SEVEN SEALS (6-1): THE DAY OF GOD'S WRATH (REVELATION 6:12-17)

(Message by Tanny Keng)

1. Revelation  

a) John wrote Revelation while a prisoner on the Island of Patmos, approximately 85-95 A.D. Its purpose is to give encouragement and hope for all Christians to continue watching for the return and triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ. It also is to warn of the Final Judgment that nonbelievers will endure on that Last Day.

b) John wrote that Revelation is special because,“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).

c) A brief view of the Book of Revelation. It gives you some basic understanding of the book of Revelation. 

2. The Sixth Seal (Terror)

Revelation 6:12-17 

12 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; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 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; 16 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; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

5. The Day Of Wrath (Revelation 6:12-17)

a) Great earthquake 

i) The description of this earthquake, which even shook the stars from the sky, represents the destruction of the heavens and earth that will happen on the day of wrath (2 Peter 3:9-13). It also represents the supreme authority of God and Christ "from whom the earth and heaven fled away" (Revelation 20:11).

b) The kings 

i) "The kings of the earth" (Revelation 6:15) do not escape the wrath of God. You will recall that the rule on earth of kings and lords was represented by the first horse when the first seal was opened (Revelation 6:1-2). Their power will mean nothing on the day of God's wrath. Even kings flee when the "King of kings and Lord of lords" shakes the earth (Revelation 19:11-15).

c) Hide us 

i) Those who were unprepared for the day of wrath "cried to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us!'" (Revelation 6:15-16). The futility of this is indicated by the fact that "every mountain and island were moved out of their place" (Revelation 6:14). There is no place impregnable to almighty God.

d) Wrath 

i) You will recall that the souls underneath the altar were expecting the wrath of God to avenge the blood of the martyrs, and we asked whether God would do that? In this lesson we have made strong emphasis upon the grace of God. But we cannot ignore the emphasis in these visions on the wrath of God. In Revelation, as in the rest of scripture, we are told of a God of grace who saves, and a God who gets angry and destroys. These are not two different Gods, but one. He is a God to be both loved and feared. This is not a popular doctrine today. The revelation of the gospel, however, clearly shows us both "the kindness and severity of God" (Romans 11:22). The visions of the 5th and 6th seals certainly do.

The End ...