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Earthquake of Revelation 6

August 22, 2011 at 3:26 PM 2 comments

Have you ever studied Revelation?  I mean, really studied it?  We’ve all read it and have noted the number of earthquakes, the amount of floods, volcanic eruptions and all the rest.

If you are like me, it takes a photo or illustration to really understand what is being discussed.  I can’t help it.  I am a visual learner so I need to see something before it really begins to sink in.

When I memorize anything including Scripture, I have to get to a point where I actually see the verse in my head, printed out, or forget it, I can’t memorize it.  If I can focus that verse of the Bible on the screen in my head so to speak, I can just read if from that screen.  That may sound weird to some, but if you’re a visual learner, it makes sense.

So it is with all of the judgments that take place throughout the book of Revelation, starting with Revelation 6, where the Lamb opens the first seal, which ushers in the Antichrist, who conquers the world politically (he has a bow but no arrows).  He uses no weapons yet conquers.  It is like what occurred in 2008 with the last presidential election.  Mr. Obama virtually conquered the United States politically.

In Revelation 6:12, we read of a massive earthquake that apparently may have something to do with the sun going black and the moon looking red as blood.  The stars seemed to fall out of the sky.  This particular earthquake will be so massive that the Bible says the sky is split into two parts and every mountain and every island will be moved out of its place.

Now, as I reiterate what Scripture tells us, I have to pause to try to imagine it.  What will that look like?  I’ve lived in California for over 25 years and yet, I’ve only experienced a few earthquakes.  I have never lived over or too near to a fault so the earthquakes I’ve experienced were relatively mild.  They were more like sitting on a water-bed than anything else.

However, not too long ago, the world and particularly Haiti experienced an earthquake so large that the earth’s crust became slightly more compacted and the time sped up…slightly.  Left in its wake was sheer devastation from which Haiti is still trying to recover.

Also not long ago, an earthquake off the coast of Japan registering 9.0 on the scale created tremendous destruction on that island nation.  The resultant tsunami created far worse mayhem than did the earthquake and it will be years before parts of Northern Japan will recover, if ever.

We know the power of earthquakes because we have seen their destruction and the chaos they cause in our modern-day.  We know what they can do and we fear them.

However, the particular earthquake referred to in Revelation 6:12ff is something of a completely different beast altogether.  It would appear from the description that this earthquake will be far greater than a 9.0.  Again, this is what happens as a result of this future earthquake:

1. Sun goes dark
2. Moon turns red
3. Stars fall from the sky
4. Sky splits in two
5. Every mountain and island is moved

For this to happen, the earthquake would have to be massive.  The Bible says nothing about how long this earthquake will last, but it is doubtful that it will only last for a few moments.  For this type of destruction, the earthquake in question would have to take place over a much longer period of time.

It is still difficult for me to imagine this type of destruction and then I have other questions like how is the sun darkened or the moon turned red?  The quick answer is likely because of the amount of ash that’s tossed into the atmosphere.

For me, the most intriguing part of this is why does the sky split into two parts?  That is really extremely odd, isn’t it?  I don’t know what that looks like either, but when I read that description, all I can think of is the atmosphere splitting open to reveal what lies beyond it.  In essence then, I think of being in one dimension and seeing into another.

Revelation 6:14-17 tell us this:  “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?”

The above text references what happens after the earthquake hits and the sky splits into two parts.  I note that the kings of the earth and all those great men – the wealthy and powerful – all run for their lives.  Even the middle class and poor – in essence, everyone tries to flee from something.  What is it?

Well, if the mountains and islands are moving out of place, do you think it’s a good idea to hide in a mountain that could fall on you?  It’s only a good idea if you want that mountain to fall on you and this is exactly what these people want to occur.  “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne…”

Are they actually seeing God on His throne here?  It seems strange to me, because every time the world experiences some sort of huge catastrophe, Bible teachers come out to announce that this is God trying to get our attention.  I think they are correct there.  I do think that God is trying to get humanity’s attention.

However, at the same time Bible teachers are trying to warn the world, the atheists of the world (and even some within Christendom) becoming the naysayers, laughing those Bible teachers to scorn.  So then everyone stops talking about it and soon enough, life gets back to some type of normalcy.

