part 29: The Final Curtain
Puzzled About Revelation, june 9 2022
“Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament types and prophesies, including the patterns we see at Jericho and at the cross at Calvary.”
main text: revelation 6:12-14
recap (part a):
Last week, we looked at the Hebrew Prophets and Psalms to see what they had to say about the nature and timing of these catastrophic events. The Bible gives us several theological reasons for this final “shaking” of the heavens and the earth:
1. All creation is presently subjected to “groaning” under the curse due to Adam’s sin, awaiting the time of redemption (See Rom. 8:19-23). These groanings will increase and intensify during the time Jesus called the “beginning of birth pains” (See Matt. 24:7-8), culminating on the Day of the Lord. The timing of the redemption of the heavens and earth is also connected to the timing of our bodily resurrection and the redemption of our bodies as well.
2. Everything that can be shaken (the works and institutions of man and the corruptions of Satan) must be removed so that only that which cannot be shaken will remain (See Heb. 12:26-27).
3. As the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Son of God and 2nd Adam alone has the right and authority to destroy and redeem His creation (Ps. 102:25-28).
4. Great earthquakes and celestial disturbances are a THEOPHANY. They announce the presence of God and are a response to the weight of His glory (Heb. kavod = heavy)!
This week (part b)
Have you noticed our world is obsessed with telling stories? Whether they be fiction or non-fiction, print or digital, dramas or motion pictures, we LOVE telling and hearing/watching a good story! Where did that love of stories come from? GOD!
HISTORY quite literally is HIS-STORY, and here at the 6th Seal we see the curtain going up on the final, climactic scene of judgment and redemption. To get a better grasp of the final plot, we will look at three “Acts” in redemption history that serve as prophetic “types” for the end of the age and the final “shaking” of the heavens and the earth...
I don't believe that the language in Scripture is meant to be taken simply as poetry or symbolism or figuratively... I believe that the heavens and the earth will quite literally be destroyed... Those who minimize, downplay, spiritualize or make these things allegory actually rob God of His glory and of the story that He is telling of redemption.
revelation 6:12-17
“I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
I. The Great Shaking at Sinai
Exodus chapter 19 records the great shaking and the events connected with the coming down of God on that mountain when He led Israel out of Egypt. When God sent Moses to confront Pharaoh, God, through Moses, performed all kinds of miraculous signs and wonders that devastated Egypt - the land, signs in the sun, moon and stars, etc., and then He led Israel out of Egypt after all of these plagues and after the death of the “firstborn”. Then God parted the waters at the Red Sea and He led Israel through on dry land but He drowned Pharaoh’s armies in the waters. Then He brings the nation of Israel to Himself at Mount Sinai. And up until this point, God had been leading them by a pillar of cloud and fire. But at Mount Sinai, the Scripture says that God came down on the mountain.
Ex. 19:16-20; 20:18-21
“On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. 20 The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain...
...When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” 21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.”
Once again, in Revelation chapter 6, we see God coming down from heaven to dwell on the earth and be with His people.
In Deut. 4:15, Moses says, “You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully…”
Likewise, the appearing of the Son of Man will be accompanied with fire, smoke, thunder, lightning, trumpet blasts and a great earthquake. (Matthew 24, Mark 13)
I believe that one of the reasons that God is going to repeat the Sinai-like experience is for the Jewish remnant. They will see the “one that they pierced” coming in the glory of the Father and they will mourn for Him, and they will turn to Him, and they will be saved. (Zech. 12:10, Rev. 1:7)
Jesus will descend on a mountain: He will descend on the Mount of Olives. (Zech. 14:4)
Psalm 68:1-4: As the Lord comes to execute judgment and vengeance on the wicked, the righteous are rejoicing, singing and dancing because it is the day of our redemption. It is the day of retribution to the wicked, and it is the day of redemption for God’s people. Just as the children of Israel took up tambourines, and sang and danced and praised Him, Egypt was destroyed and decimated by the judgments of God. It will also be like this at the end of the age.
