Revelation 6:15

Rev_6:15-16

Fall on us, and hide us.

The last great prayer meeting

It is generally thought that none but the penitent really pray. And yet the day is coming when even impenitent people will throng together and hold a prayer meeting, and perhaps the most intensely earnest one ever upon record. Notice the time. It is future. It will be after the day of grace has passed, after the privilege for Christian prayer has ceased, and after human probation has been completed. Yes, when the righteous have ceased to pray, and are changing prayers on earth to praises in heaven, the impenitent will begin to pray as if they thought of it for the first time in their lives. It will be when Divine judgments are falling upon the earth. Where? In their homes? No, those prayerless houses will be shaking into ruins by an earthquake. In the churches? The day for churches will be gone. Why did they not hasten to them in the time of mercy? They will meet in the dens and caves, and among the rocks of the mountains. Who will be there? In ages when Gods children were hunted down by foes, chiefly the lowly, the poor, met in such difficult retreats, but to this last prayer meeting kings will run, noblemen will hasten, courtiers and statesmen will speed, rich men and great captains will rush, and all who thought they could trust in the permanence of earthly things. No real Christians will be there. Mere professors and pretenders, deceived in heart or deceiving the very elect, and prayerless in their lives, may be expected; and when there they will contribute their part for the first time to the interest of a meeting, for they will pray voluntarily and with an earnestness they never knew before. What are to be the exercises, the services? No reading of the Word of God. None in that assembly will wish to hear it read or explained. They disowned it once, they dislike it still, for it must expose their sins and neglects. No preaching, because the day for that has passed. No psalms nor spiritual songs. To what will they pray? Not to God. At sea, when the tempest is raging, and all human control of the ship is lost, when the masts are torn away and the next wave that sweeps the deck may bury the company in the deep, the passengers and crew lift their entreaties, not to the storm, not to the waves, but to God, their only resort and refuge. But the prayer at this last meeting is not to God, nor is it to men. In their fears they call upon the mountains. Unwilling to call upon God in the day of prosperity, and disliking to have friends pray for them, their aversion clings to them as a fixed habit, and they are still determined not to cry unto the Lord. Nothing could once persuade them to do it, and now nothing can force them, for the human will is not converted by force, Rather than submit to Gods way, they call upon everything else, idolising the deaf rocks and the dead mountains. These are their gods. Can anything else so portray impenitence and stubbornness of will? And why such a prayer for destruction? There are three reasons here given.

I. Their dread of seeing the face of God. Once that face was radiant with mercy. They might have been forgiven, but they would not seek His pardon. Oh, the lost opportunities, the rejected mercies! All gone for ever. They cannot bear the sight of Him whose offers of grace they so wilfully refused, and they ask the rocks to confer on them a merciless burial.

II. A fear of the justice of Christ. Once He was the Lamb of sacrifice, the atoning Redeemer, the entreating Saviour, ready to save all that would call upon Him for salvation. But they would not call. Their day of redemption is past, and Christ is coming as their Judge. They see punishment awaiting them, and perdition before them as the just desert of their treatment of Christ.

III. The knowledge that they are without excuse. There is for them no apology, no availing plea, no justification, no righteousness, no hope of future grace. (W. M. Blackburn, D. D.)

The last great prayer meeting

The first thing that strikes us about it is that this last great prayer meeting will be attended by a vaster assemblage of human beings than it is even possible for us to conceive. Every grade of society has its representative there--men and women, young and old, the child and the hoary-headed, the lofty and the mean. They have come from every land. In a strange unity of woe the attendants at this last great prayer meeting are to be gathered together into one common centre. Again, this last great prayer meeting is to be, in the fullest and widest sense of the word, a united prayer meeting. There is a unity of sin, as well as a unity of holiness, and the attendants at this last strange audience are all thus bound together. Not that it is a real unity. There seems to be very little of anything like a corporate feeling in this last great gathering. Every man is engaged with his own thoughts, offering his own prayer, yet are they all brought together to one point, and all induced to address a certain particular class of objects, and to offer a certain particular kind of prayer by one vast, common, overwhelming necessity, which spreads its fearful influence over them all. It is a united prayer meeting; and as I contemplate that vast gathering, I find all earthly distinctions have vanished. Social distinctions have passed away. The prince kneels beside the peasant. Again, I observe that all ecclesiastical distinctions have vanished. Yet, again, I notice that in this prayer meeting every man is thoroughly in earnest. I wish I could say as much of the prayer meetings held here on earth in our day. Yet, again, I observe that these men who pray so well and so earnestly are precisely the people who were least given to that pursuit while on earth: the people we very seldom see at prayer meetings here. Yet, again, it is a meeting at which every man prays with a very definite purpose. If I were asked, What is the particular fault of our modern prayer meetings? I should say--Indefiniteness. Yet, again, I notice in this prayer meeting a peculiarity that we do not frequently observe in our gatherings for prayer. I find that every man prays for himself. Now I do not think we ought to confine our prayers to ourselves, but we should pray to a far better purpose if we sometimes prayed out of our own hearts, and asked for the things we ourselves need. People seem rather to aim at employing vague expressions than making their wants known in a spirit of believing supplication to God. And now we come to consider the strangest feature of all. While there are ten thousand times ten thousand voices, it may be, lifted up in supplication, yet we are astonished at observing that of all these prayers that go ringing around a startled world there is not so much as one single petition that is offered to Almighty God--not one. When these praying men were down here on earth they were always flying away from God; they did not want to have anything to do with Him; they could get on very well without Him; they were worshippers of nature; they were believers in second causes--not that they were all such by profession, but they were so practically. These men have made earth their God: they have bowed down before the spirit of this world: they have enthroned that subtle intelligence of evil who has usurped the sovereignty of this fallen world within their hearts. They have practically made him the lord of their will, and submitted their nature to his control; and now, when the last terrible moment comes, and these men are gathered together for their last great prayer meeting, not one of them prays to God. Why? Because the Nemesis of their own sin has come upon them. What is it? Before they would not pray to God, and now they dare not. Where is the answer to come from? These prayers are not addressed to God: they do not reach the place where His honour dwelleth: they dare not hope that they will penetrate into His ears and reach His heart. No: their own consciences forbid such an expectation. Such will be the last prayer meeting. And now I want to ask a question, Are any of you ambitious to bear a part in it? (W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.)

Terrified sinners in the last earthly scene

1. We have here a glimpse of the constitution and general condition of society at the time these prodigies befall the world. Suppose that the sixth seal were to be opened to-night, what would it find? Kings and emperors on their thrones; princes, nobles, dukes, and lords securely priding themselves in the prerogatives of their caste and station; rich people wallowing in wealth and luxury; men and women in high places and in low working the wires that fashion events; slaves toiling at their tasks and freedmen just out of their bondage; and evidences everywhere of a depraved and disordered state of things. This is what the judgment would find if it came to-night. And this, John tells us, is what it finds when it does come in reality.

2. There is one thing, however, which shall be very different under the opening of the sixth seal from what it is now. The self-security and composure with which godless people live will then be driven to the winds. Though all the judgments under preceding seals may have failed to appal or arouse them, they will not be able to maintain their equanimity under what this shall bring forth. Self-possession, unshaken courage, dignified composure, philosophic thinking, hopefulness, assurance, and the last remains of the stern intrepidity and statue-like imperturbability which characterise some men now, will then have vanished from humanity. That day will destroy them utterly.

