Martingales constitute a basic tool in stochastic analysis; this paper considers their application to counting processes. We use this tool to revisit a renewal theorem and its extensions for various counting processes. We first consider a renewal process as a pilot example, deriving a new semimartingale representation that differs from the standard decomposition via the stochastic intensity function. We then revisit Blackwell's renewal theorem, its refinements and extensions. Based on these observations, we extend the semimartingale representation to a general counting process, and give conditions under which asymptotic behaviour similar to Blackwell's renewal theorem holds.