Seal 5 is opened. John saw the souls of those having been slain for the word of God and for the witness or the testimony they had borne. These “souls” have yet to receive their new bodies which Jesus promised would be given to His bondservants at the time of the rapture. Yet all true believers who are killed during the first 3.5-years of the tribulation take part in the first resurrection, which is a reference to the rapture. They will also be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. There is a special promise given to the bride of Christ, and that is that they will receive new bodies, supernatural bodies, like Jesus had after His resurrection. They will not be bodiless souls throughout eternity. However, the event that ushers in the transformation from the mortal to the immortal is not death, but the rapture of the Church or the first resurrection.
These souls have been being slain or sacrificed for Christ and now they cry out for vengeance. They acknowledge that their deaths were God’s plan, but they know God used those who positioned themselves in this world to be an instrument to shed the blood of these saints. So, they cry “How long oh Lord.” They are told to rest with the understanding that there still needs to be more killing—and it is happening even now.
