Revelation 6:11: And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

A long period of apostasy¹ began during the fifth seal when Christ's apostles were martyred after his crucifixion.² This particular apostasy is called the Great Apostasy because it lasted more than a thousand years and was universal throughout the earth.³ It included the long period of spiritual darkness⁴ known as the Dark Ages.⁵ The ancient apostles called the Great Apostasy a falling away.⁶ Today, many scholars affirm the reality of the Great Apostasy as a historical fact.⁷ It is also a significant sign of the times⁸ that has already been fulfilled in advance of Christ's Second Coming.⁹

John's letters to the seven churches of Asia describe the early stages of the Great Apostasy¹⁰ when many saints died as martyrs.¹¹ These martyrs of the fifth seal¹² were clothed¹³ in white robes¹⁴ to symbolize the glorified state of their disembodied spirits in paradise.¹⁵ When their physical bodies died, their spirits began to rest for a little season¹⁶ in a state of blessedness.¹⁷

The little season in Revelation 6:11 has two meanings and a foreshadow. First, the little season refers to the relatively short period of time during the fifth seal when John's fellowservants ... and their brethren¹⁸ of the apostles should be killed as they were.¹⁹ In other words, the little season continued in one sense until all the righteous saints of the fifth seal were dead²⁰ and the true church of Jesus Christ was no longer upon the earth.²¹ All the fellowservants and brethren were martyred,²² exactly as John predicted in Revelation 13:7 when he said that Satan was given power to overcome the saints entirely.²³

The little season also refers to the whole of the Great Apostasy,²⁴ which continued until the true church of Jesus Christ was restored in the latter days.²⁵ Thus, the martyrs of the fifth seal were to rest in paradise until their brethren²⁶ of the latter days also should be killed as they were.²⁷ This means that the persecutions and afflictions of the ancient church of Jesus Christ serve as a foreshadow for the persecutions²⁸ that have already been inflicted on members of the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,²⁹ and that will yet be inflicted with increasing intensity as the Second Coming approaches.³⁰ The martyrdom of saints in the latter days will be fulfilled (completed)³¹ at the Second Coming.³² Persecution and martyrdom are an inevitable part of the restored³³ Church of Jesus Christ in the latter days.³⁴ Latter-day trials and tribulations will mirror the ancient church in every particular.³⁵

The little season of the fifth seal also foreshadows another little season that will occur during the seventh seal.³⁶ Revelation 20:3 places this second little season of apostasy at the end of the millennium just before the end of the earth.³⁷