The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 6:9-10
Departed martyrs. "And when he had opened," etc. By common consent this is a sketch of departed martyrs, i.e. men "that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held." If they bad been slain for anything else they would not have been martyrs. I. THEY LIVE IN SACRED SECURITY . "I saw under the altar the souls of them." The "souls," not the bodies; the bodies had been destroyed, their ashes were left Souls can exist apart from the body—a wonderful fact... read more
The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 6:3-11
Scenes of suffering. No sooner has the vision of the Conqueror passed before the eye of the seer, than a darkening series in slow procession bring him from the contemplation of the source of the Church's comfort and hope to the scene of the Church's conflict, the earth. Herein is depicted the afflictions through which the Church should pass. Well was it that an assurance had been given of final triumph. Always from conditions of sorrow the Church could look back upon the great and... read more