‘And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood, and the stars of the heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind. And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and every island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich and the strong, and every bondman and every freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.'
The question to be decided here is how we are to approach the interpretation of this type of language. Are the events described here to be interpreted politically and apocalyptically as mainly events leading up to the Great Day, or are they to be seen as natural events describing that final great day itself? On a literal reading the latter may seem the case. But the language is apocalyptic, and cannot be taken literally. All the stars cannot fall to earth - the earth is not large enough, and if heaven was removed as a scroll how could the sun and moon still be there? Furthermore the prophets used similar language of events in their own day describing political upheaval (and thus not to be interpreted literally), possibly but not necessarily accompanied in some cases by signs in the heavens - see Appendix below. They used such language to give an impression of world shaking events. And stars falling from heaven are elsewhere used of angelic activity. Thus that may be the case here.
We should remember that throughout this chapter John is following the pattern of Jesus discourses in Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21. And at this point in His discourse Jesus used language like this, a use which we have argued above was describing the political upheaval around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. So John may be saying that great political tumult and great supernatural activity (revealed more fully later on, especially in the fifth and sixth trumpets) are to occur.
‘There was a great earthquake'. Jesus had forecast ‘and earthquakes' (Matthew 24:7). A similar event happened at the resurrection of Christ (Matthew 28:2), and great earthquakes are forecast to take place through the ages (Luke 21:11), as are world-shaking events which could be described in such apocalyptic language with regard to sun, moon and stars. The Old Testament prophets spoke of them in similar language as happening in their day (see Appendix below). Such events are often seen as presaging awesome things to come. And men have regularly hid from them saying that God's day has come. In one sense therefore the first part of the sixth seal could be seen as having taken place again and again. But the difference here is that we are to see all this as pointing forward to a climax, to the actual final occurrence when that Day does actually come. Here John is not describing only the potential, he is describing the actual.
An earthquake is mentioned in Revelation 8:5 when the trumpets are about to sound in John's day. A great earthquake is also mentioned as occurring in Jerusalem (Revelation 11:13 compare ‘where also their Lord was crucified' - Revelation 11:8) as a kind of pre-emptive strike as the last judgment commences, and finally one occurs among ‘the cities of the nations' (Revelation 16:19), the latter the greatest ever. They all signify God's wrath.
. In Revelation 8:5 the earthquake preceded the seven trumpets and their great devastation and judgment, in Revelation 11:13 and Revelation 16:19 it is part of the great judgment day itself. Each introduces divine activity. Here it is seen as preceding the signs in the Heavens, which are either manifestations of that last judgment or apocalyptic pictures of the world's turmoil which lead to that final judgment. Every earthquake is thus intended to be a reminder of the coming judgment of God, and the same applies here. This one is clearly to be seen as very severe, and as also preparing the way for divine activity. (The message is not diminished by the fact that we now know the main cause of earthquakes. It was God Who made the world that way).
The fact that ‘every mountain and every island were moved out of their places' is a vivid eyewitness description of an earthquake. It demonstrates the greatness of the particular earthquake being described, so that John may well possibly have seen it as then causing the other natural phenomena. Its results would thus include the blackening out of the sun, the moon appearing like blood through the dust and debris thrown up, and the blotting out of the stars so that they appear to have fallen from heaven. It may then be seen as the last earthquake itself. (There is no mention of the vicinity in which the earthquake was to take place). Furthermore the description of falling stars may also suggest its connection with a meteor or asteroid, breaking up in its descent, appearing like falling stars (‘shooting stars'), with the other stars blacked out, and which could well cause a great earthquake and bring about the final devastation. This would be to interpret literally to a large extent.
On the other hand stars falling from Heaven regularly reflect angelic activity in Revelation. The phrase here almost exactly parallels that in Revelation 9:1 where it is clear an angel is in mind, and we can also compare Revelation 12:4. So it may be political turmoil that is in mind here combined with supernatural events, occurring through history and leading up to the final judgment (such events as are described later). (See Appendix below for a more detailed treatment of apocalyptic language).
Such events, of course, have happened throughout history in different parts of the world, from the first century onwards pointing forward to the final day. Thus each large earthquake has reminded men of the great judgment day that is coming and has turned the thoughts of many to the day of judgment. And each age has experienced tumultuous political events and spiritual attack that could be described in this fashion. But the description here is, in the last analysis, of the ultimate.
