The Great Day Of God's Wrath! # 1

 The Great Day Of God's Wrath! # 1

"For the great day of His wrath has come - and who shall be able to stand!" (Revelation 6:17).

Every man's thoughts run now like Nebuchadnezzar's - with a desire to know what shall come to pass hereafter, or what things the future will bring forth, "As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen." (Daniel 2:29).

There is nothing in the womb of time - but what was first in the womb of God. Now, this book of the Revelation shows us these three things:

1. The state and condition of the true church of God upon earth, under the power and reign of antichrist.

2. The rise, the reign, and the rage of antichrist in the world.

3. The quiet, blessed, and glorious state and condition of the true church here below, after the ruin and downfall of antichrist, "whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming!" (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

This chapter out of which my text is taken (Revelation 6), shows us seven things:

1, You may see what God's dreadful judgments are, by which He cuts off and destroys the inhabitants of the earth, for their sin and wickedness; they are likened and compared to horses, as you may see from verse 4 to verse 8. Here you have:a white horse, war; a red horse, the sword; a black horse, the famine; a pale horse, the pestilence, or plague, which leads to death.

Horses are creatures which run to and fro - and so do God's judgments from house to house, from street to street, from city to city, from town to town, and from one place to another. "Show no mercy; have no pity!" (Ezekiel 9:5).

Horses are creatures which are very swift in their motion, they run many miles in a little time. Likewise, God's judgments are also very swift, they do much execution in a little time. "So the Lord sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead." (1 Chron. 21:14).

You may also see a proof of this, by what God has done to London, where more than a thousand died in one day.

2. You may see here where all the holy martyrs and witnesses of Jesus Christ are, who have been slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus; they are under the altar, that is, under the glorious protection of Christ in heaven, "They are before the throne of God, serving Him day and night; and the Lamb leads them to the living fountain, and God wipes away all tears from their eyes." (Revelation 7:15, 17).

3. You may see also the cause for which these blessed saints were slain; it was "for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Chapter 6:9).

4. Here you may see that all the saints' precious blood, which has been spilt from time to time by the whore of Babylon, cries aloud, day and night, to God for vengeance upon Babylon. Chapter 6:10).

5. You have here the answer of God in relation to the saints' cry, "And it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." (Chapter 6:11)

6. You may here see what dreadful and terrible things followed upon the opening the sixth seal, verse 12, 14. "And lo, there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind. The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places." There are the visible judgments of God, which are come upon the anti-christian crew.

And, lastly, this chapter shows us what will be the state and condition of those men at that day, who are found enemies to God and His people, "Then everyone - the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person - all hid themselves in the caves and among the rockes, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!" (Rev. 6:15-16).

Now this brings me to the words of my text, which shows us the reason of this great out-cry, "For the great day of His wrath has come- and who shall be able to stand?" (Revelation 6:17).

~William Dyer~