Wonders in the Heavens

2021-12-09

The sixth seal starts at the end of this great tribulation and consists of the final signs before the Lord comes in clouds and glory (Matthew 24:30). This includes an earthquake, a darkening of the sun and moon, “stars” falling to earth, the heavens opening, and islands and mountains being reoriented (Matthew 24:29; Revelation 6:12-14).

This is the fulfillment of a few prophecies in the Old Testament concerning a final sign before God’s wrath will be poured out on the earth:

Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. (Isaiah 13:9-11)

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. (Joel 2:31)

The response from the earth’s people is twofold. The unbelievers respond in utter fear: they “hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17). The people of those days will try to hide from the Lord. They will know that the Lord is returning with vengeance. “Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).

For the believer, they are comforted with the word of the Lord: “They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:30-31). What is scary for God’s enemies is great comfort for the God’s people. The rapture has come.