In this sermon, the speaker discusses the sixth seal and its physical attributes. They begin by noting that the list of reactions described in the sixth seal applies to every category of man, emphasizing that terror is the great equalizer. The speaker also mentions a similar list in Isaiah 13:13, which connects to the day of the Lord and the sixth seal. They then provide recent events, such as a meteor explosion over Cuba, as examples of how the physical manifestations of the sixth seal could occur. The sermon concludes with a prayer for guidance and a reminder to keep our focus on God and His return.

The following message is provided by Eternal Weight of Glory. For other sermons, teachings, and articles, please visit EternalWeight.com. Okay, today we're going to be looking at the sixth seal and just focused on the physical attributes of that event. Let's open with the word of prayer. Lord, we do bring this study to you this morning and ask you to guide us through, lead us, anoint it, Lord, I pray. Give us a sense about the things in the future, we pray, Lord. Keep us on the right track in our thinking. Help us not to go off on any weird tangents or whatever. Help us to just always keep our eyes on you and your return and you on your throne and so on. We pray that you'll just bless this time this morning, bless it to the staff here, and bless it to those who listen on the website. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, Revelation 6, verse 12. I looked when he broke the sixth seal 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. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Okay, is this figurative language or literal? That's the first thing we need to consider. The problem with saying that it's figurative is then everything else has to be figurative. Basically, we have to take things at face value when they're being described like this. For the most part, unless there's a real compelling reason not to, we'll just assume that it's literal. If for no other reason, just because of the reaction of people, something very dramatic happens that is causing the people of this earth to react the way that they do, which we'll get to here in a few minutes. But, you know, we also don't need to press the literal sense overly far. I mean, you know, when he says the sky was split apart, that's hyperbole. He's just expressing it the way a simple first century man would express it in what he is seeing happen in the heavens. So, we don't want to be too literal about it. But there's two basic things that happen. There's an earthquake, and I'm saying two basic things assuming that, you know, the end of verse 14 is tied in with the earthquake about the mountains and the islands being moved and so on. But let's look at that first. The Greek term used is seismos megas, from which we get the English word seismic. It literally means shaking or a commotion. Thomas uses the word convulsions. This is probably closer to the literal meaning than earthquake because in Matthew 8, 24, Jesus uses seismos to describe a storm. You know, so it's not just a literal earthquake that's being described here. Although, it certainly could be that. And mega, you know what mega means. That's a term we use, and it just means great. It could be that some of this moving of mountains and islands could be referring to volcanic behavior. I mean, we know that many of the islands, like the Hawaiian Islands, for instance, they came about through volcanic behavior. You know, so in other words, some fissure busted open on the ocean floor some thousands years ago. And as the lava started spewing forth, it just started building and building and building. And pretty soon, it just became this huge mountain that poked out of the top of the sea. And that's where you get most of your islands. So this moving of mountains and islands could very well be something to do with volcanic activity. But what about these cosmic signs? A total solar eclipse and a total lunar eclipse. That's, I don't know how that could possibly even happen. Unless it's meant that it happens within a few hours or something. It's not possible for both to happen at the same time. So I'm not sure what that exactly describes. And I do want to mention one thing Lauren brought to my attention. There is a whole teaching out there on the subject of the four blood moons. And if you type that in Google, if you're interested, you can pursue this. Basically, if I could get it into a nutshell, these people claim that there have been certain times throughout history when there have been four blood moons in one year and coincide with the Jewish feasts. And when that occurs, then something dramatic happens to the Jewish people. Now, neither one of us were able to substantiate any of this. So I don't want to, you know, give it too much stock. But according to these people, this happened in 1492 when the Jews were being persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition and Christopher Columbus, who was a Jew, I don't know if you knew that, but he did his maiden voyage and all that. And then apparently it didn't happen again until 1948, 1967. And then the next one is going to be in 2014, 2015. John Hagee is one of the people who's promoting this. And if that is true, then something, you know, dramatic is going to happen with the Jewish people next year. I don't know what to do with something like that. I just thought I would mention it to you. You can take that for what it's worth. All right, now the stars falling. Obviously, he's describing a meteor shower here. Again, a first century, simple-minded fisherman. How would he wrap his mind around, you know, he looks up in the night sky and he sees all these stars. He doesn't even know what stars are. You know what I mean? We understand things. We understand those are suns that are billions of light years away or whatever. In some other galaxy universe or whatever. We have a basic understanding of that. But to