Lesson 10
Questions & Answers
Now that we have gotten our feet wet with the dramatic
language of judgment in this book, it is time to consider
some questions that generally arise at this point: How is
this book relevant for us? Are there other ways to
interpret these images? How well do the images fit with the
history of Rome? How could Rome be the villain when Rome
did not fall until 476 A.D.?
We addressed each of those questions in the
introduction, and you should look there as well, but we
will address them again briefly at this point, and add some
additional information to what we said earlier.
(1) Does Revelation have any relevance for us today?
As you know, I have made the point several times that
Revelation includes a time frame, and that time frame is
that the events in the book were to come to pass shortly.
That raises the question whether the book has any relevance
to us today. We considered that question in our
introductory lessons, but it’s probably a good idea to
discuss it again now.
At one level, we know the answer is yes without regard
to how we interpret this book. Revelation is God’s word,
and that alone makes it relevant. When the creator of the
universe hands you something to read, you don’t ask him
whether it will be relevant to your “day-to-day” life! The
Bible is our spiritual food, and few people question the
relevance of food!
At another level, we have frequently compared God’s
judgment of Rome in Revelation with God’s judgments in the
Old Testament against Babylon, Egypt, Assyria, Edom, and
others. In those judgments we learn valuable and very
relevant lessons about the nature of God and his
judgments.
Finally, we must agree that however much we compare
Revelation to Old Testament judgments, this book is
different in that it involves the church. Is this book
relevant on that level? Absolutely! Have you ever wondered
how Jesus views his church? Read Revelation. Have you ever
wondered just how much Jesus loves his church? Read
Revelation. Have you ever looked at the evil all around us
and asked, How long, O Lord! Read Revelation. Revelation is
relevant on any level!
(2) Don’t those seals fit the fall of Jerusalem pretty
well?
The answer is yes, this language of judgment does fit
well with the fall of Jerusalem. Indeed, we find very
similar language in Matthew 24, which describes the
judgment against Jerusalem. But it also fits well with
judgments throughout the Old Testament against Babylon,
Assyria, Egypt, and others. Similarity of language does not
prove identity of subject.
In my opinion, the villain in this book is Rome and the
judgments in this book are against Rome. Others have
different opinions. Many take Jerusalem to be the villain
in the book with the judgments being against Jerusalem,
while others take Rome to be the villain but have the
judgments being against both Jerusalem and against Rome. In
my opinion, the best fit is to have Rome as the villain and
have the judgments be against that same villain, Rome.
If we had more time, I would step through the arguments
for and against the various theories as we came to each
passage. But with the time we have, my plan is to tell you
what I believe this book is about and then through
citations to the Bible tell you why I believe that. But, as
I’m sure you all know, there are many in the church who
believe otherwise! All I can do is lay out my case from the
Bible.
Do I think my view is the only possible view and that
all other views are without merit? Absolutely not. In fact,
if you compare the notes I wrote in 1993 (which are
available on our website) with the notes you are reading
now, you will see that I have changed my own views on some
issues. There certainly are some views different from mine
that are totally without merit (premillennialism, for
example), but there are other views different from mine
that do not ignore the timeframe (or at least do not
totally ignore it) and that fit portions of the book quite
well. But the view I am proposing in these notes, in my
opinion, best explains the entire text and best makes sense
of the book from a theological and a historical
perspective.
One final comment on this point. In our introductory
classes, we mentioned that some Old Testament had dual
fulfillments — one immediate and another future. We know
that because the New Testament reveals the secondary
fulfillment. Absent being told, however, it is difficult to
determine when a prophecy has a second, sometimes much
later fulfillment. Our class is focused on the immediate
fulfillment, but we could, if we had the time or the
inclination, speculate as to a dual fulfillment that either
occurred or is yet to occur.
(3) How do the images we have seen fit with the fall of
Rome?
This is a question we will have more to say about as we
proceed through the book, but a few points can be made
now.
The images we have seen were intended to frighten, and I
think we can all agree they succeeded. Even today, the pale
horse of pestilence is the stuff of nightmares. Are we then
to look for an actual pestilence that came upon Rome? I
think the answer is not necessarily. Instead, we should
look for why that image was so frightening to Rome, and to
do that we can look to the history of that time.