Psalm 68:7-8: The One of Sinai brings with Him earthquakes and heavenly signs.
Psalm 114:1-8: This is poetic language, but speaks of real, historical events. “7 Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, 8 who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.” This is creation reacting to the presence of God.
See also Judges 5:4-5
II. The Great Shaking at Jericho
God brings Israel out of Egypt, He brings them to Sinai, He brings them through the wilderness, and here He is bringing them into the promised land. Here, we see another theophany, where all of these symbols and events are converging, telling us that the presence of God is here. This also tells us that there is a connection between the events in history and future prophesy (history written in advance).
Joshua 5:13-6:5
“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
6 Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in...
14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted[a] to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”
20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys...
24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house.”
Who is the man with the drawn sword? Vs. 2 tells us that this was the Lord.
As I have taught previously, I believe that the Lord is going to come after 6,000 years, or at the end of six days, at dawn of the seventh day. Here we see the walls of Jericho collapse at dawn of the seventh day.
At Jericho, there were 7 priests carrying 7 trumpets, and they were to blow them 7 times on the 7th day. At Jericho, the walls came down at the final trumpet. At the end of the age, the same thing will happen: a great earthquake will cause all the walls of all the cities on the face of the earth to collapse.
III. The Great Shaking at Calvary
Matt. 27:45-54; 28:2-3
“From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!
. . .
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.”
Earthquakes and celestial disturbances were also associated with the death and resurrection of Jesus, a pattern of our own resurrection on the Day of the Lord.
On the mountain of Calvary, Jesus carries the same weight of glory as the Father, with an earthquake and celestial signs (John 17:5).
Note that the partial resurrection of the dead occurred at the earthquake, which would suggest that the final resurrection of the dead and the “rapture”/gathering of the saints will occur during the final “great earthquake.”
Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament types and prophesies, including the patterns we see at Jericho and at the cross at Calvary.
IV. The Final Curtain to The Final Act
When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the Temple was torn, top to bottom. This is symbolic of the veil that was placed between heaven and earth that will be removed on the Day of the Lord at the opening of the 6th seal. (Matt. 27:51; Heb. 10:19-20)
Moses was given detailed instructions regarding the construction of the veil between the Holy of Holies and the rest of the structure in Exodus 26:31-33, “Set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain. 31 “Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. 32 Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. 33 Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place..”
Cherubim were placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life after the fall of Adam and Eve. (Genesis 3:24)
Scarlet represents the colour of blood. Without blood, there is no remission of sins. (Blood was needed to go past the veil to the Holy of Holies, and that only once a year, with blood.)
Purple represents royalty, of kingship.
Blue represents the sky, or heavens.
The temple curtain was torn when Christ died, because Jesus is our High Priest. He is also our King, our King of Kings. He is also the only One Who has gone into heaven, because He came down from heaven. (John 3:13)
Revelation 6:12-14 tells us that when Jesus comes again, just as it was at His death, so it will be at His second coming. There will be a solar eclipse, a blood moon, the stars will fall to the earth, there will be an enormous earthquake, AND the sky, which is like a veil, barring access to seeing God presently, will be rolled up like a scroll.
Rev. 6:12-14
“I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.”
Illustration: Star Wars Episode I (1999)
o Waiting for tickets to opening night
o THX & Lucasfilm logos
o Lights dim and screen goes black…”A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”
o BOOM: John Williams theme!
6th Seal (Day of the Lord):
Earth shakes
lights dim
“curtain” goes up
trumpets blast; and
Jesus Christ—the Lamb of God—is revealed for every eye to see!
Hollywood and George Lucas have nothing on the Lord our God when it comes to EPIC!! This will be IMAX to the MAX!! 😊
Conclusion
1 Thess. 1:9-10: “for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”
Next Week: The saints are promised deliverance from the “wrath of God” (1 Thess. 5:9). What “wrath” are we rescued from, when does it begin, and how are we rescued?