The Vengeance of God – Part 2
Revelation 6:9-17 (12-17)
September 18, 2016
Last week we began looking at this reality known as
“The Vengeance of God”
It may not be an often discussed attribute of God,
But that is not because of its lack of appearances in Scripture.
The vengeance of God is a well-discussed concept.
Deuteronomy 32:35 “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.’”
And it is that reality that led to
An understanding of what we studied last week.
We looked at our first point last week:
#1 THE CRY OF THE AFFLICTED
Revelation 6:9-11
Jesus opened that 5th seal and instantly we saw those who had been slain for the Lord under the altar and they were crying out for vengeance.
• They were well aware that Scripture has told us to never take our own revenge, but to leave room for the wrath of the Lord.
• They obeyed that, and now they are waiting for the wrath of the Lord.
• They pray one of those imprecatory prayers that we see so many times in the book of Psalms.
And while the immediate answer to them
Was just to rest and to wait until all of the elect come in,
We quickly recognize that their prayer had a very dramatic affect.
Because of this prayer the wrath of Christ moves from passive to active.
In the first 4 seals His wrath could be categorized by what He allowed.
• He allowed Antichrist to deceive
• He allowed Antichrist to declare war
• He allowed famine to overtake the earth
• He allowed death to follow
Certainly these were demonstrations of His divine wrath,
But they were passive demonstrations.
They fell in line with the famous statements of Romans 1
Where Scripture repeatedly says, “God gave them over to…”
That is the wrath seen in the first 4 seals.
But after that 5th seal Jesus becomes ACTIVE in His wrath.
The immediate point that must be grasped is
The effectiveness of the prayers of the righteous.
James 5:16a-18 “…The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”
It is an unmistakable reality throughout Scripture
That God answers the prayers of His people.
One of the best stories in this regard is found in Luke 18
Luke 18:1-8 “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’ “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.'” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
The analogy here is so accurate to our study.
And the point is so important.
“Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart…”
That’s an important reminder isn’t it?
It addresses the problem of believers
Who aren’t committed to prayer in their spiritual walk.
• They may at times face circumstances beyond their control
• For which they realize the need to pray.
• However, because God does not instantly produce the result they desire
• They give up and move on to other resources.
And in that moment a theology is developed which says that PRAYER IS AN UNRELIABLE SOLUTION.
Jesus gave this parable to correct that faulty theology
Incidentally it is a parable that we see being lived out in Revelation 6.
We have a person seeking justice
From the one who has the authority to give it.
And to make the story even more pointed
The story is told from the perspective of TWO EXTREMES.
The victim is the least able to gain justice on her own (a widow)
The judge is the least likely to give justice (doesn’t fear God or respect man)
The stage is set so as to lead the reader to believe that
There is no way this woman will ever receive justice.
He’s not prone to give justice naturally and she has no leverage over him
That would cause him to change his mind.
Yet, through her persistence (belief that the situation could change)
She actually won her appeal.
And Jesus uses that exaggerated story to make a point.
If a powerless and uncared for person
Can get answers from a corrupt and uncaring judge,
How much easier would it be for the elect
To get justice from God who has chosen them?
The answer is:
“I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly.”
God’s vengeance will shine forth
In response to the prayers of His people.
The question Jesus asked however was this:
“However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
Will He find people who will trust Him and pray to Him?
The question is not whether or not God will bring about justice for the elect. The question is whether or not anyone will trust Him to.
GOD HAS NEVER BEEN THE ONE WITH THE FAITHFULNESS PROBLEM
We are learning that God moves in regard to the prayers of His people.
These martyrs cried for vengeance
And the immediate assumption of so many is that God didn’t give it.
People assume this because the martyrs were told to rest a while longer until all the elect come in.
And people say, “See, God refused their request for vengeance.”
Really? Then how do you explain verses 12-17?
In verses 9-11 we have “The Cry of the Afflicted”
But in verses 12-17 we have a different cry
#2 THE CRY OF THE ARROGANT
Revelation 6:12-17
By the end of this chapter it’s not the afflicted who are crying,
It is the arrogant who are crying.
In response to the cry of the afflicted Christ’s anger comes forth.
Do you realize that this is only the second time in all of Scripture that we have seen this type of anger from Christ?
