THE WRATH OF THE LAMB

"And I beheld when he had opened the Sixth Seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 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. And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? - (REVELATION 6:12-17)

IS THIS SEAL HISTORICAL OR FUTURE?

Largely due to the cataclysmic upheavals described in this First Section of the Sixth Seal, and also due to the phrase "The great day of His wrath has come," some students of prophecy have sought to explain this as being an end of the age scene. Such is not the case. We have no grounds in consistent exegesis for doing this, and we shall see there were many eras in history which the prophets described as the Day of the Lord, eras of judgement and destruction, yet they were not the ending of the age nor the return of Christ to judge the earth and to establish His Kingdom. Let us look at some examples.

1) ISAIAH'S DAY OF THE LORD FOR BABYLON

"Behold the Day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath ancl fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." - (ISAIAH 13:9)

This is part of a message described as being the "Burden of Babylon" and it undoubtedly had its first fulfilment in the downfall of the ancient city and Empire at the hands of the Medes and Persians.

2) ZEPHANIAH'S DAY OF THE LORD FOR JERUSALEM

"The great Day of the Lord is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the Day of the Lord ... that day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities and against the high towers." - (ZEPHANIAH 1:14-16)

This undoubtedly found its first fulfilment in the judgements which fell upon Judah and Jerusalem by the hands of the Chaldeans (see our forthcoming book, "Light from Zephaniah").
It would also he true to say that 70 A.D. was a Day of the Lord for Jerusalem, when the Roman armies of Titus executed judgement upon it even as the Lord Jesus foretold.
Now whilst all of these may have been types and shadows pointing to the Ultimate Day of the Lord at the end of this age, none of them constituted the Second Coming of Christ, the Great Battle of the Day of God Almighty or the Judgement of the Nations; nor indeed does the Sixth Seal of the Apocalypse, which is in reference to God's Day of Wrath upon the Pagan Roman Empire which is the historical subject and context of the prophecy.
Furthermore, the final and ultimate Day of the Lord marks the beginning of the Kingdom of God on earth, Paradise restored, a time of peace and prosperity lasting throughout the Millennium and into Eternity, whilst on the contrary, the Day of the Lord in the Sixth Seal is followed by the judgements heralded by the Seven Trumpets.
Having established that this is not a Second Advent prophecy, but that it stands with the other Seals in historical continuity, let us look at the

DISTINCTIVE METAPHORS IN THE SIXTH SEAL

This section uses some very distinctive metaphors or symbols: the earthquake, the darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars, the terror upon the rulers of the earth. We have already examined the geographical significance of these, but what do they stand for or represent? Once again the Old Testament Scriptures provide the key to understanding. There we find that such symbolic metaphors always refer to the overthrow of ruling and reigning political and religious powers; to a time of judgement in the lives of nations, kingdoms and empires. Thus Jeremiah spoke of the desolation of Jerusalem in these words:-

"I beheld the earth and lo it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains and lo they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and lo there was no man and all the birds of the heavens were fled." -
(JEREMIAH 4:23-25)

Hosea predicted the judgement of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in similar terms:-

"And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us." -  (HOSEA 10:8)

Foretelling the downfall of Pharaoh and Egypt the prophet Ezekiel wrote:-

"And when I shall put thee out I will cover the heaven and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee and set darkness upon thy lands saith the Lord God." - (EZEKIEL 32:7-8)

Isaiah the prophet uses similar metaphorical language to tell of the forthcoming doom of Babylon:-

"For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine." - (ISAIAH 13:10)

Having proved that the symbols used refer to the overthrow and downfall of ruling powers and authorities - on this occasion within the context of Pagan Rome, let us look at:-

THE HISTORICAL FULFILMENT

After the period foreseen under the previous Seals, there had come to the Imperial throne in 285 A.D. a new Emperor named Diocletian. He came from Illyricum (modern Yugoslavia) and was a bitter opponent of the Christians. He launched a renewed campaign of persecution against them, the purpose of which was not merely to subdue or control them, but to totally exterminate them. So confident was he that he would triumph over the Christians that he erected two columns in Spain, hailing him as their destroyer. The inscription on one of these pillars reads:

 
"Diocietian, Jovius and Maximinian Hercules. The Roman Empire having been enlarged, throughout the East and West; and the name of the Christians who were overthrowing the Roman Republic blotted out."

