Please have your Bibles open and stand with me for the reading of God's Word in Revelation chapter 6. We're coming to the end of this chapter, and in the opening of the sixth seal, in Revelation 6, our text for this morning is verses 12 to 17. Revelation 6, verses 12 to 17. This is the reading of God's word. And there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood. And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and freedman hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand? Amen. Please be seated. One of the key characters and characteristics of God is that he is holy in his justice. He is a just God. Just means that he is fair, absolutely fair. Have you been accused of being unfair by your children? Maybe there's some truth in their accusation. Hey, that's unfair, mom and dad, you are showing favoritism. Maybe there's some truth into that. Maybe you are not as just as your heavenly father is, but I assure you, he is perfectly just and righteous. He shows no favoritism to the high and the mighty. He shows no favoritism to those who are downtrodden, as if he gives them special favor that he doesn't make available to others. He is absolutely just and he demands justice from his people. This was his teaching in the Torah. to Israel. He said justice and only justice must the judges of Israel perform. Now does that only apply to Israel or does he demand this from all law courts regardless of whether they are of the secular of the religious kind? I think you could safely answer that question because it flows from his eternal unchanging character. When the Bible declares God's eternal and unchanging character, that means these principles, these theological themes apply to every generation of every people, everywhere. And God will judge according to those principles. And so, in the case of an unborn child, In the book of Exodus, what did God say? If two men are fighting, and they are not mindful of a pregnant woman in their midst, and they tussle and tussle, and they accidentally hurt the woman, what must they do? They must pay damages to the woman's husband in compensation. What if she gives a stillborn child? This is where the passage says, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. There must be equal justice. How does God view the unborn child? It's the same way as someone who is born and who is fully adult. There is no differentiation. How does society treat the unborn, the most vulnerable of human beings created in his image? Will they treat them less than dirt? Rather, they can be commodities This is the kind of injustice that we see. When you take a look at the least protected, the most vulnerable, and see how society treats them, and you see its standard of justice, or rather its wickedness, if it doesn't uphold that standard. 100 years ago, if that would have happened, this standard of justice that's taught in the Bible would have been implemented in every court of law in these United States. What changed? Men's perspective, men's rewriting of God's rules, men going against the common sense of what they know to be true and right and good. If it happened to your child, you would not think that way. If this happened to your wife, you would not be so blase about it. but they don't think like that anymore. It happens to others. It's other people's problem, so we can look the other way. If it benefits me and my little group, then might is right. Injustice often can be a wonderful tool to get what we want done. This is the corruption and the injustice of man. The great immoral injustice and wickedness and evil can be seen in the intent of man's hearts and the thoughts that he conjures up, which he implements into policies and actions, and then they normalize into society through their trappings. But the Bible is absolutely clear about the absolute unchanging standards of God. Leviticus 24 verse 19 says, if a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him. Fracture for fracture, eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him. We have a society filled with people refusing to accept responsibilities for what they do. They're just irresponsible people, irresponsible men who don't take care of their families. Irresponsible mothers who neglect their duties. Irresponsible young people who reject authority and do whatever they please. Irresponsible law enforcement people who use the power of the law to benefit themselves and oppress the weak. Completely unjust. What do you think God thinks about that? The passage we just read tells you what God will do in light of the prayers of the saints in the opening of the fifth seals, the martyr saints. Look at the injustice of all these innocent lives that have been killed simply for their faith. The complete injustice of the end times will escalate. And what does God do about it? He's gonna purge, because that's what he commanded. the Israelites to do. In Deuteronomy chapter 19, God says, if you know somebody's guilty, verse 13, Deuteronomy 19, 13 says, you shall not pity him. In our legal system, pity is the criminal. And they say, oh, we must reform them. No, reformation is not the goal of law. It is to mete out justice. You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you. We're a land guilty of bloodshed. You live in this land. If you're a citizen of this land, you are guilty. I am guilty of being citizens of this land because we refuse to proclaim the truth and the righteousness and say, hey, the law should not pity the criminal. You should purge the evil from our land. We are guilty before God. God is going to judge this land if we do not reverse course, if we do not repent, if we do not make wrong the right. You think you're going to have a bright future in a bloodshed land like this, then you have not been a careful student of biblical history. You know which nation, which empire thrived on bloodshed? It's the empire of the Assyrians. The Assyrian Empire is one of the most brutal, bloodthirsty, and heartless and cruel empire probably known in human history. They didn't simply go and defeat their enemies. They captured their enemies, skinned them alive to gloat over them. They took entertainment in the torturing