3. We notice also the correct interpretation which mankind will then put upon the terrific disturbances of nature around them. Storms, earthquakes, eclipses, and unusual phenomena in the heavens, are natural symbols of Divine wrath. Modern science calls it superstition. But when the vision of the text comes to be realised, woe to the materialistic, pantheistic, and atheistic philosophies with which men suppose they have rid themselves of the superstitions of antiquity! One flash from the judgment throne will confound them utterly.

4. Nor is it so much the physical prodigies as what they argue that renders the dismay so unsupportable. It is not the shaking, the obscured sun, the falling stars, the recoiling heavens, the moving mountains, so much as the moral truths they flash into the spirit, to wit, that God is on the throne, that sin is a reality, that judgment is come, and that every guilty one must now face an angry Creator. It is not natures bewildering commotions, for they would willingly have the falling mountains cover them if that would shelter them from what is much more in their view, and far more dreadful to them. What they speak of is, God upon the throne, the fear of His face, the day of reckoning, and the wrath of the Lamb. These are more than all the horrors of a universe in convulsions.

5. And how pitiable and absurd the expedients to which they are driven! Oh, imbecile people! When prayer would have been availing, they scorned and detested it as mean and useless; and now that it is futile, they go at it with a will. Still more absurd is the direction in which they address their prayers. Once they considered it folly that man should call on the living God; but now they pray to dead rocks! Once they thought it philosophic to deny that He who made the ear could hear prayers, or that He with whom is the Spirit, and whose is the power, could answer them; but now they supplicate the deaf and helpless mountains! And yet weaker and more insane is the import of their prayers and efforts. Omniscience and omnipresence are among the natural attributes of God. The very things before these peoples eyes should have been enough to teach them this. And yet, philosophers as they are, their proposal is to conceal themselves from the Almighty, and so elude His wrath! Often had shelter and peaceful security been offered them in the mercies of the loving Saviour, and as often had they despised and rejected them; but now the silly souls would take the miserable rocks for saviours! Oh, the foolishness of men who think it folly to serve God! (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)

Presumption running into despair

I. The horror of the reprobates.

1. The persons thus amazed with terror are described in the precedent verse, The kings of the earth, etc. The greatness of man, when it comes to encounter with God, is weakness and vanity. Is he great? Be he never so high, there is One higher than he, and the Highest of all regardeth it (Ecc_8:5), and will subject it. Is he rich? Were he the eldest son of Mammon, and sole heir to all the usurers in the world, can his gold save him? Is vengeance afraid to strike his vessel because his sails be of silk and it is ballasted with refined ore? Shall he buy out his damnation with coin? No, heaven will never take bribes. Is he a chief captain? Be his looks never so stern, his speech never so imperious, impetuous, he may command here and go without. Man is not saved by the multitude of an host.

2. They said. They open their lips to confess the invincible and inevitable power of Christ.

(1) The sense of present misery takes away atheism. The day of judgment, when it comes, shall find no atheist.

(2) The saying that comes from them is desperate; whence note that, in Gods just punishment, desperation is the reward of presumption. They that erst feared too little shall now fear too much. Before they thought not of Gods justice, now they shall not conceive His mercy.

3. These necessary occurrences thus considered, let us pass to their invocation, wherein is exemplified their error. Here we must observe, To what; For what they call.

(1) To what. They are mountains and rocks, unreasonable, yea, insensible creatures.

(a) Negatively, it is clear that they have no acquaintance with God, therefore know not how to direct their prayers unto Him.

(b) Affirmatively, this presents a soul amazed with fear and folly. They call to the mountains that can neither hear nor answer.

(2) For what. The benefit that they would have the rocks and the mountains do them is to fall on them and hide them.

(a) Despair is ever wishing for death, often impatiently snatching at it in this world; but when the last day comes, so greedily longing for it, that to be sure of it, they desire the mountains to dispatch them.

(b) Observe that rocks and mountains are far lighter than sin. Such a weight bore our Saviour that He groaned under it.

(c) Observe that before these wicked were lords of nations and countries; now they would be glad of one hole to hide them. Of all their dominions they beg but the barrenest parcel, a rock or mountain; and that to do them a poor office, to conceal them. How much doth mans avarice and ambition covet here, how little contents him hereafter! Nothing helps when God will smite; mountains and rocks are no defence when God pursues (Jer_22:15). God hath a hand that can strike through forts, rocks, and bulwarks. The heavens melt at the presence of the Lord; if He touch the mountains, they smoke for it.

II. The judge, from whom they desire to be hidden.

1. From the face. It was ever the fashion of guiltiness to fly from the presence of God. Adam had no sooner sinned, but he thrusts his head in a bush. Sins inevitable effect is shame. Of Him that sitteth. Christ now sits in glory. While He was on earth how little rested He! Hast thou laboured? thou shalt have ease: hast thou travelled in the ways of grace? thou shalt sit on the seat of glory. On the throne. Christ at this day shall appear in His true majesty.

2. From the wrath. The wrath of Christ in His justice. (T. Adams.)

From the wrath of the Lamb.--

The wrath of the Lamb

I. Its unexampled strangeness. Who ever saw a lamb in a rage? The more difficulty you have in exciting wrath, the more terrible it is when it appears.

II. Its infinite purity. The Lamb is the emblem of innocence. This wrath of the Lamb is not a passion, but a principle. It is not malign, but benevolent. It is not against existence, but against its sins and its crimes. Conclusion: Learn from this that we turn our greatest blessing into the greatest curse. Our optic and auricular organs may become so diseased as to give to the most beautiful objects and melodious sounds in nature a power to convey into us the most poignant anguish, and so our moral nature may become so corrupt as to turn love into wrath, and blessedness into misery. (Homilist.)

The wrath of the lamb

The first thing which strikes us about the expression is its extreme dramatism. There is nothing so dramatic, in my opinion, as the sight of an emotion contrary to the nature. When a man who has always hid his griefs bursts into tears, when a man, like Arnold, who has always veiled his anger, gives way for once to passion, we are impressed with something like a sense of tragedy; it is a bitter day in summer; it is a storm upon a lake. How can we think of the love of God as interrupted even for a moment by a thing called wrath? Can we any more conceive a limit to the love of God than we can conceive a limit to the power of God? The state of mind he is describing is the wrath of a lamb--a particular kind of wrath. He is considering a mode of anger which is not an interruption of love, but itself a phase of love. The wrath of the Lamb is the wrath of love itself. It is no more an interruption to Divine love than the haze is an interruption to the heat of the morning. The wrath clouds the love; the haze clouds the morning; but both the one and the other have grown out of the very thing they obscure. There is an anger which is incompatible with the absence of love, which could not exist unless love existed before it. Here, then, is the subject which rises before us--the difference between the wrath of the Lamb and the wrath of the lion, between the anger of love and the anger of nature. Now, it seems to me that there are three distinct points of difference between them.

1. And first, I would observe that the wrath of the Lamb, or sacrificial spirit, differs from the wrath of the lion in being purely impersonal. The wrath of the lion says, I, king of the forest, have received an affront; some one has presumed to do an unkindness to me. The wrath of the Lamb says, An unkind thing has been done. It keeps the me out of the question altogether. It looks at the deed in itself. It refuses to consider the sense of personal injury as a main feature of the case. You have a son who has defied your authority, spent his substance in riotous living. You are incensed at this act of individual disrespect. You resolve to bring him to his senses; you say, We shall see whether he or I shall be master here. Now, that is quite a legitimate mode of anger, and quits a legitimate ground for it; but it is not the wrath of the Lamb. It is neither good nor bad. It is simply an appetite of nature like any other appetite--like hunger. But it is possible for a father in these circumstances to be filled with indignation on a different ground altogether. It is possible for him to see in his sons delinquency, not an act, but a principle. It is possible for him to feel, not that an insult has been offered to his pride, but that an injury had been done to the universe. It is possible for him to experience, not the sense of a wounded self-love, but an anger from the fact that love itself has been violated. This is the wrath of the Lamb. The Son of Man has reached a splendid impersonality in His judgment of the world. Though Himself at once the greatest and the most wronged of all, He refuses to measure the wrong by His own feeling of pain. He throws Himself into the position of the meanest, the lowliest. I pass to a second point of difference between the wrath of love and the wrath of mere nature.

