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Chapter 4 opened this vision with a picture of God on His throne and
being worshipped by all creation. Chapter 5 introduced Jesus
Christ as the one worthy redeemer, qualified to reveal the will of
God and likewise being worshipped. The Holy Spirit is also
represented as being with those who were pictured as being in the
midst of the throne (Revelation 5:6). So we have all three
persons of the Godhead, present in the throne room of God and
receiving the worship, adoration, praise and honor of all the saved.
Something of significance to the first
readers of Revelation is happening. Jesus receives the sealed book of God's
will from the right hand of the Father who sits on His throne.
This book contains the totality of God's will for mankind from the
beginning to the end, however, of importance to John and His
brethren living under the immediate circumstances of the
persecution, the focus is on their immediate future and the future
of the Lord's church.
Revelation
6:1
"And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I
heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of
thunder, Come."
The Lamb and the creatures represent the same thing they did in
earlier parts of the vision. Once their identity is
established in a vision, it remains consistent throughout.
Jesus is opening the first seal. A seal in this usage
represents something that is hidden from view. The breaking or
loosing of the seals in figurative for revealing the contents
therein. Jesus is starting to reveal the contents of the
scroll and the creation is telling John to come.
Revelation 6:2
"And I saw, and behold, a
white
horse, and he that sat thereon had
a bow; and there was given unto him a crown: and he came forth
conquering, and to conquer."
Horses were always a war animal, especially when someone is pictured as
seated on them with weapons of war in their possession. White
is the symbol of purity and righteousness so this white horse is
symbolic of something good. In the old testament prophecy of
the coming of Jesus Christ we read:
"From him shall come forth the
corner-stone, from him the nail, from him the battle bow, from him
every ruler together. And they shall be as mighty men,
treading down (their enemies) in the mire of the streets in the
battle; and they shall fight, because Jehovah is with them; and the
riders on horses shall be confounded. And I will strengthen
the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will
bring them back; for I have mercy upon them; and they shall be as
though I had not cast them off: for I am Jehovah their God, and I
will hear them" (Zechariah 10:4-6).
The cornerstone and the house of Judah is representative of Jesus Christ. Earlier in John's
vision, the lamb was also called the
lion of the tribe of Judah.
We know that Jesus Christ descended from the patriarch Judah
(Hebrews 7:14). We see in the prophecy of Zechariah the
conflict, the battle, and the battle bow. Jesus is pictured in
Revelation as riding a white horse, carrying a bow and conquering.
The prophecy of Zechariah 10:4-6 is fulfilled in Jesus Christ and
confirmed in Revelation 6:2. The loosing of the first seal was
the coming of the Gospel, the perfect plan of redemption for
mankind, the law of Christ.
The crown given to Jesus was the crown of a
winner indicating victory in the conflict as He went forth
conquering and to conquer. Jesus overcame the world and lived
a sinless life. He delivered the New Covenant, the law of
Christ while He was on earth and after being crucified, He arose,
conquered death and ascended to Heaven where He reigns as the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords at the right hand side of God the
Father.
Revelation 6:3-4
"And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living
creature saying, Come. And another (horse) came forth, a red horse:
and to him that sat thereon it was given to take peace from the
earth, and that they should slay one another: and there was given
unto him a great sword."
The persecutor of the church is introduced. He is pictured
riding on a red
horse. The color red was associated with bloodshed in the
minds of the first century Christians so the red horse here is a
symbol of bloody persecution. The rider on the red horse was
given the power to wage war and would cause the inhabitants of earth
to kill each other. Swords are used in battle to kill one's
opponents, thus we see more reference here to the shedding of blood.
Jesus had come on the white horse and had delivered the way of
righteousness and established His church. Close upon His heels
came the rider on the red horse who would persecute the Christians
in the Lord's church.
This persecution was nothing new to the
Christians. "Then shall they deliver you up to be
afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated
of all nations for my name's sake" (Matthew 24:9).
"Yea, and all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution"
(2 Timothy 3:12).
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you,
and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you
falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is
your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were
before you"
(Matthew 5:10-12). The churches had
already been warned earlier that persecution was coming and who was
the cause of it in Revelation 2:10,
"Fear none of those things
which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into
prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten
days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of
life."
Revelation 6:5-6
"And when he opened the third seal, I
heard the third living creature saying, Come. And I saw, and behold,
a black horse; and he that sat thereon had a balance in his hand. And I heard as it were a voice in the midst of the four living
creatures saying, A measure of wheat for a shilling, and three
measures of barley for a shilling; and the oil and the wine hurt
thou not."