The first time we saw it was when He cleared the temple.
Scripture said He did it because “Zeal for Your house has consumed Me”
Here we see His wrath as He attacks the earth.
And we realize that Jesus also has zeal for His people.
We have seen in the fifth seal the cry of the afflicted.
We are moving to the 6th seal where we see the CRY OF THE ARROGANT.
To help us work through these 6 verses I want to break it down a little further.
1) A DIVINE SLAP (12-13)
The first thing you see taking place here is
“there was a great earthquake;”
Our tendency is to read it like John was saying that there was a shifting of the fault lines and thus the result was a regular earthquake.
But as you contemplate this, I want you to consider the repercussions of this “great earthquake”
There is a list of them:
• (12) “the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair”
• (12) “the whole moon became like blood;”
• (13) “the stars of the sky fell to the earth”
• (14) “the sky was split apart like a scroll”
• (14) “every mountain and island were moved out of their places”
Let that sink in for a second.
This was no regular earthquake.
WHAT IS IT?
This is the divine retribution of God.
I’ve always likened it to Him literally knocking the earth out of orbit.
The word “earthquake” here translates SEISMOS
“a shaking, a shock”
It comes from the root word SEIO which means
“to move to and fro, to shake, with the idea of concussion”
John says something shook the earth to such a great degree that
Even the mountains and islands disappeared.
Scripture tells us what this is:
Hebrews 12:25-27 “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.” This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”
There is the same root word.
“Yet once more I will shake (SEIO) not only the earth, but also the heaven.”
John just described the very thing God promised He would one day do.
God promised that He would one day shake the earth and the heaven.
John says, I saw a great shaking.
And the effect of this shaking is exactly what you would expect
If the earth were to be literally knocked out of its normal orbit.
“the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair”
• Now of course this probably doesn’t indicate so much the blackening of the sun as it does the fact that the earth was no longer in view of it, or if this part of the earth was spun away from it.
Something shook the earth and all of a sudden everything went dark.
Well that would certainly happen
If Jesus knocked the earth out of its normal pattern and position.
Not only that
“the whole moon became like blood”
This is another indicator that the sun most likely hasn’t gone dark.
The blood moon occurs during a lunar eclipse
When the earth blocks the sun to the moon.
There are scientific explanations about why this occurs.
It has to do with the differing wavelengths of various colors and what happens to the light as it passes through the earth’s atmosphere and dust particles.
But what has happened here is that in an instant
The entire earth has moved into a different position.
The earth has been knocked in between the sun and the moon
And spun so as to bring darkness on the land.
The normal orbit and order has obviously been altered.
The earth was instantly shaken into an abnormal position.
It brought darkness to the earth
And gave the appearance of blood to the moon.
And that’s not all.
“the stars of the sky fell to the earth”
What if the earth were all of a sudden knocked into a meteorite shower,
Or into an asteroid belt?
Things that God has faithfully protected the earth from up until now,
And all of a sudden He were to throw the earth into the middle of one.
The consequences would be horrific.
And then we see (which we’ll discuss more in a moment)
“The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up”
It gives the picture of what was viewed in the heavens one second
Was instantly whisked away and now there is a new view.
Did the sky move, or did the earth get moved rapidly below it?
Or how about “every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”
It could be the result of massive tsunamis,
It could be that they just crumbled under the force of the shaking.
The point is that this is not just some normal earthquake
That occurred at a shift in the fault lines.
Shifts in the fault lines don’t erase the sun, or turn the moon to blood,
Or cause meteor showers, or whisk the sky away.
This event is the direct effect of God’s direct shaking of the earth,
As He said He would do.
Jesus heard the cry of the afflicted and in the very next moment,
The earth took a massive backhand!
Isaiah 13:9-16 “Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger. And it will be that like a hunted gazelle, Or like sheep with none to gather them, They will each turn to his own people, And each one flee to his own land. Anyone who is found will be thrust through, And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword. Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces Before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished.”
GOD SAID HE WOULD DO IT…
This is the full fury of the wrath of God directed at sinful humanity.
And it comes immediately following the prayer of those slain on the earth.
This is God’s vengeance in full force!
It is a Divine Slap
2) A DISAPPEARING SKY (14a)
“The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up.”