of their enemies. They were brutal in their methodology. And yet they were incredibly sophisticated in their culture, in their technology, powerful and strong, but they were brutal people. We see empires like that. When we study the Mayans, when we study the Aztecs, wow, these are bloodthirsty, cruel people. Where are these people today? Where are their empires? But in the ash heaps, some study and interest for archaeologists, but no one else. God had judged them. Look at the unjust things that's going on. And if your blood doesn't boil, and if you can't cry out to God, oh Lord, how long must this go on? Then there's something wrong with your moral compass. And so this may be an area where you and I need to do some deep soul searching and ask the Lord, Lord, why is my moral compass so painted, so off? Why am I okay with these things happening all around us? When the godly saints cried out to you saying, please make these things right. As God said in Deuteronomy 16, to the judges in verse 20, righteousness, righteousness you shall pursue, that you may live and possess in the land. What happened when Israel did not pursue righteousness? They were extracted from the land, sent into exile into foreign lands, and became subjects of foreign people, enslaved by their evil and lusts and injustice that they practiced. Deuteronomy 9.4, What did God say when God destroys the powerful nations around Israel? He said, But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh is dispossessing them before you. Don't say, oh, we are powerful and mighty because of our righteousness, because of our ingenuity, because of our strength, because of our resolve, because of our unity, we are this way, we are so successful. Don't say that. God is punishing the evildoers. He brings up a nation and he puts down a nation. He rises up and brings low. He makes alive and He puts to death. This is the sovereign authority of God. It is because God's righteous and His holy character is angry and wrathful against sin in the world. Psalm 711 says, God is a righteous judge and God who has indignation every day. He is constantly angry. This is the same theology that Apostle Paul proclaimed in Romans chapter 1, for the wrath of God is being revealed, present progressive tense, is being revealed. Don't you see it? Every day. Look at all that's wrong in the world and look at the punishments God is meting out. And here is the rationale for the punishment of evildoers. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 6 says, Since it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you. We saw this passage a couple weeks prior. But we review once again, it is right. The justice demands that like kind for like kind, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. And it says, it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you. What do you think God's going to do to the earth dwellers who are afflicting his people? Well, this passage is the answer. The opening of the sixth seal is the answer to the prayers of the saints of the opening of the fifth seal. And all that's wrong and evil and injustice, God is now has declared a time sovereignly throughout the ages through the prophets and now it's coming to pass. We're still waiting for that in our immediate future. We don't know how soon this will happen, but if you don't sense that it's coming, you need to check your moral compass. You need to reread your Bible. Old Testament prophets have prophesied about the final climactic judgment period of God called Yom Yahweh, Day of the Lord. Pastor and commentator John MacArthur says that such climactic judgments of Yom Yahweh, Day of the Lord, are preliminary judgments leading to the Day of the Lord judgments. So what you see in the Bible, as you see it as it relates to Israel and other nations surrounding Israel, is saying these are preliminary judgments that point the way to God's ultimate climactic judgment of the day of the Lord. So as we look at the phenomena of the sixth seal judgment, we recognize the sequential reporting is temporarily paused after this in chapter 7. Chapter 7 has no opening of the seals. It is a temporary pause and it's the introduction of new material that sets the stage for the opening of the seventh seal. An opening of the seventh seal all of a sudden opens up to seven trumpets. So now it's a telescoping effect. So the sixth seal judgment is very important because it plays the hinge portion and connects the first three and a half years of the tribulation called the beginning of the birth pangs that escalate into the great and terrible day of the Lord, which terminus quo, which launches off by the abomination of desolation that presupposes the power of the Antichrist who has been reigning all this time and suddenly he manifests his satanic identity at the establishment of a satanic worldwide worship at the very midpoint of the seven-year tribulation. Now that triggers off the great tribulation period which the seven trumpet judgments begin to explain. So this is how the book of Revelation is organized in a telescopic format. So the six seal judgment is very important. Because as we see, the baton being passed from the end of the beginning of the birth pangs, three and a half year period, and the terminus call of the abomination of desolation, and then beginning of the great and terrible day of the Lord, the great tribulation period, the latter half of the seven year period that God has sovereignly ordained for the earth dwellers. May none of you be part of that generation of earth dwellers. because you trust in Christ alone for your salvation, because you love Him and you are serving Him faithfully. So let's take a look at the terrestrial cosmic punishment of God in the second message of the vengeance of wrath. This is the answer to the prayers of the tribulational saints and the martyrs who prayed to God, how long, O Lord, holy and true? And here is God's answer. Then I looked." So what is John getting? John is getting a vision of the words and the prophecies that were given to the prophets before him. The Old Testament prophets explain to people what's coming in the future. What John, the last prophet of the Bible, is