Revelation 6:10

and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Master, the holy and true, does thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Moffatt found what he called something "inferior" in this cry for "blood-revenge."[38] Scott likewise said, "To a Christian such an invocation is impossible,"[39] from this concluding that the martyrs here were Old Testament Jews. Such views miss the mark. "This is not the language of private revenge but of public justice."[40] One grows a little weary of commentators who fancy that they are in possession of such a faith that a prayer of this kind must be repudiated as non-Christian; but let those who were martyred for their testimony speak; they are entitled to be heard. Furthermore, their invocation is in full harmony with what the Son of God himself said:

Will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you he will vindicate them speedily (Luke 18:7).

"The vindication of the righteous is a recurring note throughout the Scriptures."[41] Did not God say to Cain, "Thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground" (Genesis 4:10). Wrongs in the final analysis must be made right. The justice of the holy and righteous God can be accepted only in the light of the solemn fact that "vengeance belongs to him," and that it will be executed upon the wicked. It cannot be that the prayers of the martyred, for God to exercise that prerogative are in any sense whatever, either inconsistent with true faith in Christ, or reprehensible in any degree. For Christians, upon their own behalf, to engage in acts of vengeance is indeed sinful, but for them to pray for God's vengeance to fall upon their enemies is right, a proposition that is proved by the verse we are studying.

The fact that only martyrs are mentioned here should not obscure the fact that all of the righteous dead are with the Lord and that all receive the same blessings implied by the white robes in the next verse.

[38] James Moffatt, op. cit., p. 392

[39] Walter Scott, Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, n.d.), p. 156.

[40] G. B. Caird. op. cit.. p. 85.

[41] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 13.