There is nothing that has ever convinced the entire world that the natural disasters that just occurred were of God’s making.  There is always an element of society that refuses to acknowledge it.  It’s possible that even here it is not the entire world that understands these natural disasters to be from God, however, there are enough important people and leaders who apparently think so.  Because of this, you would think that this worry affects the entire world.

So when the sky splits open, are they seeing something that has been completely blocked from view by the dimensional walls that keep those things separate?  Could they be seeing something that ignites within the fear of God?  It could simply be the scale of destruction that causes those on earth to literally be staggered with the resultant belief that this could have only come from “God.”

But what is interesting here is that John tells us that these people specifically are trying to hide from the “wrath of the Lamb.”  How do they know that?  Is this just a metaphor here?  They see something and attribute it to the Lamb?  I doubt it because in general, people would attribute it to a generic “God” as opposed to specifically saying that it is due to the Lamb.  I honestly do not know, but it is tantalizing to consider.

Getting back to the amount of destruction, how does one begin to visualize it so that the awfulness of the situation can be truly understood?  It’s very difficult, but I was watching a show today on the History Channel that dealt with the Laki Volcano, of Iceland.  It was very interesting to view because geologists and other scientists not only explained what history already told us – that in 1783 a tremendously devastating series of volcanoes rocked Iceland – but they were now able to tell us what triggered the event.

According to the History Channel documentary, the Laki Volcano erupted over a period of eight months.  Scientists have said that the series of eruptions spewed enough magma over Iceland that would have completely covered Manhattan with a depth of over 800 feet of rock.  That’s pretty amazing.  The reality of that is absolutely stark.

The Empire State Building is 1,454 feet tall, to the top of its lightning rod.  Just over half of the building would have been buried in magma.  That is staggering!

The documentary presented a number of computer animations to show how it might have looked, which always helps me!  The interesting thing about this particular volcano though is what caused it to erupt in the first place (which I’ll get to in a moment), as well as the results of the eruption beyond the actual magma.

Eye-witness accounts state that immediately before the first eruption, there was a very loud “BANG!” and then the eruption began.  There were a total of six eruptions along this fissure that had been created in the earth long ago, but had been covered by glaciers.

Eventually, survivors also noted a reddish haze that hovered over Iceland that literally darkened the sun and drifted southeast toward Europe.  In tracking the situation, scientists and meteorologists have noted that for the next three years after the eruption, winters were harsher with lower temperatures than normal.  There was more snow and ice.  In the spring, there was far more runoff, which caused major flooding.

But what is also interesting is that in places like India, crops were destroyed and millions of people died from starvation and disease.  Immediately after the eruptions, roughly 10,000 people on the island of Iceland died, but that was only the beginning it seemed with death and mayhem existing for the next few years.

All of this took place after the eighth month of volcanic activity and the reason for this was determined to be the amount of sulfuric dioxide that was resident within the magma.  As the volcanoes spewed out tremendous amounts of sulfuric gas, these gasses eventually rose to a height of roughly 4,600 hundred feet.  Once there, the gasses then mixed with water molecules and the result was sulfuric acid.  The devastation was intense and unavoidable.

Scientists also believe that nearly 8 million tons of hydrogen fluoride was also released into the atmosphere killing millions of cattle, sheep, and other farm animals, as well as people.  The sulfuric acid cloud moved across much of Europe effectively contaminating most of the Northern Hemisphere.

Dying by breathing in sulfuric dioxide (which turns to sulfuric acid) is a terrible way to go.  “Inhaling sulfur dioxide gas causes victims to choke as their internal soft tissue swells – sulfur dioxide reacts with the moisture in lungs and produces sulfurous acid.” [1]

The interesting thing that scientists are saying is that the reason Laki exploded as it did was due to two things:

1. Melting glaciers
2. Built up gasses

As one expert on the documentary explained, the heavy weight of the ice from the glaciers acted like a cork on a bottle of champagne.  The down pressure on the volcanic fissures from the glaciers would have kept the volcanoes from erupting.

However, as the glaciers melted (and they also noted that the melting took place over an unprecedented short space of time), the weight would have of course, become less and less. Finally, with virtually nothing to keep the volcano from exploding anymore, it would have allowed the gasses inherent within the magma to coalesce and expand until they became a large enough force to push the magma out.

So the direct reason for the volcano’s eruptive activity could be said to be the melting of the glaciers above it.  Of course what scientists also know is that the glaciers on Iceland are now again melting at an unprecedented rate.  They know with absolute certainty that the volcano will erupt again.  They simply do not know when, but it will likely be sooner than later.