As we have said there is no indication where this earthquake actually takes place and whether it is universal. So in men's minds it could equally have applied to any large scale earthquake that has taken place when terrified people indeed took refuge in caves and mountains (it does not say the kings of the whole earth), and where men's hearts cried out in fear. Each was one more indicator in preparation for the coming of Christ, and indeed could have been seen, as far as the participants were concerned, as the last. John is not in the business of forecasting the future in detail as such. The purpose of Revelation is not so much to forecast events as to prepare God's people for them. He is concerned to prepare them for what they and the world have to face. ‘There will be earthquakes'. But then one day the last great earthquake will occur. And then His day will come.
So we have to consider the real possibility that at least part of the phenomena described here, if not all, are to be interpreted mainly politically as describing apocalyptic events leading up to the final day. As a whole the description parallels the words of our Lord Himself in His apocalyptic discourse, ‘the sun shall 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' (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-25), which were not there directly connected with an earthquake, and which Luke explains for his Gentile readers as, ‘there will be signs in sun, and moon, and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity, for the roaring of the sea and the billows, men fainting for fear, and for expectation of things which are coming on the world, for the powers of the heaven shall be shaken' and Jesus saw this as being fulfilled within a generation. Thus even the earthquake may also be mainly political rather than physical.
As we have seen earlier (beginning of chapter 6), such are the continual parallels between this chapter and Jesus' apocalyptic discourse that dependence of this whole chapter on the words of our Lord cannot really be doubted, and Jesus Himself specifically said that the generation of His disciples would not pass away until all He described was accomplished, including signs similar to these. If we are to be honest we must not avoid the plain meaning of His words just to support our theories.
(Greek is a wonderful language in the hands of expositors, and the most obscure uses of words can be called on so as to make it fit into our theories. And we are all guilty of it. But we must beware of so treating the word of God. Jesus did describe all these things as happening as a build up to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD within that generation, and happen they did. That was not describing some far future ‘day of the Lord', it was describing current world events).
John, however, is not referring specifically to that time spoken of by Jesus. He is extending the significance of the words. These things will go on, he is saying. 70 AD was not the end. The Jews have been scattered among the Gentiles as Jesus foretold, enduring great tribulation and ‘wrath unto this people' (Luke 21:23). And the world will yet experience tumult among the nations and the wrath of God just as they did in Old Testament days as described by the prophets and in the days of the destruction of Jerusalem. The very people to whom he was writing lived among those who had yet to experience more of it.
(To John, looking forward to the second coming, although aware that it may be delayed (John 21:22) the idea is that these events will take place within the gap between his writing and the second coming. He had no idea how long that gap might be although aware that it might be a long time - ‘a thousand years' (Revelation 20:4).)
In the Chapter s to come we will learn more of such effects in sun, moon and stars, with stars falling from Heaven, and the powers of Heaven indeed being shaken. These will be revealed in the events following the opening of the seventh seal as happening throughout history. What happened to Jerusalem in 70 AD was a precursor to further terrible events for nations, which could all be described in these words. But all are but preparation for the final terrible end of the age events.
We have seen much of this in the opening of the first five seals. The first five seals began in John's day and have continued on through history, resulting in false Messiahs, war, famine, wholesale death, persecution. Many a time portents must have been read in the heavens. But now the sixth seal, which illustrates to us men's terror in the face of natural events and political tumult, describes the continuation of those events and brings us up to the final day of reckoning, the day of the wrath of the Lamb. It is an addition to the cataclysm of history when everything heads up to final climax, a situation for which there have been many rehearsals. Each age has at times thought that the time had come. Now it has come!
Up to this point in time the events of all the five seals have been continuing in parallel through history, and, as we shall indicate, in relative parallel with the first five trumpets and the first five bowls yet to be described. But what is happening through history in the opening of these five seals (and in the contemporaneous blowing of the trumpets and the emptying of the bowls) continues, and finalises, in the sixth seal, in the Day of the Wrath of God and of the Lamb. It is the sixth in each series, the sixth seal, the sixth trumpet and the sixth bowl, that introduces the closing events of the age. (In contrast the opening of the seventh seal will issue in the blowing of the trumpets which themselves also lead us up to this final day of reckoning, while the seventh trumpet and the seventh bowl themselves describe the final judgment).