15  Fear of the Wrath to Come: The Sixth Seal  (Revelation 6:12–17)

I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (6:12–17)

One of the central prophetic themes in Scripture is the coming of the final day of God’s wrath known as the Day of the Lord. While it is true that “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Ps. 7:11 NKJV), the Day of the Lord is an expression used to describe periods when God specially intervenes in human history for judgment. The phrase “Day of the Lord” appears nineteen times in the Old Testament and four times in the New. It is a unique time when God’s power and holiness are unveiled, bringing terror and death to His enemies. The prophets describe the Day of the Lord as “destruction from the Almighty”(Isa. 13:6; Joel 1:15), a time of “fury and burning anger” (Isa. 13:9), a “time of doom” (Ezek. 30:3), “great and very awesome” (Joel 2:11), and “darkness and not light” (Amos 5:18; cf. v. 20).

The phrase “the Day of the Lord” is not limited to future, final wrath, but sometimes refers to imminent historical judgments, which occurred during Old Testament history (e. g., Isa. 13:6–22; Ezek. 30:2–19; Joel 1:15; Amos 5:18–20; Obad. 11–14; Zeph. 1:14–18). These historical Day of the Lord judgments were usually preceded by some preliminary judgments of lesser severity. They acted as warnings by providing sample previews of the far more devastating judgments to come when the Day actually arrived.

An example of one of these preliminary judgments comes from the prophet Joel. In Joel 2:28–32 the final, eschatological Day of the Lord is described. But the sequence leading up to that Day is very informative. Joel 1:4–12 describes an actual locust plague that came on Judah. This was a preview of the near historical Day of the Lord to come on Judah in the future Babylonian invasion seen in Joel 2:1–17. This historical Day of the Lord invasion was also a preview of the ultimate eschatological Day discussed in 2:28–32.

There is another illustration in Ezekiel of preliminary judgments leading to the Day of the Lord judgments. In Ezekiel 13:5, the prophet declares that the Day of the Lord is coming on Judah. Clearly, he was warning about the Babylonian captivity and the total destruction of Jerusalem–the disruption of the nation’s life in the land of promise and the beginning of seventy years of captivity in pagan Babylon. Though that Day had not yet come, Ezekiel was already in exile, one of the ten thousand Jews deported to Babylon in 597 B. C. There had been an earlier deportation of Jews in 605 B. C. in which Daniel and his friends had been taken captive. Those first two deportations (judgments) were previews of the coming Day of the Lord in 586 B. c., when the Babylonians completely destroyed Jerusalem and put an end to the nation of Israel as it had existed in the land. That again illustrates that God sends preliminary judgments before the actual Day of the Lord judgments.

Other times the phrase “Day of the Lord” refers directly to God’s final, eschatological judgments at the end of human history (e. g., Joel 2:28–32; Zech. 14:1; Mal. 4:1, 5; Acts 2:20; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Thess. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:10). This final Day of the Lord will also have its preliminary judgments in the first five seals, before it begins with the opening of the sixth seal (6:17). That Day will unfold in two stages, first during the Tribulation (1 Thess. 5:2), and then at the end of the Millennium (2 Pet. 3:10). Those two stages are separated by a thousand years. It is noteworthy that Peter, as if to erase any questions about that separation, reminds the reader that “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day (2 Pet. 3:8).”

The most detailed New Testament exposition of the coming Day of the Lord is found in 1 Thessalonians 5:1–4:

The Thessalonians had apparently asked Paul about the timing and sequence of events relating to the Day of the Lord. Many of the Thessalonian Christians were confused about the state of those who died before Christ’s return, which they believed would happen in their lifetime. Having taught them all that God intended them to know about the Rapture (1 Thess. 4:13–18), the apostle cautioned the Thessalonians to live godly lives in light of God’s coming judgment (cf. 1 Thess. 5:4–8). To focus on esoteric speculation into the details of prophetic timing at the expense of growing in grace was (and is) unprofitable.

God has not chosen to disclose the precise time of the final Day of the Lord or the return of Jesus Christ (cf. Matt. 24:36; Acts 1:7). Unfortunately the practice of date setting continues unabated in our own time.

Since the Day of the Lord will come unexpectedly and without warning (“like a thief in the night”; 1 Thess. 5:2; cf. 2 Pet. 3:10), believers alive during the Tribulation are to live in anticipation and expectation of its imminent arrival. Speaking of His return, which will climax the first phase of the Day of the Lord, Jesus said, “Be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming” (Matt. 24:42; cf. v. 50). Later in the Olivet Discourse, He cautioned, “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour”(Matt. 25:13; cf. Luke 12:35–40). Every generation must be ready for the Day of the Lord. Peter adds, “Since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless”(2 Pet. 3:14).

