The Bible’s statements about life, death and resurrection are quite clear and consistent: dead people do not live. They are dead. This refers to the opposition of life. Those who do not see it this way fall back on a rather limited selection of “differently worded” biblical passages, with which the remaining testimony of Scripture is then supposed to be invalidated. These biblical passages demand special attention if we are to understand Scripture in its own context.
Bible passage
John describes the following in Revelation:
“When it opened the fifth seal, I beheld below, under the altar, the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they had. And they cried out with a loud voice: Until when, Thou our Owner, Holy and True, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Rev 6:9-10
Traditional interpretation
These people mentioned here are dead, but yet they are screaming. According to this, they are alive and according to this, all the dead are alive. It’s as simple as that. Or is it?
Counterargument
It is not the dead who cry out, but what has happened to them “cries out to heaven.” They were “slain” and their blood was shed on earth. There is talk of martyrs and injustice should be avenged.
Justification
The book of Revelation is full of imagery. Thus, this entire chapter speaks of the “Lamb” opening “seals.” The lamb is an image of Christ. The seals are images of events. Normally, a lamb cannot open seals either. That is why we should read such texts carefully.
Those who are killed no longer cry out. The dead are silent. This is mentioned quite clearly and repeatedly in Scripture. Nevertheless, there are biblical passages which now depict this differently in a figurative language. However, it is not a description of the state of death, but a visual language that wants to tell something completely different. In comparison, the blood of Abel also cried out after Abel was killed by Cain:
“And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the earth.”
Gen 4:10
Blood has no voice, but yet blood has a language. It is a visual language. Likewise, this is the case in Revelation. The “souls” speak of their “blood”. This also has a context. Indeed, the soul is associated with the blood in the Bible (e.g. Gen 9:6). The soul represents the whole person. People became “living souls” (Gen 2:7) and can die. Soul is what makes us human today. It is our sensation and it describes everything we feel. Now when the souls are under the altar, it is a picture that these people were executed because of their faith, as it says “for the word of God and for the testimony”.
So, again, it is not about a state of death, but it is about a visual language wherein justice is demanded for martyrs. The theme is justice. The fifth seal has revealed this.