The color black is representative of
darkness and oppression. Darkness came over the earth when
Jesus died on the cross. The life of the light of the world
was being extinguished and left darkness in its path. There
were a lot of trade guilds in the Roman empire. These trade
guilds were similar to the labor unions of today. One had to
be a member of the trade guild in order to work in that profession.
These trade guilds were idolatrous and would offer worship to
various pagan gods and in to the Roman Emperor as well. A
trade guild that properly worshipped the Emperor was well favored by
the Empire and was allowed to conduct business unmolested.
This presented a serious problem for the Christians. They
could not be a part of these trade guilds and participate in their
idolatrous practices. Not being a member of these trade guilds
meant the could not get good jobs which resulted in leaving them
poverty stricken.
Then to make matters worse, the imperial
cults in charge of enforcing emperor worship in the empire had the
power to deny the right to participate in any kind of trade to
anyone refusing to bow down and worship the emperor. The main
imperial cult that was responsible for this was called the
"Concilia".
A balance was a simple set of scales used
to evenly and fairly weigh out such things as silver, gold and food.
They were constructed with a simple beam with a balancing point or
fulcrum in the center. They worked by placing an object with a known
weight on one side of a beam and when the food or other substance to
be weighed was placed on the other side, the equal weights on both
sides would cause the whole to balance. Balances were an
emblem justice in Biblical times, (Job 31:6; Psalms 62:9; Proverbs
11:1) and today as well. Our justice system in the US today is
represented by a blindfolded woman holding a set of balances on
which truth is weighed out fairly. Balances were used to
weigh out food in exchange for money and a shilling was about a days
wages for a days work for someone in the lowest working class.
The first century Christians, incapable of working the better jobs
found themselves struggling just to earn money enough to feed their
families.
Oil and wine were luxuries beyond necessary
needs. The Christians who were forced to work the lowliest
jobs were unable to buy such things, restricted to only that which
would sustain their lives and barely enough of that. They
couldn't afford oil, wine or other luxuries and those who were
represented by the the rider on the black horse held it out in front
of them, taunting them with it.
The rider in the black horse with the
balance in his hands had the power to tip the scales against the
Christians thus causing poverty and hardship for them. In
Jesus' letters to the churches of Asia, one of the things stressed
the most was the forbidding of participating in the riotous public
feasts where the meat sacrificed to pagan gods was eaten.
Hunger and poverty was a powerful means of persecution in the first
century and we see this vividly portrayed in the rider on the black
horse carrying the balances.
Revelation 6:7-8
"And when he opened the fourth seal, I
heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come. And I saw, and behold, a pale horse: and he that sat upon him, his
name was Death; and Hades followed with him. And there was given
unto them authority over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with
sword, and with famine, and with death, and by the wild beasts of
the earth."
The color of dead flesh is pale. The rider on this horse is
picturesque of our modern day grim reaper. His name is death
and he is populating the realm of the dead with the souls of men,
especially the righteous. The Christians were put to death by
swords, they were starved out and they were slaughtered
in the Roman arenas by gladiators and wild beasts. History
records that Nero blamed the great fire of Rome on the Christians
and used them as scapegoats in an attempt to detract the blame from
himself. The executions of Christians was intended to be a
spectacle. Those professing faith were often sewn up inside the
skins of wild animals and thrown into the arena where dogs tore them
apart. Others were covered in flammable material and burned alive to
light Nero’s gardens at night while he rode around in his chariot
among them. Some fell by the sword, others were beheaded, still
others were tortured to death. All in all, this was the most
widespread and brutal persecution of Christians to date. And
it wasn't over when Nero died. The Christians still had to
deal with the persecution under the reign of Domitian, which was
worse yet.
The forth part of the earth is interesting.
To those living in the first century, the number four was symbolic
of the world in which we live. In Revelation 20:8, all of the
people on earth are represented by the nations "in the four corners
of the earth." so it is probable that the fourth part of the earth
could well be the whole world. The persecution under Nero was
bad in Rome, but under Domitian, it escalated to the whole empire.
Christianity became illegal and the imperial cults were dispatched
across the realm to stamp out Christians wherever they could be
found.
To be fair to the scholarship of more
learned men than myself, I feel compelled to point out the fact that
many hold to Revelation 6:7-8 to be a judgment of God on Rome in
some fashion. I disagree with this view of the fourth seal.
