Revelation 6:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

NIV: For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?"

NASB: for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'

CSB: because the great day of their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?"

NLT: For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?'

KJV: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

NKJV: For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Prior verses indicated massive terror, in the face of natural disasters. Interestingly, these events seem to spur humanity to admit something typically suppressed: an admission that God is God, and that what's happening is His judgment.

In this verse those who call upon the rocks to fall on them and hide them from God's face and the Lamb's wrath believe "the great day of their wrath has come." They rightly interpret the disasters in nature as judgments from God and from Jesus Christ (Revelation 5:5–7). They identify the period of judgments as "the great day of their wrath." The prophet Joel prophesied about this time as "the day of the LORD" (Joel 1:15). His description of the day of the Lord fits what happens with the sixth seal judgment. He cites "a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!" (Joel 2:2). He also predicted the earth would quake, the heavens would tremble, the sun and moon would be darkened, and the stars would withdraw their light (Joel 2:10).

Those who experience the judgments described in Revelation 6:12–16 question who can stand in the day of the wrath of God and the Lamb. From their perspective, the answer seems to be "nobody." However, their question is partially answered in Revelation chapter 7 with the sealing of 144,000 Jews saved during the tribulation. Also, Romans 8:1 promises that believers will never experience God's wrath. It says, "There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Revelation 6:12–17 continues the episode of Jesus' opening of the seven seals of God's judgment. The first four opened seals brought devastation at the hands of four horsemen. The fifth opened seal revealed a company of martyrs under the altar in heaven. This sixth opened seal launches horrific terrestrial and celestial disturbances that cause earth's mighty men to hide among the rocks of the mountains. These men call upon rocks to fall on them, hiding from the face of God and from the wrath of the Lamb. They know the day of the wrath of God and the Lamb has arrived.

This chapter typifies the dramatic, heavily symbolic description of end-times events for which Revelation is famous. John sees a series of visions corresponding to Jesus opening the first six seals of the scroll He received in chapter 5. The first four seals unleash four horsemen, respectively symbolizing a world leader, war, famine, and death. The fifth seal reveals the prayers of martyrs pleading with God to avenge their deaths. The sixth seal unleashes massive natural disasters. In response, the people of the world cower in fear, admitting that they are suffering under the wrath of God.

The largest section of Revelation extends from chapter 4 to the end and describes events ''that are to take place after this'' (Revelation 1:19). Chapter 5 focused on a scroll containing God's judgment on sin and a search for someone to open it. Only Jesus is worthy to open it. When Jesus took the scroll from God, He received praise from every creature in heaven and on earth. Now, in chapter 6 our attention focuses on the events that transpire when Jesus opens six of the seven seals, one at a time. This process will continue through chapter 8.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''