[THE LION, THE LAMB, AND THE SEVEN SEALS,
CONT.]
[the sixth seal]
John then beholds as the sixth seal
is opened, and there was
'a great earthquake; and the
sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon
became as blood.' (Rev. 6:12).
An ordinary earthquake does not
produce the phenomena described concerning the sun and
moon. But there is one type of tremendous ‘shaking’
that does produce such effects when unleashed on a large
scale, and that is the explosion of atomic and hydrogen
bombs. When great amounts of dirt
and debris are cast high into the air and mixed with
massive smoke clouds produced by titanic explosions, the
result is the 'blacking' out
of the sun's light and also the
causing of the moon to appear blood-red in the sky at
night. The opening of the sixth seal,
therefore, has to do with the first explosion
of atomic bombs; but the sixth seal, as
with the other seals, continues
to carry through until the end. Thus the full forces of
atomic destruction, which takes place during
the judgment of the seven vials
of wrath, is also pictured by the sixth
seal. Six is man's number, and thus it is appropriate
that the complete effects of man's works apart from God
are pictured under his intrinsic number. It is
man that unleashes the awful fury of the atom,
and it is man's civilization that
shall be
destroyed by it.
Since the 'wrath of God' is
to be visited upon man and his corrupt civilization by the destructive
power of atomic radiation and fire
power, the inspired writer says, 'For
the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be
able to stand?' (Rev. 6:17). The great
day of God's wrath began when the first atomic bomb fell
on a city of the earth with massive destruction
(Hiroshima, Aug. 6, 1945), but it will not be
consummated until the seven vials of wrath at the close
of the great tribulation. This is because a 'hold'
order is given, that the angels holding the 'four
winds of the earth' might not
unleash judgment until the sealing angel has
'sealed the servants of our
God in their foreheads.' (Rev. 7:1-3). The ‘four
winds of the earth' picture the worldwide effects of atomic
destruction, for it is the wind action
that results from the exploding of atomic bombs which is
responsible for large scale
destruction.
Thus, although the opening of the sixth
seal pictures the beginning of atomic fire-power, and
also introduces the 'great day of God's
wrath.' It also envisions the
final catastrophic consummation after the 'hold'
order has run its course and the 'winds' are
loosed.
So great will
be the effects of massive explosions throughout the
earth, that the earth 'shall reel to and fro like
a drunkard.' (Isa.
24:20). Because of this accelerated and gyrating motion
of the earth, strange sights will be seen in the
heavens, producing the effect described by
the apostle John: 'And
the stars of heaven fell to the earth, even as a fig
tree casts her untimely
figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the
heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled
together.' (Rev. 6:13-14).
Because of the abnormal movement of the earth during
that time of great ‘shaking,’ great wind storms
will be produced in the atmosphere, combining with
the wind action of nuclear explosions. Thus the
violent atmospheric upheavals, and the phenomena
appearing in the starry heavens because of the
earth's erratic movement,
will indeed make possible
that experience described as 'the
heaven departing as a scroll when it is rolled
together.' The great shaking and
twisting of the earth and its crust will also cause
the mountains and islands to
be moved
out of their places. (Rev. 6:14).
[Next:
7th
SEAL
]
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