being shown is that he is being shown the vision of what's going to happen in the future. They were told words, John is seeing a vision. That's the only difference. The content is the same as the words as this vision is. So, then I looked and he opened the sixth seal. Notice how truncated these descriptions are because the repeated pattern of the Lamb who was opening one after the other after the other, now it's just truncated. It's the same repetitive pattern. There's only one who is worthy to open the seals. It's the Lamb of God, the exalted Christ. He opens the sixth seal. It is six because five have come in sequence. So this is necessarily sequential in order. There's no need for any kind of numerical numerology or symbolic interpretation. It is just as plain as plain reading. He opened the sixth seal and there was a great earthquake. That's what kicks off the calamity and the wrath of God in this part of tribulational history. John's reporting vision is given in a chiastic format. If you take a look at the opening of the sixth seal, the first thing is the great earthquake. And then you see the cosmic signs that accompany terrestrial signs. Earthquake is a terrestrial, earthly phenomenon. But the cosmic sign is the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair and the moon, whole moon became like blood. That's a cosmic phenomenon. That's a heavenly phenomenon. And then if you keep reading, verse 13 matches up with verse 12 because it too is a Celestial phenomena and the stars of the sky fell to earth as the fig tree cast unripe figs when shaken by a great wind and The sky was split apart like a scroll when it's rolled up Notice so far verse 12 13 and First part of verse 14 is all been about cosmic signs How do we start we started off with the terrestrial sign earthquake and then look at the ending? And every mountain and island were moved out of their places. You see that? That's how it ends. The phenomena of God's judgment in the sixth seal begins with the earthly earthquake, terrestrial sign, ends with the earthly terrestrial phenomenon, in between are sandwiched celestial signs. So that's what we mean by a chiastic format from the Greek letter chi, the X. And so A, A prime, B, B prime. so forth. That's how it's structured. This is the way that the ancients, especially the biblical writers, thought. This is the way they memorized things. This is the way they organized things in this chiastic format. John reports it in this way. So what do we say to this? Well, the earthquake and the tectonic movements that moved all the mountains and the islands, they become like open and closed parentheses. And the celestial signs in the middle, it's the middle content. So if you can imagine a sandwich with two pieces of bread and the meat in the middle, that's the organization. So it is what we call an encapsulation. This is an entirely encapsulated thought. And then what we see in the second part of the opening of the six seals is the response of the earth dwellers. Here is the action of God, and secondly, it's a response of the earth dwellers. So that's how the sixth seal in this section of scripture is organized. Very easy to follow. It's not difficult to understand. It is only people who are confused, people who don't observe what's there, people who inject their own superficial human ideas and understanding into the text that confuses the whole matter. But the text is absolutely clear. So we begin with what John saw, and now he organizes what he saw in this manner. As a great earthquake, that's what it says, seismos megas. That's a mega earthquake. Seismos megas. We get the word seismology from this Greek word. It's a quaking of the earth, a big, big shaking. And so the book of Revelation tells us that there will be another greater earthquake. So let's take a look at Revelation 16 verse 18. This is associated and under the seventh bowl judgments, as you know that in the telescopic reporting of the book of Revelation, the seventh seal opens up to seven trumpets and the seven trumpet opens up to seven bowls, continual telescoping with greater and greater intensity. And in the seventh bowl judgments, in Revelation 16, 18, it says, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds of peals of thunder. Again, celestial signs. And there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth. So great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. Unparalleled in its ferocity, in its strength. 10.0 on the Richter scale. On and on and on it goes, just pummeling everything down. The late Dr. Henry Morris, who was the leading creation scientist, explains that despite all our modern science regarding tectonic movements of the Earth's solid crust traversed with complex network of faults, et cetera, studied by geophysicists, the ultimate cause of earthquakes is still not known. Because it happens suddenly. without any expectation. We can't say, okay, well, we're going to get a big one. We know we're going to get a big one, but we don't know when and we don't know what caused it. This is what they admit. And he continues, Dr. Moore says, the vast worldwide network of unstable earthquake belts around the world suddenly will begin to slip and fracture on a global basis, 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. And this is what we see. And the sun became black as sackcloth, made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood. Terrestrial judgments of the earthquakes and the volcanic activity that spews out projecta into the atmosphere covers atmosphere and it's going to have some fantastic effects of frightening proportions. The cosmic phenomena observed by earth dwellers due to the dramatic change of normal cycle of day and night is the familiar language of the Old Testament prophets. who have prophesied Yahweh's judgments in Isaiah 13 10, for the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light and the sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light. Isaiah 50 verse 3, I clothe the heavens with blackness and make sackcloth for their covering. There's the same word sackcloth coming up. Ezekiel 32 verse 7, And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens with dark, darken their stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you, and will give darkness on your land, declares Lord Yahweh. Joel chapter 2 verse 10, Before them the earth trembles, the heavens quake, the sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness. Amos chapter 8 verse 9, And it will be in that day, declares Lord Yahweh, that I will make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight. This is what the Lord Jesus taught to the disciples. as well in Matthew 24. Great terrestrial and celestial signs of judgment. Luke reports the Lord's words with a bit more detail in Luke 21 verse 11. