Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Revelation 6:12-17: the sixth seal


6:12  And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13  And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 14  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

This seal opens with a great earthquake and the sun turning black with the moon turning red. There is an astronomic disturbance and a tremendous meteor shower, perhaps, although there are possible spiritual meanings of this passage about the stars of heaven. This is a world-shaking event that takes place, an earthquake that is devastating and things falling from space. It is so bad that the great men and the lowly men of the earth hide in places that would not be where you would go in a regular earthquake hoping to be hidden from Christ’s wrath. Perhaps, in their unbelief they view this kind of death as an escape from the physical destruction. They admit that no one can stand against Christ in this absolute disaster. It is possible then to know that God is judging you but to reject His authority over you.

Do the stars of heaven signify spiritual beings from what we call outer space but what God calls the firmament of the heaven coming to earth?

Genesis 1:15  And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

Psalm 115:16  The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

Ephesians 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Ephesians 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Notice the day of Christ’s wrath is come. This is the wrath that the church is not to suffer under which may be why the church as named such does not appear in Revelation after 4:1. Christ is said to have spared us from the wrath to come.

1Thessalonians 1:10  And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

No comments: