The heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll
THE SIXTH SEAL
The description is not of the end of the world (though all judgments
point to that final Assize) but the successive visitation of the divine
vengeance on earth as God cleaves a path through history for His
redeemed.
...
As usual John borrows his figures from the Old Testament. The dimming of sun and moon, the falling of stars, the removal of mountains and islands, the cry of the wicked for the hills to cover them - these are familiar Old Testament figures of the dissolution of empires, and the passing away of systems, powers, tyrannies.
Hengstenberg writes, "The shining of the heavenly lights is the symbol and the visible reflection of the grace of God. Hence its extinguishment by the sun and moon becoming dark, in storms and earthquakes, etc., is regarded as a prelude of severe judgments".
For the darkening of sun and moon as a figure of the eclipse or
passing away of kingdoms, nations, or even churches, see Isaiah 24:23;
"The moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed when the Lord shall
reign in mount Zion ...." - a prophecy of the superior light of the
gospel dimming into obscurity the lesser light of the Law.
...
"And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind" - v.13.
The fundamental passage from which these words are taken is Isaiah
34:4-5:
...
In chapter 34, the dissolution of the heavens and the falling of the
stars is associated with the judgment of God on Jacob's traditional
enemy, Esau, here presented under his prophetic name of Idumea (Edom-
'red' - symbolic of his career of murder and blasphemy against the
people of God). (See verses 5-8). As usual however, Edom does not stand
exclusively for itself, but as the representative of all that worldly
power which hates the people of the Lord wherever it finds them.
...
The Book of Revelation is full of the symbolism of 'stars' - falling
or otherwise. Christ is the bright and morning star (Rev. 22:16); He is
the star which Balaam prophesied should arise out of Jacob (Num.
24:17); He holds in His right hand the seven stars which are the angels
of the Seven Churches (Rev. 1:20); a star falls from heaven to the
earth (Rev. 9:1) and is discovered to be none other than Satan (v.11).
The Church is represented in chapter 12 as a woman with a crown of
twelve stars. A great star falls in chapter 8 verses 10-11. Its name is
Wormwood, and its function is to make bitter all rivers and fountains
of water - no doubt meaning that false doctrine which poisons the
sources of light, life and truth upon which the soul of man depends,
even the preaching of the Word of God. We are seeing not a little of
that today.
...
"And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." - v.14
The rolling up of the heaven is a continuation of the symbolism of the preceding verse. The stars of heaven having fallen to the earth, that is, the rulers and tyrants of this world's system, the heaven itself, their region of power and dominance over the world comes to an end. The mountains and islands being moved out of their places represent the consequent disorder among the nation as the central, controlling power for the time being is destroyed.
How often in history could those words be spoken (as spoken they were by a great British statesman at the time of the Napoleonic wars)- "Roll up that map of Europe: It will not be needed again in our time"? How much of the world has been fundamentally changed since the 20th century came in, by two world wars, and the fall of great powers which only a short time ago controlled the whole world the rise of other nations and powers - as in Africa and Asia - never before known as significant territories on the face of the earth. As oft as this upheaval takes place on the face of the globe, so the principle of this Seal comes into action.
Charles D. Alexander
Revelation Spiritually Understood
http://www.allbygrace.com/alexrev047-06.html
The following clauses may be compared with Isaiah xxxiv. 4. Rev. vi. 12.
"And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree.
"And lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs when it is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heavens departed as a scroll, when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places."
These passages throw equal light upon the meaning of the terms used by St. Peter, whether they refer to literal, or figurative and political changes. The heaven, which is rolled together like a sheet of parchment, cannot denote the starry spaces, but the visible firmament, the blue expanse, which is spread out "as a tent to dwell in." When the stars fall to the earth, as a fig-tree casteth her figs in a mighty wind; the words must denote an atmospheric convulsion, in which the lights of the sky seem to be dashed violently to and fro, till they disappear; for no one will suppose that all the suns and planets of science can be precipitated upon the earth. The elements, in 2 Peter iii. 10, 12, answer to "the host of heaven" in Isaiah; and their melting with fervent heat implies the sudden disappearance of these landmarks of the sky from the senses of mankind, amidst the lurid gloom or fiery splendour that will seize on the lower firmament.