Those following along with this study should be well advised to seek
out for themselves the history and the facts and make a
determination for themselves. It is my belief that seal number
four is representative of the Empire, (world), wide persecution of
the saints under the rule of imperial Rome. The judgments upon
Rome were yet to come after the souls of the martyrs cried out for
justice as we will see in the loosing of the fifth seal.
Revelation
6:9
"And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw
underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the
word of God, and for the testimony which they held"
In the vision of the opening of the fifth seal we see a picture of
all the multiplied thousands of Christians who had been slain
because of their faith. These are the Martyrs of Christ.
These are the ones who sacrificed everything for the testimony of
the word of God.
"Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness'
sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when
(men) shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of
evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be
exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so
persecuted they the prophets that were before you" (Matthew
5:10-12). "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it:
but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it"
(Luke 9:24).
Revelation 6:10-11
"and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Master,
the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them
that dwell on the earth? And there was given them to each one a white robe; and it was
said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little time, until
their fellow-servants also and their brethren, who should be killed
even as they were, should have fulfilled (their course)."
The souls of those who had been slain wanted to know when justice
would be served to their murderers. This indicates that those
who are dead are conscious and aware of the circumstances around
their death. The account of Lazarus and the rich man portrays
the lost rich man as being in torment and begging for relief while
Lazarus was being comforted in the company of Abraham.
They were pictured as being given white
robes. As is often the case, the book of Revelation often
explains itself: "And one of the elders answered, saying
unto me, These that are arrayed in white robes, who are they, and
whence came they? And I say unto him, My lord, thou knowest.
And he said to me, These are they that come of the great
tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb." The tribulation was the great
persecution of the saints by the Roman Empire. And the white
robes they wore were made spotless by the blood of Jesus.
Obviously this is figurative, not to be taken literally. Blood
would not wash anything white. The imagery here is of the
sacrificial blood of Jesus washing away the blackness of sin from
the redeemed. Clothing is the first thing one sees when they
see someone. Sin can not be hidden from God, therefore the
stains of sin are pictured as being out there in plain view, on
their garments and not hidden beneath. Those who are clothed
in white garments overcame, kept themselves pure and are clothed in
righteousness. "But thou hast a few names in Sardis that
did not defile their garments: and they shall walk with me in white;
for they are worthy. He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed
in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the
book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and
before his angels" (Revelation 3:4-5)
They were told to rest "until their
fellow-servants also and their brethren, who should be killed even
as they were, should have fulfilled (their course)". The
Christians who were killed were told that more would die before it
was all over. This persecution had been going on for some time
and it was going to continue for a while. God was not going to
out and out destroy the Roman Empire in one blazing torrent of
destruction. In the garden of Eden, God granted man the
freewill choice to decide whether to obey or rebel and this choice
has never been taken away. When someone really loves someone,
they give them a choice. God has never forced mankind to
follow Him and is longsuffering of rebellion. The Roman empire
was enormous and it was populated with millions and millions of
souls all of which were given plenty of opportunity to repent.
God did not want any of them to be lost, not even the evil emperors
who were slaughtering Christians. "The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is
longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). No one
who died lost in the Roman empire will ever be able to say they
didn't get a fair chance to repent. "And the rest of
mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the
works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the
idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of
wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk: and they repented
not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their
fornication, nor of their thefts" (Revelation 9:20-21).
Of importance also is that while so many had been killed because of
their faith, and that so many more were going to be killed, the
Christian facing such tribulation has the promise from God that they
will never be tempted beyond what they are able to withstand.
Paul wrote, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as man
can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the
way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it" (1 Corinthians
10:13). This is an important promise in that it teaches us
that God knows individually what each of His children can endure and
that Satan will not be permitted to force a child of God to sin
against his or her ability to withstand. A way of escape is
promised and to the faithful martyrs of Christ, this way of escape
was mortal death. "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the
death of his saints" (Psalms 116:15).