him, it's just a canopy of these white lights up there. And all of a sudden, he gets a sight of the sixth seal breaking and he sees these things falling to earth. You know, in some dramatic fashion. That's interesting. Now he looks up some of this stuff. Let me just read you a couple of things here. According to Duncan Steele, an astronomer from the Anglo-Australian Observatory, there are some 2,000 asteroids that cross earth's orbit that are massive enough to wipe out 25% of humanity if they hit the earth. That's interesting to me. That's a secular website, by the way. I'm sure very evolutionary and anti-Christian. But just the fact that we had just studied 25% of the earth being wiped out in the fourth seal and then to hear him say that, it's like, hmm, that's interesting. Just kind of a coincidence, I guess. But I want you to listen to this. This comes off a website. Again, secular. The title of this website is Dinosaur Extinction Page. Alright? Totally secular. Nothing to do with Christianity, end times, nothing about any of that. Let me just read this. In 1990, a scientist called Alan Hildebrand found an impact site of an enormous asteroid in the Yucatan region of Mexico. The size of the crater is comparable to that which would have been caused by an impacting body with a diameter of roughly 10 kilometers. If a 10 kilometer diameter object impacted at the point at which it struck, it would have a velocity of roughly 100,000 kilometers an hour. At this velocity, there would have been an initial blast with an estimated force of many millions of tons of TNT, which would have destroyed everything within a radius of between 4 and 500 kilometers. At the same time, large fires would have been started by the intense shock wave, which would have traveled long distances. Trillions of tons of debris, dust, gases, and water vapor would have been thrown into the atmosphere when the object vaporized. Many enormous tidal waves would be started, causing even more damage. The evidence of such waves has been found all the way around the Gulf of Mexico. Along with the tidal waves, the blast would also start a chain reaction of earthquakes and volcanic activity. In the days and weeks following the impact, the cloud of debris would have been carried over large distances by the post-blast high winds. This will have caused months of darkness and a decrease in global temperatures. After this, there would have been an increase in temperatures caused by the large amounts of CO2 released by what would have been global fires. Eventually, this would cause chemical reactions that would result in the formation of acid rains. On the land, the effects of the impact on the flora and fauna would have been devastating, especially on the large animals, which would need large food supplies, and on the dinosaurs, which would need sunlight to keep warm. The global fires would have destroyed considerable amounts of vegetation. The immediate effect of this would have resulted in the death of the large herbivores, and then, in turn, would have killed off the large carnivores. In the sea, the effects would have been just as dramatic. There would have been a decrease in the oxygen levels in the seawater as low-oxygen deep seawater would have been brought up by massive underwater currents. This would have resulted in a massive disturbance of the marine food chain and may have also killed off some of the sea species. That's interesting. Let me just stop for a second. Let me define asteroid, meteor, and meteorite. Okay, they're different. An asteroid is a chunk of rock out there. Actually, sometimes it's called a planetoid. It's a small chunk of a planet that's disintegrated or whatever. They're out there orbiting the sun. They're flying around. They can be small, they can be huge, whatever. A meteor is an asteroid that comes into the Earth's atmosphere. Even a speck of sand, which most falling stars that you see is nothing more than a speck of sand. You're watching it burn up. I saw one this morning. It was actually a pretty big one. Maybe it was a tiny rock or something. I don't know. Most of them are like that. That becomes a meteor when it burns up in the atmosphere. If it actually hits the ground, it's called a meteorite. But Chuck Smith suggested the possibility that a huge asteroid like that one hit the Earth at the same time as Noah's flood, causing enormous shifts in oceans and land masses. He also believes that it may account for the extinction of the dinosaurs and the 23-degree tilt in the Earth. In other words, he believes that an enormous meteorite hit the Earth and knocked it so powerfully that it tilted the Earth. I don't know if that's true. It's just conjecture by a preacher, so who knows. But when he's looking at the sixth seal phenomenon, he believes that that's what is being referred to. That there would be worldwide devastation like I just read about. I mean, it does make a lot of sense. I could see that explaining a lot of the things that John was seeing there. So in light of all that, now consider a couple of other passages in the Bible that tie in with the sixth seal. Luke 21-11, Jesus said, And there will be great earthquakes, and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. That's interesting. And in verses 25-26, he said, There will be signs in sun and moon and stars and on the earth, dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. That's interesting. Isaiah 13-13, the Lord says, I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of the Lord of hosts in the day of His burning anger. And as we'll see here in a few minutes, that's talking about the day of the Lord, which is very much connected in with the sixth seal. All right. Everything that I just expressed to you, I put together a week ago. Now what has happened since then? Four things I'll touch on real quick. On Tuesday, February 12th, six days ago, a meteor, I think, a meteor exploded over Cuba. I got this from a news source off