The famines of Nero’s day preceded the writing of this
book, while the famines of Domitian’s day followed it. The
former was likely the source of the frightening image,
while the latter reinforced it and reminded people of it.
These historical events tell us why this symbol was so
powerful and so vivid.
The first horse with the conquering rider is another a
good example. I identified it with a Parthian warrior
because of Rome’s fear of an invasion from the east. Did
Parthia conquer Rome? No. Were the Romans scared to death
of Parthian warriors? Yes. God is looking into their minds,
pulling out the things that scare them the most, and
telling them that and much more is on its way! Rome feared
invasion from the east. Rome feared a loss of the Roman
peace. Rome feared famine and disease. Why did they fear
these things? Because they were actual threats— they had
happened and would happen again. The church saw Rome as
invincible, as did Rome itself. God is reminding both Rome
and the church that Rome is not invincible!
But how and when did these judgments come to pass
against Rome? As we will see and have already seen, Rome,
and particularly the Roman emperors, suffered literal
punishments in this life, but before we conclude that is
all there is, let’s pause to ask a question: The reward of
the martyrs under the altar, was it in heaven or on earth?
It was a heavenly reward. The punishment of Rome — was it
on earth or in Hell? I think that what we are seeing in
these descriptions is a vivid portrait of what Paul told us
in Hebrews 10:31 — “It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God.” You take everything thing that
scared Rome, and it was nothing compared to the eternal
punishment that awaited. I think we are sometimes too quick
to put the reward in Heaven while putting the punishment on
earth. Remember that a theme in this book is that things
are not always as they seem. This book invites us to view
things through God’s eyes — and in God’s eyes there is not
any earthly punishment that compares in any way to an
eternity in Hell. Some of these events would happen on
earth, but the real punishment would happen in the next
life, just as would the real reward for those who remained
faithful to death.
Think about some of the figures we have seen and are
about to see — the sun blackened, the stars falling to
earth, the sky rolled up like a scroll, every mountain and
island moved out of its place, hail and fire with blood,
the sea becoming blood, a great mountain cast into the sea,
the stars darkened, horses with serpent tails, and unclean
spirits like frogs coming from the mouth of a dragon.
Figurative? Then what about the famine, the war, and the
pestilence? Literal? If so, why? Remember our general rule
with apocalyptic language is to take images figuratively
unless forced to do otherwise.
Our plan is not to try and match each of these images
with some particular historical event that happened to
Rome. Instead, these images are all describing the same
judgment, just with different pictures and with an ever
building intensity leading finally to the bowls of wrath.
But these seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls are
figurative.
We see similar language used in the Old Testament. God
told the Babylonians in Isaiah 13 that he would leave their
land in such a wasted condition that no Arab would ever
pitch his tent there again. Is that literally what happened
to them? No. Was that a frightening image intended to
convey the horror of what God had in store for them?
Absolutely. Hosea told Israel that it would go into
Egyptian bondage again. Did that literally happen to them?
No. Was that a frightening image from their past that God
used to depict the judgments to come? Absolutely.
(4) How can this book be about the fall of Rome when
that event did not occur until AD 476?
I think we can all agree that if Rome had been sacked in
110 instead of 410 then no one would doubt that Rome is the
villain in this book and that the judgments in the book are
directed toward Rome. But with the actual end occurring
when it did, we have reason to wonder how well such a fall
really fits with the timeframe of Revelation. To answer
that question, let’s first review what we mean by the “fall
of Rome,” and then let’s look to the Old Testament for a
comparison.
First, although a key event in Rome’s fall happened in
A.D. 476, the fall of Rome was a gradual process that
started much earlier. Here is a brief account of the
process from The Fall of Rome: A Reference Guide by Alden
M. Rollins:
By the fall of Rome I mean primarily the events of the
fifth century when the military and political integrity of
the Roman power was smashed in the western provinces and on
the Mediterranean Sea, a disaster soon to be followed,
though in a more subtle way, by a cultural and economic
regression so profound that later generations called the
centuries from about 600 to 1000 the Dark Ages.
