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Puhlishiog:
Th1
PLAIN TRUTH
• MllgaMH
of
UNDDSTANDING
Dear Friend:
The
WORLD TOMORROW
A
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w.
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Proclalmo <o •be World •he
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Nl... 01 THil WOILD TowODOY
Box
111, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
What are the "souls under the altar" mentioned in
Revelation
6:9?
In
Revelation
6:9-11
is a
deac~ption
or the £ifth
seal. When Jesus Christ, who
is
the Revelator (John is not the
revelator), opened the seal, the apostle saw in heaven
an
altar
under which were the souls o:f people who had been slain. They
cried to God, · ask1ng Him how long it would be until He would
judge the world.
Many
claim
that
these verses prove the
"inunortal'1ty of' the soul." But do they?
Remember, if' one part of' ·this description 1s literal,
then it all must be literal
IF
there are souls in heaven, then
where woUIQ they be
in
heaven? Notice what John says,
"I
saw
under the altar the souls
o:f
them that were slain." Where are
the souri? UNDER
THE
ALTAR~
This
could not be
11
terally true
as those who teach the
11
irnmor>tality of' the soul" admit. The
entire description is actually symbolic.
None of the seven seals could be literal pictures of
conditions
in
heaven. John saw in vision a book or scroll bound
with seven seals (ch.
5:1)
whichonly Jesus was worthy to open.
As each seal was removed, Jolm saw in vision
in
heaven a picture
of conditions described
1n
the book which are to take place on
the earth.
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The BIBLICAL INTE-RPRETATION, given by Jesus Himself,
of the events described on the scroll under the seals, is found
in Matthew 24. The description or the fifth seal
~s
1n
Matthew
24:9-28. It is symbolic of the tribulation!
Notice that the souls Jolm saw were slai.n for the Word
of God and for their
testimony~
an exact description of the
tribulation!
In
Revelation
12:17,
the Word o:f God and the testi–
mony are defined as the keeping of the commandments and belief
in the Gospel of the
Kingdom~
which is the message that Jesus
test:1.:f1ed. The souls whi.ch John saw were not inunortal entities.
The
Bible definition .for soul is a living, physical creature
whether animal or man (Gen.
2~).
The apostle saw in vision the
souls or bodies of the martyred saints who were in vision crying
out to God,
Just
as Abel
1
s blood cried out to Goa-although he
was dead (Gen. 4:10).
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