2. And it is this: The wrath of nature must begin by tearing out pity; the wrath of love is a wrath created by pity. In the former case our indignation is stimulated by hiding the prospective photograph--by shutting our eyes to the possible goodness which the bad man may yet attain. In the latter case the indignation is stimulated by exactly the opposite process--by bringing out the prospective photograph, and considering what the man might be made to become. This brings me to a third point of difference between the two kinds of wrath.

3. They express their feeling in a different formula. The wrath of the lion says, I must have satisfaction; the wrath of the Lamb says, Justice must be satisfied. There is all the difference in the world between giving me satisfaction in a quarrel and satisfying my justice in a wrong. The wrath of the Lamb is always a redemptive wrath. Its first impulse is to buy back what has been enslaved, to restore what has been wrongfully taken, to set at liberty what has been bruised. The wrath of the lion will be satisfied if the delinquent is dead; the wrath of the Lamb pauses not until it learns that the delinquency itself has been wiped away. And this renders powerfully suggestive that theological epigram which represents Christ as paying the debts of humanity. Nothing in a short compass could more completely describe the facts of the case. (G. Matheson, D. D.)

The wrath of the Lamb

There is something of appalling significance in so paradoxical an expression as this, of the Wrath of the Lamb. It makes the wrath trebly potent that it should be wrath, long suppressed, but at length discharged, of a nature essentially and exceptionally meek, patient, long-suffering, easy to be entreated, hard to be angered.

Furor fit laesa sapius patienia, says the Latin proverb: patience, trespassed upon too often, is converted into wrath. And if, O patience, the long-suffering that is in thee becomes wrath, how great is that wrath! Plutarch says of the Roman populace, on the occasion of a certain tumult, they thought that the wrath of Fabius now provoked, albeit he was naturally so mild and patient, would prove heavy and is placable--all the more so, indeed, because of that natural disposition now abused and overstrained. An eminent critic observes, in arguing that all great effects are produced by contrast, that anger is never so noble as when it breaks out of a corn° parative continence of aspect; it is the earthquake bursting from the repose of nature. Charlevoix, in his Histoire de St. Domingo, remarks of the sea of the Antilles and neighbouring isles that R is commonly more tranquil than ours; but, like certain people who are excited with difficulty, and whose transports of passion are as violent as they are rare, so when the sea becomes irritated, it is terrific. (Francis Jacox, B. A.)

The wrath of the Lamb

The lamb is the most simply innocent of all animals. Historically, also, it had become a name for sacrifice. Under this twofold reason Christ is set forth as the Lamb. The lamb is but the complemental gentleness of Gods judicial vigour. We must have the right to believe in the real Christ, and not that theologic Christ which has so long been praised, as it were, into weakness, by the showing that separates Him from all Gods decisive energies and fires of combustion, and puts Him over against them, to be only a pacifier of them by His suffering goodness. Our Christ must be the real King--Messiah--and no mere victim; He must govern, have His indignations, take the regal way in His salvation. His goodness must have fire and fibre enough to make it Divine. Wrath must be kept as a moral, not merely animal, passion, or it will connect associations of unregulated temper that are wholly unsuitable. We understand by wrath, as applied to God and to Christ, a certain principled heat of resentment towards evil-doing and evil-doers, such as arms the good to inflictions of pain or just retribution upon them. It is not the heat of revenge. It is that holy heat which kindles about order and law, and truth and light, going in, as it were, spontaneously to redress their wrongs, and chastise the injuries they have suffered. Is it, then, a fact that Christ, as the incarnate Word of God, embodies and reveals the wrath principle of God, even as He does the patience, or love-principle, and as much more intensely? On this point we have many distinct evidences.

1. Christ cannot be a true manifestation of God when He comes in half the character of God, to act upon, or qualify, or pacify, the other half. If only Gods affectional nature is represented in Him, then He is but a half manifestation. If the purposes of God, the justice of God, the indignations of God, are not in Him--if anything is shut away, or let down, or covered over--then He is not in Gods proportions, and does not incarnate His character.

2. Christ can be the manifested wrath of God without being any the less tender in His feeling or gentle in His patience. In the history of Jesus we see occasions in which He actually displays the judicial and the tender, most affectingly, together and in the very same scene, as in His denouncing and weeping over Jerusalem.

3. God, without the wrath-principle, never was, and Christ never can be, a complete character. This element belongs inherently to every moral nature. God is no God without it; man is no man without it. It is this principled wrath, in one view, that gives staminal force and majesty to character.

4. It is a conceded principle of justice that wrong-doers are to suffer just according to what they deserve. In Christianity God is not less just or more merciful, but He is more fitly and proportionately expressed.

5. One of the things most needed in the recovery of men to God in this very thing--a more decisive manifestation of the wrath-principle and justice of God. Intimidation is the first means of grace.

6. We can see for ourselves that the more impressive revelation of wrath, which appears to be wanted, is actually made in the person of Christ, as in His driving out the money-changers and denouncing the hypocritical Pharisees.

7. Christ is appointed and publicly undertakes to maintain the wrath-principle officially, as the Judge of the world, even as He maintains the love-principle officially, as the Saviour of the world. He even declares that authority is given Him to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man. But the wrath-principle in Christ is only that judicial impulse that backs Him in the infliction of justice whenever justice requires to be inflicted. And it does not require to be inflicted always; it never ought to be when there is anything better that is possible. Put it down, then, first of all, at the close of this great subject, that the New Testament gives us no new God, or better God, or less just God, than we had before. He is the I AM of all ages, the I AM that was, and is, and is to come; the same that was declared from the beginning The Lord God, gracious and merciful, forgiving iniquity, transgressions, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)

The great day of His wrath.--

The wrath of God and the Lamb

I. Who are the persons whose aspect and appearance shall then be so dreadful to sinners? It is God, the Father of all, and the Lamb of God.

II. How comes the wrath of that great day to be so terrible?

1. It is wrath that ariseth from the clearest discoveries of the love of God neglected.

2. It is wrath that is awakened by the expensive methods of salvation being slighted (Isa_5:4; Isa_55:1).

3. It is wrath that must avenge the affronts done to the chief messenger of Gods mercy.

4. It is such wrath as ariseth from the patience of God, tired and worn out by the boldest iniquities of men.

5. It is such wrath as shall be executed immediately and eternally.

III. How vain all the refuges and hopes of sinners will be found in that dreadful day, to avoid this wrath and vengeance!

1. Rocks and mountains, whose aid is sought in the last extremity of distress, will be but as spiders webs. What folly to call upon creatures to help them against their Creator! (Pro_2:21).

2. Rocks and mountains, though places of secrecy and concealment, cannot hide them from the eyes of God (Pro_15:3; Jer_23:24).

3. Rocks and mountains, though bulwarks of defence and places of security, cannot stand before the indignation of the Almighty (Nah_1:2; Nah_1:6).

4. Rocks and mountains falling upon us are instruments of sudden death.

To conclude.