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, famines and plagues, and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. He also mentions the roaring of the seas. perplexed men. Of course these appear to be phenomenon that we normally call tsunamis. When there's an earthquake offshore and the waves roll in into the land and where all the great wealthy population live on the coastal sides of the earth, they will be devastated. This fits in with the events that take place shortly prior to the abomination that causes desolation in Matthew 24. So, since this is prophesied, both by Daniel, Daniel 9, he said that he, that is the Antichrist, will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, that is one seven, that seven year period, but in the middle of the seven, he will make sacrifice and grain offering to cease, and in the wings of the abomination will come the one who makes desolate. Even until complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate. The one who makes desolate is the Antichrist. He will be judged, but great and terrible events will happen because the whole world will follow after this beast, this world leader and world dictator in the end times. Verse 13 says, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. This is what John saw. So from the vantage point of the earth dwellers they will experience meteor showers, projectiles from heaven all of a sudden coming in and they look up even though it's dark in the backdrop of the darkness they see these bright rays just flashing in and shortly thereafter they feel the tremors of its impact and the dust that it brings up and the devastation and the destruction that they cause. Now we know that this phenomenological language used by John in words that he knew and the concepts understood by the original audience were the picturesque language of figs falling from a tree. And notice what he says. It says, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs. Now if it were ripe figs, you would expect any little movement to cause the ripe figs to fall. But these are unripe figs. So it would require what? Tremendous force. And that's what he says, when shaken by great wind. Even the unripe figs can fall from its stem when there's a gust. And in the ancient Near Eastern, Geography there was what is called a strong desert wind called shirako that would just come just blistering into the land and Such a wind just like terrifying typhoon kind of winds can blow off even unripe figs They would just toss them everywhere And that's the picturesque language that John uses to describe. And that's why we recognize this as meteor showers rather than ICBMs or man-caused or falling satellite projectiles, even though those things could be possible. But, because he says these are stars that fall, and this would be the best explanation. Obviously, it can't be literal stars, because stars are basically big suns. the glowing ball of gases. We're not talking about those. We're talking about something from the heaven from a phenomenological perspective of the ancients as they see the shooting stars that enter into our atmosphere and burning up in the atmosphere. Not all of them burn, they impact. And this is what they're sensing. So this language, and the sky was split apart like a scroll when it's rolled up, verse 14, is the language of the prophets. For instance, Isaiah 34 verse 4 says, and all the hosts of heaven will rot away. There's an interesting picturesque language of rotting. And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll. And their hosts will also wither away as a leaf withers from the vine or as one withers from the fig tree. If you take a large scroll, you usually roll. If you roll from both ends, you get what? You get two pieces, two rolls at the end. This is what is being explained here. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it was rolled up. The picturesque language describes heavenly cosmos and the universe seemingly coming apart at the seams. everything's going haywire. And every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Again, Dr. Morris explains with insight into this phenomenon when he writes, Ever since the Great Flood, we'll be so disturbed by the impacting asteroids, the volcanic explosions, and the worldwide earthquakes, that great segments of it will actually begin to slip and slide over the Earth's deep plastic mantle. Geophysicists for many years have been fascinated with the idea of continental drift, although strong evidence has been accumulating against any such phenomena occurring in the present age. Several have published theories of past naturalistic catastrophism involving what they call the earth-shifting crust. Some such phenomenon may actually be triggered under this judgment of the sixth seal, dwarfing the damage occasioned by all the mighty earthquakes of the past. No wonder the Bible says, great earthquake. We see that the greater disaster comes at the end of the Great Tribulation period. In Revelation 16, 20, and every island fled away. Could you imagine all the islands just completely collapsing and submerging underwater? Every island fled away and the mountains were not found. Could you imagine high mountains like Mount Everest or Mount Whitney here in California just being, just crumbling, just the whole thing sinking? You don't have to imagine because on top of Mount Everest, we find marine fossils. It used to be underground at one time, but because of the tectonic movements during the flood, it was just jutted up. One side of the Earth's crust was