Even those alive during the Tribulation will not know the precise time that the Day of the Lord will begin. They will be duped by false prophets, who will reassure them that judgment is not near; rather “peace and safety” are at hand–just as their predecessors falsely reassured rebellious Israel (Mic. 3:5; cf. Jer. 6:14; 8:11). These lying deceivers will scoff at the idea that Christ will return, demanding mockingly, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation” (2 Pet. 3:4). Deceived by the false prophets, the world will plunge blindly into the Day of the Lord and face disastrous, hopeless ruin.

Like the first five seals, the sixth seal (which introduces the arrival of the Day of the Lord, calling it “the great day of … wrath”; 6:17) is associated with a force. That force is fear, a feeling which is among the most powerful of human emotions, capable of seizing control of the mind and will. Fear can produce everything from cowardice to heroism, strength to weakness, aggression to passivity, reason to confusion, clear thinking to total panic. Fear can strengthen the heart and make it beat faster–or stop it dead.

There are fears that affect many people, such as fear of disease, injury, death, loss of a loved one, loss of a job, and public speaking. In addition, there are other fears (usually called phobias) that some people are susceptible to, including fear of spiders, insects, snakes, mice, dogs, being alone, enclosed spaces, flying, and heights.

People fear all kinds of things, but rarely what they ought to fear most. In Luke 12:5 Jesus said, “I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” The writer of Hebrews adds “For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:30–31). But instead of fearing Him, most people either view God as some sort of benign grandfather, or deny His existence altogether. One day, however, people will have a consuming, debilitating, uncontrollable fear of the judgments of the living God. Describing that coming day, Jesus spoke in Luke 21:26 of “men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world.” “Fainting” is from apopsuchō, which literally means “to stop breathing,” or “to expire.” When the Day of the Lord comes, sinners will be so terrified that some will faint and others will drop dead. The sixth seal reveals that the ones who are left will be so terrified that they will cry for the mountains and rocks to hide them from the fury of God’s devastating wrath.

Three features describe the overwhelming fear associated with the sixth seal: the reason for fear, the range of fear, and the reaction of fear.

THE REASON FOR FEAR

I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. (6:12–14)

Unlike the first five seals, each of which involved humans in one way or another (the four horsemen and the saints under the altar), in the sixth seal God acts alone. By the time this seal is opened, the midpoint of the Tribulation has passed and the world is in the final three-and-one-half-year period known as the “great tribulation” (cf. Matt. 24:21). By then the final Antichrist has desecrated the temple in Jerusalem (the “abomination of desolation”), the world worships him, and a massive persecution of Jews and Christians has broken out. Incredibly, in the midst of all the turmoil and chaos from the divine judgments on the world, it will be business as usual for most people. Speaking of this time, Jesus said, “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matt. 24:37–39). The warnings that the traumatic events of the first five seals are the beginning of God’s judgment will go unheeded. But the events of the sixth seal will be so devastating and terrifying that they will be attributable only to God. The world will be forced to acknowledge that the Christian preachers’ warnings of divine judgment were precisely accurate.

As has been previously noted in this volume, the seals parallel the sequence of events given by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse. The Lord described the events associated with the sixth seal in Matthew 24:29: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” Luke’s account of the Olivet Discourse adds, “There will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven” (Luke 21:11). And Luke further writes: “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Luke 21:25–26).

The Old Testament prophets also spoke of frightening natural disasters in connection with the Day of the Lord. Joel wrote, “Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness…. The earth quakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness” (Joel 2:1–2, 10; cf. 2:31; 3:16). Ezekiel wrote of violent weather accompanying the Day of the Lord (Ezek. 13:5–16), and Zephaniah described it as “a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Zeph. 1:15). John recorded six frightening natural disasters associated with the opening of the sixth seal.

First, there was a great earthquake. There have been many earthquakes in recorded history and there will be more during the first half of the Tribulation (Matt. 24:7). But the cataclysmic event John saw in this seal is to be far more powerful and devastating than any previous earthquake. In fact, this one will shake more than just the earth (6:13–14). Seismos (earthquake) literally means “a shaking.” In Matthew 8:24 it describes a great storm on the Sea of Galilee, and the Septuagint uses it in Joel 2:10 to describe the heavens trembling.

God has often made His presence felt in human history by shaking the earth. He did so when He gave the Law to Israel at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19:18; Ps. 68:8), when Elijah called on Him (1 Kings 19:11–12), at the death of His Son (Matt. 27:51, 54), and when He released Paul and Silas from jail in Philippi (Acts 16:26). Both Isaiah (Isa. 29:6) and Ezekiel (Ezek. 38:19) associate earthquakes with God’s judgment. This event, however, causes far more than the earth to be shaken. It will shake the heavens as well as the earth.

