Sixth Seal
The sixth seal writes about signs that occur in the heavens and on the earth before Christ´s Second Coming, and who are the 144.000.
Rev 6:12. I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.
We must remember that these signs in the heavens and on the earth occur only were the majority of God´s people are living. Like the Israelites were living in the land of Israel, all God´s miracles occurred to the Israelites only.
So where did the majority of God´s people who kept the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ live during these cosmic disturbances?
These were Protestants, who had fled from the Roman Catholic persecutions in Europe and immigrated to North America. These were Adventists from many protestant denominations in North America looking forward to the Second Coming of Christ.
If all these Protestant Adventists had accepted the message of Jesus Second Coming and preached it all over the world, then Christ would have come during the late 1800´s. However, this did not happen because the Adventists of that time failed to spread this message to the whole of the world. Over time, the message gradually spread to many countries of the world and Gods people are not situated in one locality or country. They are spread throughout the world. Therefore, when we have finished spreading the three angels messages from Rev 14:6-13, the prophecies of Rev 6:14-17 will be fulfilled.
Rev 6:12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.
When did this take place?
The prophet Joel 2:10 forecasted that there would be earthquakes before the Second Coming of the Lord. Christ himself forecasted that there would be earthquakes before his Second Coming. Math 24:7. However, John writes about one earthquake and not many in Rev 6:12. This earthquake would be followed by the sun becoming black, and the moon becoming like blood.
“This major earthquake occurred in the year 1755, the most terrible earthquake that has ever been recorded. Though commonly known as the earthquake of Lisbon, it extended to the greater part of Europe, Africa, and America. It was felt in Greenland, in the West Indies, in the island of Madeira, in Norway and Sweden, Great Britain and Ireland. It pervaded an extent of not less than four million square miles. In Africa, the shock was almost as severe as in Europe. A great part of Algiers was destroyed; and a short distance from Morocco, a village containing eight thousand inhabitants was swallowed up. A vast wave swept over the coast of Spain and Africa engulfing cities and causing great destruction. – – – In the course of about six minutes sixty thousand persons perished.”[1]
“Twenty-five years later appeared the next sign mentioned in the prophecy – the darkening of the sun and moon. What rendered this more striking was the fact, that the time of its fulfillment had been definitely pointed out. In the Savior’s conversation with His disciples upon Olivet, after describing the long period of trial for the Church – the 1260 years of papal persecution, concerning which He had promised that the tribulation should be shortened – He thus mentioned certain events to precede His coming, and fixed the time when the first of these should be witnessed: ´In those days, after the tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.` Mark 13:24. The 1260 days or years, terminated in 1798. A quarter of a century earlier, persecution had almost ceased. Following this persecution, according to the words of God, the sun was to be darkened. On the 19th of May, 1780, this prophecy was fulfilled.
The extent of this darkness was extraordinary. It was observed as far east as Falmouth. To the westward it reached to the farthest part of Connecticut, and to Albany. To the southward, it was observed along the seacoasts; and to the north as far as the American settlements extend. William Gordon, History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the U.S.A., vol. 3, p. 57.
An eyewitness living in Massachusetts describes the event as follows: In the morning, the sun rose clear, but was soon overcast. The clouds became lowery, and from them, black and ominous, as they soon appeared, lightening flashed, thunder rolled, and a little rain fell. Towards nine o´clock, the clouds became thinner, and assumed a brassy or coppery appearance, and the earth, rocks, trees, buildings, water, and persons were changed by this strange, unearthly light. A few minutes later. A heavy black cloud spread over the entire sky except a narrow rim at the horizon, and it was dark as it usually is at nine o´clock on a summer evening . . .
Fear, anxiety, and awe gradually filled the minds of the people. Women stood at the door, looking out upon the dark landscape; men returned from their labour in the fields; the carpenter left his tools, the blacksmith his forge, the tradesman his counter. Schools were dismissed, and tremblingly the children fled homeward. Travellers put up at the nearest farmhouse. “What is coming?” queried every lip and heart. It seemed as if a hurricane was about to dash across the land, or as if it was the day of the consummation of all things.
Candles were used; and hearth fires shone as brightly as on a moonless evening in autumn . . . Fowls retired to their roosts and went to sleep, cattle gathered at the pasture bars and lowed, frogs peeped, birds sang their evening songs, and bats flew about. But the human knew that night had not come . . .
After midnight the darkness disappeared, and the moon, when first visible, had the appearance of blood.”[2]
Rev 6:13. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.
Jesus said in Math 24:29 immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
“This prophecy received a striking impressive fulfillment in the great meteoric shower of November 13, 1833. That was the most extensive and wonderful display of falling stars which has ever been recorded; ´the whole firmament, over all the United States, being then, for hours, in fiery commotion! No celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with such admiration by one class in the community, or with so much dread and alarm by another.´ ´Its sublimity and awful beauty still linger in many minds . . . Never did rain fall much thicker than the meteor fell towards the earth; east, west, north, and south., it was the same. In a word, the whole heavens seemed in motion . . . The display, as described in Professor Silliman´s Journal, was seen all over North America. . . From two o´clock until broad daylight, the sky being perfectly serene and cloudless, an incessant play of dazzling brilliant luminosities was kept up in the whole heavens.” R. M. Devens, American Progress; or, The Great Events of the Greatest Century, Ch. 28. Pars. 1-5 [3].
Rev 6:14-17. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
Who are these men who are hiding from the visible Second Coming of Christ?
This is the Second Coming of Christ were every eye shall see him both the believers and unbelievers. So the Bible does not believe in a Secret Rapture, which the majority of all Charismatic believers believe in. All eyes shall see him Rev 1:7 Behold He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so. Amen.
This text in Rev 1:7 states that all eyes shall see him even the wicked. The kings of the earth and great men will see Christ coming in the clouds of glory. Why do they run away? Because they do not believe in Christ as their personal savior. They have used their talents and time for worldly pursuits and worldly enjoyments, but not time with God and the Bible. Now it is too late to repent. They run away hoping to find refuge in mountain caves. Their time of judgment as come and they know it. They have tried to exterminate Gods people who keep the Ten Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus Christ. Rev 12:17. 14:12. They have tried to exterminate Gods people at the war of Armageddon. Rev 16:12-16. That is why they are running away. Their time has come, to be destroyed forever in eternal fire from God. Rev 19:7-21.
[1] Ellen G. White, Confrontation (Grantham, Lincolnshire: The Stanborough Press, 1978), 304. 305. This book is under another title: The Great Controversy.
[2] Ibid., 306-308.
[3] Ibid., 333.