1. What a wretched mistake it is to imagine that God is all mercy, and Jesus Christ nothing else but love and salvation!

2. The day of Christs patience makes haste to an end (Psa_2:12).

3. How very different will the thoughts of sinners be in that day! (Isa_2:10; Isa_2:21).

4. What hideous and everlasting mischief is contained in rejecting the gospel of Christ!

5. Sinners, consider your ways, the danger you are in, and the need you have of a Saviour (Psa_61:2).

6. You, whose defence is the Rock of Ages, continue in Him (Rev_2:10). (T. Hannam.)

The wrath of God

And this wrath impends over every impenitent and unforgiven sinner.

I. It is sure to fall upon him in due time. It is not a simple possibility. It is not merely a threat to terrify him. It is as sure in the future as God Almightys Word and throne.

1. Eternal and Omnipotent Justice has decreed it.

2. Revelation declares it on almost every page.

3. The providence of God illustrates and confirms His Word.

II. It is sure, in due time, to fall upon the sinner in all the terribleness of its power and severity.

1. Here mercy tempers justice. Here wrath is restrained and grace works. Here the blood and intercession of Jesus Christ, and the tears and prayers of the Church, prevail to mitigate the severity of Gods anger.

2. This is the world of probation, not of final award.

3. The day of reckoning is appointed after death.

4. The wrath of the Lamb will not break forth till the great day of assize shall have come. So that all we know and see of the Divine wrath against sin and incorrigible sinners, in this life, is only an earnest of that awful tempest that will burst in fury upon the ungodly when the great day of His wrath shall have come.

III. This wrath will be justly deserved. It might have been turned aside; voluntary sin, and the persistent refusal of mercy and grace, will have provoked it. It is not simply the wrath of a God of eternal righteousness, hating all iniquity and bound to vindicate outraged justice in the interest of good government; but it is also the wrath of the Lamb, kindled by slighted love, by rejected mercy, by the blood of the covenant counted an unholy thing, by all His bloody sweat and agony and intercession despised! (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)

The great day and the great question

I. Why it is here called the great day of wrath.

1. It may be called the great day of wrath inasmuch as no other preceding day of wrath ever equalled it. If all the tempests that ever roared, and all the vivid flashes of lightning that were ever seen, and all the hoarse thunders that have ever rolled, and all the roaring of the sea and every noise that has taken place, were all united together in one great swell, it would be nothing to the confusion of that great day. The heaven shall pass away with a great noise. We are told that if you put one drop of water upon an anvil, and some heated iron over it, and strike the iron, that drop of water will explode, and make a sound equal to that attending the discharge of a musket. If one drop of water will produce such a sound, what will it be when all the watery vapours surcharged with fire shall burst in one mighty and terrible crash?

2. It may be called so if we remember that it will be the last day. The sun will shine, on the morning of that day, for the last time. All the wheels of nature will come to a standstill; all the mysterious and intricate movements of time will cease.

3. But we may call it a great day of wrath, more particularly, if we remember that it will be the judgment day.

4. It will be a great day of wrath if we consider, moreover, the Judge who will preside on that day, and I-Its character. Jesus Christ Himself will be the Judge--very consoling to the believer, because the Judge will be his best Friend; exceedingly annoying to the sinner, for he will have sins revealed that he would not have known for ten thousand worlds. Jesus Himself, who is impartial, who will then be inexorable--He will be the Judge. Ah, now is the time. The Saviour will listen to your cry this night. Therefore, when we consider who is the Judge, that He will be inexorable, and will not be then entreated, we may say that it is a great day of wrath.

II. who shall be able to stand? A safe and Scriptural answer to this question is, indeed, very important.

1. Who shall be able to stand? Not the swearer: he has asked God to destroy his soul and body, and now all his prayers shall be answered. Not the liar: all liars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. Not the drunkard: he will receive something now more hot than alcohol. Not the hypocrite: the mask will fall off. Not the formalist. Not the backslider. And thus we may go on answering the question in a negative way.

2. I fancy I hear a voice coming from some one in this audience--Well, I am very glad that you have made an exception of me: I am sure that I do not belong to the bundle of swearers, etc. Stop, friend, there is one bundle yet; if you are not there, well, then, we must put you aside. Where is that large bundle of gospel hearers--men and women who have heard the Word and have not obeyed it? You are there.

3. Those, and those alone, will stand in the great day of wrath, who are resting entirely upon the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

(1) They will have their characters publicly vindicated.

(2) They will gather in the fruit of their labours. (J. D. Smith.)

Safety in the day of wrath

I. Whose is the wrath here spoken of? As a Lamb the Saviour stands on Mount Zion, surrounded by a thousand hosts of His redeemed; as a Lamb He appears before the throne, receiving the prostrate adoration of the elders; as a Lamb He appears as a Bridegroom waiting for the New Jerusalem, adorned as a bride prepared for her husband; and as a Lamb He is represented as standing in the very midst of the throne, with His wounds all fresh, intimating H us that He is still sustaining to His Church the functions of a prevailing, unchangeable, everlasting priesthood. And this image is manifestly designed to set before us various attributes in the character of our Redeemer. First, no doubt it is designed to endear to us the mild and gentle attributes of His nature; to show to us how patient He is to forgive injuries, how long He will bear with the sinners affronts, how hard it is to arouse Him from the serene calm of His holy nature, what a strange work it is with Him to punish and destroy. But in the text there is an adjunct to this image, which at first seems to take away from its fitness and propriety; it would seem to suggest to us attributes of an opposite and conflicting kind; for who ever heard of the wrath of a lamb? Why is it that, on this occasion, the Saviour appears not under one of His more majestic titles--as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, tearing the seed of the rebellious to pieces? This title is retained even in describing the solemn day of Christs appearing as a witness, as a warning, as a setting forth of the aggravated character of mans disobedience, and the utter exclusiveness of a despised salvation.

II. What it is in that day that will make the wrath of the Lamb so terrible.

1. First, it will be because then this wrath will be felt to have been deserved. Well may the Lamb say to those who have refused Him on that day, What more could I have done for you that I have not done? I gave Myself to the insults of men, to the buffetings of Satan, to the piercing of the sword of justice, to the degradation and shame of the Cross.

2. Again: the wrath will be felt to have been deserved on account of the light we enjoy, and the means used by the offended Man to bring us to a knowledge of Himself, and to constrain us to embrace the offers of His love.

3. Then another consideration which will make this wrath so terrible will be its utter implacableness, the awful consciousness that it can never change through the ages of eternity, that the Lamb will never put on those aspects of gentleness, and pity, which were turned towards us in the day of our probation and our hope.

III. Who are they that shall be able to stand? Of course the first answer to this is, they are those who are in Christ Jesus. Who are they that shall stand? Why, they are those who feel that they have made Christ their one entire sole dependence: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee. Trust in the Lord; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. O Lord, our Lord, other gods besides Thee have had dominion over us; but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name. Then, once more: there is good hope that we shall be able to stand in the day of Christ if we are of those who are waiting for, and hastening to, and desiring His appearing. (D. Moore, M. A.)

Who shall be able to stand in the last judgment

There will assuredly come a day of judgment. The material universe symbolically prophecies some such a moral crisis in the history of man. The flowing river, the growing plants, the breathing tribes, the planetary systems, all tend to a crisis. The unremitting increase from age to age in the human family, viewed in connection with the limited capacity of this planet to sustain animal existence, irresistibly indicates some such a turning point in human history. The universal and concurrent references of the human conscience through all ages and lands, give a high probability to the dawn of such a moral juncture. The Bible settles the question. The sentence preceding the text calls it a great day. It will be great, on account of the number and variety of the moral beings that will be assembled together; great, on account of the results which will then be effected--redemptive providences ended, and the agencies of a righteous retribution brought into full play; great, on account of the thrilling interest it will awake through all the realms of moral existence the universe over; great, on account of the Divine glories that will then be displayed. But our point now is--Who shall be able to stand on that day? In order to illustrate this solemn question I shall suppose a case. What under a legal charge could enable you to look calmly forward to the coming day of trial, feeling that you could stand? We can only conceive of seven things which would answer this purpose.

