“The Fifth and Sixth Seals”
Notes
Transcript
The Old Testament prophets spoke of a coming “Day of the Lord” in which God would pour out His wrath against His enemies, deliver His people, and usher in the new creation.
Read this in Zechariah, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Amos, Joel—all of the minor prophets speak of “the Day of the Lord.” Ezekiel and Isaiah, also.
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.
“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
The “Day of the Lord” should be understood as an EVENT in time rather than an EXTENT of time.
The “Day of the Lord” was inaugurated with the death of Christ and will be fully consummated preceding the return of Christ.
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
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 5th Seal Opened
John sees the souls of martyrs.
They are “under the altar.” This is ambiguous. But, remember, what John has been seeing in heaven is reminiscent of earthly things. The earthly temple is a foreshadowing of the heavenly “temple.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
In the temple, there was the altar where burnt offerings were made and then there was the altar of incense where the prayers were offered.
Four horns on the altar of incense—blood applied to them.
This altar in Revelation 6 and the souls of the martyrs indicates that their deaths are worship.
Abel’s blood cries out for vengeance (Genesis 4:10; Hebrews 12:24)
The martyrs are crying out for vengeance by means of God’s justice.
Imprecatory Psalms (69, 109, 5, 6, 11, 12, 35, 37, 40, 52, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 79, 83, 94, 137, 139 and 143)
God responds in two ways:
He gives them a white robe
Symbolic of purity, righteousness, and reward.
The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
2. He tells them to “rest” a little while longer.
Suffering and martyrdom are part of God’s plan for His people in this world.
God is sovereign over time and human events.
Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
Segues into the 6th seal…
GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER WHEN AND HOW HE BRINGS THE WORLD AND HUMAN HISTORY TO AN END.
The 6th Seal Opened
The trembling of the Earth
Sign of God’s judgment and His presence.
God’s Judgment — “trembling of the earth” // Jesus also prophesied this in his “woes” that precede his second coming (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21).
God’s Presence — Sinai (Exodus 19)
The shaking out of celestial bodies
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
All the host of heaven shall rot away,
and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall fall,
as leaves fall from the vine,
like leaves falling from the fig tree.
The removal of mountains & islands
Literally, the whole earth/creation is recoiling from the presence of the Lord. Even creation cannot stand before Him.
The dread of all of humanity
All humanity
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Reverence to Hosea 10:8
The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
shall be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle shall grow up
on their altars,
and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
and to the hills, “Fall on us.”
Ultimately, though, this is an inclusio of Genesis 3:9. “God has determined that sinful history must end in the same way that it began.”
YHWH, Himself, is now stepping into His creation to bring His wrath and judgment.
The chilling words of verse 17…leaves us with a sense of dread, fear, etc.