Souls In White

Several parallels link John fifth-seal vision of martyrs under the altar (Revelation 6:9-11) with the climactic sixth-seal vision of a multitude before the throne (7:9-17).

Revelation talks a lot about clothing, and a lot about white clothing in particular. Only three times, however, does the book use the Greek stole: 6:11; 7:9; 22:14. Within the space of a chapter, we hear a promise that a group is going to be robed in white stolas, and then we see a multitude in white stolas. The two must be linked. 

Revelation is a loud book, with many loud cries from Jesus, from angels, from heaven. The references to the loud cries of humans are relatively rare, and the first two are in 6:10 (the loud cry of the martyrs) and 7:10 (the loud cry of the multitude). 

The martyrs have shed their blood under the altar (6:9; the soul is in the blood), and the multitude has come through the great tribulation (7:14).

The links accumulate: In both the fifth and the sixth seals, we have references to white-robed multitudes who cry out loudly. Both groups have suffered for their faithfulness. One cries out for vindication; the other cries out, it might be said, because vindication has come (cf. 7:10).

In short, the last part of the sixth vision reveals the fulfillment of the promise of the fifth seal. That makes sense: 7:12-8 is about the sealing of the 144,000, who are the “fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed” (6:11). Once they are sealed for martyrdom, the promise to the martyrs in 6:11 begins to be fulfilled. When their brothers join them, they are elevated.