Revelation 6:12-17

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.  The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.  Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

The tribulation on the earth will be marked by the pouring out of the wrath of God at sin and rebellion on the earth.  These cosmic disasters will be a sort of answer to the question of the martyrs in the previous passage.  The judgment of God is always just, and His power is awesome to behold.  All men, both great and small, will tremble before this display of God’s wrath.

THE POWER OF GOD: Natural disasters have been common occurrences throughout the history of the world.  In some parts of the world they occur more frequently than others.  The flood recorded in Genesis was the most widespread and catastrophic.  God caused that flood as a direct judgment of man’s sin and all, but seven people of the population was wiped out because of that flood.  I believe that before the flood there are a “canopy” of water surrounding the earth that provided a consistent temperature on the earth so the natural disasters we observe today were not a part of the pre-flood world.  The flood demonstrates God’s ability and willingness to use these disasters to judge the sins of men on earth.  This text describes such a judgment.  It will not come in the form of a flood during this time of tribulation.  Instead, it will be a massive earthquake, what seems to be a massive volcanic eruption, and meteor shower that strikes the earth.  John observes these judgments of God on the earth that create living conditions marked by terror and certainly massive casualties.  The day of the Lord’s wrath toward the sins of men will come once again on the face of the earth.  This horror will provide a stark contrast that will be evident upon the return of Christ to establish His kingdom that will be marked by a true peace and prosperity.  

THE PACINC OF MEN: The response of humanity to this coming disaster will be to go and hide in caves in an attempt to escape from the horrors that surround them.  In a time of divine judgment a person’s position or the number of their possessions makes no difference.  The powerful become powerless and the prosperous become impoverished.  All the mansions and presidential palaces crumble and fall and those who survive go into caves.  However, they don’t go into the caves in hopes of survival.  They literally are calling for the mountains to collapse on top of them so they can have a more immediate a less horrific death than is occurring all around them.  They foolishly believe that they can somehow hide or escape from the wrath of God upon their sin.  No mountain is big enough or crevice in a mountain is small enough to protect man from the consequences of their sin.  The only means of protection from God’s wrath is repentance from sin and faith in the blood of the Lamb to cover our sin.  God’s grace is available, but the hardened hearts of man would rather be crushed by a mountain and live eternally separate from God than turn from their sin to trust in Christ alone for salvation from their sin.  There is no person who can stand before the Lord apart from the righteousness that is made available to those who place their faith in Christ to save them from sin.  All who reject Christ will be unable to stand before God and will suffer eternal condemnation.

APPLICATION: Know that God will judge this earth and trust Him to do so justly.  There are times where it seems that injustice prevails in today’s world, but that is a temporary situation.  We need to warn all people everywhere of the impending wrath of God.  Guard our hearts from being hardened by sin instead of being tender towards the Lord.  Thank God that He has provided a means of escaping this wrath through our Lord Jesus Christ.