Revelation 6:12, commentary and pictures

Revelation 6:12 gives the first tokens that Christ's coming is near in literal signs that precede the second advent in order, first a great earthquake, then the sun becoming black and the moon becoming as blood. The great earthquake was fulfilled in 1755 in the most terrible earthquake ever recorded, felt over millions of square miles through Europe, Africa and America, throwing down Lisbon with tens of thousands perishing and striking terror that the world is at an end. The darkening of the sun and the bloodlike moon was fulfilled on May 19, 1780 over eastern North America, corresponding to the signs in Matthew 24:29 and Mark 13:24-25 placed after the 1,260 years of persecution and before the falling of the stars in 1833 to testify that His coming is near. The verse opens the sixth-seal scene of the great day of God's wrath when the Lord goes forth to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, when the unprepared hide in terror and cannot stand while mercies are mixed with judgment to preserve a redeemed people who stand before God and the Lamb. These signs in the sun and moon warn the world as the sign of Jerusalem's ruin warned the disciples, so that all who will may flee from the wrath to come by watching ready, for to the ungodly absorbed in pleasure and false security the day will come unawares with sudden destruction.

Earthquake and Darkened Heavens

Revelation 6:12 gives the first of the tokens by which men are to know that Christ's coming is near, presenting literal signs that precede the second advent in their order, first a great earthquake, then the sun becoming black as sackcloth of hair and the moon becoming as blood. The earthquake stands first among the events under the sixth seal, followed by the darkening of the sun and the moon's bloodlike appearance. These are literal signs in the sun, moon, and stars corresponding to those in Matthew 24:29 and Mark 13:24-25.

The great earthquake was fulfilled in 1755 in the most terrible earthquake ever recorded, commonly called the Lisbon earthquake but extending over not less than four million square miles through the greater part of Europe, Africa, and America. It was felt in Greenland, the West Indies, Madeira, Norway and Sweden, and Great Britain and Ireland, and was almost as severe in Africa as in Europe. It destroyed a great part of Algiers, swallowed a village of eight or ten thousand inhabitants near Morocco, swept a vast wave over the coasts of Spain and Africa engulfing cities, and manifested extreme violence in Spain and Portugal with a sixty-foot wave at Cadiz. It shook mountains from their foundations and split their summits, threw down the greater part of Lisbon in about six minutes with sixty thousand perishing, retired and then raised the sea fifty feet, and sank the marble quay with its crowd with no bodies floating. It felled every church and convent and almost all large public buildings and one-fourth of the houses on a holy day when the churches were full, was followed in two hours by fires raging nearly three days until the city was desolated, struck terror beyond tears so that people cried the world is at an end, and ninety thousand were supposed lost that day.

The darkening of the sun and the bloodlike moon was fulfilled on May 19, 1780, when remarkable darkness covered eastern North America by day. The following night the full moon was unusually dark through the darkness, at times appearing like a ball of blood and red as blood. These heavenly signs are those Christ promised to declare His coming near, with the sun darkened by day and the moon by night. They are placed on the prophetic timeline after the 1,260 years of persecution and its shortening and before the falling of the stars in 1833, testifying that Christ's coming is near without revealing its day or hour.

The shaking of the heavenly powers and the departing of the heavens like a rolled scroll belong with these literal signs as a future, literal sign before Christ's advent, occurring when the Lord's voice shakes heaven and earth. The appearance of the sun the color of blood at rising and for several hours after during nearly five weeks without rain, with the moon looking like blood, shows the great day of the Lord is near and hastens greatly.

Coming Judgment and Mercy

The verse reveals terrible judgments of God that are full of meaning, in which the Lord goes forth to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, when the earth shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain. That judgment shown will culminate when the plagues of God come upon the earth and hail about the weight of a talent falls upon the wicked who would not care for and obey God but insulted Him and despised all His mercies. The standing of the seven angels before God to receive their commission and the giving of the seven trumpets belongs to this going forth to punish. Terrible as the judgments are, mercies are mixed with judgment, for the Lord has a people whom He will preserve.

The verse introduces the sixth-seal scene of the great day of God's wrath and judgment, continued in verses 15-17, when the unprepared in terror hide in caves and dens from the face of the One on the throne and the Lamb and recognize they cannot stand. The following vision contrasts them with the redeemed multitude who stand before God and the Lamb, while those who have treated sin lightly and rejected truth will be unable to stand. That hiding and inability to stand applies to people who trampled on God's Sabbath and followed false teachers who taught that God's law was abolished, who cannot escape judgment and whose regret will come too late. The caves that once concealed God's faithful people become places where evidence of truth is found against those who rejected it. The same judgment presents the consequences for those deceived by falsehood, who treat sin as harmless or lightly and rely on self-righteousness and reject truth, for they will be judged according to their works.

The verse also shows the future day when God's judgment will be poured out upon the world, when blackness and horrible darkness will clothe the heavens as sackcloth of hair. With that darkness comes the shaking of the heavenly powers and the heavens departing like a rolled scroll as a future literal sign before Christ's advent, occurring when the Lord's voice shakes heaven and earth. The deepening blackness of a violent storm foreshadows that coming darkness.

Warning to Watch Ready

The opening of the sixth seal gives tokens of the approach of the day of final destruction and of Christ's coming. As Christ gave His disciples a sign of Jerusalem's approaching ruin that they might escape, so these signs are given that all who will may flee from the wrath to come. The sun made black and the moon become as blood are signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars, joined with distress of nations, that warn the world of that coming. Those who behold these harbingers are to know that it is near, even at the doors, and to watch so they are not left in darkness for that day to overtake them unawares.

The world is no more ready to credit this message for this time than the Jews were to receive the warning concerning Jerusalem. To the ungodly who will not watch, absorbed in pleasure and business and lulled in false security, the day of God will come unawares with sudden destruction they shall not escape. The sun appearing the color of blood at rising and for several hours after during nearly five weeks without rain, with the moon looking like blood, shows the great day of the Lord is near and hastens greatly. That nearness requires being found ready and waiting. The sackcloth-darkness supplies an image for the world's increasing moral darkness. It is the darkness in which truth must shine clearly.