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Commentary on Revelation 6 verses 9–17
In the remaining part of this chapter we have the opening of the fifth and the sixth seals.
I. The fifth seal. Here is no mention made of any one who called the apostle to make his observation, probably because the decorum of the vision was to be observed, and each of the four living creatures had discharged its duty of a monitor before, or because the events here opened lay out of the sight, and beyond the time, of the present ministers of the church; or because it does not contain a new prophecy of any future events, but rather opens a spring of support and consolation to those who had been and still were under great tribulation for the sake of Christ and the gospel. Here observe,
1.The sight this apostle saw at the opening of the fifth seal; it was a very affecting sight (Rev 6:9): I saw under the altar the souls of those that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. He saw the souls of the martyrs. Here observe, (1.) Where he saw them - under the altar; at the foot of the altar of incense, in the most holy place; he saw them in heaven, at the foot of Christ. Hence note, [1.] Persecutors can only kill the body, and after that there is no more that they can do; their souls live. [2.] God has provided a good place in the better world for those who are faithful to death and are not allowed a place any longer on earth. [3.] Holy martyrs are very near to Christ in heaven, they have the highest place there. [4.] It is not their own death, but the sacrifice of Christ, that gives them a reception into heaven and a reward there; they do not wash their robes in their own blood, but in the blood of the Lamb. (2.) What was the cause in which they suffered - the word of God and the testimony which they held, for believing the word of God, and attesting or confessing the truth of it; this profession of their faith they held fast without wavering, even though they died for it. A noble cause, the best that any man can lay down his life for - faith in God's word and a confession of that faith.
2.The cry he heard; it was a loud cry, and contained a humble expostulation about the long delay of avenging justice against their enemies: How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on those that dwell on the earth? Rev 6:10. Observe, (1.) Even the spirits of just men made perfect retain a proper resentment of the wrong they have sustained by their cruel enemies; and though they die in charity, praying, as Christ did, that God would forgive them, yet they are desirous that, for the honour of God, and Christ, and the gospel, and for the terror and conviction of others, God will take a just revenge upon the sin of persecution, even while he pardons and saves the persecutors. (2.) They commit their cause to him to whom vengeance belongeth, and leave it in his hand; they are not for avenging themselves, but leave all to God. (3.) There will be joy in heaven at the destruction of the implacable enemies of Christ and Christianity, as well as at the conversion of other sinners. When Babylon falls, it will be said, Rejoice over her, O thou heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her, Rev 18:20.
3.He observed the kind return that was made to this cry (Rev 6:11), both what was given to them and what was said to them. (1.) What was given to them - white robes, the robes of victory and of honour; their present happiness was an abundant recompence of their past sufferings. (2.) What was said to them - that they should be satisfied, and easy in themselves, for it would not be long ere the number of their fellow-sufferers would be fulfilled. This is a language rather suited to the imperfect state of the saints in this world than to the perfection of their state in heaven; there is no impatience, no uneasiness, no need of admonition; but in this world there is great need of patience. Observe, [1.] There is a number of Christians, known to God, who are appointed as sheep for the slaughter, set apart to be God's witnesses. [2.] As the measure of the sin of persecutors is filling up, so is the number of the persecuted martyred servants of Christ. [3.] When this number is fulfilled, God will take a just and glorious revenge upon their cruel persecutors; he will recompense tribulation to those who trouble them, and to those that are troubled full and uninterrupted rest.
