Until the Full Number
The Fifth Seal—Martyrs
"Now when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given.
They cried out with a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?"
~ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 6:9-10
As you read this, Christians are being slaughtered in Syria, Congo, Nigeria, and beyond. Those being killed are not Christian military or armed officials. No, the dead and dying are innocent civilians: Mothers, babies, fathers, and children. And there is no mystery as to who is doing these genocidal killings because they kill in broad daylight, often filming themselves as they do it. Those doing the killing are Islamic Jihadists.
Although Western media have become University-trained experts in peddling the oppressor / oppressed narratives, this blatant and obvious case of one group annihilating another group is going completely unnoticed. The press eagerly augments accounts of war when Israelis kill Gazans or Russians kill Ukrainians, but we live in a day where the press is reticent to report on terrorist attacks carried out by radical Islamists or Christian genocide perpetrated by Jihadists.
Far more unnerving is the collective silence from prominent Christian pastors and church leaders. As the great Douglas Murray recently reminded us, Pope Benedict XVI spoke out with courage against the inherent violence of Islamic holy war in 2006. Quoting a 14th Century Byzantine Emperor, the Pope said:
Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.
Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul.
~ Pope Benedict XVI, The Regensburg Speech, 2006
Predictably, in response to his reading of this quote, violent attacks against Christians broke out around the world. Innocent believers were kidnapped, tortured, and killed, many churches were torched, and even a nun was sacrificed on the altar of Jihad. On cue, Western churches decided it would be best not to speak publicly of such things again.
Whether driven by fear, a false sense of respect, or a complicit component in spiritual warfare, Islamists are among the most protected groups on the planet in terms of public criticism or negative press. And be very careful if you ascribe these atrocities to only a tiny fringe group in the world's second-largest religion.
There are an estimated 2 billion Muslims on the planet, as compared to 2.4 billion Christians. Within these 2 billion Muslims are contained two minority groups: Jihadists and Islamists. Jihadists vow to murder all apostates, are willing to die trying, and believe they have a great reward in paradise for doing so. The Islamists are just as convinced, but they are willing to work within systems, infiltrate governments, and use democracy against itself to achieve their goals.
These two groups comprise roughly 25% of the religion — A number greater than the population of the United States. Keep this in mind when you're told radical Islam represents minor flare-ups at the fringes.
The more important element is: Who is doing the dying?
I spent a few very painful hours watching recent killings in Syria and Congo. Like the October 7th massacre, the killers are gleefully filming their torturous handiwork. As one killer walked over the body of someone he killed, he jeered into his GoPro:
As long as you, Christians, raise the cross, we will not leave you. We will fight you until the last one of you is gone.
As I watched these innocent people slowly tortured and murdered in their homes, on their streets, and upon their knees, I could only ballast my anguish with this hope: That in their moment of suffering, martyrs experience a dimension we cannot see. May it be, Lord, that in these moments of unbearable terror and excruciating pain, there is a rush of grace, a rush of angels, and the rush of Christ to assuage Satan's onslaught.
May these saints see what the martyr Stephen saw as he was murdered in the book of Acts.
But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
~ The Stoning of Stephen, Acts 7:55-56
Until the Full Number
After 24 years of Bashar al-Assad's brutal authoritarian regime in Syria, he was removed from power in December 2024. In a near mirror-image to Saddam Hussein's removal from Iraq in 2003, the sudden vacuum of power, as notorious as that power was, enabled a worse brand of evil to rise and take control. In Syria's case, it is the Sunni extremist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Similar to what transpired in post-Hussein Iraq, Syrian Christians are now among the most vulnerable to retributive killings.
Before the civil war began in 2011, Syria had approximately 1.5 million Christians or roughly 10% of the population. Although Assad was fairly committed to protecting Christians from Sunni extremists, by 2024, that number dropped to 400,000 due to war and emigration. As HTS took control, violence has spiked across the country, particularly in the cities where Christians and religious minorities live in mixed communities.
Post-Assad data is too fresh to confirm, but the month of March has been incredibly bloody, with Christians and minority Alawites shedding the lion's share. March 6th-10th saw thousands of executions, looted homes, and burned villages. Lion of Judah, please rush to their protection.
Suffice it to say that broader numbers remain underreported at best. In Nigeria, since the year 2000, it is believed close to 70,000 Christians have been slaughtered by the radical Islamic groups Boko Haram and the Fulani. Last month, on February 13th, 70 Christians were beheaded in the Congo by the ISIS-aligned ADF, and it is believed the massacres continue daily.
Join these dear souls with the uncountable martyrs since the dawn of history, and the best estimates are that close to 35 million lives have been viciously ended because of their faith in Christ.
To continue our verse from Revelation concerning the Fifth Seal:
Each of them was given a long white robe, and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been.
~ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 6:11
In this supernatural, open vision the Apostle John is caught up in, he hears the martyred souls told: Rest until the full number of those violently killed for their faith is complete.
Who can understand such a verse?
First, the killing will not stop — yet. Second, the total number of souls to be killed seems predetermined. This means that the horror we are watching is neither random nor lacking purpose and unfolds before heaven's watchful eyes. However, resist academically disengaging our hearts by postulating, "Well, I guess prophecy has to be fulfilled."
Perhaps this is not a prophecy being fulfilled, but the inevitability of depraved malevolence when demons darken human hearts.
All of us want The Lord to physically intervene, serve swift justice to the killers, and spare the lives of the innocent. And while He is at it, remove all of the evil that is plaguing the world. But we do not know what we ask; to remove man's free will is to remove the free flow of love.
Alvin Plantinga, in his book God, Freedom, and Evil, writes:
God wanted creatures capable of moral good, which requires them to have the freedom to choose evil, too. If God stopped every bad act, free will would vanish, and with it, the ability to freely love or act morally.
Similarly, C.S. Lewis writes in The Problem of Pain:
Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love, goodness, or joy worth having.
It doesn't preach well in our seeker-sensitive Sunday gatherings, but Jesus did say things like: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Therefore, be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor's crown.
I am not trying to explain away the hell on earth I watched with my own eyes. But I know this:
As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord's word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.
~ Psalm 18:30
Pray for the martyrs, with heaving tears, and envision them safely resting under the altar in robes of brilliant white.
