©1998 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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5/24/98
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The 6th Seal
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Rev. 6:12 - 7:17
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5/24/98 Rev. 6:12 - 7:17
THE 6th SEAL
We are in the middle of a study
of a remarkable series of events
recorded for us in the 6th chapter
of the Book of Revelation.
If you are new with us
or unfamiliar with the Book of Revelation,
chronologically it is the last New Testament
book to have been written,
recorded close to 100 A.D.
by John, the last living member
of the original band of 12 disciples of
Christ.
It is the only book in the New Testament
written specifically to deal with
prophecy concerning future events.
It was given to us
in part to provide us with knowledge we need
to better understand where we are
in the flow of human history,
and where we are going,
and partly
to provide us with absolute assurance
that human history
is not the product of chance
or luck,
but rather it is the playing out
of a script carefully written for us
by our Creator,
a script that provides every human being
with the opportunity to choose
his own part in the drama,
but a script that ends ultimately with
what Paul describes as,
Eph. 1:10 ... the summing up of all things
in Christ, things in the heavens and things
on the earth.
Simply put,
in the great battle raging between
Jesus Christ
and the forces of evil,
Christ wins,
and evil loses,
and we are each given the opportunity
of choosing which side we want to be on.
The passage we started last week
in Revelation chapter 6
presents for us the final few days
of that drama.
The scene we are looking at
is in the Throne Room of God,
and Jesus Christ is holding a book
that has been sealed with 7 seals.
As He breaks each of those seals
it brings about specific events -
some on earth,
others in the presence of God.
We looked at the first 5 of those seals last week.
To help bring us back up to speed
let me remind you of what we saw.
1. When the first seal was broken
a man wearing a crown,
carrying a bow,
going forth to conquer appeared on the
scene.
I believe this person
is the one referred to in other passages of
Scripture as the AntiChrist,
a world ruler
empowered by Satan himself,
who will dominate the final months
just prior to Christ's return.
Then, the next 3 seals
set in motion world events
that will drive the world into a desperate
submission to the AntiChrist.
2. When the second seal is broken
wars between nations erupt
with an intensity never seen before
in history,
wars that threaten
the very existence of the world.
3. The breaking of the 3rd seal
sends the world into world-wide economic
chaos
through inflation so severe
that it takes a full day's wages
just to buy enough food
for one person for a single day.
4. The breaking of the 4th seal
then brings about the death of 1/4
of the population of the world
through four forces:
war,
famine,
disease,
and the animal kingdom
turning against man.
We saw last week
that all these forces
create such an intense global chaos
that world governments
willingly give up their power
to the one person on the earth
who appears to have the answers -
the man Scripture calls The Beast,
or the Man of Lawlessness,
or the AntiChrist.
5. The 5th and final seal we looked at last week
causes an outcry from the martyred Christians in
heaven
who see the forces of evil
gaining control of the world
and plead with God to intervene.
The Lord responds to their outcry
by reassuring them
of His control and ultimate victory
and then tells them to be patient
a little longer.
Now, let me read the account
of the breaking of the 6th seal.
¶ 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;
Rev. 6:13 and the stars of the sky fell to
the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs
when shaken by a great wind.
Rev. 6:14 The sky was split apart like a
scroll when it is rolled up, and every
mountain and island were moved out of
their places.
Rev. 6:15 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;
Rev. 6:16 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;
Rev. 6:17 for the great day of their wrath
has come, and who is able to stand?"
And before we attempt
to fit this 6th seal into the events
we have seen so far,
let me just restate
a couple of the fundamental principles
of Biblical interpretation.
Unless their is evidence to the contrary
within the context of the passage being studied,
we should take what is written
as chronological
and literal.
There are numerous passages
throughout Scripture
that are symbolic in nature -
passages in which
God has found it more effective
to communicate what He wants to
communicate
through a story,
or a word picture,
or a symbol of some kind.
We have seen
and will continue to see a number of examples
of this throughout Revelation.
But when this happens
we are always told its happening.
When Jesus taught His disciples in parables,
following those parables
He would take His disciples aside
and explain to them what the symbols
meant.
