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Context No. 3123 of 4322 · Revelation

Context · Reflection

Revelation 6:12-17: in context

12I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood. 13The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind. 14The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. 16They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17for the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

When the sixth seal is opened, there is a great earthquake; the sun turns black, the moon like blood, the stars fall, the sky rolls up like a scroll. And then the kings of the earth, the princes, the commanders, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person alike hide in the caves, crying to the mountains, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?

The scene levels every human distinction. Kings and slaves, rich and poor, strong and weak, all hide together in terror before God's judgment; the things that rank and divide people on earth mean nothing on that day. And their cry, who can stand?, is the question the whole vision presses. No power, wealth, or status can shelter anyone from the face of the One on the throne. The passage means to sober us: before the day of the Lamb's wrath, every earthly refuge fails, and the only safe place is to belong to the Lamb himself, whose blood shelters those who are his.

When I imagine the day none can stand before God's judgment, is my hope in some earthly refuge, or in belonging to the Lamb whose blood shelters his own?

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