Turn with me, if you would, to the book of the Revelation, chapter 6. As we continue our study in this book, we are going to finish up chapter 6 today. We looked briefly at this text last week, or two weeks ago, and I'm going to go into more detail today, beginning in verse 12, which is the opening of the sixth seal. I looked when he opened the sixth seal, and behold there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, The rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, 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? When I was a young boy growing up in southwest Missouri, The church that I attended used to sing a song that went something like this. This world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in this world anymore. Now the music was absolutely awful. And the poetry left a lot to be desired as well. But it expressed what we as Christians knew then and what we should know even more today. We are pilgrims on this earth. We are not citizens of this earthly kingdom. Our citizenship, as the Apostle Paul so rightly tells us, is in heaven. That was certainly the attitude of those who lived in the first century and received this letter that the Apostle John wrote to them. They were people who had had their worldly goods taken away from them. Many of them lost their lives as the Jews persecuted them, instigating the Roman Empire to bring persecution against the Church. Now, by way of contrast to those who knew that this world was not their home, the Apostle John refers to unbelievers as he does in verse 10. as those who dwell on the earth, or as we have translated it, those who dwell on the land, which as you have heard me say is a legitimate translation of that phrase. Now, this is the way John refers to unbelievers throughout the remainder of this book. And even as here in verse 10 of this chapter, he speaks of those who have shed the blood of the martyrs. As well, in chapter 11 and verse 10, he places an emphasis upon the unbelievers' persecution of the saints of God. These unbelievers, those who dwell on the land, as John calls them, have committed themselves to forms of idolatry found within the created realm, within the political, social, economic, or religious structures of their day. They have made idols of those things. These land dwellers, as John might have called them, were perfectly at home in the present order of life as it existed at that time. They were men whose vision did not go beyond the current land on which they dwelt. They were not like Abraham, who sought a city made without hands. They trusted in earthly security. They were unable to look beyond the things that are seen, but which the Apostle Paul says are temporal as well. The Jews of the day in which Christ walked the earth had even made an idol of their system of worship. You may recall that Jesus condemned the Jewish leaders because they would actually swear by the temple They would swear by the altar and the gold upon the altar. And he referred to them as pious hypocrites. Now as this sixth seal is opened, John sees the destruction of this idol of the unbelieving Jews. That temple and that city of Jerusalem, so revered by the Jews of that day, and as sacred as it may have been under the old covenant, had been rendered impermanent by the pollution of sin, the sin of unbelief by the Jews, it would be and it must be destroyed. Only the eternal kingdom of which true believers have become the inheritors, John proclaims, will remain. Now, of this great change that takes place, the writer of Hebrews speaks in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 25 through 29. Now, I hope you had your text of the scripture this morning, because we are going to be looking at a lot of scriptural text. And this one is close by, so it kind of gets you warmed up as we go. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 25 through 29. As the writer of the book of Hebrews speaks of the superiority of the new covenant in the blood of Christ over the old covenant system of Judaism, he says, See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. But now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this yet once more indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire." You see, he is saying those things that were made with hands, the temple, the altar, they are passing away. But the eternal kingdom, that which cannot be shaken, that is what remains. Now, as I noted in our study of this passage in Revelation chapter 6, two weeks ago on the Lord's Day, there is disagreement among theologians, depending upon their theological perspective, whether we should understand these descriptive phrases of the opening of the sixth seal literally or figuratively. Now, I do not like what I believe is a false dichotomy between this idea of literal or figurative, because I do not believe that that is even the issue before us. You see, even those who claim to interpret literally recognize the usage of symbols and figures of speech in certain texts. Those of us who are accused of interpreting figuratively take very literally the meaning of the author. You see, it is not an issue of figurative or literal, it is an issue of authorial intent What did the author intend to portray to us when he