"A sower went out into His field to sow..."
"OK, men, here's the deal:
sower = God
field = the earth
seed = the gospel
the birds = satan"
In the first chapter of Revelation
John sees before him
his Lord Jesus Christ
walking in the midst of 7 golden lampstands,
and holding 7 stars in His hand...
Then we read the words of Jesus in
Rev. 1:20 "As for the mystery of the seven
stars which you saw in My right hand, and
the seven golden lampstands: the seven
stars are the angels of the seven churches,
and the seven lampstands are the seven
churches.
I mention this again now
because the events we have presented
in the breaking of this 6th seal
are so dramatic
and so terrifying in nature
that we can't help but wonder
if this is symbolic
or literal.
The sixth seal is broken causing:
1. A great earthquake
2. The sun to become black,
and the moon to become blood red,
3. Meteors rain down on the earth
like ripe figs shaken from a tree,
4. Something happens with the sky
that John could only describe
with the word picture of it being like
a scroll being rolled up,
5. And, apparently because of the earthquake,
every island and mountain
is shaken to its foundation.
And, from all the indications in the passage,
these are not symbolic events,
they literally happen.
And this 6th seal marks
a major change in the events taking place
from the perspective of the people on the
earth at this point in history.
You see,
up to this point,
everything that has happened
through the breaking of the first 5 seals
can be explained
on a natural, human level.
A great world leader appearing on the scene.
Wars rage between nations.
World-wide inflation.
Famine,
disease,
even wild animals turning against man...
all of these appear to be
within the domain of man,
and rather than defeating man,
they act as a trumpet blast
to rally the world to reach deep
into the depths of their humanistic
abilities to overcome all obstacles.
And with the AntiChrist leading the way,
they go out to conquer and overcome.
But with this 6th seal
for the first time in these final events
man is forced acknowledge
the reality of God
and His awesome power,
-dealing with world-wide earthquakes
and changes in the sun, moon, and stars
is way out of man's humanistic league,
and he responds, not by bowing before God,
but by running and hiding.
Back in the bumper-sticker era
there was a Christian bumper sticker floating
around that said:
"Jesus Christ is coming back...And Boy! is He
ticked!!"
I strongly reacted to that bumper sticker
when I first saw it
because, from a Christian's point of view, it
couldn't be farther from the truth.
When He comes back for us
its PARTY TIME!
But to be honest,
that bumper sticker is a pretty accurate
description
of what we have going on
in this 6th seal.
And that seems evident from the response
of the people on the earth
to what happens here:
Rev. 6:15 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;
Rev. 6:16 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;
Rev. 6:17 for the great day of their wrath
has come, and who is able to stand? "
John doesn't tell us at what point
during the reign of the AntiChrist
these events take place,
so all I can do is make my best guess.
But I think probably these events take place
about half way through
the reign of the Beast.
It is at that point that
his bubble bursts
and everything starts falling apart.
Three years earlier
the kings of the earth
ran to the AntiChrist for help.
Now they run to the rocks
and the caves,
looking for someplace to hide.
That's where both the 6th chapter
and the 6th seal ends -
with the population of the world
scurrying in terror
looking for some place to hide.
Then, the 7th chapter provides us
with a sort of parenthesis to the action
taking place through the breaking of these 7
seals.
What happens here in the 7th chapter
will happen a total of 4 times
throughout the book of Revelation.
It happens in the 7th chapter,
the 12th chapter,
the 13th chapter,
and the 14th chapter.
And I could most easily describe what's happening
by comparing it to
a common film script technique.
If you've ever seen a movie
that has some great battle scene in it,
it could be anything from
Robinhood
to a WW II movie
to Star Wars,
but somewhere in the film
there is a great battle scene between
two powerful armies.
Now, when they film those battles,
there are two distinctly different types of
scenes.
1. First there is the panoramic filming
of the battle as a whole,
with the two massive armies
colliding in the great conflict.
2. But then,
after the battle stage is set,
the action zooms in on
the specific personalities in that battle.
