Revelation 6:12-17: a reflection

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 in the vision, and the whole created order is shaken, the great and small of the earth alike hide themselves in terror and cry out a question that pierces to the heart of things: Who is able to stand? Before the face of the One who sits on the throne, before the day of his wrath, kings and commanders, the rich and the strong, slave and free, all alike are undone, and the question rises: who is able to stand? The sobering answer, in ourselves, is no one; none of us can stand before God in our own righteousness, our own merit, our own strength. The greatest and the least alike cannot stand before the holy God on their own. But the vision names the One before whom this happens: the Lamb. And it is in the Lamb, in Christ who was slain for us, that our standing is found. None can stand before God in themselves; but those who are in Christ, sheltered by the Lamb, are given a standing they could never have on their own. Our standing before God is not in ourselves but in Christ.

Notice the question the vision presses, and where its answer lies. Who is able to stand? Before the holy God, before the day of his wrath, no one can stand in their own strength or merit; the greatest of the earth are as undone as the least. In ourselves, the answer to who can stand is no one. This is sobering: we cannot stand before God on the basis of who we are or what we have done. But the vision names the Lamb, Christ who was slain; and it is in him that a standing before God is found. Those who are sheltered by the Lamb, clothed in his righteousness rather than their own, are given a standing they could never achieve. The question who can stand has an answer, but not in ourselves: it is in Christ. Our confidence before God rests not on our own ability to stand, which we do not have, but on the Lamb, in whom we are given to stand. To be in Christ is to have a standing before God that we could never have on our own. The answer to who can stand is: those who are in Christ.

That is worth resting in, for none can stand before God in themselves, but our standing is found in Christ, the Lamb. We can be sobered by the question who is able to stand before the holy God, knowing that in ourselves, on the basis of our own righteousness or merit, the answer is no one; the greatest and the least alike cannot stand on their own. But the answer is not in ourselves; it is in Christ, the Lamb who was slain for us, in whom we are given a standing before God we could never achieve. When you feel you cannot stand before God, and in yourself you cannot, remember that your standing is in Christ, the Lamb. Rest your standing before God not on yourself, in whom none can stand, but on Christ the Lamb, in whom we are given to stand, as the vision presses the question, who is able to stand, before the One on the throne and the wrath of the Lamb; for none can stand before the holy God in their own righteousness or merit, the greatest as undone as the least, but those who are sheltered by the Lamb, clothed in his righteousness rather than their own, are given a standing they could never achieve, so that the answer to who can stand is found not in ourselves but in Christ.

Lord, when the sixth seal is opened in the vision, and the whole created order is shaken, the great and small of the earth alike hide themselves in terror and cry out a question that pierces to the heart of things: who is able to stand? Before the face of the One who sits on the throne, before the day of his wrath, kings and commanders, the rich and the strong, all alike are undone, and the question rises: who is able to stand? The sobering answer, in ourselves, is no one; none of us can stand before you in our own righteousness, our own merit, our own strength. But the vision names the One before whom this happens: the Lamb. And it is in the Lamb, in Christ who was slain for us, that our standing is found. Show me the question the vision presses, and where its answer lies. Who is able to stand? Before you, the holy God, no one can stand in their own strength or merit; the greatest of the earth are as undone as the least. In ourselves, the answer is no one. This is sobering: I cannot stand before you on the basis of who I am or what I have done. But the vision names the Lamb, Christ who was slain; and it is in him that a standing before you is found. Those sheltered by the Lamb, clothed in his righteousness rather than their own, are given a standing they could never achieve. Let me rest in that, for none can stand before you in themselves, but my standing is found in Christ, the Lamb. I can be sobered by the question who is able to stand, knowing that in myself the answer is no one; but the answer is in Christ, in whom I am given a standing I could never achieve. When I feel I cannot stand before you, and in myself I cannot, help me remember that my standing is in Christ, the Lamb, Lord, in whom we are given to stand.