Revelation 6:12

And I saw when he had opened the sixth seal: there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair: and the moon became as blood. By the earthquake we should understand the last persecution under the Antichrist. It is called …

And I saw when He opened the sixth seal, etc. With the opening of the sixth seal, the final persecution is announced, and just as the world was shaken with darkness and fear when the Lord was crucified on the sixth day, it will be …

And the sun became black as sackcloth. As if the power of Christ were hidden, or His doctrine temporarily obscured, or as if He were veiled from defense, when the ministers of Antichrist are allowed to attack the servants of Christ.

And the whole moon became like blood. The Church will shed blood for Christ more than usual. He said the whole moon, because the final commotion will be worldwide, whereas previously it was, as written, localized.

The like representation is made in heaven, chap. xi, 18. And there was a great earthquake - Or shaking, not of the earth only, but the heavens. This is a farther description of the representation made to those unhappy souls.

2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. Christ, the Lamb, opens the first seal; he now enters upon the great work of opening and accomplishing the purposes of God towards the church and the world.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:32w-of-60

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal,.... Of the sealed book which the Lamb took out of the hand of him that sat upon the throne, in order to open it, and unloose its seals.

(2.) The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, either naturally, by a total eclipse, or politically, by the fall of the chief rulers and governors of the land. (3.) The moon should become as blood; the inferior officers, or their military men, should be all wallowing in their own blood.

This is one of the catchwords [WORDSWORTH] connecting the sixth seal with the sixth trumpet (Re 11:13) and the seventh vial (Re 16:17-21); also the seventh seal (Re 8:5). sackcloth--One kind, made of the "hair" of Cilician goats, was called "cilicium," or Cilician cloth, and was used for tents, &c.

The sixth seal - This seal also is opened and introduced by Jesus Christ alone. A great earthquake - A most stupendous change in the civil and religious constitution of the world. If it refer to Constantine the Great, the change that was made by his conversion to Christianity might be very properly represented under the emblem of an earthquake, and the other symbols mentioned in this and the following verses. The sun - the ancient pagan government of the Roman empire, was totally darkened; and, like a black hair sackcloth, was degraded and humbled to the dust.

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal - See the notes at Rev 5:1; Rev 6:1. And, lo, there was a great earthquake - Before endeavoring to ascertain to what the sixth seal was designed to refer, it is proper, as in the previous cases, to furnish a particular explanation of the meaning of the symbols. All the symbols represented in the opening of this seal denote consternation, commotion, changes; but still they are all significant, and we are to suppose that something would occur corresponding with each one of them. It cannot be supposed that the things here described were represented on the part of the roll or volume that was now unfolded in any other way than that they were pictures, or that the whole was a species of panoramic representation made to pass before the eyes. Thus understood, it would not be difficult to represent each one of these things in a painting: as the heaving ground - the agitated forests - the trembling hills - the falling cities and houses - the sun blackened, and the moon turned to blood: (a) The earthquake, Rev 6:12; “There was a great earthquake.” The word used here denotes a shaking or agitation of the earth. The effect, when violent, is to produce important changes - opening chasms in the earth; throwing down houses and temples; sinking hills, and elevating plains; causing ponds and lakes to dry up, or forming them where none existed; elevating the ocean from its bed, rending rocks, etc. As all that occurs in the opening of the other seals is symbolical, it is to be presumed that this is also, and that for the fulfillment of this we are not to look for a literal earthquake, but for such agitations and changes in the world as would be properly symbolized by this. The earthquake, as a symbol, would merely denote great agitations or overturnings on the earth. […]