Revelation 6:12-17, Part 3 – The Sixth Seal
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Rev 6:12-17, Part 3 – The Sixth Seal
Updated May 15, 2024
Rev 6:12 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;
Rev 6:13 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.
Rev 6:14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 6:15 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;
Rev 6:16 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:
Rev 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
We ended our last study discussing the spiritual significance of these verses:
Rev 6:12 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;
Rev 6:13 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.
Rev 6:14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
We saw that the revelation of Christ within us necessitates a great spiritual earthquake which makes us aware for the first time that our spiritual sun is dark ignorance of who Christ is, that we, being signified by the moon, are guilty of having shed the blood of our own Savior. We saw that this destruction of the kingdom of our old man necessitates the casting of the fruit of our old heavens and our old earth “even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs, when shaken of a mighty wind”, that ‘wind’ being “the brightness of the coming” of the spirit of Christ and His Truths into our old heavens and our old earth and destroying our carnal minded old man who has been usurping and occupying Christ’s rightful throne over the kingdom of God within our hearts and minds.
Today we will finish our study of the spiritual signs and symbols found in this sixth seal which are used to signify the revelation of Jesus Christ within us.
9) What is “every mountain and island?”
As is always the case, we are never left to guess what a mountain is or what an island is. We are plainly told what these two symbols are, and what we learn is that these are merely two more symbols of the old Adam, that man of sin who sets himself up as God and is sitting upon the throne of God within each of us.
We are all beasts, and upon these beasts are seven mountains, and we are told what those seven mountains are:
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
We are all beasts, and upon our beast are seven mountains, and we are told what those seven mountains signify:
Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Rev 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
Rev 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, [and] the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
There is the scriptural definition of a ‘mountain’ in scripture. It is a kingdom with a king, and in the “signified” revelation of Jesus Christ, the phrase ‘seven mountains,’ and ‘seven kings’ simply means a complete beast with complete dominion of his kingdom. Here is just how complete that dominion is.
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come [the day of the Lord], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.Dan 4:30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?
“The mountain of the house of the Lord” signifies the kingdom of God which is within us:
Mic 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
So mountains in scripture are kingdoms with kings, and an island is just a lower mountain which may be detached from the main body of that kingdom, but it is still just a mountain which protrudes up out of the sea. Islands are merely lesser kingdoms with lesser kings.
Eze 27:35 All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance.
These ‘isles’ and ‘kings’ are one and all within and upon a single beast, which beast we all are, and which beast is a necessary part of the revelation of Jesus Christ just as surely as the first Adam must precede the second, and just as surely are the natural man must precede the spiritual man.
Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
“Afterward that which is spiritual,” proves that the revelation of Jesus Christ is all within, and that it includes the first man Adam.
It is within these “seven heads,” which we are later told are “seven kings,” that all of these many symbols of the many pulls which dominate our flesh reside. The false doctrines of Babylon, which dominate the heavens of our minds, also reside within us all. Together they bear the rule over our earth and our heavens; over our flesh and over our minds.
10) What are the “dens in the mountains and the rocks?”
Rev 6:15 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;
Rev 6:16 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:
Those “mountains and the rocks” are where the beast and the false prophet place their confidence. These “mountains and rocks” are all false doctrines of Babylon which are based upon Babylon’s defiled use of the very vessels of the temple which, were carried away with God’s people into Babylon. Because this is true, Babylon is found drinking out of the vessels of the Lord’s temple when her doom is written upon the walls of her king’s palace.
Dan 5:1 Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
Dan 5:2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.
Dan 5:3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.Dan 5:5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
Belshazzar knew all that the God of Daniel had done to his father, Nebuchadnezzar. Nevertheless, Belshazzar refused to learn from his father’s mistakes.
Dan 5:22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;
Dan 5:23 But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:
What this use of the Lord’s vessels tells us is that Babylon will still be using the false doctrines of “substitutionary atonement”, the rapture, the immortality of the soul, etc, all based upon the misappropriation of scripture, to defend herself from her adversaries, just as Belshazzar and all the princes of Babylon were misappropriating the vessels of the Lord’s house the night that Babylon fell and Belshazzar died.
We live by every word of God. So we are both Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar in our own appointed time. The doctrines and words of Christ in us are in the hands of both the Philistines and later the Babylonians. In such uncircumcised hands, the doctrines and words of Christ become a curse instead of a blessing.
The Philistines, and later the Babylonians, both took possession of the things of the temple of God, just as they even now use the words of Christ to their own hurt and destruction. We have all done so. Both the Philistines and the Babylonians within us have reveled in that fact.
The very things we think will prove our domination over the words of the children of God are the perverted words of God which we think will prove to be our salvation. Instead those words and doctrines become a two-edged sword and turn upon us and fall upon us and crush us to powder and destroy us and all our false doctrines. This is what the vessels of the temple, the truths of the Bible, have become in our uncircumcised hands. The things of the temple will destroy even Israel itself when Israel turns against the doctrines of her own God:
1Sa 4:3 And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines?Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.
1Sa 4:4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
1Sa 4:5 And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.
1Sa 4:6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp.
1Sa 4:7 And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.
1Sa 4:8 Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these [are] the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.
1Sa 4:9 Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
1Sa 4:10 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
1Sa 4:11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
It is not a mere coincidence that there are seven categories of our old man mentioned in verse 15. “And 1) the kings of the earth, and 2) the great men, and 3) the rich men, and 4) the chief captains, and 5) the mighty men, and 6) every bondman, and 7) every free man…” This is a complete verbal and spiritual type of all of the principalities and functionaries within the kingdom of darkness which is within us all by nature, and by virtue of being the natural sons of the first Adam. They are one and all doomed to destruction by “the brightness of His coming,” and they all cry out to the mountains and rocks to fall on them and to save them from “Him [who now] sits on the throne.