But what meaning are we to assign to the statement, that "the earth and the works therein shall be burned up?" The earth, Mr. Brown argues, as distinguished from the works therein, doubtless means the body of the globe, in contrast with all that adorns its surface. "If this is burnt up, it must be something more searching and fundamental than that process of burning, to which some would debase this magnificent prediction." But the words really prove just the reverse, that the solid substance of the globe is not spoken of, but its surface only. The works therein, not thereupon, are to be burned. We may infer that the earth is viewed as an extended surface. This indeed is the constant usage of Scripture, both in the Old and New Testament. Hence the threefold division of the universe--things in heaven, and in earth, and under the earth. It is plainly regarded as a visible expanse, capable of being inhabited by man, with its hemisphere of light above, and of darkness below. The universal language of our senses is borrowed, to express a moral and spiritual truth, no less comprehensive and universal. To introduce the notion of the globular and solid substance of the earth, interpolates an idea, plainly foreign from the scope of the texts, which destroys all the force and symmetry of the description. The burning of the earth below, the rolling up of the heavens like a vesture, and the falling of the stars from heaven to earth, are three consistent parts of one sublime picture, and exclude all reference to the solid substance of our planet, or to the heavens of science. The earth means that habitable surface, spread out for the use of man, of which the figurative foundations have been laid firmly by the hand of God, in those laws which regulate the human senses, and the structure of the solar system.
Outlines of unfulfilled prophecy, an inquiry into the Scripture
testimony respecting the 'good things to come'.
Thomas Rawson Birks, 1854. p. 254.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=CJYCAAAAQAAJ
In Isaiah 24 we have a picture of God's promise of judgment on Israel through the Assyrians. But Israel is spoken of as the "earth" Read in particular verses 1 and 19-20:
"Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof."
"The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
"The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again."
And in Isaiah 34:4-5 God said that "all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.”
"For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment."
We know this is not to be taken literally - that the literal heavens
would be dissolved and rolled together as a scroll, for He said that
His "sword shall be bathed in heaven" and then follows that by
explaining what He meant - the sword would "come down on Idumea." ...
If the dissolving of heaven and earth were to be taken literally in
all
the passages of the Old Testament where such language is used, it would
necessarily mean that the heavens and earth were to be destroyed
numerous times! The language has to be figurative.
While the coming of Jesus Christ made possible the passing away of the old and the introduction of the new through the institution of the new covenant (so vividly discussed by the writer of Hebrews), yet much of all this was not eliminated completely until A.D.70 when Jerusalem and the Temple were completely destroyed and the old actually ceased to be. As the writer said in Hebrews 8:13, "In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is READY to vanish away."
Heaven and earth shall pass...
By John L. Bray
http://www.tentmaker.org/books/heavenandearth.htm
Verse 14: "And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." Such are the fatal effects when mankind fall into error, they have no pleasure in contemplating heavenly objects -- their ideas concerning the great work of creation are gross and absurd, and so are their notions of redeeming love. Converse with such on the providential care and goodness of God, they will admit it, but it affords them no comfort. Speak to them on the subject of justifying faith in Jesus Christ, the influence of the Holy Spirit, the new birth, and they have no conception of such things. Such conversation is insipid to them. Such knowledge is to them like a scroll, or sheet of paper, when it is rolled together.
The application of the latter clause of the verse, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places, may be understood when it is considered that the principles of popery removed by degrees every obstacle in its way, and as it grew in power, it set up kings and dethroned them; it absolved subjects from their allegiance, and granted pardon to the rebellious; it changed even the commandments of God, by leaving out the second, to make way for image worship, and divided the tenth into two, to preserve the number; it made the scriptures of truth of no effect by its traditions; it made the canon or decree of a general council of more validity than any gospel authority; it set up the pope's infalibility in opposition to Him who is Supreme Judge; it condemned the righteous and justified the ungodly; it put the Redeemer into lymbus patrum, when the avaricious road to purgatory was discovered; it substituted the sacrifice of the mass in the room of that atoning sacrifice which was to take away the sins of the world; and thus it gradually removed every mountain and island of hope and security offered to us in the gospel out of their places, and placed man's salvation in the merits of the church.
Reflections on Revelations
By Peter Clarkin. Geo. C. Rand, Boston. 1849. p. 50.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=ggYOAAAAYAAJ
It is added, in the beginning of verse 14, that the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together. The space in which the earth, the moon, and the different planets, perform their revolutions, is manifestly intended here by the word heaven. Supposing this space were contracted like a sheet of parchment, or any flexible substance, when it is rolled up, there would then be no room for the annual, monthly, or diurnal motions of the heavenly bodies. It would be the same as if the heavens had passed away. And when we are here told of these symbolical heavens, that they departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, we are led to conceive that every thing peculiar to Paganism, within the limits of the Roman empire, was now to perish. This ruin could hardly be completed in one day ; but Constantine was no sooner advanced to the throne, than every thing that human laws, enforced by imperial authority, could accomplish, was done. In comparison with what had been the state of the empire, with respect to religion, from the beginning, his elevation to the supreme power was like the dissolution of an old world, and the creation of another in its room. The sun of the old Heathen world was extinguished, the moon was covered with blood, the stars dropt from their spheres, and the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together. Old things passed away, and the general aspect of the system became quite new.
