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The following passages will make clear the reason why these martyred saints were
given white robes:--
"Nevertheless, thou hast a few names in Sardis which defiled not their garments, and
they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh shall thus be
arrayed in white garments" (3: 4, 5).
"A great multitude. . . . arrayed with white robes, and palm branches in their hands"
(7: 9).
"These are they who come out of the Great Tribulation, and they washed their robes,
and made them white through the blood of the Lamb" (7: 14).
To each of the unavenged martyrs is given a symbol of the overcomer. "They are
worthy", "They overcame because of the blood of the Lamb" (12: 11). They are bidden
to rest yet for a time. Their fellow-sufferers who were to be killed as they had been were
also said to "rest from their labours, for their works follow with them" (14: 13). God,
who allows His witnesses to be put to death for their testimony, knows them each one.
Knows the number that must suffer, looks upon their faithfulness as an acceptable
sacrifice. The guilty world little dreams that the blood they shed cries for vengeance. It
does, and when iniquity reaches its height again in a rebuilt Babylon, judgment falls.
Blessed are they who in that day hold the testimony of the Lord, blessed are they who are
kept out of that hour, blessed are they whose hope shall anticipate the fall of vengeance,
blessed are they who in every dispensation "hold fast the faithful word."
#29. The Sixth Seal (Rev. 6: 12-17).
pp. 129 - 133
"And I saw when He opened the sixth seal, and there was a great shaking, and the
sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood; and the
stars of heaven fell unto the earth, as the fig tree casteth her untimely figs when shaken
by a mighty wind, and the heaven was separated (from its place) as a scroll rolling
itself up; and every island and mountain were moved out of their places. And the kings
of the earth, and the great men, and the chief captains, and the rich men, and the mighty
men, and every bondman and free man, hid themselves into the caves and into the
mountains. And they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us
from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.
Because the great day of His wrath is come, and who is able to stand" (6: 12-17).
THE GREAT SHAKING.--Although the word seismos may be render "earthquake"
with truth in many passages, the primitive idea ("a shaking") will fit the context better in
this case. Seven times do we find the earthquake or seismos mentioned in the Revelation
itself, and as we desire to provide every facility for arriving at a true conclusion, we will
set them out first.
The "shaking" upon the opening of the sixth seal (6: 12).
The result of the angel's scattering of fire on the earth, before the seven trumpets were
sounded (8: 5).