LIFE SCRIPTS

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. 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. 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 the 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?”
Revelation 6:12‭-‬17 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/rev.6.12-17.NKJV

Imagery plays a big role in the book of Revelation. Imagine God showing us the events in the year 4020 (if He allows us to tarry that long). How would we describe things we see in our visions? Well John was seeing events that would happen in 2000+ years. He couldn’t conclusively describe what he was seeing because he belonged to a different age. Theologians contest about the interpretation of these passages with some contending that these activities are nothing but symbolic. Whereas others believe (and I agree with them) that there is a literal sense in what John was being shown and here’s why: By this time, global conflict would have reached unparalleled levels because of the use of weapons not deployed before…nuclear weapons or Weapons of Mass Destruction. It is estimated that the US alone has a nuclear capability that could wipe out the entire world’s population and more. Remember, this hasn’t factored in stockpiles by nations such as China, Iran, Israel, Russia, UK, Pakistan and India. Several things would happen in the event of a nuclear war. First, the amount of energy unleashed on the surface of the earth would lead to rising dust and debris which would send particulates and aerosols in the air for weeks. Visibility of the sun and moon would be diminished significantly (verse 12). Plants would die because of lack of photosynthesis. Days would become darker. But that’s not all. Warring nations would launch attacks upon each other using missiles fitted with nuclear warheads. Such a blitzkrieg would dominate the skies in such a monumental way. Arguably, John was seeing all of this but couldn’t find the right words to explain it to our 21st century ears. He saw ‘…stars falling like figs…the skies being rolled up like a scroll…mountains and islands being moved out of their positions…’. The sheer force of nuclear arms could accomplish all this and more. Since many nuclear powerhouses maintain their arsenals in sea vessels, a sea conflict could see water disturbances like no other. Small islands and mountains could well be obliterated by powerful weapons. The great, the prominent, the rich, the poor would all scamper to ‘safety’ calling upon rocks to ‘fall on them’…to wipe them out…to ‘hide’ them from the wrath of the Lamb and the One Who seats on the throne. Isn’t it surprising that they won’t seek forgiveness and mercy but instead hide away from God? Remember Adam and Eve? They ‘hid’ from God after they sinned. Sin truly separates us from God. At first it creates false hope which is shaken on the day of reckoning. Sin hardens our hearts even during the toughest of times…times of calamity.