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God's Great Day of Wrath Revelation 6:9 – 11 We have the great privilege again, of looking into the future. And I want you to take your Bible - or one that is nearby, and turn to the sixth chapter of the last book in the Bible, the book of Revelation. The sixth chapter. Tonight, we’re going to look at verses 9, 10, and 11 in our ongoing study of this great chapter. Let me read these three verses, Revelation Chapter 6, beginning at Verse 9- And when he broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ “And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also.” As we begin an examination of this fifth seal and this most significant passage, it suits us to examine the thought of vengeance for a moment, because: What this seal is all about is vengeance. It is a cry on the part of these souls identified here for the Lord to avenge our blood, to bring about judgment.
It is not inconsistent with God to make such a plea, although you would imagine, in our modern world today, that such a God does not exist. People have recast God in the form that pleases them and, of course, have eliminated any thought of His being a vengeful God. But the God of Scripture is a God of vengeance. He Himself says, in Deuteronomy 32:35 , “Vengeance is mine and retribution.” Twice more in that same chapter, verses 41 and 43, He says, “I will render vengeance on My adversaries.” The psalmist affirmed the same truth about God when he wrote in Psalm 94 “O Lord, God of vengeance, God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth. Render recompense to the proud.” And the psalm ends this way, “The Lord our God will destroy.” In Psalm 79, for example, in verse 10, we read, “Let there be known among the nations in our sight, vengeance for the blood of Thy servants which has been shed.” God is a God of vengeance. In Isaiah chapter 59 and verse 17, we see God putting on what Isaiah calls “ garments of vengeance for clothing.” And verse 18 says in Isaiah 59, “ He will repay wrath to His adversaries and recompense to His enemies.” In Isaiah 63:4, we read, “God says He has a day of vengeance in His heart.” In His heart.
There is a balance that we are to seek mercy and compassion for those who are under the judgment of God, as well as seeking and longing for vengeance which puts God on display and vindicates His holiness and His righteousness. In Romans 12 : 19 I think you see the same balance. It says, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.’” And then the next verse says, verse 20, “‘But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink.’” There is a day of vengeance coming. But that doesn’t mean we treat sinners with revenge or vengeful spirits or retributive attitudes. Yes, we long for the day when God’s holiness and justice and righteousness is vindicated. But at the same time, we know it’s a fearful day for the ungodly, and in the meantime, we reach out in love and compassion and mercy to them. Now, as we look at Revelation chapter 6 tonight, we are going to come face to face with God’s vengeance. The time of grace is really coming to its end. We are now in a seven- year period that we have called the time of tribulation. It is also called the time of Jacob’s trouble with reference to Israel’s role in it.
This seven-year period, identified in the book of Daniel as seven years, and identified again in the book of Revelation as to half of it being 3-1/2 years or 42 months or 1,260 days, this brief period of time is the time when God unleashes His vengeance, when God unleashes His judgment and His wrath on the earth like never before. Now, there have been past times when God’s vengeance has been manifest, when God’s anger has been revealed. And some of those times have even been called days of the Lord. But this final time is greater than activity other time to precede it. This is the seven-year period when Jesus Christ not only judges the ungodly but takes back the earth and the universe for His own possession. Now, you’ll remember that in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is recorded to have preached a sermon - we call it the Olivet Discourse or the Sermon on the Mount of Olives – in which He discussed this period of time. And Jesus said these seven years will be divided into two halves. The first half He called the beginning of birth pang. It’s a very vivid term. When a child is to be born, prior to the birth, there are a series of birth pangs that get increasingly more intense and closer together as you get nearer to the great event of birth itself. And what our Lord is saying is there’s a great event, namely the arrival not of a child, but the arrival of the king, the Son of God. But as you get within seven years of that arrival, the birth pangs are going to start to come.
Now, that is very important, because that’s consistent with what we’re going to see here in the fifth seal. The chronology is very clear; the first four seals occur in the front part, the first three-and-a- half, and they’re the ones Jesus called the beginning of the birth pangs. They happened in the first part. This fifth seal begins in the first part, stretches across the midpoint, is accelerated in the second part, and is followed by the vengeance. Paul saw this vengeance of God coming in 1 Thessalonians – 2 Thessalonians, rather, chapter 1. He says in verse 5, “This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you’re suffering. For after all, it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire” – here it is – “ dealing out retribution” – or dealing out vengeance – “on those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And they will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” So, Paul noted there was coming a day of retribution or a day of vengeance. Peter saw the same thing, the same kind of vengeance, 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 10, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, the earth and the works in it will be burned up.
“Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way” – then he goes on from there. There’s coming a great day of God’s vengeance which will bring about holocausts of destruction like the world has never known. A day when the just God and the righteous God and the holy God brings His long-awaited justice on sinful men and women. And it is true that believers rejoice in that day, because it does put God’s glory on display. It does bring an end to iniquity which we despise. It does vindicate the Lord who has been so mocked and abused. It does take back the universe from that usurper Satan. It does bring in everlasting righteousness and end the reign of sin. And so, we do rejoice. We understand the gladness that was expressed by the psalmist. We understand the joy and the hope that was in the heart of the apostles as they anticipated this event, even though it meant the destruction of the ungodly to whom they were sent for purposes of evangelism. Again, this dual feeling of joy and sadness is indicated in Revelation Chapter 10. Turn over there for a moment. In one of the really rich chapters in this book, to which we will give great attention in the future. Down in verse 9, John is told to take the book, which is open in the hand of the angel in verse 8, and he’s told, “‘Take it and eat it.’” It’s the book that describes the final judgment. “‘ Take it and eat it; it’ll make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.’ I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.”
But God’s Spirit will not always strive with man, and there will come an end to the time of grace. In Acts 17, the apostle Paul preached that. He said, “God has been somewhat tolerant in times past. But there is coming a day” - he says in verse 30 of Acts 17 – “a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man” – that is Christ – “ whom He has appointed.” There is coming a day when grace is over with and judgment falls. It is that very anticipation that is in view in the fifth seal. It is this seal which indicates to us this anticipation. Now, you have noted in each case there is a force working. Seal number one, the force was - what? Do you remember? - peace. Seal number two, the force was war. Seal number three, the force inundating the earth was famine. And seal number four, the ashen horse; the horse was pestilence resulting in widespread death. There’s another force in this fifth seal, and it’s rarely ever discussed by commentators. The force here is vengeance, but behind it is prayer. We could almost say that the force is the prayer for vengeance. The vengeance doesn’t come in the fifth seal; the prayer does. And if we remember the promise of James, that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, then these have to be powerful prayers because they’re being offered by people who are already in heaven, and they have no taint of sin left in them.
So, here are the prayers of the perfectly righteous, and those kinds of prayers are a force, and they’re prayers for vengeance, and those prayers will be answered. Now remember, the final seven years of judgment began to be anticipated in chapter 4 as the throne began to move with thunder and lightning. The actual judgment starts here in chapter 6 and runs all the way through chapter 19, and it all begins with opening the seven-sealed book or scroll. The first four angels we’ve already seen. They came on the scene in response to the opening of the first four seals, and there will be false peace and war and famine and pestilence bringing widespread death that will kill one-fourth of all humanity. So, we already know the world is facing a period of unimaginable trouble. The dream of the optimist for a better world doesn’t fit God’s Word. The ultimate triumph of Jesus Christ the Worthy Lamb is assured. As the book of Revelation makes plain, He will bring over the earth His reign at the expense of Satan, demons, and ungodly men. Jesus will bring in a kingdom of righteousness that will follow the pouring out of the wrath of God on all the ungodly. So, we’re looking at the beginning of this judgment, this time of wrath. It is delineated, as I said, through these seven seals. It includes, as we shall see, seven trumpets which come at a very brief time, and seven bowls which come at an even briefer time in rapid-fire succession.
- every time He unrolls the next section, the seals being on the edge of the scroll, one would be broken and it could be unrolled to the point where the next seal was - every time He unrolls one, another sequence of judgment action is made visible. This seal reveals these souls under the altar. How did they get there? Verse 9 says they were killed. So, it’s safe to say these are martyrs. So, after you have false peace, and war, and famine, and natural pestilence that results in widespread death of a quarter of the population of the world, you have persecution resulting in martyrdom. Now again, this perfectly fits the teaching of our Lord in Matthew
- We want to go back to that because I want you to have this whole picture in mind. Go back to Matthew 24 and you’ll see the flow is the same there. In Matthew 24 verse 3, they ask the question, “When is the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?” I mean when does all this stuff end? When is the wrap-up? When is everlasting righteousness coming? When is sin going to be destroyed? “And Jesus says, ‘See to it that no one misleads you. Many will come in My name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and mislead many.’” And that’s an allusion to the opening false peace with all the false messiahs who set up a fabricated, concocted world of peace and prosperity that doesn’t last very long. And then in verse 6, “‘You’ll be hearing’” – following that immediately about the wars; the red horse comes right after the white one – “‘rumors of wars. And nation’” – verse 7 – “‘rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; various places’” – following – “‘there will be famines.’”
