Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, what is the importance of the altar in the mysterious apocalypse? John sees there at the altar the souls who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony that they had maintained. It becomes a place of sacrifice for our sins. That brings us peace.

And thus becomes paradoxically both a place of death and life since we find now under that altar peace and reconciliation and sanctuary. Ah, this is what I'd like to treat of here today with you, dear brothers and sisters. But before we talk a little bit more about that, let's look at the text before us. It is indeed Revelation chapter 6 verses 9 through 11, a very crucial text because it establishes again the place of the altar, the altar in heaven as command central for the conquest of all of creation now by the new Joshua. Indeed, we see that the conquest in the book of Joshua is now the new paradigm for the book of Revelation 2.

And that place of command, headquarters, command central, the place from which are issued commands and also projects and things that we as the church must do. Well, let's look at Revelation chapter 6 verses 9 through 11. First of all, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, How long, sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?

Then each of them was given a white robe and they were told to wait a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had was completed. Oh, yes, that's our text for today. And we saw then last week in our title of our message, which is called Altered State, right? A kind of pun on the old movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger of the idea of an altered state. Only this altar is spelled like the biblical altar, A-L-T-A-R. E-D, state, altered state.

And that indeed is the state in which our brothers and sisters who've been translated to the heavenly realms to be with Christ, they are now under the altar. And this is a biblical picture of our status too as beloved saints, those who have been translated from the church militant then to the church triumphant in heaven. And that place of the altar was just a beautiful, beautiful picture in the Bible of our rest in Christ. The altar is several things at once.

The altar, of course, as we saw last week, was the place of sacrifice and of reconciliation, where under the old covenant, when the temple had been built, when the temple had been built and the various accoutrements of the temple had been established, the Holy of Holies, where the high priest would enter once a year with the blood of a sacrificial victim, symbolizing the blood, the life of Israel herself, placed then before God in sacrifice as a substitute for all the blood of Israel.

The high priest would bring in the blood of the sacrificial lamb of the Passover, which had been slaughtered and prepared and would be splashed on the altar and then some on the people as well as a picture of the covenant of Israel, of God's people. We are the new Israel, the new people of God, the church. But that blood would be sprinkled at the altar before God and then upon the people themselves as a picture, as a symbol of a life sacrificed for the sin of Israel during that period. And so the altar was at once a place of reconciliation with God, but it was also a place of safety and peace and presence too.

God would dwell with them and be their God, he would promise. And all of that transpired and was symbolized and pictured at the altar. So we saw that altered state indeed in which our brothers and sisters have been translated. And one day we will be translated there as well, will we not? And we have seen then, we've witnessed the breaking of the first four seals of the seven sealant scroll, right?

And we saw that that scroll was the will and testament of the father bequeathed to the only worthy son, the lion of the tribe of Judah, who has conquered as the Agnus Dei. And this is the opening of the fifth seal. And so the scene transpires before us then of the souls beneath the altar, the altar, the altar, the Lord is God, as the psalmist says. And he has made his light to shine upon us, buying the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar. All through the Old Testament, that place of reconciliation, hasn't that?

We've seen Christ now has, by his one sacrifice for all, purchased and ransomed men for God from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. And he did this by entering in the heavenly temple, as Hebrews says. Christ has entered, Hebrews says, not into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Indeed, he has done this on our behalf. And by that one sacrifice for all, at the heavenly altar, he takes possession of his inheritance, that is, his very own people, right?

Worthy are you to take the scroll, they say, and to open its seals, for you were slain. And by your blood, you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. All that indeed is now our place then under the altar before God with him. He is our God, and we now are his people.

What a precious thing. And the altar symbolizes all of this, right? We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, since we have been justified by faith. And because we have been justified, Paul says also that we are children now. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him, Paul says.

Oh, these souls under the altar have done just that. They have suffered with him, and they are now glorified with him under the altar. Now, what a beautiful picture. A major feature of the altar was as a place of refuge and of safety. It was a place to which a man in flight for his life could go.

We saw that example with Joab. Now, he could find at least temporary refuge there until justice had been served, but indeed that was a place of refuge, wasn't it? And then we also saw that those in their altered state now can also appeal to God for justice, for a righteous vindication of their butchery. And they can do this from the temple, from under the altar. And we saw that from here on in, the heavenly temple in general and the altar in particular will be the central setting for much of the action that will transpire.

Oh, so get used to it, right? They indeed call for justice, and they will receive justice. That's promised, right? As co-heirs with Christ, we have every right to expect justice. For the suffering that's been visited upon us by the enemies of the gospel.

And that justice will come. That's a promise to us. That justice will come. Christ stands astride the altar to deliver that justice too. But in the meantime, what is promised to us in verse 11?

We see under altered state. Altered state. Our brothers in an altered state, they are contenting themselves with an imputed righteousness in patient anticipation. Verse 11. Then each of them, verse 11 says, then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

Patience. Patience. Patience and a white robe. The fifth seal unlocks the lamb's claim to his people, brothers and sisters. The lamb's claim to his people, which is his inheritance.

