Revelation: Before the Presence of the LORD

 Revelation: Justification by Faith

Before the Presence of the LORD

The things foretold in the sixth seal are all connected to the fact that God Himself will come and everything will be destroyed before His presence. They either precede or accompany this event.

Here are a few examples:

Isaiah 64:1-3 (ESV):

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence—
3 when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

Nahum 1:5-6 (ESV):

The mountains quake before him,
the hills melt;
the earth trembles at his presence,
yes, the world and all who dwell in it.
6 Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

Psalm 18:8 (ESV):

Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled and were shaken,
because he was angry.

Psalm 144:5-7 (ESV):

5 Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down!
Touch the mountains, so that they smoke!
6 Flash forth the lightning and scatter them;
send out your arrows and rout them!
7 Stretch out your hand from on high;
rescue me and deliver me from the mighty waters,
from the hands of foreigners.

2 Peter 3:7, 10, 12 (ESV):

7 But the heavens and the earth that are now being stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly...
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
12 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!

The Bible speaks of this day as the day when everything will be destroyed. Throughout history, God has sometimes brought judgment upon the wicked and sinners. But these things are a shadow and a type of that final judgment at the end, where Jesus will truly set everything right as the Judge of this earth.
Jeremiah and Isaiah both speak about this with the strongest words describing a complete destruction of sinners:

Isaiah 13:9-16 (ESV):

9 Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.
11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.
14 And like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, they shall all return to their own people, they shall flee to their own land.
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 Their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be plundered and their wives ravished.

In context, this refers to the Medes invading Babylon. But there is a parallel with the ultimate day of the Lord that will truly wipe everything away and consume all, as Hebrews 12:29 says, “For our God is a consuming fire.”

Jeremiah 4:23-28 (ESV):

23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills were moving to and fro.
25 I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled.
26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger.
27 For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken, I have purposed, and will not relent, nor will I turn back.

This is how the world will look after the return of Jesus. But there will be a remnant who will go with Him to the New Jerusalem.
But sin cannot exist before Jesus, the Almighty in all His glory:

Psalm 5:5-7 (ESV):

5 You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.
6 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
7 You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.

We will have to stand face to face with our God. We will see Him as He is, the Almighty Judge who looks straight through our hearts with eyes that burn like fire.
His words will pierce like a sword, and our conscience will be awakened.
The sinners then wish to hide from the wrath of that Lamb.
They know exactly where they have strayed from the path and see their sins, which they thought were so small. Then the law that is on His throne will judge every deed in our lives.
But then that great question comes to us:

Revelation 6:17 (ESV):

For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?

We will look at this next time.