Revelation 6:12-13
"And I saw when he opened the sixth seal,
and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as
sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood; and the stars of the heaven fell unto
the earth, as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs when she is shaken
of a great wind. "
We are getting into a part of the Revelation now that would be
dangerous to the Christians in the first century in the hands of
their oppressors. This is the beginning of the judgment of the
enemies of God and if they could understand what it meant, it would
make life for the Christians all the more difficult. The
Revelation would be rounded up and denied from circulation by the
authorities. The imperial cults in charge of enforcing emperor
worship would have immediately confiscated all traces of such a
letter and would likely have immediately put to death anyone found
possessing it. By now, the Christians reading it know that the
key to understanding the message is the rest of the Bible. The
first visions were easily associated with Jesus Christ and have
become progressively more difficult as we get deeper into the
letter. The faithful Christians reading it are easily taught
in a progressive manner to look to the rest of scripture for the
keys to unraveling the symbols and their meaning while those who
have no knowledge whatsoever of Christ or of old testament scripture
are left in utter bewilderment and confusion over it. They
will not perceive any danger or threat to themselves, merely
thinking the Christians who cherish this letter are merely a bunch
of foolish idiots following after a confusing God who communicates
in unintelligible ways.
The genius of God is so evident in how this
letter is presented. The Revelation is given in such a way
that only those familiar with the symbolism could understand it and
at the same time pointing His faithful children into a study of His
word for the things they don't understand. God communicates to
His afflicted saints while protecting them from their enemies and at
the same time sends them through a journey of scripture unlike
anything else could have. One can visualize the old grey
headed Jewish Christians who had grown up under the old law setting
with the younger ones studying this cherished message of hope from
God by inspiration of John and combing through the old testament
scriptures to show them what all these symbols meant.
Jerusalem had been destroyed and the Jewish Christians had been
dispersed all over the Roman Empire. There were plenty of
people with the knowledge and ability to comprehend the Revelation
and to teach those who could not how to understand it.
What's the big picture so far? Laying
aside the imagery of all the symbols and focusing on the activities,
what is going on so far in the opening of the seals? The first
seal was the coming of Jesus, the second seal represented the coming
of the persecutor of the church, the third seal saw this persecution
on a worldwide scale, the forth seal was the death of the saints by
persecution, and the fifth seal was a picture of the slain crying
out for the killing to end and for justice. Since this
letter is addressed specifically to those living in the 1st century
and with seven of their congregations having been addressed
specifically and in consideration of the fact that the first
sentence of the letter told them the events contained therein were
going to "shortly come to pass", we have no logical recourse
but to conclude that this letter is in reference to their immediate
situations and use that as the basis for how we understand it today
and to make the appropriate applications to our lives as necessary.
The opening of the sixth seal brings the
judgment of the persecutors of the church into view. The
martyred saints had cried out for justice and were told to wait yet
a "little time" and now in the opening of the sixth seal, we
see God's assurance to them that He will avenge their blood on those
who inflicted their deaths and caused such hardship. By
inspiration, John pictures a world in upheaval, with earthshaking
natural events, the falling of earthly kings, the loss of the light
of righteousness and the encroachment of darkness upon an evil
oppressive people.
To illustrate this, inspiration draws
heavily on old testament pictures and descriptions brought upon
earlier heathen nations who had sought the destruction of God's
people. Isaiah used similar language to describe the downfall
of Babylon, "Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel, with wrath
and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the
sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the
constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be
darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light
to shine" (Isaiah 13:9-10). "She shall be visited of
Jehovah of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire"
(Isaiah 29:6). "I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I
make sackcloth their covering" (Isaiah 50:3).
The prophet Joel use these symbols to
describe a future judgment against Israel in connection with the
coming of the Messiah, "And I will show wonders in the heavens
and in the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The
sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before
the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh" (Joel 2:30-31).
And in the new testament Jesus used this
same symbolic language to foretell the destruction of Jerusalem by
the Romans, "But immediately after the tribulation of those days
the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens
shall be shaken" (Matthew 24:29).
Like many times before, the imagery of
falling empires is pictured as the shaking of mountains, the falling
of the stars, things turned to blood, loss of light, the
encroachment of darkness, smoke, fire and desolation. This
picture of the judgment of God coming on the Roman empire is nothing
new in the minds of Christians familiar with similar events foretold
in the old and new testament.
Revelation 6:14
"And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up; and
every mountain and island were moved out of their places."
Here is more old testament imagery used to visualize the judgment of
God bringing about the end of an empire. "And all the host
of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled
together as a scroll; and all their host shall fade away, as the
leaf fadeth from off the vine, and as a fading (leaf) from the
fig-tree" (Isaiah 34:4).
Mountains
were symbols of permanence, strength and the foundations of the
earth were going to be removed from their places. These are
not literal mountains, but rather are used as a figure for the Roman
Empire which seemed to be invincible and unconquerable in it's
power.
