2. THE SIXTH SEAL OPENED Revelation 6:12-17 12 And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; --When this seal was opened John saw in the picture in heaven the appearance of a great commotion in which the material elements of the universe seemed to he rocking and falling from their natural places. He also saw the effect that such commotion had on the people of the earth. All this, it must be remembered, was in the symbolic vision, and should not be confused with what it represented. An earthquake naturally would represent some great disturbance, the nature of which must be learned by a careful study of scripture texts. and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood; 13 and the stars of the heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs when she is shaken of a great wind.--The only excuse for taking this language literally is the view of some expositors that the seal refers to the coming of the Lord and the end of the world. But this position will not do, for it is followed by a period in which a multitude of the redeemed will be sealed, and the opening of the seventh seal under which the seven trumpets are to be sounded. Since in all the preceding seals the language is mainly symbolical, the presumption is that it is so in this seal. A figurative use of the words sun, moon, and stars is clearly evident in such texts as the following: Joe 2:10; lsa. 13:9, 10; Jeremiah 4:24. 14 And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.--This too is what John saw in the picture, and therefore is to be applied figuratively just as the words sun, moon, and stars. Rolled up "as a scroll" is unquestionably symbolic language and indicates the removal of the heaven. Though John saw what appeared as the literal heaven rolled up, that must represent the removal of something else. A great earthquake refers to some terrible agitation. Sun, moon, and stars refer to prominent persons. (Genesis 37:9.) The prophet referred to Jesus as the "sun of righteousness." (Malachi 4:2.) The sun becoming black, the moon like blood, and the stars falling mean that prominent persons through commotions and bloodshed would lose their places and cease to function in their usual manner. Such fall would be comparable to the untimely dropping of unripe figs when the tree is violently shaken. Mountains refer to governments. The kingdom of Christ was prophetically described as the "mountain of Jehovah's house." (Isaiah 2:2.) Mountains and islands being moved out of their places must, therefore, refer to radical changes in forms of governments. No small changes would be represented by such a breaking up of the material universe. 15 And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; --John is still describing the picture in heaven. This is another scene that passed before his eyes, which evidently was intended to show the effect that such a commotion would have on men. A literal darkening of the sun, moon turning red, the heavens disappearing and mountains moving would so agitate all classes of men that they would cry for help and seek places of shelter if possible. This would be the natural effect of such material disturbances on the mind of men. It symbolically represents the consternation and commotions that political and national upheavals would have upon the people in the affected kingdoms. Since the picture shows how the mind will be affected by any calamitous disturbance, material or spiritual, the language itself here does not say which it is. In nature the consternation would be the same regardless of what produced it; the cry for escape from serious consequences would also be the same. The language shows that all classes--high and low --would be equally distressed. The classes mentioned are representative; it means that the disturbance would be so great that none would escape from the terror. As a radical change in government would disturb them, they would be trying to avoid persecution and death. This is further brought out in the next verse. 16 and they say to the mountains, and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 for the great day of their wrath is come; and who is able to stand?--This is the language of terror on the part of those in danger of some impending calamity. The particular thing feared must be determined by the general teaching of the text or context. Hosea 10:8 has the same thought when Israel was threatened with punishment. Substantially the same language is used by Jesus in Luke 23:30, referring to the destruction of Jerusalem. It is simply a poetical way of expressing the cry of distress. When the calamity came, they would consider it a day of wrath coming from God and Christ. Or, they would acknowledge that their being overcome was because God's permission or power was with their enemies. Their conclusion would be that, if divine favor was against them, no one would be able to stand. This is true regardless of when or what particular wrath of God may be in view here. Since the seventh seal, under which there are seven trumpets, must intervene between this seal and the end of time, the language of this text cannot refer to Christ's coming and the end of the world. It must, therefore, mean some special day (period) of wrath. If the fifth seal found its striking fulfillment in the persecution in the reign of Diocletian, the position here taken, then we would expect the sixth to be fulfilled later when some great change would take place in the Roman Empire--such changes as would affect both the empire and the church. The well-known relationship of the church to pagan Rome during those centuries is ample proof of this view. We insist that no exposition of Revelation can be correct