It’s interesting, but when I read through Revelation, because John sees and describes the Lamb as the one who opens the Seal, the Trumpet, and the Bow Judgments, this is what we picture and that is exactly what is happening.  But the world does not see what the Lamb is doing.  Could it be that everything is timed so perfectly that if the Laki Volcano is part of God’s judgment in the future, the glaciers will have melted just at the right time to allow the eruption to occur?  I believe so and with the exception of Revelation 6:12, it seems that people do not realize that God is the One who is sending the judgments.

Yes, the people curse Him for certain things, as in Revelation 16:8 when the Fourth Bowl is emptied and people on the earth are scorched because of the heat of the sun.  These people wind up cursing and blaspheming God, but do not repent.

We’ve all heard people curse and blaspheming God.  It happens on a near-daily basis.  Ironic when things go bad, they curse God, but rarely do they consider themselves blessed when things go well for them.  They give themselves the credit for it.

There are a few other times throughout the book of Revelation where this angel or that eagle or some other creature preaches the gospel and warns the world to turn to the Lord, but in general, the judgments that occur on the earth in those coming days are not recognized as coming from the Lord.

However, in the first group of judgments – the Seals – when the sixth seal is opened, everyone runs for cover, realizing exactly who it is that is sending the judgments.  Instead of repenting, they want to die, as if that is going to keep them from God.  It will simply put them directly in front of Him.  There is something about this sixth seal judgment that causes people to know that it is from God, the Lamb.

Is it the absolute power and incredible destruction of the earthquake itself that not only causes the entire world to rock, but further devastates it with poisonous gasses that crowd out the good air from the atmosphere?  Is this was causes people to know that the Lamb is behind it all?  This does not happen before the sixth seal.  In spite of those first five seal judgments, life still goes on.

It is with the opening of the sixth seal that people look up and note something.  They understand that it is the Lamb of God who is sending the destruction.

Could it be the sky that is split into two parts, offering the world some type of glimpse into another dimension, a dimension in which it becomes clears that God rules?  If so, this seems to be quickly forgotten and maybe chalked up to “mass hysteria” on a global level, once things slowly begin to calm down.

I really don’t know, but it is certainly interesting to consider.  It would be like God to provide some type of reality of His existence for the people who will be living during the time of the coming Tribulation.  What are His coming judgments for, anyway?  They are for two purposes.  First, they are sent to get rid of the rebels, those who abjectly refuse to give honor where honor is due.  That is mainly for Israel, to purify that nation and rid it of rebels, but it applies to the world at large as well.  Second, his judgments are there to get our attention, to turn our focus to Him.  Ultimately, they are sent to turn people to Him for salvation.

The Lord performed many miracles while He was on this earth.  He did those because He loved people, but He also did those because they testified of who He was/is and His authority.  In other words, they presented His credentials.  Many came to faith in Him because of those miracles, yet He insisted that it was more of a blessing to come to know Him without Him having to prove Himself.

The people during the Tribulation will experience tribulation like this world has never known.  Like the earthquake off Japan, which caused massive damage and was followed by a devastating tsunami, the natural disasters that occur during the Tribulation will do the same.  One might trigger another.

With the sixth seal, it is amazing to see just how much destruction is caused.  The part about the sky splitting open is intriguing.  Is this one time in the Tribulation when God will offer people an opportunity to “see and believe” as opposed to “not seeing, yet believing”?  I don’t know.  I know that God loves people tremendously.  I know that He does not want anyone to perish.  I know that He wants everyone to have every possible chance to receive His salvation before they leave this earth.

Maybe I’m reading into things too much.  Maybe the sky just does something that has never happened before and because it will never look the same after that event.

I cannot imagine how traumatic it would be to see these events unfold as John saw them occur.  Certainly God protected John so that he would not be overcome and God may have also truncated things, or shown merely snippets of events so that John would be able to present us with an overview.

Certainly, in any case, the judgments of the Tribulation will be on a scale this world has never seen.  In looking at our past, with events like the Laki Volcanic eruption of 1783, we can gain some perspective and understand regarding their destructive nature.  However, as devastating as these historical events might have been, and while they might aid us in seeing what actually happened, we know that ultimately, what will take place in the future is far beyond our current ability to see and understand in all its immensity.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki

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