How Long, O Lord? The Cry of the Persecuted
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been. Revelation 6:9-11 (NIV) The cry of the martyrs given above I understand fully. When wholesale slaughter happens against a Christian population under an evil ruler/group, one can get how the cries would ring out, "How long, O Lord?" What is harder to understand, though, is the response. The Lord states that it would continue to happen until everyone who is to die a martyr's death does. It is apparently within the will of God that His people suf...