Mediterranean civilization had not been without its strains
before, but the political disintegration of the fifth
century, the monstrous plagues and earthquakes and wars of
the sixth and subsequent centuries, and the economic and
further political dislocations of the seventh and eighth
centuries guaranteed the trend towards localization and
deprivation. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse fared well
in these times.
Symbolically the signal dates are 410 when the city of
Rome itself was sacked by barbarian hordes for the first
time since 390 B.C., and 476 when the last western emperor
to reside at Rome was retired by a barbarian general who
already held political and military supremacy in Italy,
which was now completely detached from its ancient
provincial territories in Gaul, Spain, Africa, and Britain,
and was harassed from the sea by a Vandal fleet. Other
events on both sides of the fifth century either inclined
the empire towards, or guaranteed the results of, the
disasters of the fifth century; and these come within the
scope of the fall of Rome. Examples are the political
instability of the third century, the Battle of Adrianople
in 378 A.D., and the Gothic wars in sixth century
Italy.
During and after the disasters in the west, the
remaining eastern provinces, administered from
Constantinople, were more fortunate in the short term; but
between 500 and 750 these too were transformed by war,
pestilence, earthquakes, famines, religious fanaticism, and
economic and political upheavals from a plausible
continuation of the Roman empire and Roman culture into a
small, compact, narrow minded, Greek maritime state
completely dominated by its last remaining city of
Constantinople, whose population was reduced at one point
to under 50,000 and where a formerly high and varied
culture was reduced to religious platitudes.
Note that even a secular author sees parallels between
what we are reading in Revelation and what happened to
Rome. But, as we discussed before, we need to be careful
before we match the famines and plagues in this book with
specific famines and plagues from Rome’s history. These
images were intended to frighten, and one reason they were
so frightening is that they had happened to Rome before and
would happen again.
As for the “fall of Rome” happening hundreds of years
after Revelation was written, it may be that in Revelation
we are seeing the judgment and then later in history we are
seeing the sentence resulting from that judgment carried
out. This was the case with Jerusalem, for example. Jesus
judged them in Matthew 24. The sentence was carried out
about 40 years later in A.D. 70.
Not every judgment happens like Sodom and Gomorrah. In
that case, there were very few of God’s people inside the
city, and so he went in, got them out, and then dropped a
bomb. With the fall of Jerusalem, Jesus gave a warning so
that the Christians could leave on their own when the time
was right. Perhaps with Rome, God also delayed the sentence
for the sake of the righteous. But, and this is the key
point, that judgment was certain. In fact, that judgment
had been written about by Daniel 600 years before
Revelation was written and 1000 years before the events in
the fifth century. (Some may object that the delay could
not have been for the sake of the righteous because the
righteous were being persecuted during the delay, and
that’s a fair point. But continued persecution during the
delay was also true with Babylon and Jerusalem. We need to
see the situation from God’s eternal perspective. Also, we
should note that the fierce persecutions under Nero and
Domitian did result in a swift punishment for Nero and
Domitian.)
Who was given the harsher penalty? Sodom and Gomorrah,
which were taken out in a spectacular, but very quick,
manner? Or Rome, which died a slow death of a 1000 cuts?
Perhaps that is another reason the sentence was delayed —
or should we perhaps say prolonged?
The city of Rome, for example, experienced a steep
decline from its heights at the time this book was being
written. Diocletian, for example, who ruled from 284 to
305, established four capital cities of the Roman empire —
not one of which was Rome! In fact, as one author described
it, he reduced the status of the Roman senate to that of a
municipal council.
Also, we should keep in mind (as we will discuss at
length later), the two central villains of the first
century as far as Christians were concerned were Nero and
Domitian. Revelation was written in between their two
reigns, and each met his fate during that first century.
Domitian, for example, was murdered by his own servants in
A.D. 96, his body then being unceremoniously cremated. So
much for “Our Lord and God Domitian”!
Rome’s judgment was certain and its punishment began
soon after the book was written, just as the book said it
would, but that punishment did not end soon after the book
was written. Rome was not built in a day —and Rome did not
end in a day!