Lectures, expository and practical, on the book of Revelation
By Robert Culbertson, 1826 p. 91
http://books.google.ca/books?id=nYsEAAAAQAAJ
In Isaiah 34, we have a description of the fall of Edom. Notice the
language that is used:
Isaiah 34:4-5 (NKJV) All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, And the
heavens shall be rolled up
like a scroll; All their host shall fall down As the leaf falls
from the vine, And as fruit falling from a fig tree. 5 "For My sword shall be bathed in heaven;
Indeed it shall come down on Edom, And on the people of My curse, for
judgment.
This is Biblical language to describe the fall of a nation. It should
be clear that it is not to be taken literally. God says, "His sword will
be bathed in heaven," then explains what He means by saying, "It
shall come down on Edom." The NIV puts it this way, "My sword has drunk its fill in the
heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have
totally destroyed." So, God speaks of His sword being bathed in
heaven, meaning the nation Edom, not the literal heaven. Edom shall be
rolled up like a scroll.
Heaven & Earth and the Law Have Passed Away
By David B. Curtis
http://www.bereanbiblechurch.org/transcripts/som/5_18.htm
After the true church has been caught up to meet the Lord in the
air, there will be a vast host of unconverted ecclesiastics left
behind; thousands of church dignitaries, both Protestant and Romanist,
who, though looked upon as guides in things spiritual, shall be
manifested as utterly bereft of divine life--professional clergymen
who, despite their pretentions and exalted calling, are simply natural
men intruding into spiritual things, like the Philistines of old who
dwelt in the land of Canaan and gave their name, Palestine, to the
whole thing as though it belonged of right to them, while all the time
they were unwarrented intruders of Egyptian descent. These are the
stars
who will be hurled from their places of power and eminence in that
awful
day of the wrath of the Lamb, and who, apostatizing from the last
vestiges of Christianity, will soon become leaders in the worship of
Antichrist.
Thus the heavens, the ecclesiastical powers of every description, will
depart as a scroll when it is rolled up. The whole fabric of
Christendom will be wound up as something obsolete and out of date.
Lectures on the Book of Revelation
By H. A. Ironside. 1919. p. 117-118.
http://rarebooks.dts.edu/viewbook.aspx?bookid=1481
A man of science would scoff at the idea of the stars falling to the
earth, especially as the sun and the moon are expressly excepted. Why,
if any heavenly body would fall to earth, it would be the moon, and as
to the sun or the larger stars, the earth would fall into them, rather
than a multitude of stars upon it!
...
In Greek and Hebrew one term was applied to all the luminaries of the
heavens, except the sun and the moon. The Greek word aster is found in
English in our asteroid, and is the source of our word star. One form
of it, astron, they set aside for designating groups of stars, or
constellations (Luke 21:25; Acts 7:43; 27:20; Heb.11:12). The word star
is used the same in English. A speck of incandescent dust is called a
shooting or falling star. So we need have no hesitancy in applying the
term to any luminous object in the sky.
In contrast with "the stars of heaven" is the phrase "the powers of the
heavens." While the special location of the stars is limited to the
neighborhood of the earth, so tremendous will be the convulsion which
centers about the earth that the shock will send a shudder to the
utmost bounds of the universe.
There is ample reason to believe that a convulsion of this nature has
already taken place, not so very far from the earth. The guarded phrase
"since mankind came to be on the earth" (Rev. 16:18) suggests not only
that there have been earthquakes much greater than any known at
present, as indicated by the enormous faults in the earth's surface,
but that these may have been occasioned by strains from without as well
as within. It is well known that, besides the planets and their
attendants which wander about the ecliptic, there are a vast number of
fragments where we would look for another planet. Evidently some
enormous alien force has entered among the planets and rent one of them
into thousands of pieces.
Space seems to be filled with flying fragments, millions of which fall
to the earth even at the present time. I have counted hundreds of
"shooting stars" in a single evening. For three hours of the night of
November 13, 1833, men were frightened almost to death, thinking that
the sixth seal was being broken (if they had ever heard of it), or that
the end of all things had come. The sky was filled with flashing
meteors, and looked as if all the stars were falling to the earth. This
alone is evidence that "the stars of heaven" are ready for the great
day when the sudden shock will send them hurtling to the earth.
Fig trees often fail to ripen the full crop, especially if water is
wanting and there is much heat. The figs shrivel up, their stems become
brittle, so that the least touch breaks them off. A sudden gust of wind
will send showers of these shriveled figs to the ground. Such is the
picture presented of the falling stars. I have watched a single meteor
with considerable dread as it hissed across the sky, for there was no
telling where it would strike. How terrible it would be to have the sky
covered with them, thick as a barrage of bullets in a battle!
