Does the fifth seal of Revelation 6 prove that souls live on after death in Heaven?
Let’s look at the Bible text in question:
“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.” Revelation 6:9–11
We must remember that much of the content of Revelation is symbolic. The language and terms used to describe what John saw in his visions are symbolic of something or someone else, and he used what he knew to describe what he saw and could not describe any other way.
In this case, the souls crying out from under the altar are not ghosts or dead people. They represent the saints who were martyred because of their faith in God and His Word. Notice that they are crying out from under the altar. This is definitely symbolic. There are not dead people in Heaven literally crying out from under an actual altar. What John is seeing in vision is similar to what we see happening in Genesis in the story of Cain and Abel. Cain murders his brother, and God asks him (emphasis supplied):
“…’What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.’” Genesis 4:10
Notice how God mentions that Abel’s blood cries out from the ground. Was Abel literally crying out from his spilled blood on the ground? Obviously not. But remember that the Bible says “The life of the flesh is in the blood.” Leviticus 17:11. This means that the blood is symbolic of the life source that God grants us through the miracle of the spirit of life He gives us (Genesis 2:7; Ecclesiastes 12:7).
Abel’s shed blood was a testament of the life that was taken from him by his brother, and the same goes for the souls under the altar in Revelation 6. These souls are not literally crying out as intelligent spirit in Heaven. Their shed blood is a testament and a record of the fact that their lives were taken through tribulation because of their faith—and God has not forgotten the injustice they suffered. Jesus expresses this as a judgement upon the Pharisees and lawyers in the following verses:
“Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.” Luke 11:49–51
Much like the prophets who came before them, the martyrs whose blood cries out from under the altar will also be avenged by God. However, this justice from God will not come until the appointed time. The souls from under the altar are told to “rest” until their fellow brothers after them are also “killed” (Revelation 6:11). There will no doubt be another time of persecution in the future in which many more will have to give up their lives for their faith (Revelation 13:15).
The fact that these souls must “rest” is a clear indication that they are sleeping the sleep of death until the resurrection at the Second Coming of Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:13–17; Revelation 14:13). Therefore, they are not in Heaven, yet. Prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, God will avenge these oppressed by answering their plea for justice through the outpouring of His wrath upon the wicked in the seven last plagues:
“And I heard the angel of the waters saying: ‘You are righteous, O Lord, the One who is and who was and who is to be, because You have judged these things. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.’ And I heard another from the altar saying, ‘Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.’” Revelation 16:5–7