Jesus
opening the sixth seal results in a terrible scene that seems to encompass all
of creation.[1] Other seals involve distinct elements of history, with limited
effect on humanity. This sixth seal speaks of turmoil that covers every element
of the universe, while leaving the nations in terror at the coming of Jesus Christ.
Here are some further lessons.
God alone can do what the sixth seal
describes
One
of the Scriptures that keeps coming to mind is this: “The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who
dwell therein, for he has founded
it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.”[2] Even though the red
dragon is “the prince of
the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience,”[3]the
earth, and the rest of the universe, still belongs to God. The devastation described
in this seal, whether literal or symbolic, refers things that only God could
do.
God’s children
will never be at the mercy of some world-ending disaster brought on by man or
demon. God created the heavens and the earth, and he will renew the heavens and
the earth at the end of time.[4]
The sixth seal calls us to attention with things that God will do to usher in
the day of his wrath.
Apart from Jesus Christ, there is nowhere
in the universe that is safe
People
keep talking about finding other planets to live on. Some want to travel to Mars
and try living there. Others imagine finding distant civilizations, or even
parallel universes. Although God has revealed himself to us so clearly, they
want to find some other explanation for life.
What
we see in this passage in Revelation 6, is that there is nowhere that is safe
for God-denying and God-defying man. Even the most boisterous of God’s enemies
will be utterly humbled because there is nowhere they can go to get away from the
God they despised.
While
the world delights to think it can distance itself from God, the Psalm-writer
set us an example of quite a different way. He wrote,
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where
shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I
make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover
me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the
night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.[5]
God
invites us to experience his presence as our constant hope so that we will
avoid the terror felt when the world discovers that God is everywhere after
all, and is now coming to execute his wrath as promised.
The second coming of Jesus Christ will be
both Mount Sinai and Calvary
What
we have at Mount Sinai is the fearful dread of judgment based on law. What we
have on Calvary is the amazing gift of salvation based on grace. In both
places, judgment is at the forefront. Sinai shows us the Judge with only the
law to keep us in line. Calvary shows us the Judge taking his own judgment on
himself, giving us the means of living without guilt, shame, or fear.
When
Jesus comes again, there will be the terrible judgment of Sinai, where the
people who chose death meet their doom; and there will be the glorious
salvation of Calvary, where all those who belong to Jesus Christ receive their
full inheritance of eternal life.
In
other words, the sixth seal does not describe the terror felt by God’s children
at the coming of their Lord and Savior. It describes the horror experienced by
the world when Jesus returns. Jesus explained this already:
“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 heaven, and the powers of the
heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man,
and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of
Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send
out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from
the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”[6]
Jesus
made clear that two things will happen at his return. The “tribes of the earth will mourn,” pictured in the sixth seal as the
people calling the rocks and hills to cover them. However, to clarify that this
does not include God’s children he adds that the angels will, at the same time,
“gather his elect” to himself. The
nations will mourn because they will experience God’s full judgment against
their sin. The elect will be gathered in such a way that “the dead in Christ will
rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we
will always be with the Lord.”[7]
I believe that there is at least a
significant part of this sixth seal aimed at moving the heart of the church to
so love the world that we will give ourselves for their salvation, even as our
Savior loved us, and gave himself up for us. Only Jesus does the redemptive work,
but now we do the evangelizing work to bring people out of the darkness that
leads to death, and into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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