I. A consciousness of innocence and the power of showing that the charge has no foundation.

II. Assurance that the evidence will be found insufficient to convict. There will be--

1. The omniscient Judge. He knows everything about you.

2. There will be present the persons to whom and through whom you have sinned.

3. Then there will be conscience within you bearing the strongest testimony against you.

III. A feeling that the crime with which you are charged is very insignificant. No. Sin, believe me, is no trifling matter.

1. Think of it in its relation to God. It is a violation of the most righteous laws, for He is your Sovereign. It is a violation of the highest trust; for He is your Proprietor, and you are His stewards. It is a violation of the most wonderful love. He is your loving Father--your merciful Redeemer.

2. Think of it in its bearing on yourself and on the universe. One sinner destroyeth much good. This then will not serve you, will not enable you to stand in the judgment. Another thing that might answer the purpose in the supposed case is:--

IV. A felt capability of proving that the crime was committed accidentally, not by purpose.

V. Faith in the sympathy of the whole court in your favour.

VI. An ability to prove that you have rendered signal service to the state.

VII. The assurance that some one has successfully interposed between you and the superior authority. On the pages of the Bible I find written in sunbeams, that in consequence of what Christ has done, and is willing to do, for us as sinners, we may escape the sad consequences of our sins, and stand triumphantly in the Day of Judgment. (Homilist.)

.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6:15-17 hid themselves: In the face of God’s judgment, unredeemed people will be terrified and seek a safe hiding place, but in vain (Isa 2:19-21; Ezek 38:20; Hos 10:8; Luke 23:30). The prophets repeatedly warned that the great day would be a day of wrath and judgment (Isa 13:6-11; Joel 1:15; Amos 5:18; Zeph 1:14-15). • The ultimate question concerning God’s judgment is, who is able to survive? (Mal 3:2). God’s children will rejoice to see him (Rev 5:13-14; 14:3-5) because they understand God’s response to the martyrs’ cry for vengeance (6:9-11), and they themselves have nothing to fear from God’s judgment (Acts 10:34-36; Rom 5:1-2). Those who have persecuted God’s people, however, will quake in fear as they face the wrath of the Lamb.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rev 6:15-17 . Note the sevenfold description of the effect produced on humanity (Rev 19:18 , cf. Rev 13:16 ), the Roman χιλίαρχοι (= tribuni), the riches and rank of men ( ἰσχ . a dramatic touch = defiant authority, like Mrs. Browning’s Lucifer: “strength to behold him and not worship him, Strength to be in the universe and yet Neither God nor God’s servant”; see especially Ps. Sol. 15:3, 4), the distinction of slaves and free as a pagan, never as an internal Christian, division; also the painting of the panic from O.T. models (reff.). Those who are now the objects of dread, cower and fly to the crags and caves a common sanctuary in Syria ( cf. Introd. § 8). Mr. Doughty describes a meteoric shock in Arabia thus: “a thunder-din resounded marvellously through the waste mountain above us; it seemed as if this world went to wrack.… The most in the mejlis were of opinion that a ‘star’ had fallen” ( Ar. Des. i. 462, 463). The Hosean citation ( cf. Jer 8:3 ) here, as in Luke, gives powerful expression to the dread felt by an evil conscience; even the swift agony of being crushed to death is preferable to being left face to face with the indignation of an outraged God. To stand ( cf. Luk 21:36 ) is to face quietly the judgment of God (1Jn 2:28 ), which is impossible except after a life which has resolutely stood its ground (Eph 6:13 ) amid reaction and served God (Rev 6:10-11 ). The panic of kings, etc., is taken from the description of the judgment in Enoch 62 63, where before the throne of messiah “the mighty and the kings” in despairing terror seek repentance in vain; “and one portion of them will look on the other, and they will be terrified, and their countenance will fall, and pain will seize them,” at the sight of messiah. In Apoc. Bar. xxv. also the approach of the end is heralded by stupor of heart and despair among the inhabitants of the earth, while a similar stress falls (i n Sap. 6:1-9 ) on kings, etc., and (in En. xxxvii. lxxi. generally) on the earth’s rulers. There is no need to suspect καὶ … ἀρνίου (16) as an editorial gloss (Vischer, Spitta, Weyland, de Faye, Völter, Pfleiderer, von Soden, Rauch, J. Weiss, Briggs); it may be a characteristic touch designed to point the O.T. citation (for αὐτοῦ in 17 or in Rev 22:3 cf. 1Th 3:11 , 2Th 2:16-17 ), rather than a scribal or editorial insertion in what was originally a Jewish source.