Drudge Report, okay? Let me just read a couple of things it said. In Cuba on Tuesday, residents reported seeing a bright light in the sky and a loud explosion that shook windows and walls. One resident said, On Tuesday around 8 o'clock, we saw a light in the heavens and then a big ball of fire, bigger than the sun. Another resident described how her home was, quote, completely shaken by the explosion. She added, I had never heard such a strange thing. That happened six days ago. Four days ago, February 14th, as we all know, a meteorite hit in Russia and injured 1,200 people. According to NASA, the 10,000 ton rock entered the atmosphere at 44,000 miles per hour. It caused shockwaves that damaged thousands of homes in an event unprecedented in modern times. It's interesting to me that the terminology these secular people are using. NASA estimated that the energy released as the meteor disintegrated in the atmosphere was 500 kilotons, around 30 times the size of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. That's amazing. Now, you know, just keep in mind, the power of it was 30 times that nuclear bomb, but it happened, I believe, much higher up in the atmosphere, number one, and number two, there's no radiation fallout to deal with. So that's why there's not millions of people dead today from what happened last week. Okay, so that happened Thursday. On Friday afternoon, I know when it happened because I was on a treadmill at the gym and I was watching Fox News and in the minutes leading up to it, and they're talking about this enormous asteroid, three times the size of the meteorite that landed in Russia, came zinging by the Earth, 17,000 miles away. Now that seems like, well, that's, man, that's not close. Well, in space terms, it's very, very close. Let me put it to you this way. Another scientist said if it would have arrived 15 minutes earlier, it would have hit Earth. So that happened like 12 hours after the meteorite in Russia. And then Friday evening, there were numerous reports of a huge fireball. People in San Francisco saw this, a huge fireball just burning across to the west. So that happened just a few hours later. And these were all coming from different directions. So it wasn't a connected event. It wasn't like something was breaking up in space and four chunks went to Earth at different times. The meteorite that hit Russia and that asteroid came from exactly opposite directions. I don't know about the other two smaller ones. But anyway, it makes for great, you know, sermon material on Monday morning. Thank you, Lord. I appreciate the timing. Because, you know, it seems to lend credence to my theory that there is some kind of a buildup occurring to these seals breaking. Remember, I've talked about that where it seems like whichever ones of these seals, now, I don't know about the fifth seal, but the others, you know, the buildup of deception and the buildup of war and so on, that what just happened is not by accident. And it is not a coincidence. I believe that the Lord is trying to get people's attention. And what was interesting to me, watching Fox News, this isn't CNN. This is Fox. And I was watching Megyn Kelly. Is that her name? Megyn Kelly. And she was talking about this. They're talking about this asteroid and she's, you know, interviewing people or whatever. Not a word about the Lord. Not a thought about the Lord or anything like that. You know, they're just like explaining it away. Wow, that's weird. What a coincidence. You know, it just came on the heels of the thing that happened in Russia. But not a thought about the Lord. And that's the world out there. That's the way they're going to see it. When you hear about the weird weather patterns, oh, yeah, that's El Nino. Well, yeah, I know it's El Nino and La Nina or whatever, but where did that come from? Oh, that's because we drive our cars too much, you know, or whatever Al Gore's explanations are. But you know what I'm saying? They have an answer for everything. And that is going to just continue all the way through. When we get into the final last days, and this kind of stuff is happening daily. Kathy and I were talking one day, I don't know, two or three weeks ago. And, yeah, she made some comment about today's tornadoes as if it was like a daily occurrence. You know, it's just the way she said it. But it's like, man, we're coming into that time every day. Now it's these sporadic things, but these sporadic things are getting closer and closer. And what does that sound like? Birth pangs, right? They're getting more intense and more frequent. It's just interesting to me. But the bottom line is, the Lord is trying to get man's attention, isn't He? And certainly on the sixth seal, when that happens, that's what that's going to be all about. All right, let's continue on with our reading and see what man's reaction is. Then the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the commanders, and the rich, and the strong, and every slave and free man 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 the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand? Okay, so that is mankind's basic response to this outburst of whatever it is that happens. You know, if it's some enormous meteorite shower that hits planet earth and causes worldwide devastation and shakes everything, you can see why Jesus would say that it would shake the heavens. Because it's going to feel that way. You know, when all of these calamities occur after the initial blast or impact of that meteorite. What we saw in Russia was just tiny compared to what's being described here. All right, now let me just make some observations here about these verses. First of all, this list describes basically every category of man. That's the point of it is to say that no matter what a person's position in life is, they're going to be affected and they're going to have the same reaction. Terror is the great equalizer, as someone said. And you see a very