Finally, we can yet again look to the Old Testament for
a similar judgment and a similar punishment. Isaiah 13-14
contains a prophecy about the destruction of Babylon by the
Medes and Persians. The imagery and language used suggest a
destruction that would happen swiftly and dramatically, and
yet, as Wayne Jackson tells us in his commentary on Isaiah,
“the fulfillment of this remarkable prophecy was
progressive.” He writes:
After Cyrus invaded Babylon (539 B.C.), he substantially
left the city standing, making it one of his capital
centers for awhile. Eventually, though, the city revolted
against its captor; hence, in about 516 B.C., Darius, the
Persian king, invaded the city and dismantled the walls. In
482 B.C., the Babylonian settlement again revolted, which
rebellion was put down by Xerxes with much damage being
visited upon the city. Alexander the Great sought to
restore the place to its former glory. He employed 10,000
men for two months clearing away rubbish in preparation for
construction, but he abandoned the project shortly
thereafter. In 20 B.C., Strabo, the Greek geographer,
described Babylon as a “vast desolation.”... The famous
archaeologist Henry Layard, who excavated the area between
1845-51, described it as a “naked and hideous waste.”
Hailey’s commentary on Isaiah addresses the same point
with regard to Isaiah’s comparison of Babylon’s fall with
that of Sodom and Gomorrah:
One might infer from this that the destruction would be
immediate, but this was not the case. Delitzsch says that
Cyrus left the city still standing with its double ring of
walls. “Darius Hystaspis, who had to conquer Babylon a
second time in 518 B.C., had the walls entirely destroyed,
with the exception of fifty cubits. Xerxes gave the last
thrust to the glory of the temple of Belus. ... At the time
of Strabo (born 60 B.C.) Babylon was a perfect desert.”
And how is this judgment described by Isaiah? Read
Isaiah 13:21-22 ― “But wild beasts of the desert shall lie
there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures;
and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their
desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and
her time is near to come, and her days shall not be
prolonged.”
Isaiah 13 was written after the death of King Ahaz in
715 B.C., which places it comparatively late in the
prophet’s ministry. (See 14:28.) If we take 715 B.C. as the
date of this prophecy, then it began to be fulfilled about
175 years later in 539 B.C., when Cyrus invaded the city.
If we take the destruction by Xerxes in 482 as the death
blow, then that blow came about 235 years after the
prophecy was penned. Jumping ahead to Rome, the invasion of
the city in 410 occurred about 340 years after the prophecy
was penned. In short, not only are the prophecies similar,
but the time tables are also similar. We will explore these
similarities further as we work our way through this
book.
(5) Are we kings or are we a kingdom?
Last week, we noted that Revelation 5:10 in the KJV says
that “we shall reign” while the ASV says “we reign.” Both
have good textual support in the Greek manuscripts and so
we cannot tell for certain which was in the original. But,
as we noted last week, they are both accurate descriptions.
Christians reign in life with Christ, but with the judgment
of Rome that reign would continue and be reaffirmed.
That same verse is the source of yet another textual
disagreement. In the KJV, we read, “And hast made us unto
our God kings and priests,” while in the ESV, we read, “and
you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God.” Which
is correct? Again, each has textual support and so we
cannot say for certain which was in the original. However,
as before, each is accurate. Recall that the 24 elders in
Revelation 4:4 represent the church and are wearing crowns.
God made us kings in the sense that we reign in life with
Christ (Romans 5:17, Revelation 3:11, Ephesians 2:5-7), and
God made us a kingdom by establishing his church, the
eternal kingdom, in Acts 2. We are a kingdom of priests,
and we are also a kingdom of kings — with Jesus as our High
Priest and the King of all kings!
Chapter 6, Continued...
6:12 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 rolled up, and every
mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the
kings of the earth and the great men and the generals and
the rich and the strong, and every one, slave and free, hid
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 before it?”
The removal of the sixth seal reveals the wrath of the
Lamb and the judgment of the ungodly.
Does this seal describe the final judgment and the end
of time? Most commentators say it does, but in studying
Revelation I am always reminded of something Mark Twain
once said — when you find yourself on the side of the
majority, it is probably time to change sides!