The great day of God’s wrath has come, but the action is interrupted by an entre-acte in 7, where as in Rev 10:1 to Rev 11:13 , the author introduces an intermezzo between the sixth and the seventh members of the series. A change comes over the spirit of his dream. But although this oracle is isolated by form and content from its context, it is a consoling rhapsody or rapture designed to relieve the tension by lifting the eyes of the faithful over the foam and rocks of the rapids on which they were tossing to the calm, sunlit pool of bliss which awaited them beyond. They get this glimpse before the seventh seal is opened with its fresh cycle of horrors. The parenthesis consists of two heterogeneous visions, one (Rev 6:1-8 ) on earth and one (Rev 6:9-17 ) in heaven. The former (and indeed the whole section, cf. the ἑστῶτες of 9) is an implicit answer to the query of Rev 6:17 , τίς δύναται σταθῆναι ; it is an enigmatic fragment of apocalyptic tradition, which originally predicted ( cf. Eze 9:1 f.) God’s safeguarding of a certain number of Jews, prior to some catastrophe of judgment (“Cry havoc, and let slip the winds of war!”) upon the wicked. The chapter is not a literary unit with editorial touches (Weyland, Erbes, Bruston, Rauch), nor is 9 17 a continuation of 6. (Spitta). Rev 6:1-8 are a Jewish fragment incorporated ay the author, who writes 9 17 himself (so, e.g. , Vischer, Pfleiderer, Schmidt, Porter, Bousset, von Soden, Scott, Wellhausen). The fact that a selection, and not the whole, of the Jews are preserved, does not (in view of 4 Esdras) prove that a Jewish Christian (Völter, J. Weiss) must have written it. The scenery is not organic to John’s proper outlook. After Rev 6:8 he shows no further interest in it. The winds are never loosed. The sealing itself is not described. The sealed are not seen. An apparent allusion to this remnant does occur (Rev 16:1 ), but it is remote; John makes nothing of it; and the detached, special character of Rev 7:1-8 becomes plainer the further we go into the other visions. The sealed are exempted merely from the plague of the winds, not from martyrdom or persecution (of which there is no word here); one plague indeed has power to wound, though not to kill, them (Rev 9:4-5 ). The collocation of the fragment with what precedes is probably due in part to certain similarities like the allusions to the wind (Rev 6:13 ), numbering (Rev 6:11 ), and the seals (Rev 6:1 f.). The real problem is, how far did John take this passage literally? This raises the question of the relationship between 1 8 and 9 17; either ( a ) both are different forms of the same belief, or ( b ) two different classes of people are meant. In the former event ( a ) John applies the Jewish oracle of 1 8 to the real Jews, i.e. , the Christians, who as a pious remnant are to be kept secure amid the cosmic whirl and crash of the latter days (Rev 6:12-17 , cf. Rev 3:10 and the connexion of Nah 1:5-7 ). The terror passes and lo the saints are seen safe on the other side (Rev 6:9-17 ). This interpretation of Christians as the real Israel or twelve tribes is favoured not only by early Christian thought ( cf. 1Pe 1:1 , Jas 1:1 , Herm. Sim. ix. 17), but by the practice of John himself ( e.g. , Rev 18:4 ). Here as elsewhere he takes the particularist language of his source in a free symbolic fashion; only, while the archaic scenery of 1 8 suffices for a description of the safeguarded on earth, he depicts their beatified state (Rev 6:9-17 ) in ampler terms. The deeper Christian content of his vision implies not deliverance from death but deliverance through death. His saints are not survivors but martyrs. Hence the contrast between 1 8 and 9 17 is one of language rather than of temper, and the innumerable multitude of the latter, instead being a supplement to the 144,000, are the latter viewed after their martyr-death under a definitely Christian light. The O.T. imagery of 1 8 mainly brings out the fact that the true Israel (Gal 6:16 ) is known and numbered by God; not one is lost. The alternative theory ( b ) holds that in taking over this fragment and adding another vision John meant Jewish Christians by the 144,000. The latter identification (so, e.g. , Prim., Vict., Hausrath, Vischer, Spitta, Hirscht, Forbes, Bousset) is less probable, however, in view of the general tenor of the Apocalypse ( cf. Introd. § 6), for the usual passages cited as proof ( cf. notes on Rev 14:1 f., Rev 21:12 ; Rev 21:24 ) are irrelevant, and while John prized the martyrs it is incredible that 9 17 was meant to prove that martyrdom was required to admit Gentile Christians even to a second grade among the elect (Weizsäcker, Pfleiderer). A Jewish Christian prophet might indeed, out of patriotic pride, regard the nucleus of God’s kingdom as composed of faithful Jews, without being particularist in his sympathies. Paul himself once held this nationalist view (Romans 9-11.), but it is doubtful if it represented his final position, and in any case the general conception of the Apocalypse (where Christians are the true Jews, and where particularist language is used metaphorically, just because literally it was obsolete) tells on the whole in favour of the view that 9 17 represents 1 8 read in the light of Rev 5:9 (so, e.g. , de Wette, Bruston, Porter, Wellhausen, and Hoennicke: das Judenchristentum , 194 f.). Only, the general description of redeemed Christians in Rev 5:9 is specifically applied in Rev 7:14 to the candidatus martyrum exercitus . Here as elsewhere John apparently conceives the final trial to be so searching and extensive that Christians will all be martyrs or confessors. The wonderful beauty of 9 17, whose truth rises above its original setting, requires no comment. It moved Renan (479, 480), after criticising “le contour mesquin” of the Apocalypse in general, to rejoice in the book’s “symbolical expression of the cardinal principle that God is, but above all that He shall be . No doubt Paul put it better when he summed up the final goal of the universe in these words, that God may be all in all . But lor a long while yet men will require a God who dwells with them, sympathises with their trials, is mindful of their struggles, and wipes away every tear from their eyes .”

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The event of the sign aforegoing: that there is no man that shall not be astonished at that general commotion, fly away for fear and hide himself in this verse, and wish unto himself most bitter death for exceeding horror of the wrath of God, and of the Lamb, at which before he was astonished. Now this perplexity is not of the godly, but of the wicked, whose portion is in this life, as the Psalmist speaketh, Ps. 17:14. Not that sorrow which is according unto God, which worketh repentance unto salvation, whereof a man shall never repent him, but that worldly sorrow that bringeth death, 2 Cor. 7:9, as their wishings do declare: for this history is of the whole world, severed from the history of the Church, as I have showed before, Rev. 4:1.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

kings . . . hid themselves--Where was now the spirit of those whom the world has so greatly feared? [BENGEL].

great men--statesmen and high civil officers.

rich men . . . chief captains--The three oldest manuscripts, A, B, C, transpose thus, "chief captains . . . rich men."

mighty--The three oldest manuscripts, A, B, and C read, "strong" physically (Psa 33:16).

in--literally "into"; ran into, so as to hide themselves in.

dens--"caves."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. The kings of the earth, c.] All the secular powers who had endeavoured to support the pagan worship by authority, influence, riches, political wisdom, and military skill with every bondman-all slaves, who were in life and limb addicted to their masters or owners.

And every freeman] Those who had been manumitted, commonly called freedmen, and who were attached, through gratitude, to the families of their liberators. All hid themselves-were astonished at the total overthrow of the heathen empire, and the revolution which had then taken place.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15-17) And the kings . . .—Translate, And the kings of the earth, and the magnates, and the commanders of hosts, and the wealthy, and the strong, and every man, bond and free, hid themselves (going) into the caves and into the rocks of the mountains; and say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the day, the great (day) of His wrath came (or, is come); and who is able to stand? In the list of the great ones here we may notice the descending order—kings, magnates or statesmen, generals, rich men, strong men, bond and free men. The terror strikes into every class: monarchs and their advisers, the statesmen and diplomatists, the commanders of troops, the merchant princes, the men of ability, as well as the obscurer orders of society. Neither royalty, nor rank, nor force of arms, nor opulence, nor talent, nor strength, either of intellect or frame, avail in that crisis; neither does insignificance escape in that day when God brings to light the hidden things. The tests of God are spiritual, as the weapons of God’s war are not carnal. Men who have relied upon wealth, rank, or power, have prepared themselves against one form of trial, but find themselves unarmed in the day of spiritual testing. Like Macbeth, they are unable to fight with the unexpected shape which haunts them. They would rather meet the bodily foe, “who would dare them to the desert with a sword.”

Thus in the final day of judgment the revealing of the spiritual order of all life will confound men whose minds have been blinded by their entire absorption in world-splendours and world-powers. Nor is it merely the unveiling of the forgotten spiritual order which will confound them. The advent is of a Person. It is more than the manifestation of the kingdom of Him who all this while had been King on His throne, and whom they had forgotten—it is the revealing of God’s Son from heaven. It is not without significance that He is described as the Lamb. In that day of His wrath, it is not as a Judge who has laid aside the tokens of His humiliation and suffering: it is as the Lamb. He whom they now shrink from is He who came meek as a lamb, gentle, pure, and suffering on their behalf. He whom they now behold with dismay is He whom they treated with neglect, and whose love they spurned.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. chief captains] Should be transposed with “rich men.” The word means lit. “captains of thousands,” and was in St John’s time the recognised equivalent (as e.g. Act_21:31, &c.) for the tribunus of the Roman army. Probably St John is thinking of Isa_3:2-3.

in the dens, &c.] Isa_2:19; Isa_2:21.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the king's of the earth, and the great men,.... The Roman emperors, and other principal magistrates, governors of provinces and cities:

and the rich men; among the commonalty; these three may design perhaps more particularly the emperors, nobles, and senate of Rome: and

the chief captains; or captains of thousands, that had the command of the Roman legions

and the mighty men; the soldiers that were under them, men of strength, courage, and valour;

and every bondman, and every freeman; which takes in all the inhabitants of the Roman empire, of every state and condition, and which was an usual distinction among the Romans: these

hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; where, through their cruel persecutions, they had forced multitudes of Christians to flee, and therefore, "lex talionis", the law of retaliation was righteously inflicted on them; and not to take notice of any other, this was remarkably true of their kings or emperors Dioclesian and Herculius Maximianus, who were emperors together, in the height of their imperial glory and grandeur, the one being at Nicomedia, and the other at Milan, did, on one and the same day, of their own accord, abdicate the empire, and divested themselves of their imperial crown and government, and retired to a private life; pretending in public, that old age, and the weight of business, were the cause, but to their friends they owned, that it was through despair, because they could not extinguish the Christian religion (p). Some ascribed this to frenzy and madness (q); but the true reason was, that the wrath of the Lamb was let into their consciences, and which they could not bear, and which obliged them to take this step, to the amazement of the whole world. Maximinus, who succeeded them, being overcome by Licinius, laid aside his imperial habit, and hid himself among the common people, and skulked about in fields and villages (r). Maxentius, another emperor, fled from Constantine, the instrument of the wrath of the Lamb, and the pouring it out upon his enemies, and fell into the river Tiber, from the Mylvian bridge, where he perished; and which was the very place in which he had laid snares for Constantine (s).

