,, And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens 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 that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
Rev. 6: 12-17
In the continuation, John sees that Jesus opens the sixth seal and now practically begins answering the prayers of souls who sought judgment on earth. Here we now see the forces moving and catastrophic effects on the earth, sea and atmosphere and that is reflected on the inhabitants of the earth.
"The earth trembles very much." We now have the first of a total of three catastrophic earthquakes that will occur in great distress.
,, And the same hour was there a great earthquake,, ..."
Rev. 11:13
and the third in the sixteenth chapter.
,,... and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, [and] so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”
Rev. 16: 18-19
We have descriptions of catastrophic earthquakes that will be as strong as ever in history and the consequences will be catastrophic in the true sense. the earthquakes that are happening today are a "preparation" for these three earthquakes that follow and which will show that they can be much stronger and much more destructive than those earthquakes that we know and according to the descriptions will be on a global level.
Here is what the Bible says about this topic and future events.
,, The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.”
Isa.24: 20
,, For three [things] the earth is disquieted, and for four [which] it cannot bear: For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat; For an odious [woman] when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.”
Proverbs Sol.30: 21-23
,, For in my jealousy [and] in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that [are] upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
“
Ezekiel 38: 19-20
And at the time when these earthquakes occur, it is very possible that volcanoes will also work, we read:
,, For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.”
Deuteronomy 32:22
The earth will "burn" and "it will burn to the deepest hell" and "burn the foundations of the hills" which means that perhaps because of this the "foundations" of the earth will collapse and this leads to catastrophic earthquakes. The Lord Jesus said:
,, And great earthquakes shall be in divers places…”
Luke 21:11
and in John it is written in this verse that we study:
,, …and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”
Rev. 6:14
So this and the other two earthquakes will be really catastrophic, we can say even cataclysmic if we use today's vocabulary and the consequences will be felt by everyone who will be on earth then, because the "shaking" will move even the "foundations of the earth".
"and the sun became black as a sack of sackcloth" we have seen a part of what will happen on earth and below we have a description of what will happen in the sky or the universe. and this will not be the first time that the sun has "lost light" we read about this in the second book of Moses when Pharaoh did not want to let the Israelites leave Egypt:
,, And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness [which] may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:”
Exodus 10: 21-22
we also read of darkness when the Lord Jesus was crucified:
,, And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.”
Luke 23:44
and the prophet Joel also wrote about this darkness about which we read the prophecy.
,, The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.”
Joel 2:31
and Peter writes of this event:
,, And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:”
Acts 2: 19-20
"Two days" are mentioned here, but these are two different events, Joel wrote "the terrible day of the Lord" and that refers to the other half of the great tribulations, and Peter wrote "the great and glorious day of the Lord." refers to the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth but in any case both write about the darkness that will arise on earth before these events. There are several scenarios as the sun can darken. light, such as the moon and we have a solar eclipse, can "lose light" due to a large amount of smoke from the volcano but also due to the formation of spots in the sun or due to God's intervention in a way that science can not explain in any case God controls events whatever the scenario, darkness will come to the earth and the inhabitants of the earth.
,, And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;”
Lk.21: 25
Based on our experience, we can assume how the moon will lose its light, and the moon will fast like blood, so due to a small amount of light, the moon will look like reddish blood. "And there will be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars; and to the people of the earth sorrow from disturbance and from the roar of the sea and waves". We conclude this because we know that the moon controls the tides, that is, raising and lowering sea levels. sea and waves "which means that there will be big waves and sea water will overflow and flood the coast and what that means we saw when the tsunami hit Japan a few years ago and it is probably miniature compared to what follows because there is there was a small earthquake and we saw that it would be a catastrophic earthquake and there are changes due to disturbances on the moon, so when we add it all up we will get cataclysmic events.
Next:
"And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as the fig tree sheds its buds when the great wind shakes it," these are the events of which the Lord Jesus himself spoke, and they will take place in the second half of the great tribulation.
,, Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:”
Mt.24: 29
When changes occur in the sun and moon, there may be some kind of "storm" in space, because the stars will fall to earth:
"As a fig tree sheweth her buds when the great wind shaketh her."
and then pieces will start flying from the solar atmosphere that will bombard the earth like meteors and we read that the stars will probably save the closest to us. In any case, the "bombing" from space will be
,, And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that [are] with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.”
Ezekiel 38:22
Let us mention that something similar but on a "small scale" was when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
,, The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.”
Gen. 19: 23-25
Here in the text we can see the result of that "rain of sulfur and fire" from the sky, so total destruction, and the consequences of that can be seen today, there is a desert and you can find those sulfur balls that then fell on those cities and the environment.
We know the consequences of meteors when they hit the surface of the planet, but there will be a large number of such "stars and meteors" here, so the earth will probably look like after the worst bombing, all in ruins and craters, fire and smoke.