pressed down, the other side was jutted up. So the pressed down became large caverns of ocean water, and the ones that were pressed up became the tall mountains, the Andes Mountains, the Rocky Mountains, the Himalayans, so on and so forth. Could you imagine the kind of cataclysmic disaster that it would require? You don't have to imagine if you already see what the Bible says. The world was entirely submerged underwater, all the mountain peaks. Go read Genesis. So the reverse phenomenon is happening this time. But in both cases, it is the judgment of God. Biblical theologian John Walder writes and he comments, it would be difficult to paint any scene more moving or more terrible than that described at the opening of the sixth seal. This is a terrifying time. Now we're gonna see how the earth dwellers respond to this time. We've seen the terrestrial and cosmic punishment of God. in the wrath of God poured out in his vengeance. Now we're going to see the terrified and conscious perception of the earth dwellers. The terrified and conscious perception of the earth dwellers, beginning with verse 15. And notice John presents seven classes of people. Seven classes. He divides humanity, the earth dwellers in the end days, end times, into seven classes. He gives most amount of attention to the the upper class, because he spends five categories, each one connected by the Greek conjunction chi, and, and. So he separates each group. He doesn't lump them all together. He separates each group and identifies them. And so the highest class among all of humanity are the heads of state. He introduces them in verse 15. Then the kings of the earth, kings of the earth, Listen to the prophetic x-ray of the united rebellion against God of the kings of the earth in Psalm 2, verse 2. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh and against his anointed saying, let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. This is the so-called independence of man rather than dependence upon God. This is the rebellious heart of man. And the second category of people are the great men and the great men. These are the high-ranking officials in the government who work under the heads of state. Listen to what Isaiah prophesies regarding Yom Yahweh. In Isaiah 34, verse 12, it's nobles. There is no one there whom they may proclaim king and all its princes will be non-existent. You want the highest position in the job in the day of the wrath of God? Go ahead. Proclaim yourself high and mighty and see how cowardly you act when God pours out his judgment. And thirdly, the commanders. This is the typical term for generals. These are military commanders, military generals. and it comes from the Greek word kilia, which means a thousand. So this is a commander of a thousand. In today's terms, it would be at least a colonel. And so these are what we call flag officers, they're commanding officers, these are the high and mighty generals. Powerful people, saluted and respected by the rank and file, their number as the third group. Here's the fourth group, and the rich. and the rich. These are the billionaire class, the wealthy businessmen. What does the Bible say about them? Proverbs 11 4, wealth will not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness will deliver from death. Isn't that so true? When God is judging, you think your resources will help you? It won't help you. It will testify against you. But righteousness, a right relationship with God, Now that God sees and he delivers. Here's the fifth group, fifth and the last group of this upper class, and the strong. These are those who exert great intellectual, cultural, and media influence over people, including athletes, musicians, movie stars, scholars, et cetera. These five groups are what people mostly call the elite of society, whose lifestyle and belief system are most hostile to God and least conducive to humility toward repentance and belief in the gospel. I mean, this group of people, this class that most people aspire to become, are the most hostile to God. Now think of that. Now think of why God has chosen the weak things and the nothings of this world. Think of that. and ask yourself, with which group do you aspire to identify with? Scripture says that men of God, pastors especially, must be accustomed to rubbing his shoulders with the lowly. And that's so true. With the lowly. Not with the high and mighty. not expecting to be invited to fancy parties and balls with the elite, but rather choosing to visit the lowly, even the homeless, those who have nothing to give, nothing to help, and yet God wants godly people, especially the leaders, to associate with the lowly. Not to always associate with them, but to be fully open to associating with them regularly. And while the five groups of people comprise a few in number, there's a five groups you would think, oh, there's most of them. No, they're just few in number. They're a tiny minority of the human population. But in comparison to the vast numbers of the next two groups, they have great authority, great control, and great influence over the masses. We know this very well. It's the few that have all the power and control and influence, right? But the masses, they only comprise of these two final groups. And every slave, this is the lowest class, bought and purchased by someone else or dependent on others to support them. They are so weak, they have nothing to make them powerful. And then freemen, these are the low class common man. Sometimes it is better to be a slave of a wealthy owner than to be a poor common man, right? Exactly. This is the way that societies always have worked. So the common denominator among the five classes of the upper elite and the two classes of the lower common man all respond in the same way. This is the common denominator. They're all listed with the top-heavy five classes of the elite and the two lower classes at the bottom like a big pyramid but they all respond in the same way with terror and dread at the experience of God's vengeance of wrath. What does that tell you about human nature and human experience? It's the same. We haven't changed. And there's no amount of our status, achievements, and