February 5 - The Sixth Seal

February 5 – The Sixth Seal
Revelation 6:12-17

In December I went through some of the passages in the Gospels relating to the Second Coming of Christ. The passages in Matthew 24-25, Luke 21 and Mark 13 actually progress through in a similar pattern to the Revelation.

It’s important to see this because by 100 AD when the churches were receiving this letter, they knew the Gospels well. They knew Jesus’ words. They recognized John’s words as truth because it affirmed what they learned from their rabbis.

War: Matthew 24:6-7 / Rev. 6:3-4
Famine: Matthew 24:7 / Rev. 6:5-6
Death: Matthew 24:7-9 / Rev. 6:7-8
Martyrdom: Matthew 24:9-12, 16-22 / Rev. 6:9-11
Stars Falling, Sun & Moon: Matthew 24:29 / Rev. 6:12-14
Time of Divine Judgment: Matthew 24:32-25:26 / Rev. 6:15-17
(source: John Walvoord)

The Lamb opened the sixth seal. EARTHQUAKE! Obviously this was no ordinary earthquake. Even the worst that we can imagine – and we’ve recently seen some pretty awful images of earthquake damage – can’t compare. This earthquake ripped through the entire earth, roiling seas, mountains and islands, even reach through to the sky and disrupting the stars.

When God shows up – He makes Himself known. IN exodus 19:18, the Lord descended upon Mt. Sinai to meet with the Israelites. As fire and smoke encompassed the mountain, “the whole mountain trembled violently.”

You can find more references to God’s use of earthquakes in Ezekiel 38:19, Joel 2:10, Amos 8:8, Haggai 2:6 and Isaiah 2:19.

The sun turned black and the moon turned red. We find references to this event in the Old Testament as the prophets refer to the Day of the Lord. John is telling us that the Day of the Lord is near! Again – references that you can look up are: Isaiah 13:10, Isaiah 50:3, Ezekiel 32:7-8, Joel 2:10, Joel 2:31, Amos 8:9. Jesus’ teachings in the NT are found in Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24-25 and Luke 21:25.

(Remember, if you read this online in the blog, all you have to do is hover over the scripture reference and it will pop up for you to read.)

The stars fell to the earth. Everything I read says this is probably just a meteor shower. We don’t have to get terribly worried yet. However, the real thing will come. But, to the first century Christian, this meant complete chaos. Psalm 119:89 says “Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.” If the heavens come down – how does God’s word stand forever?

Isaiah 34:4 says “All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.”

These are practically the same words used in the Revelation. John’s audience would have recognized them immediately.

Revelation 6:15 offers a list of those who hide in the mountains when things begin breaking apart: kings, princes, generals, the rich, the mighty, every slave and every free man. No one will be able to run from the judgment of that day.

When Isaiah speaks of that day in Isaiah 2:19, he says “Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from dread of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth.”

Hosea says “The high places of wickedness will be destroyed – it is the sin of Israel. Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, ‘Cover us!’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us!’ (Hosea 10:8)

This is the ultimate rock and a hard place scenario. You either face the wrath of the Lord or call for the mountains to fall on you. The great day that has been prophesied for centuries has finally come. No one can say that they didn’t know … scripture is filled with the warnings.

Isaiah 2:10-22 is quite pointed in telling us what will happen on the Day of the Lord. “The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.” (Isaiah 2:17) This is the purpose. And it comes from a command in Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before me.”

The Lord WILL be exalted above all else and on the day when He finally insists that this commandment be fulfilled, we will either find ourselves under the altar in the throneroom or we will be hiding in caves.