II. We have here the sixth seal opened, Rev 6:12. Some refer this to the great revolutions in the empire at Constantine's time, the downfall of paganism; others, with great probability, to the destruction of Jerusalem, as an emblem of the general judgment, and destruction of the wicked, at the end of the world; and, indeed, the awful characters of this event are so much the same with those signs mentioned by our Saviour as foreboding the destruction of Jerusalem, as hardly to leave any room for doubting but that the same thing is meant in both places, though some think that event was past already. See Mat 24:29, Mat 24:30. Here observe,
1.The tremendous events that were hastening; and here are several occurrences that contribute to make that day and dispensation very dreadful: - (1.) There was a great earthquake. This may be taken in a political sense; the very foundations of the Jewish church and state would be terribly shaken, though they seemed to be as stable as the earth itself. (2.) The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, either naturally, by a total eclipse, or politically, by the fall of the chief rulers and governors of the land. (3.) The moon should become as blood; the inferior officers, or their military men, should be all wallowing in their own blood. (4.) The stars of heaven shall fall to the earth (Rev 6:13), and that as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. The stars may signify all the men of note and influence among them, though in lower spheres of activity; there should be a general desolation. (5.) The heaven should depart as a scroll when it is rolled together. This may signify that their ecclesiastical state should perish and be laid aside for ever. (6.) Every mountain and island shall be moved out of its place. The destruction of the Jewish nation should affect and affright all the nations round about, those who were highest in honour and those who seemed to be best secured; it would be a judgment that should astonish all the world. This leads to,
2.The dread and terror that would seize upon all sorts of men in that great and awful day, Rev 6:15. No authority, nor grandeur, nor riches, nor valour, nor strength, would be able to support men at that time; yea, the very poor slaves, who, one would think, had nothing to fear, because they had nothing to lose, would be all in amazement at that day. Here observe, (1.) The degree of their terror and astonishment: it should prevail so far as to make them, like distracted desperate men, call to the mountains to fall upon them, and to the hills to cover them; they would be glad to be no more seen; yea, to have no longer any being. (2.) The cause of their terror, namely, the angry countenance of him that sits on the throne, and the wrath of the Lamb. Observe, [1.] That which is matter of displeasure to Christ is so to God; they are so entirely one that what pleases or displeases the one pleases or displeases the other. [2.] Though God be invisible, he can make the inhabitants of this world sensible of his awful frowns. [3.] Though Christ be a lamb, yet he can be angry, even to wrath, and the wrath of the Lamb is exceedingly dreadful; for if the Redeemer, that appeases the wrath of God, himself be our wrathful enemy, where shall we have a friend to plead for us? Those perish without remedy who perish by the wrath of the Redeemer. [4.] As men have their day of opportunity, and their seasons of grace, so God has his day of righteous wrath; and, when that day shall come, the most stout-hearted sinners will not be able to stand before him: all these terrors actually fell upon the sinners in Judea and Jerusalem in the day of their destruction, and they will all, in the utmost degree, fall upon impenitent sinners, at the general judgment of the last day.
This signifies that the whole world, among the good and the saints, is going to find refuge in the church, so that made firm under [the church’s] protection it is able to endure unto eternal life, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
“The kings of the earth,” that is, those who exert power over it and possess nothing in heaven, they too shall pray with all the great and rich and with the servants of the things below and those free of the service of Christ, that they be hidden by the caves and the rocks and the mountains. For they do not want to experience the divine wrath that with divine consent will pour down upon them either at the coming of the antichrist in the form of punishments from famine and other plagues or in endless torments which are expected after the resurrection. For then the divine anger will burn righteously as a furnace, consuming those who built upon the foundation of faith with wood and chaff and stubble, as though food for the fire.
And who will be able to stand? Certainly, the one who now strives to watch, to stand firm in faith, and to act manfully. If you interpret this earthquake literally as referring to the very day of judgment, it is not surprising that earthly kings and princes, fearful of the holy mountains, seek refuge, as we read has already happened in the case of the rich man clothed in purple and the poor Lazarus.
For the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? As if they were saying, “If even a saint is terrified by the wrath of that God, who of us shall hold out?” We may disregard all that has been said about saints, and understand those things as referring to the reprobates: the mountains are the proud; the islands are the greedy (according to this: Be silent, you that dwell in the island, the merchants of Sidon); [Is. 23:2] the kings, princes, and tribunes represent the reprobates according to their qualities; by the rich he means those who need no help from others to do evil; by the strong he means the strong at drunkenness; [Ref. to Is. 5:22] by bondman he means bondman of sin; by freeman he means free of justice. There is no doubt that when the future judgment is imminent, all these will run to seek the help of demons as they are desperate and do not dare to come to any of the saints. This is indeed what is meant by their seeking hiding places in the dens and rocks of mountains; but how will demons defend others from the furious wrath when they will be the first ones to receive it? Finally, all this inspires listeners with great fear even if taken literally, but this is not a reason to violently reduce figurative statements to their literal meaning.