resources can mitigate the coming wrath of God. Luke 21, verse 26, the Lord Jesus said, All classes of men, What do they do? They respond first to avoid the consequences by hiding. It says they hid themselves in the caves. Now if you notice that if you have NASB or here LSB version of the Bible, you'll see that these passages are all caps. That means that's a direct quotation from the Old Testament. This is familiar language of the prophets. And we go to Isaiah chapter two, verse 10. And it says like this, Isaiah 2.10, enter the rock and hide in the dust from the dread of Yahweh and from the splendor of his majesty. And then Isaiah 2.19 says, men will go into caves of the rocks and into holes of the ground before the dread of Yahweh and the splendor of his majesty when he arises to make the earth tremble. So what John is describing is really he's describing in the language of the prophets. So what God told Isaiah, God showed to John. Because of the great earthquakes and the heavenly projectiles, presumably meteor showers, the best that the earth dwellers can do is to find shelter in caves and crevices in the mountains. But what they say is quite telling of what they know is happening to them. Verse 16, and they said, to the mountains. And here is the, what we say, this is the present tense, historic present, what they are saying to the mountains and to the rocks to give vividness of their conversation. Hide us, it says fall on us and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Notice what they say, what they say is really a description of what John saw. So John chooses to put these words into their lips instead of truncating it by saying, hide us from God and from the wrath of Jesus Christ. That would be a theological restatement. but rather what he places in the quotes of what they understand. This is what we call theological precision. What John saw is the one who sits on the throne, the one who is pantocrator, the one who is sovereign over all of the universe because he's the creator, he's the sustainer, he is the one who sits on the throne and judges, he's the judge. And the wrath of the lamb. Lamb is a sacrificial animal, but it is a metaphoric way of portraying Jesus Christ who finished the work of that sacrifice. But that's the term that John chooses to use to help the earth dwellers express their terror. And notice what they say. In the end times, these people are terrified and they're fully conscious of their terror and they know exactly why this terrible phenomenon is happening all around them. Notice, they're so terrified that they would rather die a crushing death of the mountains and the rocks falling upon them than to face the vengeance of the wrath of God and of Christ. Since they say the wrath of the lamb, very unusual expression, since the lamb that was slain engages in comforting activity in the book of Revelation, but to the unbelieving earth dwellers, the lamb is so feared. that they would rather face gruesome, crushing death than to face the fearsome judgment of Jesus. Do the earth dwellers know for certain about God's judgment and the wrath of Jesus? Of course they do. How do they know? And how do we know that they know? It is because they've lived a blasphemous and anti-God lifestyle and cause to blaspheme the masses, to insult, to mock, to ridicule, and defame His holy name, foisting upon humanity an anti-God satanic worship, the grossest form of idolatry in Indian times. What is satanic worship? Satan in Hebrew means enemy. To presuppose Satan is to presuppose God who created the Archangel Lucifer who became the archenemy of God, Satan. To demand that people bow down to worship an image of the beast who set up in honor of Satan, Satan, the whole world knows 6,000 years of recorded religious history teaches us that the world is not this impersonal yin and yang of forces. No, it is of spiritual personalities of good and evil, of God and Satan and the holy angels and the demons and those who follow them, the righteous people of faith and the evil people who oppose God. So the satanic agenda of the so-called elite and their lifestyle and their program, which they know full well, has come to an end. Isaiah 13, 9, Behold, a day of wrath is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation, and He will exterminate its sinners from it. That's this time, they know it. They know what they've done. They know that they have shaken their fist at the Almighty God. Not only this, they know that their punishment is eternal, as the Lord Jesus taught in Luke 12, verse 4. You know who taught more about hell than anybody else? Lord Jesus Christ. Taught more about hell, that because he's so loving, it is a loving thing to warn people regarding the consequence of rejecting God and following after an anti-God belief system. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 31 says, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. This is a terrifying time because it's a terrifying thing to oppose God. because there are consequences. God is a God of justice, and you are seeing God meeting out his justice. The wrath of God is what believers avoid, but unbelievers must face. Consider what the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 10. What is salvation? It's the rescue mission of God. Rescuing whom? Us. I pray that you belong to the group called us here by Paul because there's us, the nobodies, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for them, those who repented, confessed their sins, those who are not proud in their heart and saying I got something to show for, God should choose me. No, they know that It should be punished along with the rest of humanity, but God in his rich mercy and his abundant grace poured out his love through his son. They know this, they believe this, and they submit to the Lord, they love the Lord. That's the us. The few, the believing, the faithful. Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come. So when you think of the term salvation, always think, what is salvation? What are we being saved from? We're being saved from the wrath to come, the eternal judgment of hell. We're being saved from the righteous and just judgment of God against sin and sinners. 