启六9~10 “羔羊揭开第五印的时候，我看见在祭坛底下，有为神的话，并为所持守的见证被杀之人的魂。他们大声喊着说，圣别真实的主人，你不审判住在地上的人，给我们伸流血的冤，要等到几时？”

　　在启示录六章九至十节我们看见，殉道圣徒的魂所作〔路加十八章的那〕种恒切的祷告。…就表号说，祭坛是在帐幕和圣殿的外院，外院象征地。因此，在祭坛底下，就是在地底下，殉道圣徒的魂所在之处。这是主耶稣死后所去的乐园，（路二三43，）乃是阴间里得安慰的部分，（徒二27，）亚伯拉罕就在那里。（路十六22~26。）在此我们看见殉道圣徒的魂喊着说，“圣别真实的主人，…要等到几时？”他们似乎在说，“主啊，你要静默到几时？你似乎不公义要到几时？你是公义的审判者，你怎能容忍地上仍在进行不义的逼迫？主啊，几时，要到几时？”这是来自看不见之范围的祷告，就是乐园里殉道圣徒的祷告。（路加福音生命读经，四○二至四○三页。）

　　Rev. 6:9-10 And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Master, holy and true, will You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

　　In Revelation 6:9 and 10 we see that [the] kind of persistent prayer [in Luke 18] is carried out by the souls of the martyred saints….In figure, the altar is in the outer court of the tabernacle and the temple, and the outer court signifies the earth. Hence, "underneath the altar" is underneath the earth, where the souls of the martyred saints are. This is in the Paradise where the Lord Jesus went after His death (Luke 23:43). It is the comfortable section of Hades (Acts 2:27), where Abraham is (Luke 16:22-26). Here we see that the souls of the martyred saints are crying out, "How long, O Master, holy and true?" They seem to be saying, "Lord, how long will You be silent? How long will You apparently be unjust? You are the righteous Judge. How can You tolerate the unrighteous persecution that is still taking place on earth? How long, O Lord, how long?" This is the prayer from the unseen realm, the prayer from the martyred saints in Paradise. (Life-study of Luke, pp. 350-351)

　　启示录八章五节说，“那天使拿着香炉，盛满了坛上的火，丢在地上，于是有雷轰、声音、闪电、地震。”这含示对众圣徒祷告的答应，特别是指在六章九至十一节所说第五印的祷告，以及在路加十八章七至八节所说的祷告。启示录八章众圣徒的祷告，必是求神审判这抵挡神经纶的地。对众圣徒祷告的答应，就是借着以下七号所执行神对这地的审判。将火丢在地上，是执行神对地的审判。所以，雷轰、声音、闪电、地震的来临，乃是神审判的标记。

　　虽然第六印已经揭开，七号也即将吹响，但要等到基督来了，将自己当作香，和众圣徒的祷告一起献给神之后，才有雷轰、声音、闪电、地震发生。这指明虽然神定意要在地上施行审判，但仍需要众圣徒用祷告与祂合作。神需要祂的圣徒祷告，使祂能执行祂的审判。你若读路加十八章，就会看见主耶稣说，到了某一个时候，地上的圣徒要呼求神出来对付那种局面，并且表白祂自己。到这个世代的末了，人要大大背叛神，甚至向全宇宙宣称，他们就是神。神虽然容忍，但有些忠信的圣徒再也不能忍受，他们要祷告说，“哦，主宰一切的主啊！你还要容忍到几时？难道你要永远容让这悖逆的光景么？还要等多久你才来表白你自己，并且为我们伸冤？还有多久才使全地知道你是主？”到最后，一定得有这种祷告。我相信我们被迫这样祷告的日子已经近了。今天我不能要你们这样祷告，因为你们还没有受到这种压迫。但是有一天，这个压迫要临到我们，我们就有负担这样祷告。这指明末期即将来到，因为我们的灵再也不能容忍这种光景了。那时我们要祷告，求主表白祂自己，让所有的背叛者都知道祂是神。当我们这样祷告时，神所差遣的那位天使就要把祂自己当作香，加在我们的祷告上，一同呈献给神。神必要答应这祷告，于是就有了雷轰、声音、闪电和地震。那不过是神审判这背叛之地的开始。（启示录生命读经，三三一至三三二页。）

　　参读：启示录生命读经，第二十三篇。

　　Revelation 8:5 says, "And the Angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and cast it to the earth; and there were thunders and voices and lightnings and an earthquake." This implies the answer to the prayers of the saints, especially the prayer in the fifth seal mentioned in 6:9-11 and the prayer mentioned in Luke 18:7-8. The prayer of the saints in this chapter must be for the judgment of the earth which opposes God's economy. The answer to the saints' prayers is the execution of God's judgment upon the earth by the following seven trumpets. To cast fire to the earth is to execute God's judgment upon the earth. Therefore, the thunders, voices, lightnings, and the earthquake come as signs of God's judgment.

　　Although the sixth seal has been opened and the seven trumpets are ready to be sounded, nothing happens until Christ comes to offer the saints' prayers to God with Himself as the incense. At that time, there are thunders, voices, lightnings, and an earthquake. This indicates that while God has the intention of executing His judgment upon the earth, there is still the need of the saints to cooperate with Him with their prayers. God needs His saints to pray that He might execute His judgment. If you read Luke 18, you will see that the Lord Jesus says that at a certain time the saints on earth will cry to God to come in to deal with the situation and to vindicate Himself. At the end of this age, people will be so rebellious against God that they will even declare to the whole universe that they are God. While God has been tolerating this, some of the faithful saints will no longer bear it and will pray, "O sovereign Lord, how long will You bear with this? Will You tolerate this rebellion forever? How long will it be before You come in to vindicate Yourself and avenge us? How long will it be until all the earth will know that You are the Lord?" Eventually, there will be a need for this kind of prayer. I believe the time is coming when we shall all be pressed to pray like this. I cannot charge you to pray this way today because you are not under this kind of pressure. But one day the pressure will be upon us and we shall be burdened to pray in this way. This will indicate that the end is at hand because our spirit will not tolerate the situation any longer. Then we shall pray to the Lord to vindicate Himself and to let all the rebellious ones know that He is God. When we pray like this, the Angel sent by God will minister to God with our prayer, adding to it Himself as the incense. God will certainly answer this prayer, and there will be thunders, voices, lightnings, and an earthquake. That will simply be the beginning of God's judgment upon this rebellious earth. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 279-280)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Revelation, msg. 23