When he had opened the fifth seal, &c.— This and the following seals have nothing extrinsical, like the proclamation of the living creatures, to determine from what quarter we should expect their completion; but they are sufficiently distinguished by their internal marks and characters. The fifth seal or period is remarkable for a dreadful persecution of Christians, who are represented, Revelation 6:9 lying under the altar (for the scene is still in the tabernacle or temple) as sacrifices newly slain, and offered unto God. The word of God and the testimony which they held, is a description of faithful Christians, who persevered unto death in the Christian faith and worship, notwithstanding all the difficulties of persecution. See ch. Revelation 20:4. They cry aloud Revelation 6:10 for the Lord to judge and avenge their cause; that is, the cruelties exercised upon them were of so barbarous and atrocious a nature as to deserve and provoke the vengeance of the Lord. White robes are given to every one of them, Revelation 6:11 as a token of the triumph which they had gained over death and all its terrors; and they are exhorted to rest for a season, till the number of martyrs should be completed, when they shall receive their full reward. This representation is a strong proof, among a multitude of others, of the immediate happiness of departed saints, and cannot consist with the dangerous, as well as uncomfortable opinion, of the insensible state of departed souls till after the resurrection. There were other persecutions before, but this was by far the most considerable; the tenth and last general persecution, which was begun by Dioclesian, and continued by others, and lasted longer, and extended farther, and was sharper and more bloody than all the preceding; and therefore this was particularly predicted: so that this became a memorable aera to the Christians under the name of "The aera of Dioclesian;" or, as it is otherwise called, "The aera of martyrs."
Under thy altar, &c.— This bears an allusion (as we said in the preceding note) to the temple service. In the temple was the altar for victims, at the foot of which was poured the blood of the sacrifices, which blood, being deposited within sight of the sanctuary, was supposed to put God, as it were, in mind of the sacrifice offered to him. Much more did the souls, that is, the spirits of the martyrs, placed in the sight of Christ promote the same great end; and as the blood of Abel called for vengeance, so did the spirits or souls of the martyrs.