Earthquakes have always frightened people. Many who reside in earthquake country live in constant fear of the “big one.” After experiencing an earthquake some people are so unnerved that they camp outdoors for days, or even weeks, afraid to stay in their houses. Some permanently move out of an earthquake-prone area altogether. The number of appointments in psychiatrist’s and psychologist’s offices also rises, as those who remain struggle to overcome their fears.

But the fears caused by this earthquake will be incalculably greater than those caused by any previous earthquake. Not only will this be the most powerful earthquake the world has ever seen, but it will also come at a time of unprecedented troubles. The people who experience this earthquake will have survived worldwide war, devastating famine, and widespread epidemics of deadly diseases. The removal of the restrainer, the Holy Spirit, the divine One who has held back Satan and Antichrist until God’s appointed season (2 Thess. 2:6–8), will allow the world to plunge headlong into immorality, vice, wickedness, and godless-ness. Antichrist will be worshiped as God and his false prophet will be proclaiming that utopia is at hand–as soon as the believers in the true God are done away with. In an instant, however, the lie of Satan is exposed and the world’s false hopes are shattered by the violent shaking of the very earth under their feet.

On the heels of the earthquake came a second disaster, as the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair. Sackcloth was rough cloth worn by mourners, usually made from the hair of black goats. Following the violent earthquake that devastates the earth, the sun will turn as black as a mourner’s robe. Scientist Dr. Henry M. Morris explains what could cause that phenomenon:

The prophet Joel spoke of these same phenomena in connection with the Day of the Lord: “The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes” (Joel 2:31; cf. Isa. 13:9–10; Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24–25; Luke 21:25). Darkness is associated with judgment elsewhere in Scripture (e. g., Ex. 10:21–22; Matt. 27:45).

The third disaster is closely connected with the darkening of the sun, as the whole moon became like blood. There will be vast clouds of ash and smoke spewed out by the volcanic activity associated with the great worldwide earthquake. That ash and smoke will eclipse the moon, coloring it bloodred as it attempts to pierce the smoke-darkened sky.

Isaiah also described this strange and terrifying phenomenon, writing in Isaiah 13:10, “The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light.” Joel adds, “the sun and the moon grow dark” (Joel 2:10). And, in the passage quoted above, Joel spoke of the sun being darkened and the moon being turned into blood (Joel 2:31; cf. Acts 2:20). These phenomena will affect every aspect of life as the normal cycle of daylight and darkness is disrupted. The total eclipse of the sun and moon will add more reason for the world to be in panic.

Then, out of the darkened sky came the fourth disaster; John records that the stars of the sky fell to the earth. Asteres (stars) can refer to actual stars, but can also describe any heavenly body other than the sun and the moon. Obviously, in this context it does not refer to actual stars, since they are far too large to fall to the earth and would incinerate it long before striking it. Also, the stars are still in place later when the fourth trumpet sounds (8:12). This is most likely a reference to asteroid or meteor showers bombarding the earth. There has been much speculation among scientists recently about the effects of a large asteroid striking the earth. Modern experts believe that the impacts of asteroids, comets, and meteors striking the earth would be devastating and cause unprecedented destruction. There will be so many such bodies hitting the earth that John, in a vivid analogy, likens the scene to a fig tree that casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. With the whole earth being pummeled by fiery balls plunging out of the blackness there will be nowhere for people to flee, nowhere for them to hide.

The fifth disaster in this seal affects in some way the earth’s atmosphere, because from man’s perspective the sky appears to split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up. This is the human perception of the magnitude of this judgment, but is not the final dissolving of heaven which comes later (21:1; 2 Pet. 3:10). Here is a culminating feature of the “terrors and great signs from heaven” (Luke 21:11) that will terrify people. John likens the sky to an unrolled scroll that splits in the middle and rolls up on either side. This vivid picture finds a parallel in Isaiah 34:4: “All the host of heaven will wear away, and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; all their hosts will also wither away as a leaf withers from the vine, or as one withers from the fig tree.” God will strike a blow at the domain of Satan, the “prince of the power of the air”(Eph. 2:2).

Returning in his vision to events on the earth, John describes a sixth devastating natural phenomenon, noting that every mountain and island were moved out of their places. The whole unstable crust of the earth begins to move and shift. Dr. Morris also explains how this could happen:

The devastating natural disasters accompanying the sixth seal will be the most terrifying events ever to affect the earth. Their cumulative impact will be far more destructive than any of the current doomsday scenarios about asteroids hitting the earth. And the even more intense trumpet and bowl judgments are still to come! The total flattening of all mountains will come later at the seventh bowl judgment (16:20).

