Souls Under the Altar

[micah7:9]

With the Lord, a thousand years is as a day and a day as a thousand years. if the souls under the altar ar reallt there in the heavenlies now, I am sure they are not crowded into a holding chamber tucked under some literal huge altar  :laugh:

Whatever their state(if the passage is not entirely metaphoric in nature), I am sure they are enrapt in the presence of the Lord they are doin ok  :o).

Me, I tend to think "under the altar" refers to the saints being martyred in the NOW of every generation and their cry for retribution(how unspiritual :laugh:), rising like smoke from Sodom, or Abel's blood from the earth- but i also think it is possible that it is actually an "abode" in the heavenlies for the spirits of martyrs, such as "the spirits of righteous men made perfect" in the Hebrews 12 description of the "great congregation" of heavenly Zion. I think it likely that both are true, as the heavenly is interwoven with the earthly in more ways that we understand.

I believe your "hedging" (and that is not to be offensive in ANY way), but that your points are strong, as you have said many times about the "glass darkly" I find very insightful! :dsunny:

[eaglesway]

Yea, I tend to hedge when I don't really know for certain, but feel like I am somewhere in the vicinity of the actual truth  :laugh:

[micah7:9]

I do believe the souls under the alter was a vision, a vision John saw, describing the offering that believers who testify for the WORD of the Lord, will face when they bravely speak and stand for the Message of Christ crucified and His covering blood. All that John saw was in Heaven.
Rev 4:1 After these things I perceived, and lo! a door is open in heaven...
I ask do any of us even KNOW a thing about heaven? We know this one thing....heaven is a lifted up and a high place...what else do we know?
We also know this...John was in SPIRIT in the Lord's Day and John was invited to see things in HEAVEN in SPIRIT in the Lord's Day.
Have any of us been there? My  :2c:

[Tom]

The whole book of "The Unveiling Of Jesus Christ [Revelation]" is a vision, and, like all visions or dreams, some things appear to be real and some things are mystifying.

[rosered]

The whole book of "The Unveiling Of Jesus Christ [Revelation]" is a vision, and, like all visions or dreams, some things appear to be real and some things are mystifying.

Amen  Tom  :thumbsup: 


For me its lots of  Symbolism  sym·bol·ism
ˈ
noun
the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

"he has always believed in the importance of symbolism in garden art"

symbolic meaning attributed to natural objects or facts.

"the old-fashioned symbolism of flowers"


an artistic and poetic movement or style using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind

[Molly]

I do believe the souls under the alter was a vision, a vision John saw, describing the offering that believers who testify for the WORD of the Lord, will face when they bravely speak and stand for the Message of Christ crucified and His covering blood. All that John saw was in Heaven.
Rev 4:1 After these things I perceived, and lo! a door is open in heaven...
I ask do any of us even KNOW a thing about heaven? We know this one thing....heaven is a lifted up and a high place...what else do we know?
We also know this...John was in SPIRIT in the Lord's Day and John was invited to see things in HEAVEN in SPIRIT in the Lord's Day.
Have any of us been there? My  :2c:

"Have any of us been there?"

Sure.   Those who belong to the church of the Firstborn.   They might also be the souls under the altar.


The Glorious Company

18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,  19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.  20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: "And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow."  21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.")

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,  23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,  24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

--Hebrews 12