Picture to yourself the awful scene. Sun and moon obscured, the
blackness stabbed by millions of menacing meteors, the ground swaying
beneath your feet, even the mountains moving and the islands leaving
their places! Can we imagine a more desperate situation! Yet, terrible
as it is, this is not the worst. These are all the forces of nature,
impersonal, implacable, heartless, yet limited to their present fury
and unable to do more than kill their victims. In milder forms, all
these have been met before. The sun hides its face each evening, yet
reappears at dawn. The moon is often invisible. Clouds and ashes have
darkened the air, and meteors have fallen before. Even the ground has
shaken, taking a terrible toll of life. It is their combined intensity
which appalls mankind. But these do not send men scurrying into caves
and the rocks of the mountains. These do not urge them to hide. These
are but the prelude to the most momentous vision earth will ever see.
Suddenly the black pall that covers all is rolled back, and reveals the sign of the Son of Mankind in all His glory. The vision that had been vouchsafed to heaven alone is now visible on earth. Like a new luminary, blotting out the sun by its brightness, appears the most glorious majesty of the epiphany of the coming Christ. Just as the lightning flashes forth from the sullen clouds, so the presence of the Son of Mankind will be. Not a secret session, or a subtle influence, but a sudden and awful manifestation of glory.
The Unveiling of Jesus Christ
By A. E. Knoch
http://www.concordant.org/expohtml/TheUnveiling/TheUnveiling.htm
In Isa. 34:4 we read--"All the host of heaven (the stars) shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth from the vibe, and as falling fig from the fig tree," This corresponds to the "stars of heaven" of this "SEAL," and probably refers not to the constellations and heavenly bodies (stars), they are too far away to be affected by judgments on the earth, but to our own atmosphere, and to "meteors" and "shooting stars," similar to the "shooting stars" of November 13th, 1833, when they fell for 3 hours during the evening, and so terrified the people that they thought the end of the world had come.
The Book of Revelation: A Study of the Last Prophetic Book of Holy
Scripture
By Clarence Larkin
http://books.google.ca/books?id=wdznQLc7EWAC
As we read this little chapter here, which I will go through very
quickly, you will see the relevance of it and how at the end of the age
Edom, Esau, will have a major role to play in bringing the nations of
the world against Israel, against Judah, against Jerusalem. God will be
angry concerning it. Remember that God said, "Esau have I hated" and
"Jacob have I loved" (Romans 9:13). This is in God's plan. The Edomites
will all be redeemed some time in the future, but they have a role to
play in this world before that redemption. Here is Isaiah giving the
final chapter, the final prophecy, against the last of the nations.
"Come near, you nations, to hear; and hearken, you people: let the
earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that
come forth of it." Isaiah 34:1
This is an appeal here to the universal world.
"For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon
all their armies [this is worldwide in scope]: he has utterly destroyed
them, he has delivered them to the slaughter." Isaiah 34:2
Again, this is the prophetic past tense being used, when it is talking
about a time in the future.
"Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out
of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their
blood." Isaiah 34:3-4
Have you read that somewhere in the New Testament? Why of course. And
it goes on
"... and all their host [the heavenly host] shall fall down ..." Have
we read in Daniel and also the Book of Revelation about stars falling
from the heavens at a particular time in the future? Have we not read
in Luke chapter 21 of the Olivet Prophecy about heavenly signs and
stars falling and all of that? It is a reference to this time period
when all the nations of the world will be dealt with. In fact let us go
on:
"And all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falls off from the
vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. For my sword shall be
bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea." Isaiah 34:4-5
That is the King James translators spelling of it. Why is it spelled
Idumea here and spelled as Edom in some other places. It is simply
because there were six different groups of people back in 1611 who
translated the King James Version. Some were in Lambeth in London. Some
were in Cambridge. Some were in Oxford. What they did was they
translated different sections of the Bible. When they brought it all
together, one group had a different spelling than the other. Did they
streamline it and make it all to be the same? No they did not. They
left the words different. It is most interesting.
In the Hebrew the words are exactly the same. It is "Edom." That is all
it means. That is what it means in Isaiah 34:5.
"For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down
upon Idumea [Edom], and upon the people of my curse, to judgment."
Isaiah 34:4-5
He says they are "the people of my curse." From the very beginning they
were fighting in the womb. One was to be evil. The other was to be
good. We find this carrying on until the Second Coming of Christ. This
fight is being described here.
