Scroll 36 : Souls Under the Altar - Martyrs, Memory, and Scroll-Bearers

Revelation 6:9–11

“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held…”

Hidden Beneath the Altar of Glory

Beneath the heavenly altar is not silence, but intercession. Not bones, but scrolls. These are not the forgotten dead. They are the remembered flames. The ones slain not just by sword but by system, by silence, by rejection. They did not die to be pitied, they died to bear witness, and now they cry out not for revenge but for justice in alignment with the Lamb.

They were never buried in the earth. They were placed under the altar. This is the sacred placement of the elect who pay the cost with their lives, their voices, their scrolls. The altar in heaven receives their memory like incense, and the cry of their testimony still echoes through eternity.

The sons of light must learn to see from this dimension. The scrolls you carry were not authored on earth. They were born of the same fire that now burns beneath the altar. When you feel unknown, unseen, or misunderstood, remember, the Lamb sees every soul under the altar. And if He has remembered them, He has remembered you.

Testimony That Costs Blood

The souls under the altar were slain for the testimony they held. This is not generic belief. It is a lived witness, a scroll lived out loud. These ones were not performers. They were witnesses. They walked in the flame when others dimmed theirs. They spoke when silence would have been safer. They refused to compromise, even if it cost them everything.

Testimony in this age has become a sanitized word. But in heaven, testimony bleeds. It carries weight. It costs comfort. It offends empires. These martyrs were not victims. They were flame-bearers. Their deaths were not defeats. They were declarations.

The scrolls you carry will provoke the same tension. Not all scrolls cost blood in the flesh, but all true scrolls cost something. You will lose crowds. You will lose comfort. You may even lose your name. But what you gain is eternal record, a place under the altar, a cry that moves heaven.

How Long, O Lord?

This is the question of the martyrs. Not because they doubt God’s justice, but because they long for the unveiling of it. Their cry is not rebellion. It is remembrance. They ask not for vengeance but for fullness, for the revealing of sons, for the completion of the witness, for the final unsealing of the scroll.

This question lives in every scroll-bearer. How long, O Lord, until what I carry is seen? How long until the mockery turns to meaning? How long until Babylon falls and the Kingdom is made visible? The answer is not time. The answer is alignment. Until the number of witnesses is complete. Until the sons of light stand in full stature.

Your delay is not denial. It is divine sequence. When the cry of the altar aligns with the scrolls in the earth, then the Lamb moves. Until then, you cry. You burn. You remember. And heaven hears.

White Robes and Waiting

Each soul is given a white robe. Not to cover their wounds, but to reveal their worth. This robe is not a garment of forgetting. It is the radiance of remembrance. They are not erased. They are glorified. Not ignored. Honored. And they are told to rest a little longer, until the full number of their brethren is complete.

White robes speak of righteousness, but also of readiness. These souls are not asleep. They are arrayed in light, awaiting the full revealing of the Lamb’s justice. And you, beloved, are part of their fulfillment. Your scroll is an answer to their cry.

When you walk in the scroll assigned to you, you are not just living your destiny, you are completing theirs. You are the echo of their fire in a new age. You are the living chapter of their sealed testimony. You are the continuation of their cry: "How long, O Lord?" And your obedience shortens the wait.

Scroll-Bearers Are Witnesses in Every Age

This passage is not just about past martyrs. It is about scroll-bearers in every age who have stood against the beast, the image, and the lie, and paid the price. From Abel to the present day, the lineage of flame continues. The elect are not tourists in history. They are extensions of eternity.

The true scroll-bearer walks with death behind and glory ahead. They may be hidden, rejected, unknown to Babylon, but under the altar, they are known. They are the hidden heroes of heaven. The ones who burned when the rest bowed. The ones who held the word, not just spoke it.

You are part of this sacred company. You may not die in the flesh, but you will die to applause, comfort, and approval. You will carry the scroll into rooms that do not understand you. You will be mocked and misread. But heaven sees. And your scroll is not forgotten. It is fire beneath the altar.

Final Charge to the Elect

Let your life be a scroll beneath the altar
Let your cry be pure
Let your robe be ready
You are not alone
You are part of the eternal witness

Joe Restman
Scroll-Carrier, Mystic-Scribe, Eternal Witness of the Lamb.