Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 186 · July 5
Under the Altar
“And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”
"How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" That prayer is prayed in heaven, with a loud voice, by people who have already died for their faith.
Look at where John sees them: "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held." The place under the altar is more than a poetic touch. In the tabernacle it was where the blood went. The law told the priest that he "shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar." The base of the altar was where the blood of the sacrifices was poured out, and where it stayed.
So John's picture is of blood gathered at the foot of the altar, and in Scripture blood at the bottom of things has a voice. After the first murder, God says to Cain, "What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground." Cain's sin was found out by a cry rising from the dirt. When the fifth seal is opened, John hears that same cry again, louder now, and this time it has words.
What they ask for is a verdict. They call on the Lord as holy and true, and they ask Him to judge and avenge. Nobody in the chapter tells them to soften their prayer. They are in God's presence, and this is what they say to Him.
The answer they receive is a robe and a wait: "white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." Their "How long" is answered with a length of time nobody can measure and a number nobody is shown, and that number is made up of more people like them.
The blood is still at the bottom of the altar, and it can still be heard. It is heard by the same God who heard Abel's blood crying from the ground. He has clothed His martyrs in white and given them rest, and the One they call holy and true has not stopped listening.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 186 is Never Cast Off (Psalm 94:14).