Here is the corroborating verses to verses 15-16.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
1) The kings of the earth, and 2) the great men, and 3) the rich men, and 4) the chief captains, and 5) the mighty men, and 6) every bondman, and 7) every free man…” are the “old things [ which] are passed away.” They are all replaced by the “new creature… the new man.”
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Unless and until we dispense with this outward, apocalyptic, futuristic view of this “revelation of Jesus Christ,” and “the sayings of the prophecy of this book,” we will never experience the “edification, exhortation or comfort that is “the things written therein.” “Edification, exhortation, and comfort” are the “mountains and rocks falling on us” and destroying our old man, with all of his old ways and his false doctrines. “Edification, exhortation, and comfort” is what this and all prophecy is intended to accomplish. Here are but a couple of the verses which say so.
1Co 14:3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Whenever we once get past the terror of the flesh and its preordained destruction, then even this next verse becomes words of comfort to the mind of the spirit.
Rev 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
“The great day of His wrath” is the day of His judgment upon the kingdom of our rebellious old man. That day of “judgment must begin at the house of God”, and it is a blessed few who are now being judged and who rejoice in His judgments because they know what judgment produces:
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Isa 26:8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
The words of this sixth seal are words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God, and we will live by them. To the new man, this is a “wonderful work of God to the children of men.” To the old man, our flesh, these are the dire words of the destruction of that old man.
Psa 107:25 For he [“the Lord” (vs 24)] commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
That is the meaning of “the terror of the Lord.” It is only a terror to the rebellious, doomed, old man, the man of sin, the beast within. It is all within.
Job 31:23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
Lev 26:15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:
Lev 26:16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
Lev 26:17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
Lev 26:18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Punishments are judgments upon our ungodliness and unrighteousnesses. This “seven times more” is the three-step process of seven seals, seven trumpets and seven plagues which make up the terror of and the wrath of the Lord upon our rebellious, corruptible flesh, as revealed in the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is all to be found hidden and sealed with seven seals from the eyes of those whose names are not yet written in the book of the life of the Lamb.
There is an inward application to this entire revelation. That is not to say there in no outward application. There will be an outward kingdom of God which will bear rule over “the kingdoms of this world”, preceded by and outward 1st resurrection, nevertheless the inward present application is always primary as in these verses:
Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Summary
Our old man sees God as an unloving, terrible, and uncaring monster, bent on mayhem and destruction. The mind of the spirit sees all things, from the most noble to the chief of sinners, as all being the works of a loving God who is using evil and terror as the foil against which to display His love.
2Co 5:11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
God reveals Himself to us in accord with what is in our own hearts.
Psa 18:26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
The “wicked and slothful servant” demonstrates this principle for us:
Mat 25:24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
Mat 25:25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
Mat 25:26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
The Lord had clearly “sowed” at least one talent in this man’s life. Our Lord is not a hard man to those who do not see Him as such. However, that is exactly what He is to those who see Him as a monster who does not care for the state of His creation and who see Him as a “hard man.” On the other hand, this is the Truth of God’s love and care for all men when it is eventually given them to see it as such:
Zec 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
1Pe 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
That is what Paul is speaking about when he talks of “knowing the terror of the Lord.” The “terror of the Lord” does not make His elect afraid at all. It is rather “edification, exhortation, and comfort” to them.
Job 33:7 Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee.
Psa 91:5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
Our old man will not see it that way:
Isa 10:33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
This, too, is within us all, and it is all His work. We are all high and haughty in our own appointed time.
Job 12:16 With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.
We have seen in this study what are the Biblical interpretations of all the symbols of the powers and principalities that rule our heavens and our earth, before the brightness of His coming and before we see what is entailed in the revelation of Jesus Christ. We have seen that 1) the great earthquake, 2) the sun, 3) the moon, 4) the moon becoming as blood, 5) the stars of the heavens, 6) a fig tree with untimely figs, 7) the mighty wind, 8) the heavens as a scroll rolled together, 9) every mountain and island and 10) the mountains and the rocks, are all symbols of the powers and principalities which are shaken and destroyed at the coming of the great day of God’s wrath. That day of God’s wrath is our day of judgment which is even now upon the house of God (1Pe 4:17). This sounds dire to the ears of our old man and to the ministers who are still in Babylon. However, the mind of the spirit considers it a blessing to be counted worthy to suffer with our Lord, and die daily as He increases and we decrease.
1Pe 3:14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy [are ye]: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
We will now go on into an even deeper understanding of this revelation as we begin to see what is the meaning of the seven trumpets which are our final seventh seal. Before we find out what is hidden behind that seventh seal, we are given to know the outcome of this entire revelation. What we will see is that there are yet two more harvests to be experienced, as the Lord goes about His work of being the propitiation “not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world” (1Jn 2:2).
Those two harvests are presented to us first, just as the sweet smelling burnt offering is presented to us before the sin and trespass offerings. These two harvests represent the salvation of all men. The first is symbolized by twelve-thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. They are a mere 144,000 and they are called “the firstfruits unto God.” However, the firstfruits are not the last fruits. These are followed by another harvest which is said to be “a great multitude which no man could number. That is the subject of Revelation 7 which we will, Lord willing, cover in our next study.