But, think about it from the standpoint that in the fifth seal that we just studied, the saints underneath the altar had cried out with a great cry, “How long, O Lord, how long?” We said that they’re not looking for vengeance, but that they’re looking for justice. They were told that they would have to wait a little longer.

I think that as we will look at this sixth seal, we will see evidence which shows that the judgment that is described HERE, that is in view HERE, is not the great and final one. God gives assurance that He will avenge their cause; He will meet out justice by a judgment upon those who inflicted death upon these saints. This is a judgment against whatever ungodly power is persecuting the saints. Of course, there would be more than one ungodly power, wouldn’t there? This judgment is descriptive of any and all earthly powers that inflict persecution, suffering and death upon the people of God.

The picture here is of a crashing world, earth-shaking events, with no light to guide, darkness engulfing wicked people. The Spirit in the scene draws very heavily from the Old Testament pictures and descriptions of judgments—final judgments—that were brought upon heathen nations that had sought the destruction of God’s people in times past.

For example, Isaiah used some of these same symbols—word pictures—as he speaks concerning the destruction of ancient Babylon. Turn over to Isaiah 13 and verses 10 and 13. This is the prophet speaking concerning the destruction of the Babylonian Kingdom: “¹⁰For 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…¹³Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place (that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?), at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.”

We might also turn over to Isaiah 29 and verse 6: “⁶…you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.”

Then, Isaiah, chapter 50 and verse 3: “I clothe the heavens with blackness, And I make sackcloth their covering.” This, again, is a reference to the destruction of the Babylonian Empire.

Joel also described a future judgment; this against Jerusalem itself. He will say in Joel 2, verse 31, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.” Again, that’s very familiar, isn’t it?

Then, in the New Testament, Matthew 24, verse 29, Jesus will use some of these very same figures, these very same word pictures, as He will describe the nature of the calamities that will come upon the city of Jerusalem by the Romans when the city will be destroyed. [“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”]

Viewed in light of the descriptions of former judgments, the picture before us here in this sixth seal describes bloodshed and total blackness, and the end of the world under consideration. However, this is not the ultimate end toward which we look. The goal is the destruction of the power or the powers responsible for the saints’ death. Specifically, we’ll see as we get over to chapter 13 of Revelation, the Roman Empire is, perhaps, chief on the list of the nations, or the empires, which will be destroyed. The description here can apply to them.

Speaking of the stars that would fall from heaven, the fig tree casting the unripe fruit [verse 13], and so on, in the writing of other prophets like Isaiah and Daniel, the rulers of nations are seen, or characterized, or represented, by stars. We can fit that into this description here. Once again, we’re looking at nations, at empires, beginning with the Roman Empire, coming under destruction and devastation because of what they have done to the people of God—specifically Emperors such as Nero and Domician and others whom we will mention.

One writer pointed out that this metaphor, “…the stars of heaven fell to the earth…,” may very well have been drawn from the meteor showers which we witness sometimes in our day. But in that day and, apparently, in that region of the world, the meteor showers were very evident, very prominent, and could very easily be seen. This was not necessarily because the meteor showers occurred more frequently. That’s not the implication. Think of the utter darkness that would exist in that day—no city lights, no light pollution to light up the night sky, but just that pure blackness—that dark sky. Maybe some of you have been in some remote areas away from any light where you’ve seen a meteor shower in a totally black sky. Perhaps, this is where this metaphor came from.

And then consider the description of the unripe fig, which grows during the winter. The description that I read from one commentator said that, indeed, fig trees in this region of the world did grow a fig in the winter time. Of course, the climatic conditions there are such that the growing season will last sometimes through the winter. These winter figs don’t come to maturity. So, in the Springtime of the year, with the winds, these figs fall off. Once again, the depiction here is of these world powers, these emperors, these rulers, being like the stars falling from heaven and like these immature, these unripe figs, falling from the tree.