1 Thessalonians 5 9 says, for God has not appointed us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice what it says, through good works, through much religious labor, altruism, giving lots of money to the poor. Look very carefully what it says. It says salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's what he has done, not what we can do for him. Salvation comes by faith in the one who has achieved salvation. We haven't achieved anything. We simply come to Him and beg for His mercy and He gives us freely. Salvation is so costly that it would cost the sacrifice of God the Son incarnate to die on the cross for sinners. And that it is so costly that no one can pay for it because no one is righteous enough to achieve it. Only one has achieved it. And so it is rescue mission of God. Salvation from the coming wrath of God. For God has not appointed us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the only faithful, the repentant, the faithful, those who love the Lord and are waiting for His return. Those who are living an obedient life of faithfulness. They're the true believers. They belong to the group called us. Now take a look at all the religious fakes that's out there. People who can use these words but who don't love the Lord Jesus, who are not living by faith. There's just so much works righteousness in the world. They believe that they can actually earn their way to heaven. They can contribute something to what God has done for them. This is so blasphemous, and they'll play right into the false prophets of the end times. Because they're going to get a message that they crave. Are you good people? God recognizes your good works and he will save you. It's nonsense. It's utter nonsense. Doctrine from the depths of hell. Because the enemy of truth and the best of what God has is really a compromised good. It's a distortion of truth. It's not a rank lie oftentimes. This is what the earth dwellers of the end times will get, the religious types. The irreligious types and the religious types will join hands together. They will worship a false world system. Both the secular Jews and the religious Gentiles will accept the Antichrist as the savior of the world. They'll call him the Messiah. They'll embrace him. The world is being prepped for such deception. And the religious people love people like this, the achievers, those who make promises, those who give and supply the initial expectations of the masses. They're willing to follow anybody, even the greatest liar and the deceiver and the one who causes abomination of desolation. Well, when God has poured out his judgment, they all know. They all know where this is coming from. And the theological precision and the conscious awareness of these people is quite striking. Verse 17 says, for the great day of their wrath has come. How do they know this? Have you thought about it? Right now, you talk to them, the great day of God's wrath will come and they say, you're just a religious wacko. who believes in this stuff. This is the way they respond. But the same people in the end times will say, the great day of the wrath has come, and who is able to stand? The great day of Yom Yahweh, the day of the Lord, is the language of the prophets. Let me just mention a couple of them. Zephaniah, Spania, chapter one, verse 14. Near is the great day of Yahweh, near and coming very quickly. Oh, the sound, the day of Yahweh. In it, the mighty man cries out bitterly. You're a mighty man, you're a big guy, big and strong, six foot nine, 300 pounds, you're the champion, you're gonna cry out bitterly like a little girl. Your entire world will crush down upon you because you're not in the great day of Yahweh. That's the language of the prophets. Malachi chapter 4 verse 5. Behold I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh. You want to use the term great and awesome? Here it is. Here's the right context. It's going to be great, more bigger than you can ever imagine. It's going to be awesome, awful, awe-inspiring, impossible to ignore. That's what it's gonna be. That's the language of the prophets. The clear and deep understanding of these earth dwellers is quite impressive. We only wish and hope that God's people will take it so seriously. Because it appears that they're not. The unbelieving and rebellious humanity left on earth who face God's judgments know and understand precisely why the great cosmic and earthly terrors are happening all around them. They understand the ultimate causation of such cataclysmic activities and attribute them all to God and to Christ. Have you noticed the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, this is the language of the New Testament of the Christian faith. Do you find any room for any other religion? I don't think so. Only the objective truth is there. There's no room for atheism. These guys are not atheists. They know. These are not pantheists. That we're God and all is God and God is all and all is God. Polytheism or many gods, no. They only mention God the Father and God the Son, the Godhead. There's no Islam here. It's not Allah. It's the one who sits on the throne and to the lamb. There's no Buddhism or Hinduism, any other religious expression here. Only the objective truth, God the creator-judge and Jesus the savior-prosecutor are the ultimate causation of these punishments and the earth dwellers know it. They all know it. John MacArthur writes, but the events of the sixth seal will be so devastating and terrifying that they will be attributable only to God. And my perception and hunch is that it is because they happen at the sixth seal and not at the first seal. Why? Because by the time of the sixth seal, there have been almost three and a half years of witness. There have been thousands of years of Christian testimony. There is the infallible, inerrant, immediately and readily universally available Word of God, the Bible, But during the tribulation times, there's unique witnesses that God will send, the two witnesses and 144,000 Jewish evangelists. And so all this combined, as well as the countless Christians who testified to Jesus and the gospel, have had its great impact. So