"12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” - Revelation 6:12-17
I will resume making a case that the resurrection of the saints along with the "catching up" and also the pronouncement of the wrath of God both occur within the Sixth Seal of Revelation 6:12-17. Points 1-3 listed below were introduced last week (see the previous two articles for a refresher). I submit points 4-6 to you for your consideration this week:
Without question, the Sixth Seal (v. 12-17) is a coming of the Lord. Scripture is undeniably clear that God's people will not undergo His wrath, but will be rescued prior to it. It seems that in the Fifth Seal (Revelation 6:9-11), God's people are still present on earth and are undergoing severe persecution. The pattern in Scripture is that God delivers His people at the last moment...just prior to His judgment upon the ungodly. For example, both Peter and Jude refer us to Noah's day when referencing God's coming judgment in the last days. And when were Noah and his family rescued from the pending judgment? They were rescued precisely at the moment of judgment. And what about Lot? When did God rescue him? Again, it was just prior to the fire and brimstone. To me, this is undeniable, God will get His people out of harm's way, but just prior to His wrath. We are told explicitly by Paul that there are two things in particular that must occur before God's people are "gathered together". 1) the rebellion (apostasy) and 2) the man of lawlessness (antichrist) is revealed. Please read his writing to the church at Thessalonica with this thought in mind, "1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God." - II Thessalonians 2:1-4. I don't know any other way to slice this passage than to believe that the antichrist is known and at work before God's people are removed and gathered to Him. Paul also reveals that the resurrection of the saints and the catching up will occur essentially simultaneously, at the coming of the Lord. "15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord." - I Thessalonians 4:15-17. Does it not just make sense that the earth will fall into utter, complete and final chaos when millions or billions of living people ascend up to Heaven and billions upon billions are resurrected out of their graves simultaneously? I may be missing something, but a resurrection along with a "catching up" of the saints prior to any of these "tribulation" events would require life to continue on for a period of years for the earth-dwellers with what I would consider to be relatively little interruption in light of what just occurred, right? This just seems entirely untenable to me. The way I see it, when the Christians are raised to life, there can be no sense of normalcy left on this earth.
I'm no prophet. I could certainly be mistaken or have missed something. But I'll tell you the truth, these six points are mounting up in my mind and all seem to be pointing to the same conclusion. Mind you, we're not done. There is still more evidence to come...next week. Study to show yourself approved unto God!
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