Once again, the new Joshua claims his people, even as God has his inheritance. Israel led by Joshua into the land of Canaan. Indeed, the inheritance of God was his people, and the inheritance that he gives to them was the land of Canaan. That was the old paradigm. That was the type.

And the antitype is that of Christ and his people, the church, who then conquer all of creation. That's why we can say Jesus is the new Joshua. And the conquest is in the new paradigm for the book of Revelation, because it is patterned upon that. Indeed, Joshua, under the old covenant, laid the groundwork, gave us the picture of the pattern of what Christ would do as well. Joshua and Israel in the land of Canaan, picture what Christ is doing even now, I submit to you, what Christ is doing even now in all of creation with his church in claiming their inheritance.

The first inheritance of the lamb is his people, though, those beloved souls, you and me, those beloved souls ransomed by his own blood. And that lamb, our Christ, is not neglectful of them either. He counsels here. He counsels to us as well as to those saints who suffered under the persecution of Nero. He also counsels patience, and he rewards us with a white robe, which he later explains in chapter 7.

He later explains, as their righteousness, having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb, chapter 7, we'll say. What a beautiful picture, isn't it, of the righteousness that we now have in Christ, this idea of the glistening white robe. And that righteousness is an imputed righteousness that is one that is reckoned to us. It is not a native inherent righteousness to us, because we never could be righteous like this. We never could do works worthy enough to be righteous in his sight.

The Bible is clear about this time after time, page after page, book after book. Isaiah says, for example, in chapter 64, that all of our works are not like white robes, but rather like filthy rags. All of our righteousness, works of righteousness, are as filthy rags in the eyes of God. And that is because we are fallen, that we are Adam's true children. Our first parent, our first father was Adam, and we're like him in every respect, and that we're fallen sinners.

So there's no way that we could do perfect rights, works of righteousness, excuse me, that would characterize us as bearing white robes, glistening white robes of righteousness. And so these robes must be given us as a gift of grace. Paul puts it this way. He says, for by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God, not a result of works in order that no one may boast, unquote. Oh, dear listener. In fact, it is the sole damning stain of our own sin that must be expunged by a power far beyond our own dead powers. We are dead in our sins, Paul says. We are not able to save ourselves.

We are not able to redeem ourselves. We are not able to do works worthy of life. Our lives, represented by blood, are demanded in payment for our sin, right? Oh, the logic goes this way in Scripture. Ezekiel says, the soul that sins shall die.

Oh, that's the promise throughout Scripture. Succinctly put by Ezekiel, the soul that sins shall die. That's the price demanded. And of course, we see all through Scripture, too, the importance of blood. Leviticus tells us the life of the creature is in the blood.

The blood symbolizes the very life of the creature. That is why it was expected to be demanded then, was it not? Was it not expected to be demanded at the altar and the sacrifice of the blood of the creature? And so Hebrews can tell us without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Oh, with all of this as background, dear listener, we come to understand the vivid picture that the apocalypse paints of our being made righteous, not by our own good deeds, but by the life of a substitute, that is the blood of the Lamb.

If a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, then the thousand words I may have just used describing to you what it means to be righteous is pictured for us in the white, glistening robes given to those under the altar, right, to be worn. It's not something they earn, not something they created themselves, not something a native and intrinsic to themselves, but something extrinsic to them that had to be given them. That is the righteousness of Christ given to them in these glistening robes. And this also explains the apparent paradox, too, of washing a robe in blood and having it come out glisteningly white, too, right?

Oh, this is gospel logic, though. This is gospel logic. Oh, if the life of the sinner is demanded in payment for his sin in order to be glisteningly white again, well, and he's constitutionally incapable of doing that for himself, well, then another's life is going to have to do the job.

And if shedding the blood of that substitute is the necessary price, then it only stands to gospel reasoning that washing one's soul in the blood of this substitute, who is the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God, the Lamb which was sacrificed during the Day of Atonement and also the Passover Lamb, the blood of this Lamb will issue in its coming out of the wash glisteningly white if we wash our souls in the blood of the Lamb. We are told by gospel logic that we will be glisteningly white, but this is gospel logic, dear listener. It's unacceptably incongruous to the world. It is a logical absurdity to the world, but not so to us.

Rather, for us, those of us Christians who have been saved by Christ, by his death, by the shedding of his blood, this is a beautiful truth to all of us who become familiar with gospel logic. Yes. Well, then, content with this bright attire, the council then is patience for the remainder of justice's fulfillment. He is told, the souls under the altar are told, rest a little longer, rest a little longer. For there is a reason for this too.

That is, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete. That is the council. There's a reason for waiting a little longer, and this is another reason why we are counseled patience, patience too, as Christians. All through the book of Revelation, we'll see, and we've already seen, established, the idea of the counsel of patient endurance, patient endurance, because we have to rest for a little bit longer.