there's no one who says, oh, I wonder why this is happening. No, the two witnesses and 144,000 evangelists in the end times will have a global impact, universal impact. And everybody will have access to the Bible. And they can read it for themselves. For thousands of years, God said He's going to do this. It's been prophesied again and again. We just celebrated the incarnation of our Savior. And we discovered, wow, God had prophesied for thousands of years for the coming of the Messiah. When it happened, we look back and say, it happened exactly the way God said. It literally fulfilled. Virgin born, born in Bethlehem. It's amazing. Now take a look at the events happening. You don't think people will know? They all know. And notice what they say, who is able to stand? In light of such great calamities coming upon them, the earth dwellers are dejected. They have no hope of surviving. Not only that, they know that they are destined for God's judgment in the lake of fire. Because 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 9 says, these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Eternal destruction awaits them. Death, a physical death is not the worst. It's the eternal destruction, the eternal banishment and torment in hell that comes after. Psalm 1-5 says, in the blessed life of the righteous. Prophet Nahum asks the same rhetorical question in Nahum chapter one verse six. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the burning of his wrath? His wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are torn down by him. That's the language of the end times Yom Yahweh in the proximate judgment that prophet Nahum is sent to proclaim against the wicked and evil empire of Assyria. So where is the Assyrian Empire today? Doesn't exist. Neither do the Babylonian Empire, nor the Persian Empire, nor the Greek or Roman Empire. God has destroyed great empires throughout human history because of their great sins, because of the great injustice perpetrated everywhere and all sectors of society. Now the entire population of the earth dwellers from the greatest to the least must face the wrath of God and face certain destruction. We need to be thankful to the Lord because we're living in the days of God's grace, not God's wrath. Aren't you thankful? Aren't you thankful that you are not living through this? Aren't you thankful that this is exactly what the Lord Jesus promised to the people in the church at Philadelphia? I will keep you from the hour of testing that is coming upon the whole world. That's this time. That is the hope for all those who love the Lord Jesus, who are faithful to him. who long for his return. Because we want God to execute his justice. There's so much injustice in the world. So many people's lives were crushed. Young children who are brutalized by evil people. Women who are battered by evil men. Weak men who are crushed by powerful men. Entire nations held captive in bondage. by evil tyrants and oligarchs who only care about themselves. We see it everywhere. We see slave markets in Sudan, even to this day. For a generation, you're born into slavery, you're just a piece of property to some evil slave owner. And we see countless numbers of people dying for their faith. killed by Muslims, killed by Hindus, killed by Buddhists, killed by atheists, governments. So the saints cry out, how long, O Lord, holy and true, will you not avenge our blood and bring justice? We saw that God comforted them and says, wait a little while. This is the answer to God's prayer of the righteous. Do you not feel the pangs and side with those who are victimized by the evil and wicked people of this world? Do you not also cry out and pray the same? Or do you want this world system to just comfortably keep going on and on and on as you blindly and comfortably live in the midst of its chaos, immorality, injustice, wickedness, and evil? Now how you anticipate the future will tell a lot about what you love and what you hope for. Christians have always waited for the Lord's promised judgments. Because only then will justice prevail. Only then will righteousness cover the entire world. Only then peace and prosperity under the Messiah in his glorious millennial kingdom truly bring joy and happiness to the inhabitants of the world. Only when people's hearts are changed and transformed by his work of his grace can people be fit to enjoy such a world. This is what the few and the faithful throughout the millennia have awaited. Are you waiting for that future? I pray that you would. I hope and pray that you're not banking on some sort of a bright future in this world system that is being prepped for the judgment that we just saw. May the Lord grant you great joy and gratitude because he has caused you to be in this side of God's judgment, of the day of His grace and mercy, rather than the terrible day of the vengeance of wrath and the judgment that is coming upon the world. This is a great incentive, not only for the first century seven churches that were facing brutal persecution from the secular Roman government and the uncaring Jewish religionists, but also for every generation of Christians who look forward to being saved by faithfully trusting in Jesus, serving Christ, and who will be delivered out of this terrible time destined for the earth dwellers in world history. May the Lord give you joy, peace, and comfort in knowing this, beloved. Let's pray. Father, thank you for giving us an understanding of what you have in store to make all things right. to deal with injustice and evil in the world, and to comfort your people and restore all things under Christ. Lord, may our hearts long and yearn for such a day. May we long for the return of the Lord. Meanwhile, since you have placed us here on this side of the great tribulation period, help us to be faithful in being good witnesses, living lives that are obedient and holy so that we would find opportunities to proclaim Christ to those whom you are working in their hearts to save. Thank you, Father, for granting us an opportunity to worship you today and to celebrate your coming justice upon the world. We praise you. We bless you. In Jesus' precious name, amen.