similar list to this in chapter 19 verse 18 after the return of Christ at Armageddon and the carrion birds are feasting on this group of people. So you see the connection there. I don't know how long of a period of time between the sixth seal and the return of Christ at Armageddon. But it's the same group of people who are terrified here and later are laid dead on the battlefield with birds eating their flesh. So that's an interesting concept to think about. Also, this is the first mention of the word wrath in the book of Revelation. The term that John uses here is orge, which is a Greek term describing violent passion. And it's used six times in the book of Revelation. There's also another term that is sometimes translated as wrath. It's thumos. It's used ten times in the book of Revelation. And it means fierce indignation. So either term, I think they basically mean the same thing when it comes to God's wrath. Let me read a couple of verses that tie into that. Psalm 2, verses 1 and 2 and 5. Why are the nations in an uproar? We could say, why are the earth dwellers in an uproar? And the peoples devising a vain thing. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together. There's two of those groups. Take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury. That's a direct reference to what happens at the sixth seal and afterwards. Romans 1.18, Paul said, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Boy, that describes the earth dwellers. It really does. Ephesians 2.3, Among them we too all formerly were by nature children of wrath. Grant Osborne said this, One of the purposes of the seals, trumpets, and bowls is to display the wrath of the righteous God to a world that has rejected Him. The judgment on the earth dwellers is called, quote, The winepress of the fury of the wrath of God. In chapter 19, verse 15. This is God's response to a world consumed with sin and it can be seen as an expression of rejected and wounded love. It's so true. It's so sad. Alright, another thing I'll point out here is the word prosopon which is seen in verse 16. I looked this up in twelve translations. Four translations translated it with the word presence and eight translations used the word face. Some translators said the presence of God and some said the face of God. The term in the Greek is used interchangeably. It could mean either but it is a very interesting concept. You know, and they are slightly different. When you think of the face of God as one thing and then when you think of the presence of God that's something a little bit different. I'll never forget the time that a close associate of mine a few years ago had gotten involved with a girl and he was at her place. I think he spent the night on her couch. And Kathy and I were praying our hearts out for him because we were very concerned. We saw him just kind of giving over emotionally to this girl and we were not at all... We did not feel like it was the Lord's will. So we were very concerned and we were really intensely praying for him that weekend. And he told me later that he woke up that morning on her couch and he sensed this enormous it's going to sound weird but this is the way it came to him this enormous eye of God like right above him looking at him. And it terrified him. It snapped him into reality instantly. And he backed out of that situation immediately after that. And it really affected his life. So I wonder if it's going to be that kind of a thing. That something that happens in the sixth seal in the midst of all this cataclysm and all of this God's presence is involved. And people know it. They immediately, this time they're not on Fox News talking it away. Maybe they'll go back to doing that as the tribulation continues on. But this time their first reaction is this is God. And they feel his presence or they see his face or something dramatic to do with the Lord. And so their reaction is that it's God his presence his face he's looking at us. It's something else when you think about it. Let me read a couple other verses. 1 Peter 3, 12 For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous There's my friend that used to work with me. For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears attend to their prayer. But the prosopon of the Lord is against those who do evil. That's interesting to me. This is a fulfillment of that verse. 2 Thessalonians 1, 9 It's talking about the return of the Lord. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the prosopon of the Lord and from the glory of his power. In that situation it's probably the presence of the Lord. Let me read the pulpit commentator here. Here are men preferring annihilation to a sight of that face. What's the matter with that face? It was indeed the human face divine the serenest the loveliest the kindliest face ever seen on earth. It was a face whose expression towards men was come unto me etc. What change has come over it now? Why are men afraid of it now? Their guilty consciences have made that face terrible. The sight of that face will call up such memories of their ingratitude their folly, their impiety as will make existence intolerable. That's amazing when you think about it. Alright, let me read a few commentators here in regards to people's reaction. Robert Thomas said this their impulse was it's better to perish here than to remain and face the one sitting upon the throne and the wrath of the Lamb. The urgent cry of people throughout the world is a call for those very mountains where they have gone into hiding to fall on them. This is a very graphic picture of terror and despair. What sinners dread most is not death but having to stand before a holy and righteous God. Grant Osborne These people are so filled with irrational terror that they plead for an avalanche to bury them rather than face God and the Lamb. This plea is also filled with irony for death will not keep them from the judgment seat of God. Ray Steadman Every unbeliever