wrote these words? I would argue that anyone who is familiar with the Old Testament writings, particularly the prophetic writings, would understand easily the intent of John's words in this text before us. We must remember that the first century church did not have the Bible in their hands as we do. Most of you go home, you have two or three Bibles laying around that nobody ever uses. They didn't have that. The New Testament books were not yet put together. Their Bible at that time would have been the Old Testament books which had been brought together. John's description of this judgment that is to fall upon the Jews for their refusal to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, for their crucifixion of him, and the persecution of his church. This judgment language is rooted in the Old Testament, particularly in the passages that speak of judgment to come upon various nations for their idolatry. Now, as this sixth seal is opened, the Lamb, who has ridden forth on the white horse, conquering and to conquer in the early verses of this chapter, death and destruction following in his wake, the Lamb now reveals the next aspect of this covenantal judgment against Israel. Salvation, as we noted two weeks ago, is spoken of throughout the New Testament in terms of a new creation. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. That's the words of the Apostle Paul. Judgment is spoken of in terms of a cosmic disturbance, or as one writer calls it, de-creation. The ripping apart of the very fabric of creation. Now, as we saw two weeks ago, John uses the fundamental structures of creation in describing this judgment that is to come upon Israel, as if he is going to say, your world is going to be torn apart. He uses the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the sky or the firmament, the land and the people. These seven structures point to the complete and perfect judgment of God. Now, as I said I would do two weeks ago, I want to take you this morning into the Old Testament to show you the basis for these descriptions of judgment. And in doing so, I think that you will see that there is no need to interpret these descriptive phrases in a woodenly, literal manner. Rather, as we understand the figurative language We understand that God will literally bring covenantal judgment upon the nation of Israel for their rejection of Christ. When the sixth seal is opened, the first event John relates to us is that, quote, there was an earthquake. Earthquakes are not common occurrences in the land of Palestine. If you move farther east to the land of Afghanistan, and other Middle Eastern countries, they are much more common than they are in the land of Palestine. So when an earthquake or the shaking of the earth is mentioned in the text of Scripture, it normally is to be understood as coming from the hand of God and having a particular purpose that we are to understand. The first account that we have in the text of Scripture of the earth shaking is all the way back in the book of Exodus chapter 19 and verse 18. In this text, we find God coming down, His presence coming down upon Mount Sinai to give the law to Moses. And we read in verse 18, Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly." You see, the mountain quakes here because the Holy Lawgiver, the Holy Judge, has descended upon this mountain. Now turn with me to Psalm 18. In Psalm 18, David calls upon God to deliver him and to judge his enemies. Beginning in verse 6, listen to the words that David uses. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cries came before him, even to his ears. Now let me stop here a moment. Understand that David is calling upon God to deliver him from his enemies and to bring judgment upon his enemies. In verse 7, God answers his prayer. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken. Why? Because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down with darkness under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub and flew. He flew upon the wings of the wind." Now, in Isaiah chapter 13, our little walk through the Bible here. In Isaiah chapter 13, God prophesied through Isaiah of judgment that is going to come upon Babylon. Babylon was a nation that was not even yet in existence as a world power when Isaiah writes. And yet God prophesies of destruction to come upon Babylon. Notice beginning in verse 9, the description of judgment. And notice how similar this description is to the text of Revelation chapter 6. Beginning in verse 9, Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heavens and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, a man more than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger." That is a prophecy against the nation of Babylon. Now, this motif of the earth quaking seems to be the overarching description of what happens when God comes in the fierce wrath as the holy judge. Now, it's interesting that Matthew, of all the gospel writers, writing in his gospel specifically to assert the kingship of Jesus Christ over the Jews, is the only gospel writer that mentions that when the veil of the temple is torn in two, as Jesus yields up His Spirit on the cross, bearing the full weight of God's judgment, God's wrath against the sin of