"... the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of the Lord is
filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of
lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the Lord has
a sacrifice in Bozrah [a city in Edom], and a great slaughter in the
land of Idumea [Edom]. And the unicorns shall come down with them, and
the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood,
and their dust made fat with fatness." Isaiah 34:5-7
All of these are clean animals being discussed here, animals for
sacrifice. If you go to Revelation chapter 19, you will find the same
description being given there, with slightly different language, but
also about a great slaughter, a great sacrifice occurring at the end of
the age when Christ comes with the sword in His hand. It is the same
event being described right here. It is called in Isaiah chapter 34 the
sacrifice of bulls, of lambs, and goats, but these animals represent
nations and peoples and countries. They are coming and they will find
themselves destroyed in the land of Edom. Look at this in verse 8:
"For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses
for the controversy of Zion." Isaiah 34:8
This year and this day have not yet occurred. They are still future to
us. The Book of Revelation shows that it is future. It is going to
involve Edom. Edom is the major people of His curse (Isaiah 34:5). And
the references in the Bible, from the very beginning of struggling in
the womb all the way through the Scripture, we find Edom fulfilling
this role. Is it not interesting that the king over Judah in the time
our Lord was born, who almost had Him killed when the king said to kill
all of the male infants around Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16-19) was Herod,
who himself was an Edomite. It is most remarkable when you think about
it.
"For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses
for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned
into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof
shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day;
..." Isaiah 34:8-10
Look at this reference here. The only other place you will find it in
the Bible is Revelation 19:3.
" ... the smoke thereof shall go up for ever [for the age]: from
generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it
for ever and ever [for the ages of the ages]." Isaiah 34:10
That is very reminiscent of Babylon, is it not? But this is not Babylon
being talked of here. It is Edom, the area southeast of the Dead Sea.
The Most Significant Gentile Nation in the Bible
By Ernest L. Martin
http://www.askelm.com/prophecy/p060701.htm
The departing of the heavens like a scroll is more difficult to understand. There seem to be two possibilities. One is that the clouds of dust will gradually spread across the sky, making it appear that the sky is being "rolled up." However, the use of the graphic term "departed," seems to indicate something more spectacular even than this. The other possibility is that the earth's crust, highly unstable ever since the great Flood, will be so disturbed by the impacting asteroids, the volcanic explosions, and the worldwide earthquakes, that great segments of it will actually begin to slip and slide over the earth's deep plastic mantle.
The Revelation record
By Henry Madison Morris. p. 122-123.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=inbeiIub460C
Isaiah spoke of the starry host falling like withered leaves from the vine (Isa 34:4). It is one of the signs that immediately precede the coming of the Son of man (Matt 13:25-26). The falling of stars upon the earth could mean but one thing to the ancient--the end had come. The sky will recede like an unrolled papyrus scroll that, should it break in the middle, would roll quickly back on either side. The removing of every mountain and island from its place has no parallel in apocalyptic writing. It may have been suggested by Nah 1:5 ("the hills melt away") or Jer 4:24 ("the mountains ... were quaking; all the hills were swaying").
We need not expect that these cataclysmic events will take place in a completely literal sense, although whatever they depict is sufficient to drive people in terror to the mountains, where they plead for death rather than face the wrath of the Lamb (vv. 15-17)--an unlikely consequence if they symbolize no more than social and political upheavals. Elsewhere in Revelation people are pictured as so adamant in pursuing their own goals that neither demonic plague (9:20) not scorching heat is sufficient to make them repent. Nothing short of the awesome dissolution of the world itself will strike terror to the heart of people in the last days.
The Book of Revelation
By Robert H. Mounce p. 151.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=6FAookts4MUC
The 6th [seal] speaks of the great convulsions that will shake the whole earth. This may signify the condition in which every authority and power loses its control over men and anarchy reigns. Kelly says: "The persecuting powers and those subject to them will be visited judicially, and there will ensue a complete disruption of authority on the earth."
Things to come: a study in Biblical eschatology
By J. Dwight Pentecost
http://books.google.ca/books?id=2k6jJ12en1cC
For 'the heaven removed as a scroll' and 'as a fig tree casts its
unripe figs' see '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 fades from the vine, and as a fading leaf from a
fig tree' (Isaiah 34.4). This latter specifically refers to God's
judgment on Edom and their neighbours, so that it was not seen as
literally happening, and did not refer to the end times. It was
metaphorical for the devastation they would suffer.
The apocalyptic language in Ezekiel 32 (especially compare verses 7 and
8 with 9 and 10) has specifically in mind the downfall of Pharaoh and
of Egypt at the hands of the Babylonians, including the surrounding
nations. It is then followed by a description of the fate of other
nations. There is nothing to indicate that it is specifically related
to 'the day of the Lord' or to a period called 'the end times'. These
nations did suffer these fates historically and we must hesitate before
we assume that fulfilment in history is so irrelevant that we must push
everything into the context of the 'end times'.
