So that’s the first half of the tribulation that we cover here. Jesus said that these are just the beginning of sorrows at Matthew 24.

Revelation 6:9 “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:”

What’s this altar? That’s the literal altar in Jerusalem.

Revelation 11:1-2 “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.”

In verse 1, when you read throughout your Bible, the temple of God is referring to Jerusalem.
In verse 2, ‘holy city’ is  referring to Jerusalem. So the Gentiles, the United Nations are going to take over the temple in Jerusalem and the Antichrist is going to sit and proclaim that he is god.

2 Thessalonions 2:3-4 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”

The Antichrist is going to take that temple of worship for himself, take God’s worship services at Jerusalem and say ‘worship me’.

Matthew 24:5-8 “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

Verses 5-7 show the first four seals.
Verse 8 says that was the beginning of sorrows.

Matthew 24:15-20 “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:”

Verse 15 talks about the ‘abomination of desolation’ which is something really evil, and it stands in the holy temple of God. So this happens after the seals, after the beginning of sorrows.
In verse 16, the Jews now have to run away.
In verses 17-20, everyone is running for their lives, notice that there is some form of persecution going on here. Every one of the saints are running for their lives and it’s concentrated on the Jews.

Earlier the Jews made the covenant with the Antichrist and they tried to make one with hell and death. But now the Jews are running for their lives, something happened here in the middle of the tribulation. Jesus mentioned on Matthew 24 when the Antichrist stands in the holy place, it’s spoken by Daniel the prophet. Daniel called this the abomination of desolation, let’s see what Daniel says.

Daniel 9:27 “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

The Antichrist makes that covenant with the Jews for 7 years (one week=7days, to God, 1 day could represent 1 year) but something happened in the middle of the week. The second half of the verse matches with Matthew 24, after the beginning of sorrows, the second part is a total nightmare, everyone is going to be running for their lives.

Look back at Revelation 6:9, ‘the souls of them that were slain’, so they already died. Earlier we read that they were running for their lives because the Antichrist is doing a Holocaust.

Revelation 6:10 “And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?“

So the souls were crying out to the Lord. Notice the location where their blood cried out, it was under the altar, this means that they were going to be killed at the altar. Look at Abel, when God spoke to Cain, ‘the blood of your brother cries from the ground’, so at that location where he was killed and his blood was spilled. If we take it that way, it makes sense with verse 10 when it says the blood crying out from the altar, that means that’s where they were killed.

Here’s another thing, a lot of people confuse the altar with the temple and altar up in heaven but that’s not true. They forget Revelation 11, there’s a temple right here on earth that the Antichrist is going to take over. It also mentions that these souls were in the vicinity where they were slain is obviously going to be at God’s temple in Jerusalem, not up in heaven.

So what happens if you’re killed by the altar? He’s going to have these people sacrificed up as human sacrifices because he has to be worshipped. Ever wonder why the book of Daniel mentioned that the sacrifice and oblation to cease, why? It’s not going to be animal sacrifices, it’s going to be humans. God’s sacrifice system is not going to be ongoing at that time, it’s going to be Satan’s own sacrifice.

Leviticus 1:4-6 “And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces.”

In verse 5, it says ‘sprinkle the blood round about the altar and remember Revelation 6, ‘by the altar their bloods crying out’.

Leviticus 1:12 “And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar:”

In verse 12, it shows the cruelty of the death. The head is cut off and the body parts are dismembered.

Revelation 20:4 “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

Just like the animals who has their heads chopped off at the altar, that’s what’s ging to happen to these saints. Because they’re not going to receive the mark of the beast on their head, the Antichrist says ‘Well I’m going to use your head one way or another’, so chop off the head and offer as a sacrifice.

Here’s another thing: what do you do with the sacrifices on the altar? The priests eat them. Don’t believe it? Don’t forget about the third horsemen that brings famine. When you’re starving to death and you want something to eat, you’ll resort to cannibalism.

Isaiah 6:11-13 “Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.”

In verses 11-12, Israel is going to be desolate, without man, inhabitants. Obviously that did not happen and it’s going to happen during the tribulation.
In verse 13, this is referring to the people of Israel, the Jews. A tenth of them are eaten.

This is going to be a nightmare, there’s going to be cannibalism, bloodshed, total abomination.