The
islands
represented to the 1st century people the outer reaches or most
remote lands and far away possessions of a nation. At the fall
of Tyre, God said the islands would shake, "Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah to Tyre: shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall,
when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of
thee?" (Ezekiel 26:15) "Now shall the isles tremble in the
day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be
dismayed at thy departure" (Ezekiel 26:18. The coming of
judgment of God on the enemies of the Christians would shake the
powers of the earth to their furthest reaches.
Revelation 6:15-16
"And the kings of the earth, and the
princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and
every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the
rocks of the mountains; and they say to the mountains and to the
rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on
the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:"
All the inhabitants of the earth from the slaves to the kings are
stricken with terror as the judgment of God descends upon them.
They will go anywhere to hide from the destruction associated with
the fall of a great world power. There was always death and
destruction and great fear when an empire was conquered. And
this holds true today. Great world powers do not go quietly
into oblivion. They are destroyed and the results are far
reaching and devastating.
This is not a picture of the end times
judgment as many today try and teach. These people have time
to hide in the caves and the rocks of the mountains. There is
not time to hide when Jesus returns for the final judgment.
This return will be in the twinkling of an eye, (1 Corinthians
15:52), as a thief, in which day
[singular] "in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and
the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2
Peter 3:10). The judgment in view here is not the judgment of
all creation, rather the judgment of the Roman empire.
Revelation 6:17
"for the great day of their wrath is
come; and who is able to stand?"
Jesus has opened the sixth seal which is the judgment of the enemies
of all righteousness. Nothing can stop it, nothing can stand
in the way. God is seated on His throne, in complete control
and nothing can interfere or stand in the way of His judgments.
The evil Roman Empire for all it's vast wealth and power cannot hope
to stand.
Who is able to stand? Nahum asked
this same question as God's judgment was about to fall on Nineveh.
Once repented at the preaching of Jonah, but forsaking God and
returning to her evil ways, she faced the same fate as the Roman
Empire before the wrath of God.
Nahum 1:3-6
"Jehovah is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no
means clear (the guilty): Jehovah hath his way in the whirlwind and
in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh
the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan
languisheth, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt; and the earth is
upheaved at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell
therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who
can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his wrath is poured out
like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him."
Summary Paraphrase:
And I saw Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah open the first of the book and the saved cried with a
thunderous voice, "Come". And I saw a vision of Jesus riding
on a white horse with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and He rode
forth to conquer the enemies of righteousness and He prevailed.
And then I saw Jesus reveal the second part of the book and
the creation around the throne said "Come". And I saw a vision of
someone riding on a bloody horse, who came to take peace from the
earth and to compel mankind to slay one another. He was given
great power to accomplish this from Satan.
And then Jesus revealed the third part of what is to come and
I heard the voices of the creation around the throne say "Come".
Then I looked and saw a rider on a horse of darkness carrying a set
of scales. And then I heard a voice coming out from those
around the throne saying "A measure of wheat for a days wages and
three measures of barley for the same. And don't even bother
with the oil and the wine because you can never afford it."
And then Jesus, the Lamb of God revealed what was next and I
again heard the voices of the creation say "Come". When I
looked I saw a rider on a pale ghostly horse and the rider's name
was death and the realm of the dead was filled in his wake.
And he was given the freedom over all the four corners of the earth
to slay mankind with swords, famine, wild beasts and other forms of
killing.
And then the Lamb revealed the next part and I saw underneath
His alter, all the souls of the righteous who were slain because of
their faith to the testimony of Jesus. And they cried out in
unison with a loud voice saying, "Oh Holy and True Father, how long
before you judge our murderers and avenge our blood on their heads?"
And each one of them was clothed in robes of righteousness and told
that they must rest and be patient a while longer. For God's righteous purpose is
not yet fulfilled and many more of their faithful brethren will be
slain and will join them before it's done.
And then the lamb revealed the judgment of the enemies of the
Christians. There were upheavals and the darkness on the earth
was so thick, the sun could not shine through it. The moon
shown only bloodshed and the leaders of the earth fell like green
figs blown from their trees in a storm. The heavens
revealed the coming judgment from God above and the unshakable
powers and strongholds of the earth were moved out of their places
to their furthest reaches.
And all the unbelieving kings of earth and all their princes
and captains; everyone from the rich and powerful to the slaves will
hide themselves wherever they can to try and escape. They will
beg the mountains and the rocks to fall on them in order to hide
themselves from the face of the wrath of God's judgment. For
their time of facing God's wrath has come and who among them will be
able to stand?
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