Revelation 6:15, commentary and pictures

People of every rank and condition, from kings and mighty men to bond and free, flee to hide in caves and rocks when the earth shakes and the heavens depart at the sixth seal and the great day of wrath at Christ's second coming.
Those hiding are rebels who rejected truth, trampled God's law and Sabbath, and trod underfoot Christ's atoning blood though He died to redeem them.
They hide in terror from the face of Him on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, knowing they cannot stand and longing to be buried by rocks rather than meet mercy rejected.
No rank, wealth, or pride shields them, for seeing Christ in exalted power and pure light lays every secret bare and fills them with shame, remorse, and mortal agony as they recognize the crucified Jesus as Son of God.
While the wicked call for rocks to fall on them, the saints alone are able to stand with clean hands and pure hearts rejoicing in the God they waited for, which warns scoffers to repent and confess Christ now to be confessed before the Father.

Wording and Setting

The verse gathers every human rank and condition into one terrified flight, naming kings of the earth and great men and rich men and chief captains and mighty men together with every bondman and every freeman hiding themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains. Rulers and military leaders stand beside the wealthy and the powerful, servants and enslaved people beside free people, and none is exempt from the panic. Their hiding is flight from glory, for they seek shelter from the face of Him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb because they know they cannot stand before Him. The places that receive them cannot shield them from Christ's glory, and they are overwhelmed by the fate they expect while the saints alone are able to stand at His appearing.

Those dens and rocks are caves and deep caverns of the earth, torn open and made ready by convulsion when the earth trembles and every mountain and island is moved out of its place and the heavens depart as a scroll. The King of kings descends upon the cloud wrapped in flaming fire, the heavens are rolled together as a scroll, the earth quakes, mountains and islands are removed out of their places, and the elements war until the caverns are rent asunder. Into those openings the wicked in terror seek to flee from the presence of the Son of man and from His overpowering glory and piercing gaze. The voice of God and the great earthquake change the surface of the earth before the second advent, thus preparing hiding places that still leave the fugitives exposed.

The scene belongs to the sixth seal and the judgment scene of the great day of wrath at the second coming of Christ in glory. It comes after the signs of His coming, whose last is the falling of the stars, and stands as the great event next impending, the herald of the coming judgment, the great and dreadful day. The falling stars of 1833 were a merciful warning and forerunner directing minds to the prophecy and warning of Christ's advent. Yet when the signs appear and Christ's coming is near, the day still overtakes with sudden destruction the ungodly who refuse to watch and heed the warning.

The same hiding also describes the wicked dead at the second resurrection after the thousand years. Then kings and noblemen rise alongside the lowly and people of every station, bearing the marks of the curse, and see Christ in kingly majesty and glory. They recognize the One they mocked and crucified, His glory overwhelms them, and they flee from His presence in terror to hide among the rocks.

The Wicked Who Hide

Those who hide are rebels who rejected truth and trampled on God's Sabbath, who disregarded the law of God and trod under foot the blood of Christ by rejecting His atonement, though He died to redeem them. The truth they rejected stands as a witness against them, and His presence which gives life to those who love Him is death to them, so that as transgressors of His law and rejecters of His atonement they cannot bear to behold Him and seek to hide from His face. They have sided against God, misread the messages sent to them, trusted in self-righteousness and treated sin as harmless. They taught falsehood as truth and led others astray, persisting in disobedience of known requirements, in opposite spirit to the joy with which those who obeyed God's known requirements will meet Him.

They are those who enlisted riches, power, genius, eloquence, pride, perverted reason and passion to make the broad road attractive and who spoke against the Redeemer. Among them in particular are priests and rulers, haughty Herod, the mocking soldiers, the men who put on Him the purple robe and thorny crown and mimic scepter and smote and spit on Him, those who drove the nails through His hands and feet and the soldier who pierced His side, and others who despised, mocked, condemned and murdered Him. When He stood sinless before them in judgment they held Him in contempt, but they will see Him as the honored King and recognize the marks of His crucifixion and their part in His suffering.

They hide in terror from the face of Him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of His wrath has come. People of every rank and condition, rulers, the rich, military leaders, the mighty, slaves and free people together, seek shelter in terror because they know they cannot stand before Him. Facing the Lamb whose mercy they rejected and being unprepared, they would rather be buried by the rocks than meet Him, and long to be hidden from His face and from His frown. Those who have denied Him and lack His favor will then desire the favor they could have sought before, yet recognize the judgment coming upon them which they are unable to escape.

