The Seven Seals... Seal 5

If you thought the other 4 seals were interesting wait til you see what I have cooked up for this one. It is also probably the scariest, though it doesn't appear so at first glance. So again, I need to back-track a little and give some background before plunging in. The image of the lamb (constellation Aries) that appears in the midst of the Assembly/Council of El (the 12 constellations that surround the throne) is the most powerful of all the images because it depicts the victorious Christ, Lord of all. Slain and risen, everyone who will read this knows the image of a lamb represents the innocent sacrifice, given for the sins of the world. And everyone also knows that an altar is an instrument of sacrifice, from which the blood flows. The place where the innocent are sacrificed for the guilty, a propitiation for sin. The Lord was sacrificed on our behalf but he was not a substitution. Lambs were substitutions, humans are not. But that discussion will have to be for another time.

To die the death of a martyr has always been the most sacred of deaths, it is considered a death that is most like the death of Christ, it is the greatest sacrifice a person can make for the Lord, giving his life for the sake of Christ. Does the Lord reciprocate this view? The fifth seal seems to indicate that He does. Here the Lord is identifying Himself with the shed blood of the saints, Himself a martyr, adding to His the blood of the blood flowing from the martyrs throughout the ages. As He said to Saul on the road to Damascus, "Saul, why do you persecute me?" Of course Saul was persecuting the church, not Christ Himself, yet the Lord identified Himself as the church whom Saul persecuted. The Bible definitely links the deaths of the martyrs with the sacrifice of righteousness and Christ is at the heart of it. Why do I say the martyrs throughout the ages? Because the cry of the souls under the altar echo something familiar. They ask, "When oh Lord will you avenge our blood on those living on the earth?" which is very reminiscent of what the Lord says to Cain, "I hear the voice of your brother's blood crying out to me from the ground." This should really give you chills here because it foreshadows what is coming. And this question posed by the martyrs will be answered later in the book. But for now, during the identification of Him who is worthy, it remains a question. The Lord not only died for our sin, He was also a martyr, the innocent killed by those who are guilty. But it goes even further.

The law of Moses reiterated the disdain God has for certain behaviors, but the Mosaic law is not the law by which "the nations" are judged. The Mosaic law was specific for Israel and did not include the nations. The law by which men from nations outside of Israel are judged and condemned is much older. Both the Adamic law (Gen 2:16-17) and the Noahic law (Gen 9:3-7). In case this isn't clear yet, the Beast in Rev 13 is guilty of these very sins, deception of men so that they break the Adamic law and killing the saints, a breach of the Noahic law. And as I said before, anyone who participates in the world is part of the beast and is guilty of the sins by which the beast will be judged. Therefore, the blood of the martyrs is the justification for God's terrible wrath that will fall on those who live on the earth because He will require it of them! And death is the result of breaking the Edenic command, judgment and death! Christ killers! Enemies of God. And He will move heaven and earth to get His hands on them, He will uproot every holy place they believe they can hide. But there is an escape, through the blood of Christ, for as they are so were we once! And this actually leads us right into the 6th seal. There is more to say about this seal but I am tired, just got home from work, going to go to bed.