Read Revelation 6.9-17. In 6.9-8.1: The three seals of judgement and salvation. In 6.9-11: The fifth seal. The altar is for sacrifice and these have been slaughtered implying that these lost lives have some significance (see 5.6; 12.11). Souls is simply "lives"; thus, the battered lives of the oppressed call for justice. In verse 10: The call to avenge their blood is hardly in the spirit of the Jesus of the gospels (Lk 23.34). However, the retribution of John imagines is based upon justice (Rev 16.5-6). There is a similar sense in 2 Esd 4.35-37. In verse 11: The judgement is differed until the number would be complete, implying both the patience of God and the correlation between the extent of evil and its judgment. In verses 12-17: The sixth seal. All the elements of the final judgement appear here, but no act of judgment is portrayed. We are shown only the anxiety of the judged. For these images see Isa 34.4. This anticipation of universal judgment seems to raise the issue of what will happen in the righteous. Comments or Questions..
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