(p) Contur. Magd. cent. 4. c. 16. p. 909. Vid. Eutrop. l. 9. (q) Euseb. Hist. l. 8. c. 13. & de Vita Constantin. l. 5. c. 25. (r) lb. l. 9. c. 10. (s) Ib. c. 9. & de Vita Constant. l. 1. c. 38. Vid. Aurel. Victor. de Caesaribus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

Ver. 15. And the kings of the earth] Who came in to help their gods against the mighty, against Constantine, Theodosius, &c., that threw out their priests, and pulled down their temples. These kings and grandees were Maximianus, Maximinus, Maxentius, Galerius, Licinius, Jullanus, &c., and their complices, who were routed, ruined, and driven into holes and corners by the Christian emperors, and afterwards so pursued by divine justice, that they came to shameful ends. Diocletian poisoned himself, Maximinian hanged himself; Maximinus likewise and Maxentius became their own executioners; Galerius died of a loathsome disease; Julian had his death wound from heaven, and died raving and blaspheming. (Euseb. Hist., Item de Vita Const.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A terror shall fall upon all sorts of men, high and low; and, like men affrighted, they shall seek for themselves hiding places, where they can think themselves most secure: see Isa 2:19.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Beginning with kings, and courtiers, and millionaires, and descending through all ranks, even to the slaves, our seer pictures the terror of all the profane race. His crown cannot save the king or emperor; the profane great men, whether railway kings, or statesmen, or philosophers, or literati, alike tremble.

Rich men—Whether profane merchant princes, or bank presidents, or stock gamblers, are unable to buy salvation at any price.

Chief captains—Profane military conquerors, great generals, heroic admirals and commodores, are all alike cowards before the wrath of the Lamb.

Hid themselves—In the yawning dens and under the projecting rocks produced by the convulsions, they vainly seek protection from Him who convulses.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the kings of the earth. The first of the seven classes mentioned. The enumeration is again all extensive, embracing all classes, and men of every degree of social distinction. Bishop Newton is probably not correct in seeing an allusion to particular kings. And the great men; princes (Revised Version). Megistanev are the grandees, the courtiers, as distinguished from those who are governors and hold military command, and who are subsequently mentioned as the "chief captains." And the rich men, and the chief captains. The Revised Version reverses the order, and places "chief captains" first. The chief captains (ciliarcoi) are those holding military rank. (cf. Mar_6:21, "Herod made a supper to his lords, high captains," etc.; Joh 18, "The captain and officers took Jesus;" Act_21:31, et seq., " The chief captain of the band And the mighty men. Probably those possessing great bodily strength. And every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains. "Every" is omitted before "free man" by A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, Andreas, and Arethas. The dens; in Revised Version caves. (cf. Isa_2:19, "And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth Again, as in vers. 12-14, the enumeration is sevenfold; thus denoting the universality and completeness of the extent of the judgment. (see Rev_1:4 Rev_5:1, etc.)

Vers. 15, 16,The wonders of the last day.

"And the kings of the earth," etc. The last day, the day of days, will be a day of wonders. The words indicate three of the wonders of that day.

I MEN DREADING THE FACE OF CHRIST. "The face of him that sitteth on the throne." Here are men preferring annihilation to a sight of that face. What is the matter with that face? It was, indeed, the human face Divine, the serenest, the loveliest, the kindliest face ever seen on earth. It was a face whose expression towards men was, "Come unto me," etc. What change has come over it now? Why are men afraid of it now? Their guilty consciences have made that face terrific. The sight of that face will call up such memories of their ingratitude, their folly, their impiety, as will make existence intolerable.

II THE LAMB WROUGHT INTO WRATH. "The wrath of the Lamb." How strange and unnatural is this! The wrath of love is the most terrible of wrath.

1. It implies the greatest moral enormity in the object of it. The wrath of malign natures is soon kindled, is capricious, often rages without reason. But when love is indignant, there must be fearful enormity in the object.

2. It exerts most agonizing influence upon the conscience of its object. The anger of malign natures seldom touches the conscience of its victim, but often awakens contempt and defiance. Not so when love is indignant; the indignation of love is crushing. What power on earth is so withering as the indignation of a parent who is essentially benevolent and loving?

3. It is unquenchable until tile reasons for its existence are removed. The wrath of malign natures often burns itself out, but the wrath of love is a determined opposition to evil.

III HUMANITY CRYING FOR ANNIHILATION. "And the kings of the earth, and the great men... hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us," etc. Love of life is the strongest instinct in human nature, and hence the dread of death. Here is the chief and first of all dreads. What will men not give away to avoid death? But what a change now! They earnestly cry for that which they dreaded! They cry for annihilation.

1. The cry is earnest. "Mountains and rocks." The language breathes earnestness. Existence has become intolerable. It is a curse that can no longer be borne.

2. The cry is general. "The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, and the chief captains, the mighty men, every bondman and every free," etc. The conquerors of the world, the iron masters of nations, men whose names struck terror through ages, now quail in agony and cry for extinction.

3. The cry is fruitless. They cry to the "mountains and rocks." What can they do for them? Can they hear them? Have they hearts to feel? No; insensitive, immovable, these remain amid the wildest shrieks. But were they to fall on them would they crush them? The material universe cannot crush a soul. It is an inextinguishable spark. God alone can quench a soul. D.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the kings of the earth - They who had been so in their day. And the great men and chief captains - The generals and nobles. Hid themselves - So far as in them lay. In the rocks of the mountains - There are also rocks on the plains; but they were rocks on high, which they besought to fall upon them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, That if this was meant of the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem, it was exceeding dreadful, and bespake all sorts of men, from the highest to the lowest, to be under a most dreadful consternation, when they saw an inevitable vengeance coming upon them for crucifying Christ, and persecuting his members, which made them run into rocks, and call upon mountains to hide them: if it be applied to the judgment of the great day, it shows the justice of Christ in forcing those to call upon the mountains to hide them, who by persecution had driven his members to hide themselves in mountains, dens, and caves, of the earth: any sort of hope will be then in vain; neither greatness nor numbers will save any from misery and terror, when that day of vengeance is come.

Learn hence, That wicked men, how numerous, how powerful and strong soever, shall fall before the wrath and indignation of Christ; if when Christ appears like an angry Lamb the greatest in the world fall before him, what will they then do when Christ shall put on the fierceness and severity of a roaring lion? Mitissima sententia quae a mitussima judice denuntiatur. If the wrath of the Lamb cannot be borne, if the unbelieving kings and potentates of the earth shall be cast down at the sight of Christ, where shall the wicked and the sinner appear? If the wrath of a king be as the roaring lion, what will the wrath of God, an angry God, be?

