainen] it by his angel unto his servant John." -- Revelation 1:1
2. Read Revelation 6:1-8 (the first four seals). The first seal presents a rider on a white horse; the second, a rider on a red horse; the third, a rider on a black horse; the fourth, riders named Death and Hades on a pale horse. Are these meant to be literal descriptions -- actual horses with actual riders -- or symbolic imagery?
Symbolic imagery. No interpreter reads these as literal colored horses with literal riders. The fourth seal explicitly personifies Death and Hades -- abstract concepts -- as horsemen. This is apocalyptic vision language.
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell [Hades] followed with him." -- Revelation 6:8
3. Now read Revelation 6:12-14 (the sixth seal). The sun becomes black, the moon becomes blood, stars fall to earth, and heaven rolls up like a scroll. Is this a literal description of astronomical events, or apocalyptic vision imagery?
Apocalyptic vision imagery. Stars cannot literally fall to earth (stars are vastly larger than earth), and heaven cannot literally roll up like a scroll. This is symbolic language describing cosmic upheaval.
4. The fifth seal (Rev 6:9-11) sits between the personified horsemen (seal 4) and the cosmic upheaval (seal 6). Every other seal in the sequence uses symbolic imagery. What does this context suggest about how the fifth seal should be read?
The literary context indicates the fifth seal should be read as symbolic imagery, consistent with every other seal in the sequence. Reading seals 1-4 and seal 6 as symbolic while treating seal 5 as a literal description of the intermediate state is not demanded by the text. Nave's Topical Bible classifies the entirety of Revelation under VISION.
Section B: The OT Altar-Blood Framework¶
5. Read Leviticus 17:11, 14. What does the text say the nephesh (life/soul) of the flesh is? Where is the nephesh located?
The nephesh (life/soul) is in the blood. "The life [nephesh] of the flesh is in the blood" (Lev 17:11). "The life [nephesh] of all flesh is the blood thereof" (Lev 17:14). The nephesh is not a separate entity floating free from the body -- it is identified with the blood.
"For the life [nephesh] of the flesh is in the blood." -- Leviticus 17:11
"For it is the life [nephesh] of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life [nephesh] thereof." -- Leviticus 17:14
6. Read Leviticus 4:7, 18, 25, 30 and Exodus 29:12. In the OT sacrificial system, where was the blood of the sin offering poured?
At the bottom of the altar. Five passages in the sacrificial legislation specify that the blood of the sin offering was poured at the base of the altar of burnt offering. This is consistent and repeated.
"And shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering." -- Leviticus 4:7
7. Revelation 6:9 says John saw psychas (souls/lives) "under the altar." Given that psyche is the Greek equivalent of nephesh, and nephesh is in the blood, and sacrificial blood was poured at the base of the altar -- what is John seeing in this vision?
John sees blood-life at the altar base -- the psychas (blood-lives) of those who were sacrificed, located precisely where sacrificial blood collects in the OT system. The spatial correspondence is exact: psyche = nephesh = blood = life (Lev 17:11), and sacrificial blood goes to the base of the altar (Lev 4:7). The vision uses OT sacrificial imagery to present the martyrs as sacrifice-victims whose blood-life is at the altar base.
Section C: Abel's Blood and the Crying Motif¶
8. Read Genesis 4:10. God says to Cain: "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." Is the dead Abel literally conscious and speaking from the ground, or is his shed blood personified as crying for justice?
Abel's blood is personified as crying for justice. Abel is dead -- killed by Cain. His blood is on the ground. God hears the "voice" of that blood. This is forensic personification: shed blood demands justice. No interpreter claims Abel was conscious under the ground having a conversation with God.
"And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." -- Genesis 4:10
9. Read Hebrews 11:4. Abel "being dead yet speaketh." Does this mean Abel is conscious and talking, or that his faithful sacrifice still testifies?
Abel speaks through his faithful sacrifice, not through literal post-mortem vocalization. The context is about faith -- Abel's offering still testifies to faith. He is dead but his example speaks.