Isaiah 13 - 14 (see 13.10, 13) refers to the downfall of Babylon, and
while the language is extravagant it is specifically said to be by the
Medes (13.17) which was historically correct, but in this case there is
a movement on to the end times for in 13.19-22 the prophet 'sees'
beyond the times in which he lives to the final destruction of Babylon,
when it will be destroyed to rise no more. From its earliest history
(Genesis 11.9) Babylon was a symbol greater than itself, (like Rome
later), and therefore its final doom was to be total. In the end the
prophet knew that this was what must happen. What he did not know was
when or how.
Isaiah 34 (see verse 4) refers to the downfall of Edom and 'all the
nations' i.e. the nations around Edom who have troubled Israel,
specifically the people of His 'curse', assigned to destruction (34.5)
as is evidenced by the fact that the rest of 'the nations' do not take
part but are called in to witness the event - 34.1. While it refers to
the day of the Lord's vengeance it is revenge on Edom for their
behaviour towards Israel (34.8). It is not said to be in the end times,
nor is there any reason for suggesting that it is (except to those who
quite unreasonably put ALL prophecy in the last days).
Commentary on the Book of Revelation
By Peter Pett
http://www.geocities.com/revelationofjohn/index.html
14. And thus in short, not only did the luminaries of the Roman world become eclipsed and the stars fall to the earth, but the heaven, the Pagan heaven itself which covered the Roman empire, departed as a scroll, when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Army after army, emperor after emperor (for. after Diocletian's division there were several contemporary emperors or "kings of the earth") was routed, and fled and perished in consternation before the cross and its warriors, such was the case with Maxentius, Maximin, and Licinius after his apos- tacy to the pagan cause. There was a consciousness that the powers of heaven and above all the Crucified One, the Christian's God were against them. The war was felt to be a religious war. It was a struggle between the champions of heathenism and the champion of the cross. In the persecution just preceding, the emperors Diocletian and Maximin had struck medals of themselves in the characters and names of "Jove" and "Hercules" destroying the serpent-like hydra-headed monster Christianity: and these Pagan titles had been adopted by their successors. When Maximin went forth to engage with Licinius, he made his vow to Jupiter that, if successful, he would extirpate Christianity. When Licinius, again, after his wretched apostacy, was marching against Constantino and his crusaders, he ridiculed the cross in public harangue before the soldiers, and staked the falsehood of Christianity on his success. In all these cases the terrors of defeat were aggravated by a sense of their gods having failed them; and of the power of heaven being with Christ, the Christians' God. And the dying horrors also of one and another of these persecuting emperors are recorded in history, and stand as an example of what all, who eagerly participated in this fearful struggle against the cross, must have experienced themselves. The consternation which history depicts is only a counterpart of the prophetic vision. " The ruin of the Pagan religion is described by the sophists, as a dreadful and amazing prodigy which covered the earth with darkness, and restored the ancient dominion of chaos and night."
Paraphrase of the Revelation of saint John, according to the Horæ
apocalypticæ of E.B. Elliott
John Henry Pratt, Edward Bishop Elliott, 1862
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The editors of The Quarterly Christian spectator in 1837 wrote on Isa. 34:4,
4. And all the host of heaven. The word host, Heb. tsau-bau, army, is often applied to the constellations of heaven--the stars as marshalled or arrayed in military array. (Comp. Job xxxviii. 32.) The heavenly bodies are often used to represent kings and princes. (Comp. ch. xxiv. 21.)--Shall melt away, venaumakoo. This figure, Vitringa supposes, is taken from the vulgar prejudice by which the stars of heaven appear to be crystals, or gems set in the azure vault of heaven, which may dissolve, or melt, and flow down by the application of heat. The word maukak, means to melt, to pine away; and means here, as Vitringa has supposed, to become liquid, and flow down. The sense is, that there should be great changes and destruction, that the princes and nobles, who had opposed God and his people, should be destroyed, as if the sparkling stars, like gems, should melt in the heavens, and flow down to the earth, and all should be extinguished.--And the heavens shall be rolled up as a scroll. The word scroll, here Sepher, means a roll, or a book. Books were made of parchment, leaves, &.c., and were rolled together, instead of being bound, as they are with us. The idea here is evidently figurative. The figure is taken from the vulgar notion, from what strikes the eye, that the heaven above us is an expanse, raukeea, (Gen. i. 8; Psa. civ. 2,) which is spread out, and which might be rolled together, and thus pass away, or the expanse cease to exist. It is possible, that there may be a reference here also to the fact, that in a storm, when the sky is filled with dark rolling clouds, the heavens seem to be rolled together, and to be passing away. The sense is, that there would be great destruction and ruin among those high in office and in power,-- a destruction, that would be represented only by the rolling up of the expanse over the head, and the destruction of the visible heavens, and their host, and by leaving the world to ruin, and to night.--And all their host shall fall down. That is, their stars; either by being as it were melted, or by the fact, that the expanse in which they are apparently located, should be rolled up and removed, and there being no fixtures for them, they should fall. In the violent concussion and agitations of rolling up the expanse, they would be shaken out of their places and fall to the earth. This is a most striking and beautiful figure. The same image here employed, occurs in Rev. vi. 13. One somewhat similar occurs in Virgil. Georg. I. 365, seq. The sense is, that there should be vast commotion among the nations which were the objects of the divine displeasure; that they should be consigned to ruin--ruin as certain, conspicuous, and as awful as if the stars of heaven were to fall, and vast commotion were seen in the sky, and all the vast expanse in which the stars are set, should be wrapped together and pass away.--As the falling of leaves off from the vine, &c. That is, in a storm, or when violently shaken. This too, indicates great commotion and agitation.
