THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE

As soon as the Lamb opened sixth seal a great earthquake occurred. Although earthquakes often devastated that part of the world, this one had cosmic significance. Earthquakes were one of the common features of Jewish apocalyptic. Behind the symbolism lay several Old Testament references representing the judgment of God (Isaiah 2:12-17; 24:21; 34:2-4; Joel 2:30-3:3; Malachi 3:2).

There was one unique aspect of John’s use of this symbol. For him, the phrase “the wrath of the Lamb” (vs. 16) is an oddity, since neither a lamb nor the self-sacrificing love of Christ is normally associated with wrath. In this case, the wrath of the Lamb does not mean the wrathful attitude of God toward individuals and the punishment meted out to them. It means the working out in history of the consequences of rejecting of the Messiah.

We modern folk do not like the idea that judgment is very much part of our scriptures. Yet both Old and New Testaments present us with the inconvertable truth that God dispenses justice and judgment as well as grace and love. For John, both justice and grace come to those who believe in the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death on the Cross.

John consistently wrote that the Lamb of God who was slain is not the dispenser of divine judgment but the one who bore it for us and for the world. In this he shared the perceptive interpretation of the early Church of Isaiah 53:1-9.

The tragedy is that so few people truly understand what Jesus offered to us by his self-sacrificing death on the cross. He offered to all people of faith the love and forgiveness of God, not the inexorable vengeance of God that terrifies so many who still believe that God condemns all sinners to hellfire and eternal damnation.