which ignores the vital influence each had on the other, as the plain facts of history show. The fact that those who cried for the rocks to fall upon them wanted to be hid from the face of God shows them to be sinners, not God's people. The great changes indicated by the commotion in the material universe must have occurred among the church's enemies within the Roman Empire. In such a governmental change all false religions, particularly the national form of them, would suffer defeat; rulers and those in authority would lose their powers, and general weeping among them would be common. The changes that transpired in the reign of Constantine, who was emperor from A.D. 307 to 337, will harmonize with the things pictured in this seal. In 308 the empire was divided among six emperors. By A.D. 313 they were reduced to two--Constantine and Licinius. The latter, who was a champion of Paganism, was defeated in A.D. 323 and Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman world. Since Constantine was favorable to Christianity, the struggle was really a war between Christianity and Paganism. The defeat of the latter caused great mourning and distress among the enemies of Christianity. In the Edict of Milan, A.D. 313, privilege was granted for each man to worship as he saw fit, and none were to be prevented from practicing or embracing Christianity. In A.D. 321 he decreed that Sunday, the day the Christians observed as a day of worship, should be a day of rest in towns from business and labor. This was a concession to Christianity. In A.D. 325 he convened the first general counsel of the church over which he presided. In A.D. 326 he began the building of Constantinople to which he removed the capital of the Roman Empire. (Encyc. Brit., 14th ed., pp. 297-9.) He is supposed to have entered the church himself before he died. Gibbon refers to him as the patron of the church who "seated Christianity on the throne of the Roman world." (Decline and Fall, Vol. II, p. 273.) He also says "War and commerce had spread the knowledge of the gospel beyond the confines of the Roman provinces; and the barbarians, who had disdained an humble and proscribed sect, soon learned to esteem a religion which had been so lately embraced by the greatest monarch, and the most civilized nation, of the globe." (Ibid., p. 275.) Surely all this was a political and spiritual earthquake that shook pagan nations to their foundations, and brought mourning to their rulers, but honor and glory to the church. Whatever might be said in favor of other times, certainly none could more fittingly fulfill the scenes depicted in this seal. Unless the correct application of the sixth seal is understood, the remainder of the book will be in hopeless confusion; there will be no place for the sealing of the saints mentioned in the seventh chapter and the seventh seal, under which the seven trumpets are to sound. The last trumpet brings the end of time. (11:15-18; 1 Corinthians 15:52.) The man of sin, Babylon, and the scarlet-robed woman--emblems of the apostate church--are all to be destroyed when the Lord comes. (2 Thessalonians 2:8; Revelation 19:19-21; Revelation 18:21-24.) The sixth seal mentions nothing about this great event. The changes in the material universe at the end of time will be literal. (2 Peter 3:10.) All the scriptural facts demand that the changes indicated by the sixth seal are to be understood as symbols and applied to the events mentioned in the preceding notes. The prophet Isaiah used the following language concerning the destruction of ancient Babylon: "For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine. . . . Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger." (Isaiah 13:10-13.) Clearly this is symbolic language, and plain proof that the emblems of the sixth seal may be applied to the overthrow of the pagan Roman Empire rather than to changes in the material elements mentioned. LESSON 12. OPENING THE SEALED BOOK Read Rev. 6 1. Whose voice did John hear at the opening of the first seal? Ans. Revelation 6:1. 2. What did John see? Ans. Revelation 6:2. 3. Describe the rider on the white horse. Ans. Revelation 6:2. 4. Who spoke to John when the second seal was opened? Ans. Revelation 6:3. 5. What emerged when this seal was opened? Ans. Revelation 6:4. 6. What was given to the rider of the red horse? Ans. Revelation 6:4. 7. Describe the horse and rider that appeared at the opening of the third seal. Ans. Revelation 6:5-6. 8. What was said by the voice in the midst of the four living creatures? Ans. Revelation 6:6. 9. Who spoke when the fourth seal was opened? Ans. Revelation 6:7. 10. What was the color of this fourth horse? Ans. Revelation 6:8. 11. What was the name of the rider and what followed with him? Ans. Rev. 6: 8. 12. What power was given unto them? Ans. Revelation 6:8. 13. Describe the four "living creatures" that spoke to John at the opening of these first four seals. Ans. Revelation 4:6-8. 14. What did John see when the fifth seal was opened? Ans. Revelation 6:9. 15. What question did they ask? Ans. Revelation 6:10. 16. What was given to each? Ans. Revelation 6:11. 17. What were they told to do, and for how long? Ans. Revelation 6:11. 18. What happened to the sun, the moon and stars at the opening of the sixth seal? Ans. Revelation 6:12-13. 19. How were the heaven and the earth affected? Ans. Revelation 6:14. 20. Who hid themselves in caves and rocks? Ans. Revelation 6:15. 21. Why did they want the mountains and the rocks to fall on them? Ans. Revelation 6:16-17. FOR CLASS I. Discuss the danger of applying a symbol which God has not interpreted. Has God revealed the meaning of the four horses, and the significance of their four colors?