5. For my sword rushes intoxicated from heaven. A sword is an instrument of punishment, or vengeance, and is often so used in the scriptures, because it was often employed in capital punishments. This passage has given much perplexity to commentators, on account of the apparent want of meaning of the expression, that the sword should be bathed in heaven. Lowth reads it,
For my sword is made bare in the heavens;
following in this the Chaldee, which reads tithnallee, shall be revealed, or shall be made manifest, or bare. But there is no authority from MSS. for this change in the Hebrew text.
The Quarterly Christian spectator, June 1837. p. 224-226
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It will be of little consequence then that the ecclesiastical heavens (the religious powers, Papal and Protestant) will have rolled together as a scroll. (Isa. 34:4; Rev. 6:14) The combined religious power of Christendom will be utterly futile against the rising tide of anarchy when the dread crisis is reached. Before that great army "all the host of heaven [the church nominal] shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll [the two great bodies which constitute the ecclesiastical heavens; viz., Papacy and Protestantism, as the two distinct ends of the scroll are even now rapidly approaching one another, rolling together, s we have shown]; and all their host shall fall down [fall off, drop out; not all at once, but gradually, yer rapidly] as the leaf falleth off the vine, and as a falling fig from a fig tree" (Isa. 34:4)...
The Battle of Armageddon
By Charles Taze Russell
http://books.google.ca/books?id=87JeIY4Cdu8C
5. "And the heaven recoiled as a scroll rolling itself together." We have here the same particular heaven. With the prodigiess already named, the sky folds upon itself. The fastenings which held it outstretched, are loosed in the general convulsion, and it rolls up. Great, massive, rotary motion in the whole visible expanse, is signified, as if it were folding itself up to pass away forever. Some tell us that this never can literally happen, and that we are not therefore to expect it to be fulfilled in any physical fact. But why not? Does not Peter, in a plainly literal passage, tell us of just such commotions in the aerial heavens? Does he not say, in so many words, that they shall be loosed (***) and move with such a noisy rushing, after the manner of a tempest? And so significant and awful is to be the nature of the fact, that nearly all the prophets have taken notice of it, and foretell the same in language which we must monstrously pervert to understand in any other than a literal sense.
The Apocalypse: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation
By Joseph A. Seiss, p. 155.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=xHlNR_Pj7vUC
And the Heaven Departed as a Scroll. In this event our minds are turned to the future. From looking at the past and beholding the word of God fulfilled, we are now called to look at events before us, which are no less sure to come. Here is our position unmistakably defined. We stand between the 13th and 14th verses of this chapter. We wait for the heavens to depart as a scroll when it is rolled together. And these are times of unparalleled solemnity and importance; for how near we may be to the fulfillment of these things we know not.
This departing of the heaven as a scroll is what the evangelists call in the same series of events, the shaking of the powers of the heavens. Other scriptures give us further particulars concerning this prediction. From Heb. 12:25-27, Joel 3:16, Jer. 25 : 30-33, Rev. 16:17, we learn that it is the voice of God as he speaks in terrible majesty from his throne in Heaven, that causes this fearful commotion in earth and sky. Once the Lord spoke, when, with an audible voice, he declared to his creatures the precepts of his eternal law; and the earth shook. He is to speak again, and not only the earth will shake, but the heavens also. Then will the earth "reel to and fro like a drunkard;" it will be "disolved," and "clean broken down;" Isa. 24; mountains will move from their firm bases; islands will suddenly change their location in the midst of the sea; from the level plain will arise the precipitous mountain; and rocks will thrust up their ragged forms from earth's broken surface; and while the voice of God is reverberating through the earth, the direst confusion will reign over the face of nature.