man, Matthew writes, the earth quaked and the rocks were split. Now, while I would argue that the event actually happened, I would also argue that it had far greater significance than the ordinary individual would understand as he lived through it. This was not just a California-style earthquake that took place. Now, one of the lessons that we should take from this is that what we call the forces of nature are not impersonal forces. The forces of nature move and work at the command of Almighty God. And while poll-watching politicians may be ever so hesitant to ever declare that earthquakes and hurricanes and floods might possibly be the judgment of God, as Christians we dare not draw back from calling them exactly what they are. The psalmist says God's judgments are in all the earth. It's interesting, as I was reading this morning in my Bible, I came across this verse in the psalm. The stormy wind fulfilling his word. Now, after this general symbol of the earthquake, which speaks of God's anger and wrath being poured out, John then speaks of three events. that relate to the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, and the stars. Look again at Revelation chapter 6, he says, The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Now, in the text, which we read just a few moments ago from the book of Isaiah, God's judgment against Babylon, we encountered these same symbols, the sun, the moon, and the stars being darkened and falling from the sky. Now, that was a judgment against Babylon. Just to remind you again, Isaiah 1310 reads, For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. Now, the question that may be in your mind as you read of these symbols of judgment is why does God use the symbols of the sun, the moon and the stars as symbols that speak of his judgment against the nation? And to answer that question, we need to go all the way back to the very first book of the Bible. to the book of Genesis chapter 1 verses 16 and 17. We will begin at least answering the question there. In Genesis chapter 1 verse 16, then God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. Now notice here, the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night. The idea of the sun and moon as rulers shows up again in a most unexpected place in the book of Genesis and in a very unexpected manner. Joseph irritates his brothers by telling them of a dream in which their sheaves of grain bowed down before his sheaf of grain. And then he further adds fuel to the fire by telling them of another dream. Turn with me to Genesis 37. In this dream, Joseph sees the sun, the moon, and the stars bowing down before him. The text leaves no doubt that Jacob, Joseph's father, understood the symbolism of the sun, moon, and stars. Look at verse 10. So he told it to his father and his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you? and his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind." Now we know of course that it indeed did happen. Jacob and his sons did end up bowing down to Joseph when Joseph rose to become prime minister in Egypt. The ruling authorities in the family bowed down to Joseph. From these texts, I would argue that when the prophetic books of the Old Testament, and now in the New Testament as well, when it uses the imagery of sun, moon, and stars being darkened, turning black, turning to blood, it is speaking of judgment coming upon the governing authorities of that nation. It speaks of the overthrow of those ruling authorities through the judgment of God. It is the leadership, you recall, of Israel that rejects Christ as the Messiah, the chief priest, the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees. Now, not only do the symbols of the sun and the moon and the stars represent governing authorities, but in that text in Genesis, we see they also serve as clocks. The sun defines the day. The moon defines the night. In short, the time clock for Israel has run out. The time for repentance has come to an end. And as the Apostle Paul states in the book of 1 Thessalonians, wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. Now, this exact imagery is used as well in the prophecy of Joel and then quoted by Peter. on the day of Pentecost. And I would like for you to turn with me to Acts 2, verses 17-21, where Peter quotes verbatim from Joel 2. Beginning in verse 17 of Acts 2, Peter quoting Joel, And it shall come to pass afterward, or in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of my spirit on all flesh, Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. And on my menservants and on my maidservants I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Peter quotes this passage out of Joel in response to the accusation by the Jewish authorities that the apostles were drunk when they began to speak in tongues, the languages of the people who were gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. Peter says, these men are not drunk. What you are hearing He says, is the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy. He says, this is that which was prophesied by Joel. Now there are those who will assert that verses 17 and 18 were fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, but that verses 19 through 21 are yet awaiting