No rank, status, wealth, power or human pride protects them, for kings, nobles, great and proud men, the mighty, and the poor alike are humbled. Their worldly power, wealth and status cannot protect them, and their hiding places in caves, dens and mountain rocks cannot shield them from the indignation of God and the Lamb. The coming judgments cannot be resisted or escaped by rulers, kings, the wealthy or men of influence.

Beholding Christ in exalted power and inexpressibly pure light is intensely painful to their sin-stained characters, and every word spoken against Him burns into their guilty souls like molten lead. Every secret thing is set in the light of God's countenance without any veil to soften its hideousness, so that the bold defiers who lifted themselves against the Son of God see themselves in the true blackness of their character with terror, shame, remorse and mortal agony. They recall Calvary with awful distinctness and their exultation, His face then treated with contempt now shining brighter than the sun to give light to the city of God, and they recognize the crucified Jesus as the Son of God and true Messiah. With a despairing wail louder than the shout of Crucify Him they confess Him and lament with anguish, desiring to be hidden under the everlasting mountains or in the depths of the ocean if only they can escape the wrath of the Lamb.

Judgment Foretold

Revelation 6 is full of meaning as the revelation of the terrible judgments of God when the Lord goes forth out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. It is the cruel day of the Lord's coming with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and to destroy the sinners out of it. That appointed time to punish persistent disregard of His law is shown in earthquake and destruction, with people of every rank seeking shelter in terror when divine judgment comes.

Then the earth discloses her blood and no more covers her slain, and reels to and fro like a drunkard and is removed as a cottage. Before His glory the mountains shake and tremble and bow, and the rocks are moved out of their place, for He shakes not the earth only but the heavens also. The great men and proud men who made the world their god cast away their idols of silver and gold to the moles and to the bats and go into the caves and dens of the earth to hide, crying for rocks and mountains to fall on them. The hail that now injures men foreshadows what must come when the plagues of God come upon the earth, hail about the weight of a talent, far greater than any hail now known, falling upon the wicked who would not care for and obey God but insulted Him and despised all His mercies.

That day will be general, and the coming judgments of the Lord cannot be resisted or escaped by rulers, kings, the wealthy, or men of influence, for status and power offer no protection. When its signs appear and Christ's coming is near, the day will still bring sudden destruction upon the ungodly who refuse to watch and heed the warning. Upon the heads of the wicked falls wrath unmixed with mercy, with confusion, fear in countenances, pale faces, weary distressed looks, angry looks and oaths, and the wicked hiding in dens and rocks are fearful, terror-stricken, hopeless and despairing. This hiding is the great event next impending after the signs of Christ's coming, the last of which is the falling of the stars, when the heavens depart as a scroll and the earth quakes and mountains and islands are removed out of their places. The falling stars of 1833 were a merciful warning and a forerunner of this coming judgment, directing minds to the prophecy and the warning of Christ's advent as herald of the great and dreadful day.

Links to Other Scriptures

Guilty Israel could not endure the light that glorified the face of Moses when he came down from the divine presence bearing the tables of testimony, and far less will transgressors be able to look upon the Son of God when He appears in the glory of His Father surrounded by all the heavenly host to execute judgment upon transgressors of His law and rejecters of His atonement. Their sin makes divine glory painful to behold, so that the wicked shrink from it and hide themselves. The same shrinking will be seen when the saints are glorified just before the second appearing, for the wicked will turn away from the glory shining in their faces just as Israel could not bear to look upon the radiant face of Moses.

The hiding echoes the prophecies that when the Lord goes forth out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, the earth shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain. Then the earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and is removed like a cottage, while great men and proud men who made the world their god cast away their idols of gold and silver to the moles and to the bats and go into the caves and dens of the earth to hide. They cry for rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from the face of Him that sits on the throne and from the Lamb. That judgment also includes hail about the weight of a talent falling upon the wicked who would not care for and obey God but insulted Him and despised all His mercies, far greater than any hail now known.

The One from whom they flee is Christ who once stood condemned before human judges and now returns as Judge, so that every secret thing is set in the light of God's countenance with no veil to soften its hideousness. He stood sinless before those who rejected and condemned Him, was mocked and struck, and was treated with contempt, yet His face will then shine brighter than the sun and give light to the city of God. Those who abused Him will wish to be hidden under the everlasting mountains or in the depths of the ocean if only they might escape the wrath of the Lamb, and will call on the rocks and mountains to hide them.

The call for rocks to hide them marks one of two classes revealed by the warning of the judgment and the advent warning. One class hates the coming of Christ and cannot bear to behold Him in glory even though He died to redeem them, seeking to hide from His face. The other exclaims in love for His appearing that this is their God whom they have waited for. His presence gives life to those who love Him and is death to the ungodly, and by the warning God draws a line to test hearts, proving faith and showing each hearer on which side he would have been found had the Lord then come, whether in love or in hatred, and whether he would shrink in the hour of trial from the position where God placed him.