Then will the world's dream of carnal security be effectually broken. Kings who, intoxicated with their own earthly authority, have never dreamed of a higher power than themselves, now realize that there is One who reigns King of kings; and the great men behold the vanity of all earthly pomp, for there is a greatness above that of earth; and the rich men throw their silver and gold to the moles and bats, for it cannot save them in that day; and the chief captains forget their little brief authority and the mighty men their might; and every bondman, who is in the still worse bondage of sin, and every freeman, all classes of the wicked, from the highest to the lowest, join in the general wail of consternation and despair. They who never prayed to Him whose arm could bring salvation, now raise an agonizing prayer to rocks and mountains to bury them forever from his presence. Fain would they now avoid reaping what they by a life of lust and sin had sown. Fain would they now shun the fearful treasure of wrath which they have been heaping up for themselves against this day. Fain would they bury themselves and their catalogue of crimes in everlasting darkness. And so they fly to the rocks, caves, caverns, and fissures which the broken surface of the earth now presents before them. But it is too late. They cannot conceal their guilt nor escape the long-delayed vengeance.
"It will be in vain to call,
Rocks and mountains on us fall,
For His hand will find out all,
In that day."
The day which they thought never would come, has at last taken them as in a snare; and the involuntary language of their anguished hearts, is, "The great day of his wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand?" Before it is called out by the fearful scenes of this time, we pray you, reader, give your most serious and candid attention to this subject.
Many now affect to despise the institution of prayer. But at one time or another all men will pray. Those who will not now pray to God in penitence, will then pray to the rocks and mountains in despair. And this will be the largest prayer-meeting ever held. As you read these lines think whether you would like to have a part therein.
Adventists are now in the minority; but they will then be in the majority; for all the world will be Adventists. But alas! with the great mass their belief will come too late to do them any good.
Thoughts, critical and practical, on the book of Revelation
By Uriah Smith p. 150.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=pYUYAAAAYAAJ
Revelation 6:12-17. After observing these stirring scenes, John next recorded observing the opening of the sixth seal, "I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to the earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who can stand?'" (vv. 12-17)
It would be difficult to paint a scene more dramatic, more awful than that which is described in these verses. All the elements of catastrophic judgment are present: a great earthquake, the sun turning black, the moon becoming as blood, the stars of heaven falling like ripe figs, the heavens demonstrating major movements departing as a scroll, and on the earth every mountain and island moving. The picture of God's judgment on the world at this time is so dramatic that some recoil from it and attempt to interpret it in a less than literal sense. They would hold that this simply refers to political and social instability that will characterize the end time. However, the objections to a symbolic interpretation for which there is no norm or guiding principle are such that it is far better to interpret it in its literal sense.
John F. Walvoord, Every Prophecy of the Bible p. 557.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=BNxHnhfQIosC
The sun and moon are eclipsed; an appaling star shower occurs; dark
thunder clouds in dreadful rolling masses snatch away the sky; and an
earthquake displaces mountains and islands from their solid
foundations. ... In Isa. xxxiv. 4,5,9,10 is a terrific prophecy of
God's judgment on the land of Idumea. Let the reader compare it with
Rev. vi. 14; also with 2 Peter iii. 10,12, and say whether in view of
such a precedent it is presumptuous to understand both these passages
as in like manner pronouncing an equal infliction upon Palestine and
Jerusalem.
The book of Revelation: an exposition, based on the principles of
Prof. Stuarts' commentary and designed to familiarize those principles
to the minds of non-professional readers
Israel Perkins Warren
Funk & Wagnalls, 1886 p. 103-104.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=2_I2AAAAMAAJ
"And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together,"--just as the Jewish heavens did; and so your heavens, all your former heavens, depart as a scroll when it is rolled todether,--they are all gone; you are a new creature in a new world, and all things are become new; you are brought into the new heavens and the new earth.
Twenty-four lectures on the book of Revelation
By James Wells, p. 95
http://books.google.ca/books?id=W-4EAAAAQAAJ
The opening of the six seal brings us to the end of the cosmos as we know it (cf. Isa. 13:9-11; 24:21-23; 1 En. 102:2-3). Here human beings finally recognize the unleashing of the final wrath of God. Vs. 14 speaks of the splitting open of the sky and of each part rolling up like two great scrolls. Even the mountains and the islands are moved out of their places.
Revelation
By Ben Witherington, Cambridge U. Press. p. 135
http://books.google.ca/books?id=FKQaaiVbLp4C
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