This language is language of judgment, and as language
of judgment it could be used to describe many different
judgments, including the great and final judgment yet to
come. But what is the context here? What is the time frame
of this book? Is there another judgment under consideration
here?
Remember one of our key interpretive principles —
similarity of language does not prove identity of subject.
There are many judgments in the Bible, and many are
described with the same symbols and the same images.
As one commentator reminds us:
We must take the trouble to learn as much as possible
concerning the historical situation to which the book of
Revelation belongs. It is only when this historical
situation is reconstructed that Revelation comes alive and
we are able to enter sympathetically into the mind and
heart of the author and his readers. Perhaps no other book
of the Bible has suffered more from being wrenched from its
historical context than has Revelation.
The language used to describe the opening of the sixth
seal is a mosaic of phrases used in the Old Testament to
describe past judgments against Assyria, Egypt, Edom, and
other enemies of God.
What about burning fire and brimstone? See Isaiah 34:9
regarding a judgment against Edom ― “Its streams shall be
turned into pitch, And its dust into brimstone; Its land
shall become burning pitch.”
What about the darkening of the sun and moon? See Joel
2:31, which Acts 2 tells us was fulfilled in the first
century ― “The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the
moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome
day of the LORD.” See also Amos 8:9, Isaiah 13:10, Isaiah
50:3, Ezekiel 32:7, Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24, and Luke
23:45.
What about the falling of the stars and the removing of
the heavens? See Isaiah 34:4 ― “All the host of heaven
shall be dissolved, And the heavens shall be rolled up like
a scroll; All their host shall fall down As the leaf falls
from the vine, And as fruit falling from a fig tree.” See
also Isaiah 13:13 and Psalm 102:25-26.
Also, recall Matthew 24:29, which we know from Matthew
24:34 describes something that happened in the first
century (the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70) ― “Immediately
after the tribulation of those days the sun will be
darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars
will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will
be shaken.”
Let’s look more closely at Isaiah 13:4-22, which
describes a judgment against Babylon carried out by God
through the Medes —
Hark, a tumult on the mountains as of a great multitude!
Hark, an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together!
The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle. They come
from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD
and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole
earth. Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as
destruction from the Almighty it will come! Therefore all
hands will be feeble, and every man’s heart will melt, and
they will be dismayed. Pangs and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in travail. They will
look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.
Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and
fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy
its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their
constellations will not give their light; the sun will be
dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light. I
will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for
their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the
arrogant, and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless. I
will make men more rare than fine gold, and mankind than
the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens
tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at
the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce
anger. ... And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor
and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and
Gomor’rah when God overthrew them. It will never be
inhabited or dwelt in for all generations; no Arab will
pitch his tent there, no shepherds will make their flocks
lie down there. But wild beasts will lie down there, and
its houses will be full of howling creatures; there
ostriches will dwell, and there satyrs will dance. Hyenas
will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant
palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be
prolonged.
That description of Babylon’s judgment looks familiar,
doesn’t it? The same language is used here to describe the
judgment of Rome, which was the Babylon of John’s day. Was
the language in Isaiah 13 a literal description of events?
No, we know it was not. Isaiah 13 says that no Arab will
pitch his tent there ever again, and yet we know that quite
a few Arabs have pitched their tent today in the location
of ancient Babylon (which is modern day Iraq).
Does this passage from Revelation apply to the end of
the world? Many would say, “well, yes, the context seems to
imply it was going to happen soon. But this vivid language
could only apply to the end of the world.” Tell that to
Babylon! God applied the same language to its end, and yet
the world continues on to this very day.
Our investigation of this language provides an important
reminder ― we cannot study Revelation apart from the Old
Testament. No other book in the New Testament refers to the
Old Testament more often than does the book of
Revelation.
Barclay: “Strange as John’s pictures may seem to us,
there is not a single detail which is not ... in the Old
Testament ... We must not think that these pictures are to
be taken literally. Their point is that John is taking
every terrifying thing that can be imagined and piling them
all together to give a picture of the terrors” to come.