Oh, we may endure suffering for 10 days, even as the saints were counseled in the seven cities of Asia, the seven churches of Asia, that they may suffer for 10 days, and that was a symbolic number, meant to be a short, relatively short span of time, 10 in comparison to the thousand years of glory in Christ's rule, right? That is what is promised to us. If we patiently endure for 10 days, a relatively brief amount of time, we are assured that there will be an extended, limitless number of days and years in which we will rule with Christ and establish our reign with him.

We are co-heirs with him, and we will rule with him, and that will come fully then as a promise in chapter 20 of Revelation. But in the meantime, here in these early chapters, we are counseled to patient endurance, patient endurance for the days of our walk, our pilgrim walk here in this way. Oh, that is gospel logic. So then, content with this bright attire, these glistening robes of righteousness, the counsel is patience for the remainder of justice's fulfillment. Rest a little longer, and we may have to rest a little longer, too, until that day of vindication comes for us, too, dear brother and sister.

There's a reason, right? That number is not complete. That number is not complete for the first century church. That number is not complete yet for us. The book of Revelation was meant for us, too, in this fashion.

The book of Revelation was not a book designed to predict far-off future events that had no relevance at all to that first century church, which modern, contemporary, dispensational pre-millennialism posits, right? The idea is that these are all far-off future events, and if they didn't transpire in your generation, well then, never mind. The book of Revelation was not for you, I guess. It's meant for the age in which it's to be fulfilled, the generation in which it's to be fulfilled.

It doesn't mean anything to that first century church, right to the seven churches of Asia then, and it didn't mean anything to my father, who is now deceased and gone on to glory. It didn't mean anything to his father, my grandfather, who has died and since gone on to his glory. It didn't mean anything for any of those previous generations, but only for the generation in which the great seven-year tribulation will happen after a supposed pre-tribulational rapture.

All of the Revelation red heifer rapture rants that you hear are not in consistency at all with the book of Revelation, which indeed spoke to the first generation, spoke to the first century generation as it does to us, for example, in counseling, then patient endurance, even as the souls under the altar were counseled, patient endurance, because God will indeed requite justice, and he will requite justice perfectly in days to come, brothers and sisters, and he does throw, does so, excuse me, throughout redemptive history, and we've seen justice established even as he has requited then judgment and vindication on Israel, the first persecutors of the church, Israel, and they destroyed the entire Jewish economy in AD 70 with the destruction of the temple and the destruction of the city, which this book forecasts.

And so those slaughtered in the great holocaust of the Jewish people against the church and Rome against the church, Nero against the church, these are all counseled patients, for God did indeed requite justice in the destruction of Jerusalem, and then later upon Nero and Rome in the destruction and fall of Rome, which the book of Revelation also then forecasts and prophesies. There's the true prophecy, not some seven-year imagined, fantasized seven-year tribulation, great tribulation that will precede the end of all things and a literal thousand-year reign by Christ from Jerusalem.

No, that thousand years is indeed transpiring now, brothers and sisters. Indeed, it is transpiring now and will be fulfilled then when Christ returns in great glory and power, and then perfectly justice will be requited. But until then, we, as well as those first century saints, are counseled, patient endurance. Patience until all the number of our brothers and sisters indeed are encompassed and included. Oh, what a day that will be.

And our context then, as we have seen, the rest a little longer, the weight and patience until the number of our fellow servants and our brothers should be complete. Our context, at least in the first century, was the Neronian persecution. But the beautiful thing about the apocalypse is that all of this and much, much more applies throughout redemptive history and the history of the church, as we've seen, brothers and sisters, there has been. And there will continue to be other persecutions and sufferings. And we'll see this then as we go through the rest of the book of Revelation too.

Oh, we're make, we are, we believers are oftentimes loath to make the much abused altar call in evangelism, but indeed I wish to make an altar call to you today. We can make an exception if you've not already washed your robe in the blood of the Lamb. Come to this altar, the altar of Christ, and wash your robe in it and find yourself perfectly righteous and clean. Well, this has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth. And we're here gleefully and somberly also unfolding for you the book of Revelation.

But we're also doing this then in the context of a community Bible study. And we meet for this Bible study now on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. We're commencing again. We took a break over Christmas, but we're commencing again beginning January 9 at 7 o'clock on Thursday evening. That's January 9, Thursday evening at 7 p.m. at a Starbucks coffee house on 17th street. We've been having a great time and developing a fellowship and a friendship, even as we unpack the book of Revelation.

And we're hearing a multitude of opinions and points of view and all in the context of brotherhood and fellowship. And I continue to invite you to come and join us too at 7 o'clock then at Starbucks and join us then. And we look forward to seeing you. But we also are preaching through the book of Revelation at New Geneva. And we've been doing that now for some time.

This is Pastor David Bass. I encourage you, I invite you to join us on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And there you're going to find a place of fellowship and a time when you can worship our Lord Jesus Christ as he's revealed in the book of Revelation and hear it unfolded and expounded. And we encourage you to join us on Sunday morning. Maybe you've been thinking about crossing our threshold and seeing who we are, what we are.

Well, I encourage you to do so here in the next week. We meet for holy worship at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for more information about the Bible study or our church or this message. You can call us at area code 208-523-0196. That's area code 208-523-0196.