And, he says, the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the powerful and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to 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, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" Kings again and great men, commanders and the rich and powerful, he calls wretched demons, as those who began to oppress the earth through violence and deceit; but slaves and free men, those who excel among the demons and are subject to them.
As for hiding themselves in caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and yet saying, "You will fall upon us and hide us," this is spoken figuratively; it hints at fugitives attempting to escape the punishment imposed on them by Christ. For if an invisible punishment and retribution were not inflicted upon them, what is the meaning of what was said by the prophet Isaiah concerning Christ's presence: "I have trodden the winepress alone, and among the nations there is no man with me; I have trampled them in my anger, and crushed them in my wrath, and their blood I have poured out upon the earth"? (Isa. 63:2-3) And what is the meaning of calling the God-hated [θεοστυγεῖς] demons by Matthew: "What have we to do with you, Son of God? Have you come to torment us?" (Matt. 8:29) But one might understand that these things spoken in the Revelation are not only the sufferings of demons, but also of the lawless Jews who crucified the Lord on the cross, who, being oppressed by the war against the Romans, became fugitives in the mountains and caves and the clefts of the earth, and were everywhere tormented by distress and anguish.
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SUMMARY
Revelation 6:17 captures the terrifying and desperate cry of humanity as they confront the undeniable arrival of divine judgment, signaled by the opening of the sixth seal. This verse articulates the universal realization that the long-prophesied "great day of his wrath" has come, leaving all people—regardless of status—with the chilling, rhetorical question of who could possibly withstand such overwhelming and righteous indignation. It underscores the absolute power and inescapable justice of God in the face of unrepentant sin.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: This verse immediately follows the cataclysmic events unleashed by the opening of the sixth seal. John describes a series of cosmic disturbances: a great earthquake, the sun turning black, the moon becoming like blood, and stars falling to the earth. These signs are not merely natural phenomena but divine portents, signaling the direct intervention of God in judgment. The preceding verses depict a universal panic among all societal strata—kings, princes, generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free person—who desperately seek refuge in caves and among the rocks of the mountains, crying out for the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them. Their plea in Revelation 6:16 is to be hidden "from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." Revelation 6:17 serves as the climactic, collective utterance of this terrified populace, a rhetorical question born of utter despair, acknowledging the arrival of the prophesied judgment and their complete inability to resist it.
Historical & Cultural Context: The imagery of cosmic upheaval and a "day of wrath" draws heavily from Old Testament prophetic traditions, which frequently describe the "Day of the Lord" as a time of divine judgment, often accompanied by natural disasters and the collapse of human institutions. Prophets like Isaiah and Joel depict the sun darkening, the moon turning to blood, and stars falling as signs of God's direct intervention in human history to execute justice. For John's original audience, likely facing persecution under the Roman Empire, such apocalyptic language would resonate with their understanding of God's ultimate sovereignty over earthly powers and His promise of final vindication for His people. The concept of "standing" or "abiding" before God's wrath also has roots in Old Testament warnings, emphasizing that no human strength or status can withstand divine power, a stark contrast to the perceived invincibility of empires.
