Rev 6:12-17
The Sign of the End Time
We are studying the events of the Book of Revelation.
1. The Relocation of John - The rapture of the church.
2. The Worthy One took the Holy Book - The Book of Judgment
3. The first four seals are opened and peace is taken from the
earth - The tribulation begins with spirit of conquest, war,
famine, death & damnation.
4. The fifth seal is opened and the slain saints cry for
justice, whether this in an indication that many are saved
in the early days of the tribulation only to be killed or
whether these are the saints of all ages crying for
justice, we do not know. (I tend to agree with the latter.)
The first six seals are opened in such rapid succession that our head
is left spinning. There is so much we do not know.
1. Will these judgments come as fast as this chapter indicates or
will things move slowly?
2. How long will the war last?
3. What nations will be involved?
4. Where and why will it start?
5. Many others.
All of these judgments fall into the category of what man will do to
man. A sad truth is that when the tribulation starts, most will not
know it simply because it is mostly business as normal! There is one
exception, the huge number killed. \\#Rev 6:8\\ tells us that 1/4 of
the world’s population will be killed as a direct result of these
judgments.
The greatest war the human race has engaged in so far was WWII. That
war lasted from 9/1/1939 to 9/2/1945, 6 years and 1 day. The
estimated combined deaths of that war:
15 million died in combat
45 million civilians were killed
(another 25 million people were wounded)
60 million dead.
http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2-
history/ww2-by-the-numbers/world-wide-deaths.html?referrer=https:
//www.google.com/
UN estimates there were 2.3 billion people on the globe then. That
is 2.6% of the world’s population killed. Image a number almost 10
times that!
With the opening of the sixth seal, we begin to see a different
category of judgments. I call these the "Nature verses Man
Judgments." In truth, man will not know he is in the tribulation
until we get to the 6th Seal!
I. \\#12-14\\ Several judgments of nature occur, apparently somewhat
close together.
A. \\#12\\ "a great earthquake"
1. There will be at least five earthquakes to occur during
the seven year period. This is just the first
earthquake.
2. The Bible calls it a "great" earthquake.
a. That is the only detail given.
b. I would imagine that these earthquakes will increase
in intensity as the tribulation progresses but that
is just my speculation.
c. Isaiah described an earthquake that has the same
heavenly signs associated with it.
Isaiah 24:17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare,
are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth
from the noise of the fear shall fall into the
pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of
the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the
windows from on high are open, and the
foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth
is clean dissolved, the earth is moved
exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a
drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage;
and the transgression thereof shall be heavy
upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that
the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones
that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon
the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as
prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be
shut up in the prison, and after many days shall
they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun
ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in
mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his
ancients gloriously.
d. This earthquake is obviously world-wide and causes
problems which will NEVER be corrected.
e. Most know that the earth has an extremely thin crust
and the crust rides on a layer of molten lava. Would
what happen if God just lightly slapped the planet?
It would slosh like a bowl of jelly!
f. Some wonder why the Bible describes the end time wars
with primitive weaponry. Perhaps it is because our
infrastructure and orbital systems are destroyed near
the beginning of tribulation. After all, what good
is a synchronous orbit if the earth has been moved
out of its place?
g. The first natural judgment will be so severe that the
world has seen nothing like it since the days of the
the flood.
B. \\#12\\ "the sun became black, the moon became as blood"
1. Now some questions arise for which we do not have the
answers.
a. Is this literal or merely a figure of speech?
(1) I think this is the easier of the two answer.
(2) By figure of speech, I mean that some think
nothing will be going on in the skies, but that
God is warning some major bad things are going
to happen that will cause some to say, "the sky
is falling, the sky is falling."
(3) My own belief is that we are way past
exaggerations and hyperboles.
(4) While some of the language used in the Bible is
symbolic, I don’t think anyone will be over-
exaggerating.
b. Is there a physical change occurring to the sun and
the moon or does it just look like it from the
earth?
(1) This is more difficult to answer.
(2) Things happen on the earth that make it look
like it is happening in the heavens. This
past week, some of us worked late on the new
building. One night, I was driving home after
dark, and the moon was full, small, and red!
(3) My first thought was of this prophecy! However,
the moon did not change sizes or color. It was
the way our atmosphere made it look.
2. We do know that the stars (which are mentioned in the next
verse as falling to the earth) are still around later in
the book of Revelation.
Rev 8:12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the
third part of the sun was smitten, and the third
part of the moon, and the third part of the
stars; so as the third part of them was darkened,
and the day shone not for a third part of it, and
the night likewise.
a. The fact that there are still stars in the heavens
means there is the possibility that these events
describes what will APPEAR to happen to the sun and
moon.
b. If God wants to, God can literally turn off the sun’s
light and change the color of the moon!
c. However, He does not have to make the sign come to
pass.
(1) Dr. Henry Morris, a Christian scientist whom I
greatly respect, gives a possible explanation
for the sun and moon’s appearance.
In any case, the vast worldwide network of unstable earthquake
belts around the world suddenly will begin to slip and fracture
on a global basis and a gigantic earthquake will ensue. This is
evidently, and naturally, accompanied by tremendous volcanic
eruptions, spewing vast quantities of dust and steam and gases
into the upper atmosphere. It is probably these that will cause
the sun to be darkened and the moon to appear blood-red. (The
Revelation Record [Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale, 1983], 121)
(2) So Dr. Morris, and many others, believe nothing
really changes to the sun or moon, it just
"appears" to be happening due to the ash in the
atmosphere, indirectly being caused by the
great earthquake.
