Revelation 6:9-17

“The Wrath of the Lamb”

Revelation 6:9

This imagery is very majestic; but we cannot really think that the holy martyrs desire to be revenged, except in love and grace. That their persecutors should be forgiven in Pentecosts of revival must be the highest conception of vengeance that they permit themselves to have. The striking command that they should rest, each enclothed in a white robe of acceptance and purity, until the full roll of martyrs is complete, suggests that every age must yield its tale of those who love not their lives unto the death, because they love the Master so much more. We, too, have our daily martyrdoms, for it may be harder to live for Jesus always against continued opposition and scorn than to die once for Him.

Revelation 9:1; Revelation 10:1 answer to Matthew 24:6; Revelation 12:1; Revelation 17:1 to Matthew 24:29. Probably the words here refer, not to the final judgment, but to those revolutionary changes which always accompany the closing of one era and the opening of another; Hebrews 12:26.