Key Themes: Revelation 6:17 powerfully contributes to several overarching themes in the book of Revelation and biblical theology. Firstly, it highlights the Inevitable and Universal Nature of Divine Judgment. The phrase "is come" (Greek: ērchei) signifies that God's long-foretold judgment is not merely a future threat but a present, undeniable reality for those who have rejected Him. This "great day of his wrath" is a central concept in biblical prophecy, often referred to as the Day of the Lord in the Old Testament, a time of reckoning for the ungodly. Secondly, the rhetorical question "who shall be able to stand?" underscores the Utter Helplessness of Humanity in the face of God's power and righteous indignation. No human strength, wealth, or status can provide refuge or resistance against the Almighty, echoing ancient warnings like Nahum 1:6, which asks, "Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?" Finally, the verse profoundly illustrates the Terror of God's Holy Wrath. The reaction of the people—hiding in caves and crying out—underscores the profound fear and terror associated with experiencing God's holy judgment directly. It is a stark contrast to the patience and mercy often shown by God, revealing the dire consequence of unrepentant sin and rebellion.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Revelation 6:17 masterfully employs several literary devices to convey its powerful message. The most prominent is the Rhetorical Question, "and who shall be able to stand?" This question is not posed to elicit an answer but to emphasize the absolute impossibility of anyone standing against God's wrath, thereby highlighting humanity's utter helplessness. Hyperbole is also present in the preceding verses, where people wish for mountains to fall on them, underscoring the extreme terror and the desire for any escape from God's presence. The phrase "the great day of his wrath" itself functions as Apocalyptic Imagery, a common feature in prophetic literature that uses vivid, often symbolic, language to describe divine intervention in history, particularly judgment. There is also an element of Dramatic Irony, as humanity, which often boasts of its strength and self-sufficiency, is now revealed in its ultimate weakness before the divine.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Revelation 6:17 serves as a stark reminder of God's absolute sovereignty and His righteous character, which necessitates a response to sin. It connects profoundly with the Old Testament concept of the "Day of the Lord," a recurring prophetic theme signifying a time when God intervenes decisively in human history to execute judgment upon His enemies and deliver His people. This "day" is characterized by cosmic signs, widespread destruction, and the revelation of God's glory and power. The verse emphasizes that God's wrath is not arbitrary but a just and holy response to humanity's rebellion and rejection of His authority. It highlights the universal accountability of all people before their Creator and the terrifying reality of facing Him without a mediator.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Revelation 6:17 is a profound warning and an urgent call to self-examination. It compels us to confront the reality of God's righteous judgment and the terrifying consequences of living in rebellion against Him. For those who have not yet surrendered to Christ, this verse underscores the critical need for repentance and faith, recognizing that apart from God's grace, no one can withstand His wrath. It shatters any illusion of human self-sufficiency or escape from divine accountability. For believers, this verse deepens our appreciation for the immense grace and mercy extended through Jesus Christ, who delivers us from this very wrath. It should ignite a renewed sense of urgency in sharing the Gospel, for the "great day of his wrath" is a coming reality from which only Christ can save. It also serves to humble us, reminding us of God's awesome power and holiness, fostering a greater reverence and fear of the Lord that leads to wisdom and obedience.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is meant by "the great day of his wrath"?
Answer: "The great day of his wrath" refers to a specific, divinely appointed period of intense and universal judgment from God. It is often synonymous with the Old Testament concept of the Day of the Lord, a time when God intervenes decisively in human history to punish sin and rebellion, and to bring about His ultimate justice. This "day" is characterized by cosmic disturbances and the undeniable manifestation of God's power and righteous indignation against all who have rejected Him. It signifies the end of God's patience and the full outpouring of His holy wrath.
Why is no one "able to stand" against this wrath?
Answer: The rhetorical question "who shall be able to stand?" emphasizes the absolute and universal helplessness of humanity in the face of God's omnipotent power and perfect justice. "To stand" here means to endure, resist, or remain firm. No human strength, military power, wealth, status, or earthly refuge can offer protection or opposition against the Creator of the universe when He executes judgment. This highlights the futility of human efforts to escape divine accountability and underscores the truth found in passages like Psalm 130:3, which asks, "If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?"
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Revelation 6:17, with its terrifying declaration of the "great day of his wrath," finds its profound Christ-centered fulfillment not only in Jesus's role as the ultimate Judge but, more significantly, in His work as the Lamb who bore this wrath on behalf of humanity. The very wrath that humanity cannot stand against was poured out upon Christ on the cross. He became the propitiation for our sins, absorbing the full measure of divine indignation so that those who believe might be spared from it. As Romans 5:9 declares, "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." While Revelation portrays the Lamb as the one who opens the seals and unleashes judgment, it is this same Lamb who, through His sacrificial death, provides the only means by which anyone can "stand" – not by their own merit or strength, but by being found "in Christ." His resurrection further confirms His victory over sin and death, establishing Him as the one through whom God's people are delivered from the coming wrath and granted the ability to stand before God in righteousness on the great day.