What about the staggering of earth and mountains in
verse 14? The manifestation of God at Mount Sinai caused a
literal trembling of a mountain. This trembling then became
a symbol for the manifestation of God’s holiness. When God
comes in judgment, the earth shakes and the mountains
tremble! Recall the original event in Exodus 19:18 ―
And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the LORD
descended upon it in fire; and the smoke of it went up like
the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain quaked
greatly.
And then recall its many subsequent symbolic uses:
• Haggai 2:6 For thus says the LORD of hosts: Once
again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the
earth and the sea and the dry land.
• Nahum 1:5 The mountains quake before him, the hills
melt; the earth is laid waste before him, the world and all
that dwell therein.
• Jeremiah 4:23-25 I looked on the earth, and lo, it was
waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.
I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and
all the hills moved to and fro. I looked, and lo, there was
no man, and all the birds of the air had fled.
• Micah 1:4 And the mountains will melt under him and
the valleys will be cleft, like wax before the fire, like
waters poured down a steep place.
• Isaiah 13:13 Therefore I will make the heavens
tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at
the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce
anger.
The mountains literally quaked at Sinai. Afterward, that
literal quaking was used as an image to depict other divine
visitations.
Symbols are often based on previous literal events.
Their purpose is then to remind one of that earlier event.
Israel, for example, depicts God’s people. The new
Jerusalem depicts the church. Egypt depicts slavery and
bondage. Babylon depicts Rome. The ten plagues depict God’s
judgments.
But here the sun, the moon, the stars, the sky, and the
whole earth is affected. Why do we see such global terms
used in reference to Rome? First, of course, the immediate
answer is that to the people of this day, Rome was global!
It ruled almost the entire known world! But, also, whenever
the ungodly are dominant and oppressive, the world is said
to be theirs. Isaiah 13:11 says, “I will punish the world
for its evil.” And 2 Peter 2:5 tells us that God brought
the flood upon “the world of the ungodly.” Thus, the
picture is one of God dismantling and attacking his own
created world, and it symbolizes God’s judgment upon the
ungodly, who seemed to be in charge of that world. God is
letting them know who is really in charge!
Generally we should try to see things from God’s point
of view or the early church’s point of view, but here it
helps to see things from Rome’s point of view. The picture
here is one of a total and unexpected breakdown of order.
Rome thought it had covered every base, but it had
forgotten to include God in its plans. And men always find
themselves in trouble when they forget to factor God into
their equations!
Christians can look forward to the day of the Lord, but
that is not the case for the ungodly. See Isaiah 13:6-8;
Zephaniah 1:14; Joel 2:1; Micah 1:1-4; Malachi 3:1-3; Joel
2:11; Hosea 10:8; and Luke 23:30. Notice from verse 15 that
this fear touches all levels of society from the least to
the greatest.
Is this language of judgment literal? Literal darkness?
Literal stars falling? Literal dismantling of the earth? In
the Old Testament, God used the same language against the
Babylonians. Was it literal then? No. The Babylonians are
gone and yet the earth remains. We should not take it
literally here either. God is judging Rome here just as he
judged Babylon, Edom, Egypt, Assyria, Judah, and Israel in
the Old Testament.
Just as symbols can be based on literal past events,
they can also be based on literal future events. Some day
the earth will literally be destroyed by fire and the
heavens will literally be rolled up like a scroll —and God
sometimes uses those literal future events associated with
the final judgment as symbols to depict these earlier
judgments.
The search for a hiding place in verse 16 is also seen
in Isaiah 2. There is no place to hide from God. It is
interesting to watch the ungodly try to hide in a book
entitled Revelation! God reveals! The ungodly hide! Swete:
“What sinners fear most is not death, but the revealed
presence of God.”
The “Wrath of the Lamb” in verse 16 is one of the most
remarkable and fearful expressions anywhere in the Bible.
The word “wrath” is applied to Jesus only one time in the
gospels ―
Mark 3:5 And he looked around at them with anger,
grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man,
“Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand
was restored.
We all know what makes God happy. But it is just as
important that we all know what makes God angry!
C.S. Lewis — “In the end that face which is the delight
or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of
us either with one expression or with the other, either
conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can
never be cured or disguised.”
Next Lesson