No less than twenty-six Emperors having come and gone in the previous fifty years, Diocletian introduced his own style of government, whereby four men were given the rulership of the Empire. The original four who constituted the Tetrarcy were:-

DIOCLETIAN

GALERIUS

MAXIMIAN

CONSTANTIUS

The last of these four named died at York in 306 A.D. and was succeeded by his son Constantine, who is referred to by many as the First Christian Emperor. According to tradition, Constantine's mother Helena was a British Princess who traced her bloodline back to Bran the Blessed. Soon a civil war was raging throughout the Empire and the Legions of Constantine were advancing on Rome. It is claimed that Constantine saw a vision of a fiery cross in the sky and was told "In this sign conquer." The alternative tradition says that an angel appeared to Constantine and ordered him to place the Christian insignia on the shields and banners of his legions, and that the use of the sign would give him victory. We have no way of knowing the truth of these stories and it could well have been that knowing the Christians to be a large and growing community within the Empire, whom Diocletian had failed to exterminate, Constantine decided to identify his faction in the Civil War with the God of the Christians.
At this point we must note that the emblem chosen by Constantine was not the Popish or Latin Cross, but rather it was the Labarum, consisting of the Greek initial letters of Jesus Christ's name, as seen on the pictures of the banner and shield produced herewith.

The result was that Constantine defeated Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, north of Rome in 312 A.D. and became along with Licinius, co-joint Emperor. In 313 A.D. he issued the Edict of Milan, granting toleration and freedom or worship, not just to the Christians but to all the religions in the Empire. Constantine ruled as sole Emperor from 324 - 337 A.D. and was responsible for convening the Council of Nicea in which he undoubtedly influenced many of the doctrines which were codified. Even though he has been called the First Christian Emperor, Constantine was not in fact baptised until two years prior to his death. There is no doubt that his rise to power marked the downfall of the Pagan Roman Empire, and brought freedom to the Church after centuries of persecution. However now that Christianity was a popular faith enjoying Imperial favour, multitudes of pagans nominally accepted the Christian Faith without genuine repentance or saving faith in Jesus, and soon a flood of Babylonish error was to overwhelm a Church which had withstood the sword and the wild beasts of the arena for three hundred years.
Now how were symbols of this Sixth Seal fulfilled in the era of Constantine?

1) THE DARKENING OF THE SUN

As we have already seen, the sun, moon and stars represented political and religious authorities and their darkening meant their decline and fall - in this case, Roman Paganism. It is also interesting to note that the sun, moon and stars were worshipped alongside the other heathen gods in the Pantheon at Rome; and we read concerning the downfall of Pharaoh's Egypt, by the Plagues that:-

"Upon their gods also, the Lord executed judgements" - (NUMBERS 33:4)

During the persecution of the Church by Diocletian and Maximian, medals were struck depicting the Pagan gods Jupiter and Hercules, destroying the Christians. Constantine himself was a devotee of the Sun-god. The overthrow of Paganism is therefore symbolised by the casting down of the planetary forces which were the objects of worship and idolatry in Rome.

2) THE DISAPPEARANCE OF HEAVEN, ISLANDS ETC.

The Heaven referred to here is the heaven of political authority which now passed from Pagan into nominally Christian hands in the person of Constantine.

3) CRIES OF FEAR AND TERROR FROM THE PAGANS

The collapse of their Pagan world order, before the advance of Constantine's Legions, struck terror into the hearts of those who until then had been in supreme control of the affairs of state and who had used their position and power to persecute the Church. Maximian hanged himself like Judas, whilst his son, the Emperor Maxentius was drowned in the River Tiber whilst fleeing with his troops from their defeat at Milvian Bridge. Diocletian was to die insane in the very year that the Edict of Milan extended freedom to the Christians against whom he had waged a war of genocide.
Thus did the wrath of the Lamb come to pass upon Pagan Rome, the persecutor of His people; and just as surely shall His righteous judgements fall on the latter-day persecuting systems of Catholicism and Marxism, and upon all who deliberately reject His offer of mercy and salvation, choosing instead to reject the Lamb who looks upon them in love but who will one day be their judge.