"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh." -- Hebrews 11:4
10. Read Hebrews 12:24. The blood of Christ "speaketh better things than that of Abel." Does blood literally vocalize, or is this the same forensic personification pattern?
The same pattern. Blood is said to "speak." Christ's blood "speaks" better things than Abel's blood. Neither instance involves literal vocalization. Both are forensic personification -- blood testifying, demanding, or proclaiming.
"And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." -- Hebrews 12:24
11. Read James 5:4. Withheld wages "crieth" out. Can wages literally cry? What kind of language is this?
Wages cannot literally cry. This is personification -- a non-personal entity (money) is depicted as crying out for justice. The pattern is consistent: blood cries (Gen 4:10), blood speaks (Heb 12:24), wages cry (Jas 5:4). In Revelation itself, the altar speaks (Rev 16:7).
"Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth." -- James 5:4
12. Now read Revelation 6:10 again. The psychas cry "How long, O Lord?" In light of the Abel parallel, the blood-speaking pattern, and the wages-crying pattern, is this cry best understood as literal vocalization by conscious dead people, or as forensic personification of shed blood demanding justice?
The pattern established by Genesis 4:10, Hebrews 11:4, Hebrews 12:24, and James 5:4 identifies this as forensic personification. Shed blood cries for justice. The martyrs' blood-life, at the altar base, cries for vindication. This follows the identical motif established with Abel -- the first martyr whose blood cried from the ground. Jesus himself connects Abel's blood to the prophets' blood (Matt 23:35; Luke 11:50-51). The altar itself speaks in Rev 16:7 ("I heard another out of the altar say"), confirming that personification operates in this book.
Section D: The Sphazō Vocabulary and the Rest Command¶
13. The Greek word sphazō (G4969, "to slaughter/slay") is used for both the Lamb in Revelation 5:6, 9, 12 and the martyrs in Revelation 6:9. The same word is used for Abel in 1 John 3:12. What does this shared vocabulary tell you about the framework in which the martyrs are being presented?
The martyrs are presented in a sacrificial framework. Sphazō is a sacrificial/butchering term. Its use for the Lamb (Rev 5:6,9,12), the martyrs (Rev 6:9; 18:24), and Abel (1 Jn 3:12) places all three in the same framework: sacrifice-victims whose blood-life is at the altar. The vocabulary chain links the Lamb's death, the martyrs' deaths, and Abel's death as sacrificial acts.
14. Read Revelation 6:11. The psychas are told to "rest" (Greek: anapauō, G373). Now read Revelation 14:13. The blessed dead "rest [anapauō] from their labours." The same Greek word describes the martyrs' condition and the condition of the blessed dead. What does this connection suggest?
The connection identifies the martyrs' "rest" with the condition of the blessed dead -- they rest from their labors. The same word, in the same book, by the same author, describes the same condition. This is consistent with the death-as-rest pattern found throughout Scripture.
"And it was said unto them, that they should rest [anapauō] yet for a little season." -- Revelation 6:11
"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest [anapauō] from their labours." -- Revelation 14:13
15. Read Daniel 12:13. Daniel is told he will "rest" (nuach) and then "stand in thy lot at the end of the days." What is the pattern here -- rest now, resurrection later?
The pattern is rest, then resurrection. Daniel rests (dies), then stands (is resurrected) at the end. The same pattern applies to the Rev 6:11 martyrs: rest for a season, then the first resurrection (Rev 20:4-5). Three passages, same pattern: rest now, rise later.
"But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." -- Daniel 12:13
Section E: The First Resurrection Connection¶
16. Read Revelation 20:4-5. This passage describes psychas (souls) who were killed for the martyria (testimony) and the logos tou Theou (word of God). Now read Revelation 6:9 again, which describes psychas slain for the logos tou Theou and their martyria. Is this the same group?
The vocabulary overlap is exact. Both passages describe psychas killed for the martyria (testimony/witness) and the logos tou Theou (word of God). Same author, same book, same vocabulary, same subjects. This is the same group.