There will be close-ups of our hero
killing 40 men coming from all directions
without getting a scratch on himself.
There will be another close-up
showing us what's happening
to that innocent family
or the hero's sweetheart
who have been caught in the middle
of the battle.
Then there will be a scene
showing the evil enemy in the battle,
usually ending with that evil enemy
and the hero facing off in the final hand-to-hand
conflict.
In other words,
their is the presentation of the great battle as a
whole,
and then there are close-up shots
of the important personalities in the drama.
The same thing happens here in the Book of
Revelation.
The breaking of the first 6 seals
presents the great world events as they progress
toward the end of the age.
Then chapter 7 offers us
our first close-up shot.
It answers the question
that I think jumps to the mind
of every Christian who reads
the description of the world chaos
brought about through the breaking
of those first 6 seals:
What's happening with the people of God
through all of this?
There are two separate scenes
in this 7th chapter.
The first one chronologically takes place
between the breaking of the 6th and 7th seals,
which is why it is introduced here.
It takes place on earth
and concerns 144,000 Jewish converts
who serve a special role of evangelism
during the Great Tribulation.
The 2nd scene fast-forwards
to a scene in heaven
at the end of the tribulation
and it concerns all the other Christians in
the world
who come to Christ during the Great Tribulation.
And once again this past week
I learned some things I had not realized
until I looked closely at this chapter.
We won't take the time
to read the chapter in its entirety,
but I'll read enough to give you a feel
for what's going on here,
and then you can read the rest of it on your own.
In the first scene we read:
Rev. 7:1 After this I saw four angels
standing at the four corners of the earth,
holding back the four winds of the earth, so
that no wind should blow on the earth or on
the sea or on any tree.
Rev. 7:2 And I saw another angel ascending
from the rising of the sun, having the seal
of the living God; and he cried out with a
loud voice to the four angels to whom it
was granted to harm the earth and the sea,
Rev. 7:3 saying, "Do not harm the earth or
the sea or the trees, until we have sealed
the bond-servants of our God on their
foreheads."
Rev. 7:4 And I heard the number of those
who were sealed, one hundred and forty
four thousand sealed from every tribe of
the sons of Israel:
OK, we are told here
that no further devastation happens to the world
until God first seals these men.
The clear implication
is that this seal is a seal of divine protection,
insuring that nothing touches these men
apart from the permission of God.
That does not mean
they are not hurt during the tribulation.
In fact, they are all martyred
prior to the return of Christ.
We know this because when Christ returns in Rev.
14:1
these 144,000 all come with Him.
But His seal on them at this point
in Rev. 7 assures them
that no force of evil will touch them
until their job is finished.
2. The second group of Christians
mentioned in this chapter
is described as:
Rev. 7:9 ...a great multitude which no one
could count, from every nation and all
tribes and peoples and tongues, standing
before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed in white robes, and palm branches
were in their hands;
And we are told in verse 14:
...These are the ones who come out of the
great tribulation, and they have washed
their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb.
In other words,
these are the great multitude of people
who will come to Christ during the
tribulation
and be martyred for their faith
during those final 7 years.
We are out of time
but I can't quit here without returning us once
again to the basics of life with the King.
It's obvious even from what we have read today
that the events preceding the return of Christ
will throw the entire world
into devastation and chaos
beyond anything we could even imagine.
During that time
it appears as though the great majority
of those who enter the Tribulation
will die before the end of it - both
Christians and non-Christians.
There is a part of us that reacts to that.
We want to think
that God should protect all His people from
being killed.
But those thoughts grow out of that part of us
that views this life
and this world as something to cling to at all
costs.
The truth is
for the Christian
death becomes our final great victory.
Maybe I could say it best
by simply reading Paul's words
from the end of Romans chapter 8:
Rom. 8:35 Who will separate us from the
love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword?
Rom. 8:36 Just as it is written, " For Your
sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be
slaughtered."
Rom. 8:37 But in all these things we
overwhelmingly conquer through Him who
loved us.
Rom. 8:38 For I am convinced that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor powers,
Rom. 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any
other created thing, will be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.