But we read further:
"And the sky slips away like a book when it bends" because there will be a change in the sun and the moon, which means that the "whole atmospheric sky" above the earth will be affected and there will be great catastrophes, the earth will probably be broken and disappear. and this is what the prophet Isaiah foretold:
,, And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling [fig] from the fig tree.”
Isa 34: 4
"and every mountain and island has moved from its place." We have already said that a great earthquake will occur on this topic, even the "foundations" of the earth will burn and then parts of the earth will collapse and move, which will lead to some parts of the earth will disappear under the water and waves we talked about and other parts will fall into the ravines that will disappear and everything that will be found there will disappear underground, so there will be cracks, various sizes, landslides and rocks and great floods in inland because the dams of artificial lakes will burst ....
We can see something similar today, but in miniature, holes appear around the world that swallow practically everything that is there, houses, buildings, roads, even lakes or forests, and we can only imagine when that happens on large areas, what will be left of this country we know
.and every mountain and island has moved from its place. "We have already said that there will be a catastrophic earthquake, so volcanoes and shock waves of hot air and ash, the earth will be" bombarded "from space, fires and arson will follow, the waves will destroy everything in their path and now we see this movement of soil, floods, landslides ... So cataclysm.
And in the continuation, it is written how all this will affect the people who will be on earth then.
"And the kings of the earth, and the boyars, and the rich, and the dukes, and the mighty, and every slave, and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains."
Here we have a "list" of people who will live in that time and we can notice that there are many more with titles or rich than ordinary people. There are emperors or rulers, boyars ("nobles") and then rich and dukes, strong ( the strong are usually rich) and in the end we have freelancers and even slaves (today there are a lot of slaves or addicts to jobs and various technologies) and there are those who will be persecuted for various reasons and will eventually be found guilty and become slaves. is a little strange because "society is progressing" and the time of slaves has passed but we see that it is not so. Even today we can say that there are "modern slaves" who are in charge for various reasons and are in a difficult situation and have to do some work to repay the debt because otherwise they bear the consequences.
There are only no poor people on this list and that is logical because we saw earlier that there will be food shortages and probably a large number of poor people will die of hunger at that time and then disasters will arrive and they will probably have nowhere to hide. Only those who will have wealth and money and, of course, "acquaintances, connections" will remain, and they will manage to provide themselves with food and some protection, if at all possible, through various "connections" and bribes.
And let's see what they will do who have managed to survive so far:
"He hid himself in caves and in the rocks of the mountains; And he said unto the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.
We see from the text that these rich people will mostly start fleeing from the cities to remote parts and will hide there and instead of asking for mercy from God, they are so proud that they will ask for "mountains and stones" to fall on them and of course they will perish but think that in this way they will hide from "the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." he will stand before Him when the time comes.
It says here from "the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb" so they know what is happening they even know what is happening in "heaven" because they mention Boda the Father and Jesus. Maybe God will allow them to see it somehow because we have seen before that it is written, "And the heavens shall slip away like a book when it bends," so they mention both the throne and the wrath of the Lamb.
"For the great day of his wrath is come, and who can abide?" God is just and holy and he is angry at the sinner. He created everything, even man, and God's will is to glorify Him, to make everything pure, holy and just. but "man has turned away" and does and does what God does not want to do, and that is a sin for which God is angry because in that way we do not obey His will.
,, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
John 3:36
,, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;”
Romans 1:18
We see that God is angry at every ungodliness and injustice, and ungodliness is in fact every plan and deed done without faith in God and Jesus Christ. and God is angry with everyone and does not look at who is who or how he is dressed, how rich he is. What social or social status ...
And in the end we see whose anger this is writing.
"from the wrath of the Lamb" Jesus is the Lamb
,, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
John 1:29
God patiently shows mercy for a long time, waiting for people to repent, believe in Jesus and return to God, but Paul writes what people do:
,, But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;”
Rom.2: 5
He who rejects Christ gathers more and more wrath every day for the day of wrath, and if he is alive at that time he will know the righteous wrath of the Lamb who will no longer be a sweet lamb but a righteous judge, here is what is written about that day of wrath:
,, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
Matthew 24:21
And when we add it all up at the end of this chapter: catastrophic changes in the sun, moon, stars, which will lead to "bombardment" of the earth with meteors, fires and arson as a result, "catastrophic earthquakes, volcanoes and shock waves of hot air and ash, which will fry everything in front of it, the outpouring of the sea in the form of tsunamis, floods in the interior that will follow due to the bursting of dams of large artificial lakes, landslides, landslides, mud and stones, opening of large holes ..., that is why it says at the end:
"And who can stay?"
All these catastrophes or even better cataclysms can be avoided only if the Lord Jesus Christ and His promises are believed that everyone who believes in Him will not get into great trouble.
,, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,”
1 Thessalonians 5: 9
If we believe in Jesus we have the promise and the assurance:
,, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
Heb.13: 5