And then he adds the earthquake, which could include the natural disasters referred to as pestilences in the book of revelation. And He says, “‘All of these are the beginning of the birth pangs.” Then come to Matthew 24: 9, “‘Then they’ll deliver you to tribula tion, and kill you.’” See how that parallels in Revelation chapter 6? The souls under the altar in the fifth seal are there because they were killed. That’s precisely what follows. What follows the natural disasters and the pestilences that end life for a fourth of the earth is persecution. It says, “‘You will be hated by all nations on account of My name.’” So, immediately following the fourth seal is coming the fifth one which is widespread persecution. And Daniel 9:27 says that happens at the midpoint. So, we’re still in the first half, the beginning of the birth pangs. Why is that important? Because Jesus says, “This is only the beginning of the pain. The real pain comes later. And you say, “If that’s the only beginning – if that’s only the beginning, and it takes a fourth of the population of the world, boy, what is the rest goin g to be like?” That’s right. That’s the question, and we’ll answer that. During the beginning of the birth pangs, there will be initiated persecution. It is not going to be a wholesale massacre; it will be a beginning persecution, “‘And they will deliver y ou to tribulation’” - verse 9 – “‘and they will kill you, and you’ll be hated by all nations on account of My name.’ ” Here’s where it starts.
He’s doing it now, holding it back, but during this period of time, the Restrainer let’s go and sin runs amok. The Holy Spirit pulls back His restraint and let’s anti-God, anti-Christ attitudes go unchecked. And as this begins, some will die. And then comes the inevitability in verse 10, “At that time many will fall away and deliver up one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.” Up to that point, I believe there will be certain people who will attach themselves through Christianity. There will be people saved early in this period. Remember now the Church has been raptured out before this begins. There will be conversions occurring early on in this period of time, and we’ll mention that in a moment. People will be saved, and people will attach themselves as they always have to the church. They won’t be the true wheat; they’ll be tares. But once the persecution starts, they’re going to fall away. They’re going to follow false prophets. They’re going to become cold in their love toward the Lord. They’re going to show themselves to be false. There will defect false believers. Then in verse 13, He says, “‘The ones who endure to the end will be saved.’” Genuine Christians always persevere through any kind of trails, even persecution and martyrdom.
Then in verse 14, He says, in spite of all of this hostility – this is wonderful – in spite of this massacring of Christians that’s causing defection everywhere, “The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” So, while the persecution starts, the beginning of it, in the first three-and-a-half years, and it goes on - it’ll go all the way to the end, by the way and we’ll see that in a moment. It starts early, and it begins to escalate until, at the end, it just, for all intents and purposes, is an effort to massacre any believer and every believer on the face of the earth. But while this is going on, and certain people are defecting, verse 14 says the gospel will continue to be preached. That lets me know that it’s going to be preached through this whole period of time. The gospel of how to enter the kingdom, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, will be preached. Who’s going to preach it? Well, according to Revelation 7:1 through 8, and Revelation 14:1 through 5, there’s going to be 144, Jews, 12,000 from every tribe, who are going to preach. According to Revelation chapter 11, there’s going to be two witnesses. Two witnesses who were going to do miracles and are going to preach the gospel.
In 2 Thessalonians 2, it describes him. In verse 4 it says, “When the man of lawlessness is revealed” – this man called the son of destruction – “he opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship. He takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” He’s not a political leader anymore; he’s not a world deliverer; he’s not a politician; he’s not a savior; he’s not a great leader. He now announces to the world that he is god. He is god. Verse 9 says, “He will come in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and all the deception of wickedness. He’ll deceive all those people who perish, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth as to be saved.” What happens is the world buys it. Remember, we examined Daniel 8 which describes something about his rise to power. We described, last week, Daniel 11 which also follows up on the same thing. And we could safely say, at this point, Antichrist is in control. To see something else about his power, look at Revelation Chapter 13. There’s a good insight into it there that ties in at this point. In Revelation chapter 13, verse 3-b, second half of the verse, “The whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast, and they worshipped the dragon” – that is Satan – “ because he gave his authority to the beast” – so, Satan gives authority to this Antichrist – “and they worshipped this beast. They said, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war with him?’”
See, in this whole war thing, he has been the conquering hero. He has been the protector of Israel to the midpoint; then he goes after them to kill them, as he does all other people. Christian people, the Jews, and believers in Christ are the ones he’s after. But by that time, he’s established his military might, So, he launches his career at the midpoint, and he carries it through to the end of the seven-year period. “He opens his mouth in blasphemies against God, blasphemes God’s name, God’s tabernacle, that is those who dwell in heaven.” He blasphemes believers. Now verse 7, “And it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.” Now, all this starts at the midpoint. Now, let’s go back to Matthew
- And I want you to keep this flow in mind, because this is so crucial to understanding this time period. So, what happened? The first four things came – seal one, seal two, seal three, seal four. Then came seal five. The persecution began. People were slain. We see them in our text of Revelation 6 already under the altar because they’ve been killed. They’re already in heaven there. The slaying begins. It’s coming from all over the world. You say, “What is precipitating it?”