Those hiding in the deep caverns of the earth torn open by the warring of the elements flee from the presence and overpowering glory and piercing gaze of the King of kings. Among them are haughty Herod, the mocking soldiers, the men who placed the purple robe and thorny crown and mimic scepter upon Christ and smote and spit upon Him, those who drove the nails through His hands and feet, the soldier who pierced His side, and the priests and rulers who now behold His marks with terror and remorse. They recall with awful distinctness the events of Calvary and their exultation, and recognize that the crucified Jesus is the Son of God and the true Messiah. In the sin and punishment of the unfaithful husbandmen in the parable of the vineyard (Matthew 21:33-41) they see their own course and the just doom they had pronounced upon others, and with mortal agony confess Him with a despairing wail louder than the shout of Crucify Him that rang through Jerusalem.

Saints Contrast and Warning

While the wicked of every rank flee the glory of Jesus' coming and hide in caves and among the rocks after mountains and islands are moved, the saints alone are able to stand before Christ at His appearing. The rejected grow dark with fear and cannot stand, but those with clean hands and pure hearts stand by sufficient grace, rejoicing that the God they have waited for has come to save them. God's glory rests upon the delivered righteous, and those who sought to destroy God's faithful people and exulted because they believed them in their power cannot endure that glory but fall to the earth like dead men. The voice of God and the great earthquake change the earth's surface before the second advent and give the hiding ones places to hide, yet those places cannot shield them from Christ's glory, and they are overwhelmed by the fate they expect.

In contrast to that terror, the day brings wrath of God unmixed with mercy upon the heads of the wicked in a general visitation of confusion, fearful countenances, pale faces, weary distressed looks, angry looks, imprecations and oaths far beyond any crowded human rush. The wicked hiding in dens and rocks are fearful, terror-stricken, hopeless and despairing under that wrath. The peaceful and holy, who made God and heaven their trust and sought after and relied upon His mighty arm when the evil day was not upon them, calmly lean upon an Arm that is mighty to save to the utmost.

Those same dens, rocks, caves, mountain fastnesses, dungeons and prisons are also the refuges where God's remnant people are scattered by oppression for the faith and testimony of Jesus Christ and for obeying God's law. Some are in mountain fastnesses, some exiled, some pursued, some persecuted, driven by the storm and tempest of persecution to the crevices of the rocks and the caves and dens of the earth to flee from men who would enforce worship of the beast and his image and compel disloyalty to the God of heaven. They also come from dungeons, prisons, secret councils, the torture chamber, hovels and garrets, having walked in a fiery furnace heated by human passions and caprices, passing through sore affliction, deep self-denial, deep disappointment, reproach, want and hunger, made the sport and ridicule of wicked men. Yet they hide spiritually in the Rock of Ages, and when the voice of God is heard and the brightness of the glory is revealed, with trial over and dross removed, they are called forth as witnesses while their persecutors face just retribution. They come out to be clothed no longer in mean garments but in white robes of righteousness with diadems of glory, with weeping past and suffering ended, breaking forth in victory song.

The day of the Lord comes cruel with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and destroy sinners out of it, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Conqueror, comes to be glorified in His saints who love His appearing. Before His glory and before the tread of the Lord's hosts the mountains shake, tremble and bow and the rocks are moved out of their place, for the Lord shakes not the earth only but the heavens also. Those hidden in the rocks, the dens and the caverns of the earth who fled there for their lives because of the fury of the oppressor will be made glad at the voice of God. Christ will then be to them just what He was to John on Patmos, revealing His presence and His glory to them in their hiding places and raising them up to endure the sight of divine glory, so they know they are in the presence of the One who redeemed them by His own blood, made resplendent with the glory of God because they stayed loyal where the world and the churches made void His holy law.

That terror warns that those who scoff now will pray then, so people must repent, turn to Christ and receive mercy and be ready for His coming before that day arrives. Those who have denied Him and lack His favor will wish to hide from the face of God and the wrath of the Lamb, desiring then the favor they could have sought before, but those who do not confess Christ now in word, life and character cannot expect Him to confess them before the Father and the holy angels. The advent warning thus draws a line and tests hearts, proving faith and showing each hearer on which side he would have been found had the Lord then come, whether in love or in hatred known to God, and whether he would shrink in the hour of trial from the position where God placed him.

When people of every rank become afraid and tremble before God amid calamities, earthquake and destruction, such disasters make sinners more ready to hear the truth and create an opportunity to share it. That earthquake and destruction evoke the judgment day and show that God has appointed a time to punish those who persistently disregard His law.