fulfillment. Now that may be very nice, but it's arbitrary. Where does the text say that? And in fact, Peter says the opposite. Peter says, this is that which was spoken by Joel, and he quotes the whole thing. All of it. Now, we can only understand that, I think, if we understand the sun, the moon, and the stars as terminology used as it was in the Old Testament. The prophet Isaiah, had declared that one of the signs of judgment to fall upon Israel was the sign of men speaking to them in strange tongues. The Apostle Paul quotes that text out of Isaiah chapter 28 in his discourse on tongues in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. If we understand that the tongues being spoken on the day of Pentecost were a sign of judgment coming upon the Jews, the sign that the gospel was now not just a Jewish thing, but it was going to the nations of the world. Then we realize that the time is fast approaching when the lights will go out on Old Covenant Judaism. Peter is declaring that judgment is beginning to fall upon the apostate nation led by its leaders who rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Now, when John speaks of the stars falling to the earth, he uses a simile to give added emphasis and I believe added clarity as well to the expression. He says they will fall to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. The symbol of the prophets of the Old Testament, the symbol they employed to denote covenantal blessing upon Israel, was that every man would sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree. We see that in Hosea 9, 10, Micah 4, 4. By contrast, Jeremiah speaks of covenantal judgment to come upon Israel with the phrase, there will be no figs on the fig tree. Jeremiah 8, 13. In Matthew chapter 21, verses 18 through 23, in a context of increasing hostility against Jesus by the Jewish leaders, Jesus, just prior to his crucifixion, spends a night outside Jerusalem in the little town of Bethany. He gets up in the morning, and he's hungry, and he comes upon a fig tree, and there are no figs. And Jesus curses that fig tree and it immediately wilts and dies. Now, what was going on there? Was Jesus just cursing the fig tree because he was ticked off because he had been denied breakfast? No. Not at all. Jesus cursed the fig tree as an illustration of the curse that was about to fall upon Old Covenant Judaism. The great wind which causes these figs to fall from the fig tree is brought by the four horsemen, who in the imagery of Zechariah 6 and verse 5 are depicted as going out to the four winds of heaven after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. Now you may recall that in one of our earlier judgment passages, Psalm 18 and verse 10, when God came in judgment, the psalmist writes, He flew upon the wings of the wind. Again, that idea of God using what we call the natural forces of nature as His judgment. Now, in chapter 7 of the book of Revelation, and verse 1, John is going to reintroduce us to four angels who he says are holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. You see, the fig tree is Israel. God, riding upon the wings of the wind, blows into Israel wreaking devastation and destruction, bringing judgment upon them as a nation. And finally in verse 14, O covenant Israel ceases to exist as the people of God. The sky, or as many translations have it, the heaven departed as a scroll when it was rolled up. Now you say, how in the world do you understand that of Israel? The phrase heavens and earth are used by the prophets symbolically of Israel, old covenant Judaism. Turn back with me to Isaiah chapter 51. For those of you who have been around here for a few years, when we went through the book of Isaiah, we talked about this back then. And if you want a full discourse on it, Josh will be more than happy to provide you the CD. He needs some business. Isaiah chapter 51 verses 15 and 16. I am the Lord your God who divided the sea whose waves roared. The Lord of hosts is his name. I have put my words in your mouth. I have covered you with the shadow of my hand that I may plant the heavens lay the foundations of the earth and say to Zion, you are my people." Now this is spoken by God long after the actual heavens and earth have been created. He is now using it symbolically when he takes Israel to be his people, when he says to Zion, you are my people. Now conversely, in Hebrews chapter 12, Turn there with me if you would, please. Verses 25-27, as God speaks to His Church of the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old Covenant, and of the Old Covenant giving way to the New Covenant, He declares, See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth, but now he has promised, saying," Now notice this, "...yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven." Now this, yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken. Well, what are those things that are being shaken? The entire context of the book of Hebrews demands that the answer to that is Old Covenant Judaism. So that the things which cannot be shaken, the kingdom of God brought to us by the new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ, that cannot be shaken, that will remain. Now finally, in our text in Revelation chapter 6, John