Rev 6:9: "I saw under the altar the psychas of them that were slain for the word of God [logon tou Theou], and for the testimony [martyrian] which they held."
Rev 20:4: "I saw the psychas of them that were beheaded for the witness [martyrian] of Jesus, and for the word of God [logon tou Theou]."
17. Revelation 20:4-5 says this group "lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection." If the same group transitions to "living" at the first resurrection, were they "living" before it?
No. The text states they "lived" at the first resurrection -- that is when their living began. "This is the first resurrection" identifies the moment of their transition to living. Before that point, they were not living. The text locates their coming to life at the resurrection, not in an intermediate state between death and resurrection.
"And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection." -- Revelation 20:4-5
18. Revelation 20:5a says: "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." What does "lived not" tell you about the condition of the dead before the resurrection?
"Lived not" (ouk ezesan) describes the condition of the dead before their resurrection: they were not living. This applies to all the dead -- they "lived not" until they were raised. The dead are not living; they begin living again at the resurrection.
"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." -- Revelation 20:5
Explicit or Inference? -- Answers¶
A. "In an apocalyptic vision, John sees souls under the altar who were slain for the word of God and for their testimony." - Explicit. Revelation 6:9 directly states this. The apocalyptic genre is confirmed by Rev 1:1 (semaino) and by the symbolic content of every surrounding seal.
B. "The dead martyrs are consciously present in heaven, aware of earthly events, and communicating with God." - Inference. No verse states this. This conclusion requires treating apocalyptic vision imagery as a literal description of the intermediate state. The blood-of-Abel parallel (Gen 4:10) demonstrates that "crying out" does not require literal consciousness. The altar itself speaks in Rev 16:7. Death and Hades ride horses in Rev 6:8. The claim requires treating apocalyptic personification as literal -- an external interpretive framework.
C. "Abel's blood cried from the ground without Abel being literally conscious." - Explicit. Genesis 4:10 states the blood cried. Abel was dead (killed by Cain). The blood -- not a conscious Abel -- is described as crying. No interpreter claims Abel was conscious under the ground.
D. "The same group of martyrs in Rev 6:9 'lived' at the first resurrection (Rev 20:4-5)." - Explicit. The vocabulary match is exact (psychas, martyria, logos tou Theou). Rev 20:4-5 states they "lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection."
E. "The 'white robes' given to the souls prove that the dead receive rewards before the resurrection." - Inference. No verse states this conclusion. White robes are symbolic in Revelation (Rev 3:4-5; 7:9, 13-14). In the same book, the Lamb has seven horns and seven eyes (Rev 5:6), Babylon is a woman dressed in purple and scarlet (Rev 17:4), and the dragon has seven heads (Rev 12:3). Treating symbolic entities receiving symbolic actions in an apocalyptic vision as proof of literal conscious reception of reward requires an external framework.
F. "Revelation communicates through signs and symbols (Rev 1:1, semaino)." - Explicit. Revelation 1:1 directly states this.
What the Bible Says vs. What People Say the Bible Teaches¶
| The Bible explicitly says... | People often claim the Bible teaches... |
|---|---|
| Rev 6:9-11 occurs in an apocalyptic vision where all surrounding elements are symbolic (Rev 1:1; 6:1-8, 12-14) | The fifth seal is a literal description of the intermediate state |
| Abel's blood cried from the ground without Abel being conscious (Gen 4:10) | The "crying" of the souls proves they are consciously alive |
| Psyche/nephesh = blood = life (Lev 17:11); sacrificial blood was poured at the altar base (Lev 4:7) | The "souls under the altar" are disembodied conscious spirits |
| The same group "lived" at the first resurrection (Rev 20:4-5) | The martyrs are already living in a conscious intermediate state |
| The martyrs are told to "rest" (anapauō), the same word used for the blessed dead (Rev 14:13) | "Rest" means conscious enjoyment in heaven |
| The altar itself speaks in Rev 16:7; Death/Hades ride horses in Rev 6:8 | Only the souls' speech should be taken as literal evidence of consciousness |