Let us now be cast down at the sight of sin, and we shall not be cast down hereafter at the sight of God; but when others, at his appearance, cry to the rocks to cover them, and to the mountains to fall upon them, such as have seen sin to their abasement and humiliation, shall see a Saviour to their joyful satisfaction, and spend an eternity in the rapturous contemplation and ravishing fruition of him. Amen.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. And the kings of the earth, and the princes … hid themselves. This implies great terror among “them that dwell on the earth;” their belief that terrible judgments were impending from God; that the wrath of the Lamb was manifested, and their efforts to escape.

The Meaning. —Many have explained this startling symbolism to describe the closing scenes of the world and the personal coming of Christ to judgment. This cannot be the meaning, for the series of visions continues on until the seventh seal is opened, and all it contains is exhausted. Others have supposed that the rush of the northern race which overthrew the Roman Empire is meant. I believe that it refers to great events which have long since taken place. The various phenomena in earth and sky, the earthquake, the falling stars, the heavens rolled away, the mountains and islands moved out of their places, all foreshadow a violent, bloody, remarkable upheaval of systems, rulers, governments, kingdoms, and the establishment of a new order upon the earth. It is on earth, it is in history that we are to look for the fulfillment of the prophecy. And since the “earth” that is present to the mind of John is the civilized world known to the ancients, the Roman Empire, it is within its boundaries that we must look for the fulfillment. There can be no doubt that this is the seal of revolution.

The Fulfillment. —Several circumstances help us to fix the meaning. 1. The time. It follows immediately after the great persecution indicated by the fifth seal, which closed in a.d. 311. These events occur, then, near that time. 2. It is a time of blood and mourning. Who are the mourners? Kings, great men, rich men, bondmen and freemen. Are these Christians? They are enemies of the Lamb, who fear his wrath and mourn over his power. The mourners are the opposers of the Church.—(Verse 16.) 3. The seal is followed by a period of great joy and prosperity on the part of the Church.—(See chapter 7.) An innumerable multitude are sealed with the seal of the Lamb, of which the next chapter gives record. Have we, near a.d. 311, the time when the great persecution closed, a period of mighty revolution, that filled the unbelieving world with mourning, and which was followed by a time of triumph, prosperity and glory to the Church of Christ? In the year 312, leaving Britain, marching through Gaul, Constantine launched his armies upon Italy. The Church watched his progress with singular interest; for although he had, as yet, made no profession of Christianity, his mother, Helena, was a Christian, and it was felt that he was favorable to his mother's faith. The Italian emperor opposed to him, Maxentius, was a firm Pagan, and around him centered the interests of the Pagan faith. Indeed, he gave public assurance that he would extirpate the Christian religion, and vowed to Jupiter that, in the event he was successful, he would make his worship universal on the ruins of Christianity. In three great battles Maxentius was defeated and in the last was slain, and Constantine became the ruler of Rome. In the East another emperor, Licinius, a Pagan and a persecutor, still held the reins of power. Wars, truces and battles followed, until in a.d. 324 he was crushed and put to death. In this period of conflict, lasting about sixteen years, six emperors in all strove for the pre-eminence, of whom Constantine remained the sole survivor.

But these are not the most remarkable changes of this period. Let us note these: 1. The votaries of the old Paganism had rallied around the enemies of Constantine, because he was felt to be its unrelenting foe, who would compass its destruction. When he was seated in triumph upon the ruins of six imperial thrones, there was great mourning from the enemies of the Cross. They felt that theirs was a doomed religion. They were right. 2. In the year 319, before his final triumph, he had decreed that his mother's religion should be tolerated as an acknowledged faith of the empire. 3. In 321 he decreed that Sunday, the sacred day of Christianity, should be observed in all the cities by the cessation of trade and labor. 4. In 325 he abolished by decree the bloody combats of the gladiators, where men killed each other to amuse the populace, a Roman institution that had existed for a thousand years. 5. He convoked, by imperial authority, a great council of Christian bishops, the one known in history as the Council of Nice. 6. In 331 he decreed that the Pagan religion should exist no longer, and that all the heathen temples should be leveled, or converted into churches. 7. At the same time the old Roman laws were remodeled according to the precepts of the Christian religion, and a Pagan empire was transformed into an empire of the Christian faith, under new institutions. Surely the old heavens were moved away as a scroll is gathered together. But this is not all. I name another wonderful change of this age of revolution. In 324 he determined to shake the Roman world to its very center, and to deprive the imperial city of the crown worn for eleven centuries, by removing the capital from Italy to a new city upon the banks of the Hellespont, that should henceforth be called Constantinople, from his own name. The mighty mountain of the West is moved from its place. Not only do these revolutions, the greatest in the history of the world, fulfil the imagery, but the mournings of the heathen in that age almost adopted the language of Revelation in describing this period. The ruin of the Pagan religion is described by the Sophists, says Gibbon, “as a dreadful and amazing prodigy, which covered the earth with darkness, and restored the ancient dominion of chaos and night.”

Those who insist that the opening of the sixth seal portrays the end of the world should bear in mind, not only the chain of events continues on through the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th chapters, and that it is only when the Seventh Angel sounds his trumpet (11:15) that the proclamation is made that “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ,” but they should keep in mind also that the scenes beheld by John are not literal pictures of the events, but symbolic visions. The interpreter should ask himself not, What would be the literal fulfillment of the visions? but, What do the symbols signify? The earthquake, the blackened sun, the falling stars, the moving mountains and islands of the sixth seal are not to be regarded as literal any more than the pale horse in the fourth seal.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

the generals

This word refers to the warriors who command in the battle.

caves

large holes in the sides of hills

the face of the one

Here "face" represents "presence." AT: "the presence of the one" or "the one" (See: Metonymy)

the great day of their wrath has come

The day of their wrath refers to the time when they would punish wicked people. AT: "this is the terrible time when they will punish people" (See: Metonymy)

has come

Existing now is spoken of as having come. (See: Metaphor)

their wrath

"Their" refers to the one on the throne and the Lamb.

Who is able to stand?

Surviving, or staying alive, is spoken of as standing. This question is used to express their great sadness and fear that no one will be able to survive when God punishes them. AT: "No one can survive" (See: Metonymy and Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

king

servant

face

wrath

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

15. καὶ οἱ χιλίαρχοι, καὶ οἱ πλούσιοι, καὶ οἱ ἰσχυροί. Cop[260] omits καὶ οἱ χιλίαρχοι; A omits the first καὶ; 1 36 read καὶ οἱ πλούσιοι καὶ οἱ χιλ.; 1 36 aeth[261] omit καὶ οἱ ἰσχυροί.

[260] Coptic.

[261] Aethiopic Version.

15. χιλίαρχοι. The word means lit. “captains of thousands,” and was in St John’s time the recognised equivalent (as e.g. Act 21:31, &c.) for the tribunus of the Roman army. Probably St John is thinking of Isa 3:2-3.

εἰς τὰ σπήλαια. Isa 2:19; Isa 2:21.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of the earth. See on verse 10.

Great men [μεγιστανες] . Rev., princes. See on high captains, Mr 6:21 Chief captains [χιλιαρχοι] . See on Mr 6:21, and on centurion, Luk 7:2.

The mighty [οι δυνατοι] . The best texts read oiJ ijscuroi. Rev., the strong. For the difference in meaning, see on the kindred words dunamiv and ijscuv might and power, 2Pe 2:11.

Every free man. Omit every, and read as Rev., every bondman and free man.

In the dens [εις τα σπηλαια] . Rev., caves. The preposition eijv into implies running for shelter into.

Rocks [πετρας] . See on Mt 16:18.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.