(3) We have seen what can happen to the atmosphere
when a volcano erupts.
a. Two eruption of a volcano in Iceland (March-
May, 2010) so polluted the atmosphere that
air lanes had to be closed through that
area for weeks.
b. I saw pictures at CBS.com where the sun
looked like it was being blackened by the
clouds of ash in the sky.
(4) I don’t know that the Iceland volcano would even
be considered a "major" eruption, but imagine
the effect that dozens or even hundreds of
erupting volcanoes across the globe could have!
d. Some people are disappointed to think of God using
natural events for miracles. However, it does not
matter if Korah fell into a previously existing fault
line or one created just for the occasion, it was
still God doing the work! .
C. \\#13\\ "the stars of heaven fell unto the earth"
Rev 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the
earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely
figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
1. I place this event separately from the changes in the sun
and moon because I think there is a different explanation
for this.
a. We have already seen that at least not all the
"stars" of heaven fall to the earth because there are
still some in the heavens later \\#Rev 8:12.\\
b. In addition, most of us know that stars are suns and
that our sun is actually one of the smaller suns.
(1) 1 million of our earths could fit into our sun.
(2) Any series of "stars" that crashed into our
planet would certainly destroy it.
2. I think in this case, John was speaking of what we still
call today "shooting star" or "falling stars."
a. They are not actually starts at all but meteorites
which fall to the earth._
b. I believe that God will bring asteroids and
meteorites to fall upon the earth during that time.
c. The earth is hit by flying space rock all the time,
most of it just burns up in our atmosphere.
(1) Science fiction shows have made a major theme of
this kind of catastrophe happening to the earth.
(2) The US and other nations are actually trying
to devise a plan to destroy or deflect our
planet from those flying projectiles which could
do significant damage to the earth.
(3) That is a project that I recommend the current
administration continue. (It may be that the
life you save will be your own!)
3. There is going to be a series of massive hits to the
earth.
a. The Bible compares it to standing under a very rip
fig tree when a strong wind come through.
b. We don’t have many fruit bearing trees today, but as
a child, my dad sent me up the fig tree to pick figs.
I remember knocking as many down as I could by
shaking the fig tree first. I still remember the
shower of figs that fell to the ground as I shook the
tree.
D. \\#14\\ "the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled
together"
1. Again we have to ask does this happen to the heavens or
does it appear to happen? Again, we get the answer that
we don’t know.
2. If this is an actually change in the infinite heavens,
there is no explanation because there is nothing that
we know of that could cause it.
3. If it is something that looks as if it is happening, there
are several theories as to what might cause it.
a. Of course, God could just do it. He could just roll
the heavens up! But again, \\#Rev 8:12\\ tells us
that starts will still be around later.
b. The earth’s rotation could greatly increase.
(1) When we look at the night sky, we have to look
long and hard to notice the stars moving.
(2) The people at the equator are rotating a little
over 1,000 miles per hour (25,000 miles per day).
http://www.tribwatch.com/sundark.htm
(3) That seems pretty fast but we hardly notice it.
(4) Suppose that speed increased so much that it
looked like the stars are zooming by?
(First, I expect I need the
(5) I lean towards this theory.
c. Another effect might be that the earth is knocked out
of its orbit.
(1) This could also increase the earth’s rotation
speed.
(2) However, it might also cause the planet to wobble,
giving the stars more of an appearance of
movement.
E. \\#14\\ "every mountain and island were moved out of their
places"
1. I do not think this is an "appears like" effect. Since it
is to happen on the earth and not in the heavens, I
believe this is a literal movement of all the land
masses on earth.
a. The Bible describes this movement as MAJOR movement -
"out of their place!"
b. Could you imagine what structural damages would occur
if the movement was only a few feet, which is typical
for an large to major earthquake.
(1) Some gas and water lines would break.
(2) Some power grids would fail.
(3) Some buildings would collapse.
c. What would it be like if the earth moved more than
occurs during a TYPICAL earthquake, 8.0 or larger -
the largest earthquake seismologists talk bout?
d. And what if these events were not be limited to one
small section of a continent but happened world-wide
at the same time?
e. The damage and death caused would be unthinkable!
2. All of these things could be happening because of the
great earthquake.
a. We don’t know what caused that earthquake.
b. Was it an act of God or did man do it to himself?
(1) Wouldn’t it be just like mankind to create an
atomic blast during the great war that triggers
everything mentioned in Seal 6?
(2) A large enough blast could shoot rock and debre
into the atmosphere which in turn would fall
back down, causr the earthquake, altering the
earth’s rotation and orbit, lead to atmospheric
problems that would alter the appearance of
the sun and the moon, and have a ripple movement
across every land mass upon the earth!
c. It could actually be that man has advanced himself
enough that man could cause most of the judgments
described in the book of Revelation.
d. God most often lets the wages of sins be the
consequences OF our sins!
II. What is the result of this judgment?
A. It means we are in the tribulation.
1. \\#15-17\\ Man’s shallow acknowledgment of God will again
surface.
2. Like 9/11/2001, legislatures will go stand on the capitol
steps and sign "Amazing Grace."
3. I am surprised that man would acknowledge God at all!
a. In fact, I think that he does argues for a soon-coming
tribulation.
b. The way we are going now, it won’t be long before no
king or ruler on earth would acknowkedge God.
B. But it is a short lived acknowledgment! Again like 0/11,
there will be little if any true repentance.
Don’t let it be that way with you! You can turn to Jesus today. You
can be saved. Will you?
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