THE RANGE OF FEAR

Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man (6:15a)

This verse indicates that the debilitating fear caused by the disasters associated with the sixth seal will affect all unbelievers. These seven categories embrace all classes of society. The kings of the earth refers to the heads of state throughout the world. The great men (megistanes) are the high-ranking officials in government. The commanders are the military leaders, while the rich are those who control commerce and business and the strong may well be the influential. Together, they comprise the elite elements of human society. Ironically, these are the very people who ignored the warnings of God’s impending judgment and persecuted those who proclaimed it. Neither political power, military authority, riches, nor influence will exempt anyone from God’s judgment (cf. Prov. 11:4; Zeph. 1:18). Nor will the common people, the lower classes, escape; every slave and free man will be as terrified as the influential and wealthy.

THE REACTION OF FEAR

hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (6:15b–17)

The reaction of the unbelieving world to the terrors unleashed by the sixth seal will not be one of repentance (cf. 9:21; 16:11), but of mindless panic. They will finally acknowledge what believers have been saying all along, that the disasters they have experienced are God’s judgment. Yet, like the demons of whom James wrote (James 2:19), they will believe and fear but will not repent. They will follow Satan, believe his lies, and embrace his messenger, Antichrist. As a result, God will judicially abandon them: “For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness” (2 Thess. 2:11–12). Those who repeatedly harden their hearts will have their hearts hardened by God; they will be unable to repent and believe.

The panic-stricken sinners will react irrationally, foolishly attempting to hide themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains (cf. Isa. 2:17–21)–the very places that are being shaken. They are no doubt seeking refuge from the swarms of meteors and asteroids bombarding the earth. But in light of the massive earthquake and its continuing aftershocks, the widespread volcanic eruptions, and the other disturbances to the earth’s crust, such hiding places will offer no safety. Further, it is impossible to hide from God or evade His judgment. Speaking of rebellious Israel, God said, “Though they dig into Sheol, from there shall My hand take them; and though they ascend to heaven, from there will I bring them down. Though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will search them out and take them from there; and though they conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea, from there I will command the serpent and it will bite them”(Amos 9:2–3; cf. Ps. 139:7–12).

The terrifying events prompt a worldwide prayer meeting, but the prayers are to Mother Nature, not to God. As the unbelievers frantically burrow into the earth in their futile attempt to hide themselves, they will say to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” Too late, the people alive at that time will finally realize that all the disasters that have come upon them and their world are the result of God’s wrath. Unwilling and unable to repent, they will scream for the mountains and rocks to fall on them and crush them. Two similar cries can be seen in Scripture (Hos. 10:8; Luke 23:30), both in a time of national calamity for Israel. They are, to some degree, prophetic of the time referred to in the sixth seal. People will be so terrified that they would rather die than face the wrath of a holy God–foolishly ignoring the fact that death will provide absolutely no escape from divine judgment, rather a casting into the eternal lake of fire (cf. 20:11–15).

Him who sits on the throne refers to God (4:2, 3, 9, 10). They will have, by then, come to a clear understanding that God has been behind all the judgments.

More specifically, they fear the wrath of the Lamb. The Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ (5:6–8), is the agent of direct judgment. The wrath of the incarnate Jesus was seen only twice before in Scripture, when He cleansed the temple (John 2:13–17; cf. Matt. 21:12–13). In the future, He will judge like a lion (5:5). The panic-stricken people of the world will recognize the Lamb as the executioner.

The great day of their (God’s and Christ’s) wrath is another term for the Day of the Lord. Apparently the world will understand that final wrath has come.

The primary Old Testament passages from which the images in the sixth seal are drawn prove that the great day must be the Day of the Lord (Isa. 2:10–11, 19–21; 13:9–13; 34:4, 8; Ezek. 32:7–8; Hos. 10:8; Joel 2:11, 30; Zeph. 1:14; Mal. 4:5).

These Day of the Lord horrors precede the coming of the Lord and even anticipate the worst that is yet to come in the seventh seal, which includes the trumpet (8:1–9:21) and bowl (16:1–21) judgments.

The scene closes with the asking of the rhetorical question who is able to stand? The answer is “no one.” The prophet Nahum wrote, “Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger?” (Nah. 1:6). First Thessalonians 5:3 declares that “destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.” The ungodly will not be able to evade divine judgment.

This picture, horrifying and frightening as it is, is not altogether hopeless. The church will be delivered from that time (3:10). Great multitudes of people will be saved in the midst of the terrors of divine judgment, both Gentiles (7:9) and Jews (Rom. 11:26). But for the rest the sobering words of the writer of Hebrews will apply: “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries…. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God”(Heb. 10:26–27, 31).