Where and When Do the Souls Under the Altar -jews Who Died in Pogroms of the Ages Resurrect? Will They Be in the Millenium?
1) Direct answer
They will not rise in the first resurrection to reign in the Millennium. The souls under the altar (the Jewish martyrs of the ages) remain at rest until the great tribulation is finished, and they come up after the thousand years, at the general resurrection, to receive their portion among the saved. They are not the Bride and do not reign in the Millennium.
2) Scriptural explanation
- Identity and timing: Revelation 6:9-11 shows them “under the altar,” crying for justice, and they are told to “rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren… should be killed as they were.” That “little season” reaches its fulfillment when God finishes dealing with Israel in the tribulation, when their “brethren” (the sealed of Israel and those martyred under that final persecution—see Revelation 7:1-8; 11) complete the number.
- Who reigns in the Millennium: Revelation 20:4-6 shows the first resurrection—those who “lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” That reigning company is the Bride (Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 20:4). Notice the description in Revelation 20:4 centers on those with the witness of Jesus and who refused the beast. The souls under the altar in Revelation 6 are not identified as having the witness of Jesus; they were blinded in part (Romans 11:25), yet given white robes by grace and told to wait.
- When they rise: Scripture states, “the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished” (Revelation 20:5). Those not in the first resurrection rise after the Millennium to stand at the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-13). From there, the “nations of the saved” walk in the light of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:24). That is where the white-robed, non-Bride redeemed have their portion—saved, but not the ruling Bride in the City.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- They are told to wait until their brethren are also killed—so their case is not finished until after the tribulation.
- The Bible clearly limits the Millennial reign to those in the first resurrection (Revelation 20:4-6). Since Revelation 6 does not place those souls in that reigning company, they do not rise to reign then.
- Therefore, they remain at rest through the tribulation and the Millennium, and they rise after the thousand years to their place among the saved, while the Bride (Revelation 7:9-17; 20:4) reigns with Christ during the Millennium.
4) Reinforcing statement
So, the souls under the altar will not be in the Millennium as rulers. They are preserved by grace, awaiting vindication, and they come forth after the thousand years to their eternal portion among the redeemed nations, while the Bride alone reigns with Christ during the Millennial Kingdom.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Church Ages, part 1: Revelation Chapter 1
60-1204M §141
And you're looking for the water to turn into blood, and things like that. That comes over to Israel again, back yonder with Moses and Elijah. When they return, Elijah for the fourth time returns back. And the spirit... Neither of those was dead. Or, Moses died, and they didn't know where they buried him. He was bound to be raised up somewhere between there and that, because on Mount Transfiguration, there he was talking to Jesus, see. So they'll come back, and be killed, and lay in the spiritual street called Sodo...
Questions and Answers, part 2
54-0103E §17
Now, there was a time that the people didn't go into the presence of God when they died, the justified. That was in the Old Testament. They went into a place called Paradise, and there the souls of the just waited in Paradise. But Paradise was a place where God kept the souls in like a dreamland, until the blood of Jesus Christ was shed; for the blood of bulls and goats would not take away sin; it only covered up sin. But Jesus' blood takes away sin. Did you notice that when He died at Calvary...? And on His return...
Thy House
61-0808 §54
And when you die, and our loved ones or somebody goes on ahead of us, they're not dead. Their spirit's with God, their soul's under the altar of God, their body's in the grave and they know right where it's at. So what happens? When the Scripture's all fulfilled... Like it said in the Bible---it said these souls are under the altar was crying, "Lord, how long, how long?" They want to come back to earth and be in bodies. He said, "Just a little longer till your fellow servants have suffered like you have for the tes...
Souls that are in prison now
63-1110M §82
Their names were on the Book of Life, in that Book. And He had to stand here, because it was God's purpose to redeem them. Their names were put on the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. The Lamb was put there with it, to be slain. Here come the Lamb that was slain, come back to make intercessions. Watch Him. There will be a lot of impersonations, a lot of everything else, but there was really somebody was going to be saved for the Church was predestinated to be there. Without spot or wrinkle, S...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 7:E-85
...gment since the Epistles seem to conclusively point out that one must possess the Spirit of Christ or perish. Though it seems thus, we must not discredit the words of Jesus Who most pointedly sets forth that there are some found in the Book of Life who will either receive eternal life before the general resurrection or after it. Paul does not evade this truth for he most clearly says in Philippians 3:11, "If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead." Now this statement is most peculiar. We all kn...