At first it is honestly a little difficult to grasp what this means.
When we think of the heavens we know that there is the atmospheric heavens which is what we see by day, and then there is the stellar heavens which is what we see at night.
But it’s a little confusing as to what John means
When he says the sky just “rolled up”
It is confusing UNTIL we hear the cry of the arrogant down in verse 16
Who say to the mountains “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;”
Now the picture is starting to take shape.
It may not just be that the Lord backhanded the earth
So much as that He grabbed it pulled it right before His face.
Because the earth is all of a sudden is seeing
What John saw back in chapter 4.
This is not a normal occurrence.
You and I cannot go outside this afternoon and see the throne of God.
I also think it’s interesting that the earth DOES NOT SPEAK OF GOD IN INTIMATE TERMS. That is, they don’t say, “Hide us from God and Jesus”
They want to be hidden from “Him who sits on the throne”
It’s almost like saying, “Hide us from that guy!”
They don’t speak of Him as though they know Him.
But what they do now know is that, whoever He is,
All of this fury, this earthquake, this meteor shower,
All of this catastrophe has come from Him.
Whoever He is, He is causing this.
And the Lamb that sits next to Him is angry.
Christ is making no bones about where this is coming from.
He wants the world to know that
THEY ARE UNDER DIVINE JUDGMENT FROM HIS HOLY THRONE.
All of this wrath, all of this terror, all of this fury…
It’s not coming from the devil, it’s coming from God.
It’s also important to note that it’s not coming from man.
• It’s not the result of global warming…
• It’s not the result of a deteriorating ozone layer…
• It’s not the result of deforestation…
Man didn’t do this, the devil didn’t do this.
GOD IS DOING THIS
Isaiah 24:17-23 “Terror and pit and snare Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth. Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake. The earth is broken asunder, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again. So it will happen in that day, That the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high, And the kings of the earth on earth. They will be gathered together Like prisoners in the dungeon, And will be confined in prison; And after many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And His glory will be before His elders.”
Isaiah 34:1-5 “Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it. For the LORD’S indignation is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter. So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood. And all the host of heaven will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All their hosts will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as one withers from the fig tree. For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.”
All of this was the plan of God and it is precise and accurate.
He has been saying for years that He would do this
And here John sees what it looks like when He finally does.
GOD WANTS THE WORLD TO KNOW THAT HE IS ANGRY
• And so not only does He shake the world,
• He rolls back the sky so they can see that He is the one doing it.
Can you see the vengeance of God shining forth?
If you can, you’re not alone.
A Divine Slap, A Disappearing Sky
3) A DRASTIC SOLUTION (15-17)
First of all I want you to know that
EARTHLY STATUS IS OF LITTLE CONSEQUENCE
When we are talking about the wrath of God.
John makes sure that every reader understands that
Who you are on earth means nothing.
“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;”
We call that fear.
The world is now caught in literal terror.
Luke 21:25-26 “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
When God does this there will be no one brazen enough
To try and stand up to God.
The absolute arrogance and idiocy of man today
To think they can challenge God or mock God or oppose God
Is so foolish it isn’t even worth giving them the time of day.
Perhaps you’ve heard about the current controversy
Over the cross that’s up at the top of the hill.
There is an atheist group known as the “Freedom From Religion Foundation”
Who apparently has written multiple letters to our city council
Demanding the removal of the cross.
I’ve been asked about this several times.
Let me be candid and honest with you here for a second.
1) Don’t act concerned about that cross if you’re not daily committed to the real one.
• (I find that to be an almost humorous form of hypocrisy) Not one single person in Spur will go to heaven just because that cross is on the hill.
2) While I certainly appreciate the symbol on the hill, whether or not that cross remains won’t have the smallest impact on the kingdom of God.
• Hanging Jesus on the first cross didn’t stop Him, I’m pretty sure nothing they do with this one wills top Him either.
• I have every intention of honoring the cross every day of my life, but by proclaiming it to the lost and honoring the Savior who died upon it.
3) But I’ll tell you what hits me the most about this is the audacity of this group of people who actually thinks they can win the battle against God.
I got on their website where they boast of over 23,000 members
And have a little trophy slide of recent victories they’ve won
(and they aren’t much; things like getting a Christian flag out of a courtroom)
Frankly I’m a little amazed at the pure stupidity of people
Who think they can challenge God and win.
