One of my favorite biblical books is Revelation. And one of its most curious scenes takes place in 6:9–11. John writes: “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.”

This passage is curious for three reasons: (1) It hints at some unhappiness of souls in heaven. Happy people do not ask, “How long, Sovereign Lord?” (2) It makes the souls sound bloodthirsty. “Avenge our blood” seems like an unchristian prayer. And (3) it indicates that martyrdom is part of God’s plan, that God has set “the number…who were to be killed.”

As curious as Revelation 6:9–11 may be, it tells us three truths that are useful to our praying:

First, our ultimate fulfillment lies in the future. According to the Bible, we die because of sin. “For the wages of sin is death,” Paul writes in Romans 6:23, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We will be ultimately fulfilled only when we are finally resurrected. The martyred souls in heaven longed to open that gift of eternal life and prayed accordingly. So should we.

Second, God’s ultimate purpose is justice and peace. Sin, which causes death, is a pollution of the beautiful world God made. God created the world to be just and peaceful. Sin unmakes the world, leaving injustice and violence in its wake. Salvation remakes the world according to God’s original intention. The martyrs’ prayer—“avenge our blood”—sounds bloodthirsty, but it is simply a colorful way of crying out for salvation. When we pray, we should cry out too!

Third, our present difficulties have a place in God’s plan. Statistically speaking, more believers were martyred in the twentieth century than in the previous nineteen centuries combined. And yet, John hints, there is a purpose to this suffering. In Greek, martyr means “witness.” Martyrs are people who, by their lives or deaths, show others the depths of God’s love for his creation. And that God “is patient…not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).

If God is patient with us in our sin, we ought to be patient with him as he slowly brings salvation to a world that desperately needs it. When we pray, God sometimes tells us to wait for his final answer. We should do so, for while we wait God accomplishes his ultimate purpose and brings about our ultimate fulfillment.

So, how long, Sovereign Lord? As long as you need!