declares that every mountain and island was moved out of its place. Again, the terms mountain and islands were used in the Old Testament. to speak of the Gentile nations of the earth. Isaiah speaks of the mountain of God's house, His church, being exalted above the other mountains or above the other kingdoms of the earth, Isaiah chapter 2. The islands, or the isles as Isaiah calls them, were recognized as those peoples who lived in distance from the covenanted people of God. Of course, the greatest impact upon them would be that the gospel would come to them. Yes, those nations would be shaken. They would be affected, too. When the apostles came into Asia Minor, preaching the gospel, some of the men of the city said of these apostles, these who have turned the world upside down have come here. Also, interesting language, is it not? A shaking taking place. Now, you will often hear people speak of faith that moves mountains or prayer that moves mountains. Now, however, contrary to the popular interpretation given to that phrase, you should note that the expression or its equivalent occurs in passages referring to judgment that is about to come upon apostate Judaism. In that context of Jesus cursing the fig tree in Matthew chapter 21, Jesus declares to his disciples, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also you will say to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, and it will be done. But whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. Now, in Daniel 9.16, the prophet refers to Jerusalem as that holy mountain. Consequently, I believe that what we are seeing in the Revelation chapter 6, especially when that fifth seal is opened and you hear the martyrs crying out for vengeance for their deaths, You see the martyrs crying out to God to bring his vengeance upon Old Covenant Judaism, to cast that mountain into the sea. And it was done, as we will see. Now, why does God bring this judgment upon Israel? Very simply, Israel no longer put its trust in Jehovah. They rejected the very Son of God. They crucified the Lord of Glory. They had made their religious system an idol. They placed their trust in that altar sacrifice and all of the trappings that went with offering the sacrifices upon the altar. They had substituted the thing that was made for the maker. They had substituted the created thing for the Creator. And as a result, God's judgment came upon them. And that judgment was so horrible that as John notes in these last three verses, they would have preferred to have been killed by falling mountains and rocks. There is no escaping the wrath of the Lamb. God says to the prophet Isaiah, I will not share my glory with another. He jealously guards his glory. He will not allow any created thing to satisfy the soul of man. Man was created by God and for God. He was created to experience the most intimate of fellowship with God. And that fellowship with God was to bring the joy to his soul that nothing else could possibly bring. only the eternal will satisfy your soul. If you place your hope, your trust for joy, for satisfaction in life, in anything other than Christ, not only will you be sorely disappointed, you will experience the judgment of God, who will not share His glory with another. If your world is falling apart, decreating, deconstructing, if you want to use the term. Could it be that you have placed your trust where it should never have been placed? Could it be that you have placed your trust in the created thing and now God is bringing judgment upon it? Do you need to repent of your unbelief in Jesus Christ as the one alone who can fill the hungering of your soul? who can quench the thirst that is deep within your soul. And you need to turn in faith to Jesus Christ. You see, if Christ and Christ alone is the hope and the trust of your soul, your world will never fall apart. Now, I'm not saying you won't have bad things happen in life. That would be sticking your head in the sand. There may be circumstances, there may be events that transpire that make you terribly uncomfortable. But your hope is not in that which is physical and material. It is not in that which is temporal. Your hope, then, is in the eternal. And then, when it seems that externally life is falling apart, then, as the prophet Habakkuk declared, though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vine, Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food. Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls." And everybody is saying, oh, what am I going to do? He says, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Why? Because we are not citizens of this earth. We are not land dwellers. We are citizens of the heavenly kingdom which will remain, when everything else is falling apart, the kingdom which has no end. Let's pray together. Father, how we thank you today that you have called us out of the kingdom of darkness into the glorious kingdom of the light of your Son. Father, keep us from putting our hope and our trust in anything of this world. Father, open our eyes to see the realities of the temporalness of this world. And open our eyes, we plead with you, Father, to see the glories of the eternal life which is in Jesus Christ, our Lord. We pray in His name. Amen.