And by the way, that’s not just referring to anti-christian hate groups.
I amazed at the audacity of people who will boastfully live their lives in utter defiance of the commands of God.
• Do they really think they’ll get away with it?
• Do they really think they’ll win?
TAKE A LONG LOOK AT THIS PASSAGE.
It doesn’t matter who you are.
It doesn’t matter how big and bad you are.
On this day, the greatest of the earth are cowing in fear.
THEIR ONLY SOLUTION IS:
“they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of the 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?”
Although this response is somewhat drastic, it is not surprising.
God said this would be their response.
Isaiah 2:12-22 “For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning Against everyone who is proud and lofty And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be abased. And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, Against all the oaks of Bashan, Against all the lofty mountains, Against all the hills that are lifted up, Against every high tower, Against every fortified wall, Against all the ships of Tarshish And against all the beautiful craft. The pride of man will be humbled And the loftiness of men will be abased; And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, But the idols will completely vanish. Men will go into caves of the rocks And into holes of the ground Before the terror of the LORD And the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble. In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats Their idols of silver and their idols of gold, Which they made for themselves to worship, In order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs Before the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty, When He arises to make the earth tremble. Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?”
Today we live in a day when men obstinately defy God
So that they can hold on to their sin.
There is a coming a day when men will throw that junk away
So that they can hide from God’s wrath.
All of these arrogant men and women who live their lives in total disregard of God are going to get a rude awakening one day.
Hebrews 10:30-31 “For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
It is so terrifying that people would rather a mountain fall on them
Than have God stare at them one second longer.
In the day of God’s vengeance the world will be in utter terror.
SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS?
I would remind you again that this book wasn’t written to the lost.
• We remember from chapter 1 that this book was given to John that
he might reveal it to the bond-servants of Christ.
That means this revelation
Isn’t given primarily to sinners as a warning.
WHY THEN IS IT GIVEN?
IT’S NOT GIVEN TO SINNERS AS A WARNING,
THIS BOOK IS GIVEN TO THE SAINTS AS REASSURANCE.
“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, declares the Lord”
There is no need for you to take your own revenge in this life.
• When people wrong you and harm you and falsely accuse you there is no need to retaliate.
• When this world persecutes and even martyrs the people of God, there is no need to rise up in physical retaliation.
• We are commanded to never take our own revenge but leave room for the wrath of the Lord.
• We are told to be patient and to trust that God will take care of those who wrongly afflict us.
And here we learn that this is not an idle promise.
God’s wrath is fully displayed.
We know that God will one day rise up on behalf of His people.
• Groups like the ACLU or The Freedom from Religion Foundation, or Islam or whoever else they may be.
Those people will all pay for what they have done,
There is no doubt about it.
This message is to give reassurance to the saints
That God does not forget His people.
Luke 18:7-8 “now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
• Let this truth encourage you to continue pressing on.
• Let this truth encourage you to continue blessing those who persecute you.
• Let this truth encourage you to continue turning the other cheek.
Be encouraged Christian.
• For all those times you cried out “How Long?”…God will answer.
• He will not let the wicked forever exalt over you.
• He will not let the wicked forever mock and scorn you.
God will deal with sinners.
And that is the PRIMARY ENCOURAGEMENT.
But THERE IS A SECONDARY ONE for any in here
Who are seeking to live their lives outside of the will of God.
If that is you, and you are UNCONCERNED ABOUT GOD’S COMMANDS for your life, let me encourage you to reconsider.
There is no possible way it ends well.
God’s wrath will come and you won’t be able to endure it.
Listen to the cry of the arrogant:
(17) “for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
They look around at all the rich and powerful and strong around them
And realize that no one is big enough or bad enough to endure this.
No one can make it.
No one can escape it.
But if you want the answer to the question “who is able to stand?” then we’ll look at that next time.
Revelation 7:9-10 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
There is one who stands.
It is those who have repented of their sin
And trusted in the atoning work of Christ.
And on this day those people are NOT HIDING from the One on the throne and the Lamb, THEY ARE GLORIFYING “our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
There is no future in resisting the truth of God.
Salvation is found in submitting to His will.