is convinced in his own heart that death is somehow an escape into oblivion. Somehow they think they can escape the terrible consequences of their evil by dying. That is why people commit suicide. They believe they are escaping their problems that there will be no consequences beyond death. But the word of God assures us this is not true. And lastly the pulpit commentator Love of life is the strongest instinct in human nature and hence the dread of death. What will men not give away to avoid death but what a change now. They earnestly cry for that which they dreaded. They cry to the mountains and rocks. What can they do for them? Can they hear them? No. Insensitive, immovable these remain amid the wildest shrieks. But were they to fall on them, would they crush them? The material universe cannot crush a soul. God alone can quench a soul. Alright. The last thing I'll touch on here is that there is a definite correlation between the breaking of the sixth seal and the day of the Lord that's been foretold by the Old Testament prophets time and time again. And before I get into some of the comparison here, let me just read a couple more quotes here. This is the Baker Encyclopedia describing the day of the Lord. It is an expression used by Old Testament prophets to signify a time in which God actively intervenes in history, primarily for judgment. Often prophecy of a near future event and an end time prophecy are merged. The immediate judgment being a preview of the final day of the Lord. Alright, let me also read the pulpit commentator what he said about the day of the Lord. This expression is employed for that crisis in the history of the world when Jehovah will interpose to correct the evils of the present. Such great crises are called days in antithesis to the ages of divine long-suffering. They seem to see the last great scene of human history. A world arraigned, the thrones set, the books opened. Alright, now if you'll notice in your notes, I have this section here at the end called the Day of the Lord Comparison. I got it broken down into three sections. This is comparing these events in the sixth seal with three other passages of scripture. Okay, now there are others, but I picked out the three that had the most comparisons in them. And that would be Matthew 24, Isaiah 13, and Joel 2. Another major one is Isaiah chapter 2, but I couldn't fit it all so we'll just stick with these. Look at the comparisons with the physical signs. Now you saw what we just read. Revelation 6, 12 through 14. Listen to some of these others. Matthew 24, 29. But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Okay? Definite correlation there. Isaiah 13. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light. The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble and the earth will be shaken from its place. And that's the verse we read a few minutes ago. Alright, Joel chapter 2, verses 30 and 31. I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. That's interesting. So those are some of the physical signs that are being prophesied in all four of these passages of scripture. Let's talk about the Lord's presence. Here you see them saying hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne. Okay, what's it say in some of the other passages? Matthew 24, verse 30. Then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. You know, is that describing the second coming or something else that occurs earlier? Some kind of a harbinger of the second coming. I don't know. But it's connected in with these same physical signs that are being expressed in the sixth seal. All right, Isaiah 13, 9. Behold the day of the Lord is coming, cruel with fury and burning anger to make the land a desolation and he will exterminate its sinners from it. But look at the Joel 2 passage. I will pour out my spirit on all mankind. That's interesting to me. Actually, it's fascinating to me. Put all those together. Joel is quoting the Lord as saying I will pour out my spirit on all mankind. The earth dwellers in Revelation 6 are saying hide us from the presence of him or from his face, whichever. Jesus said then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky and Isaiah describes the Lord coming with fury and burning anger, etc. How do you put those together? Let's look at the last section here. Again, Revelation 6. We just read it. People's reaction. There's nothing expressed in Matthew 24 that I could point to in that little passage there. But look at Isaiah 13. Wail for the day of the Lord is near. Therefore all hands will fall limp and every man's heart will melt. They will be terrified. Pains and anguish will take hold of them. They will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another in astonishment, their faces aflame. That very much sounds like this reaction that people are having. Hide us from him and that sort of thing. It's like going into more detail, just filling in the blanks a little more as far as how people are going to react when the Lord apparently appears to mankind at this point in the juncture. And then Joel 2.28 and 29, and of course this is what Peter quotes after the Acts 2 outpouring. I will pour out my spirit on all mankind and your sons and daughters will prophesy. Now I tend to think your, I'm reading into this and I didn't notice anyone else saying this, but I think this refers to the Jewish people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out my spirit in those days. So we're going to get into chapter 7 next week and by coincidence we will find 144,000 Jews something dramatic happens to them. And then there's a multitude. What does all that mean? We'll get into that next week. But you start seeing how these prophecies that were made hundreds of years before Jesus came and you start to see how it all connects together here at the breaking of the sixth seal. So hold your horses and next week we will follow out the rest of this. Okay. That's it for today. God bless you.