In Revelation 6:12-17 is recorded the account of the greatest prayer meeting of all history. John describes it for us in the account of the vision he had while on the island of Patmos, banished because of his faithfulness to God and His Word.
“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 unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
There is no word-painting in all the Bible so impressive as this picture of the final judgment of the living nations at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the dramas and tragedies of the world’s greatest writers pale before it. It is a picture of universal vision, universal recognition, universal terror, universal conviction, universal wailing, and universal prayer. The last awful pages in this world’s black record preceded this great event: sin will have lifted its monster head against God with every evil factor revived and incarnated. Sin reaches its climax and then–Christ comes, comes as Judge, comes in glory, comes to put to rout all opposition, to conquer all rebellion, to stamp out all evil, comes to make the will of God the law of the universe. He comes to reign.
What a day of unparalleled splendor, and of unspeakable horror! Every eye shall see Him. Oh, unsaved ones, tremble at the very thought of it! Wait not for that terrible day to cry for mercy, let not your voice mingle in that wailing, nor your heart be broken in that general dismay. Fly to Christ now, and hide yourself in Him. In that day there will be no hiding place from the presence of His glory, no escape from the death-ray of His all-seeing eye. All nature will be in a convulsion of agony, reeling to her core. Sun, moon, stars, rocks, islands, mountains–all unite in creating a scene of horror as a terror-stricken world, too long defiant and heedless of the warnings of doom, now awakes to the terrible reality of the great day of wrath. All mankind, from the mightiest dictator to the meanest slave, join in a wild, unavailing cry for help. The day has come, the day long foretold by the servants of God, the day that ends the sordid story of man’s sin and God’s forbearance, the day of the Lord, the day of His vengeance.
That day will be ushered in by the great prayer meeting. The wail of terror, the cry for mercy, is not because of some earthly despot, some mighty conqueror treading underfoot the helpless and hopeless. It is One mightier than the mightiest who evokes it. It is the august Being seated on the throne of the universe. It is the wrath, not of a perishable mortal, but the wrath of the Lamb, the wrath of outraged love and gentleness. The wrath of man is great, the rage of nations is terrible: the track of earth’s conquerors has left millions to send up their unsuccored cry amid once smiling fields, now blackened with ashes and smoke, dearth and famine and death. But the wrath of God is greater, far beyond the power of human lips to tell or human mind to conceive.
The world will be in a state of daring defiance and skeptic indifference at that time. Unbridled sinfulness and lust, reeking corruption precedes judgment. Our Lord said, “As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man.” A guilty, godless, daring, defiant world, that laughs at the warnings of God’s Holy Word, will suddenly awaken to the terrible reality of judgment by heaving earthquake, departing heavens, blackened sun, and blood-red moon. Our Lord’s description of that day agrees with John’s.
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Mt. 24:29-30).
Power-mad despots, corrupt politicians, gold-thirsty financiers, blood-thirsty warmongers, Satan-inspired deceivers; all who had lived in forgetfulness of God, whatever their station, will be roused in a moment to a bitter, agonizing sense of their misery and ruin, calling upon rock and mountain cave to screen and cover them from the wrath of the Lamb. The wicked–those who have rejected and neglected God’s great salvation, spurned the offers of pardon, despised the day of grace, dishonored the Saviour’s Name, dethroned Him from their hearts and lives–pray in that day but there is no answer.
In that Day–the greatest horror will not be the reeling earth, nor the horror of total darkness, illuminated by red terror and rolling heavens–One object and One alone will arrest their gaze. Their eyes will be fixed in trembling agony on the one Person whom they seek to escape–the Lamb of God. “Behold He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him.” They will make dumb nature their god in that day, crying to its rocks and mountains, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.” But there is no response. Creation, loyal to its great Maker, is deaf to the call. That wrath must be borne: that withering glance of rejected, spurned love must be endured. There is no escape, not in heaven above nor in the depths beneath. We can picture the sinner rushing from spot to spot in a wild delirium of despair, making rock and mountain echo to the wail from which there is no response–“Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?” Oh, “Who shall be able to stand?”
That cry–that question on the lips of the true and devoted followers of the Lamb–can be answered. God always provides a hiding place for those who trust in Him. In this the wildest drama of God’s moral and material creation, there will be a City of Refuge, a Zone of safety, a Rock of strength. Behold a Man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and as a covert from the tempest. It is the Lamb whose wrath will be terrible in that day. It is the Lamb whose blood avails today to take sin’s guilt away.
Jesus died to deliver us from the wrath to come. The wrath that was our due He received when God judged Him for our sins. Behold the Lamb of God on Calvary, and you will stand in the day of judgment beyond the sweep of the torrent of wrath.
When the hand of God struck Egypt with vengeance to meet Pharaoh’s challenge, “Who is Jehovah?” all who were sheltered by the blood of the slain lamb were safe in Jehovah’s keeping. When the pillar cloud was all dark with terror and wrath to the pursuing Egyptians, it was gleaming with light and glory to the hosts of Israel. The very hand that in the one case was strong to smite, in the other case was strong to save.
Make sure, beloved friend, that you are in the ark of safety before the floods of wrath overtake you. Now Jesus bids you flee from the wrath to come, and take refuge beneath the shelter of His atoning blood. There will be no escape in the day of wrath.
Yes, it is the blood and nothing but the blood that saves the soul and secures from wrath to come. The blood-bought, redeemed saints are bound for glory and will be safe in the Father’s house when the floods of wrath are poured out upon this world that so long has rejected God’s grace. Haste, sinner, escape for your life, look not behind you. Escape; for as you linger it may be too late. Ominous clouds appear in the heavens. Slumbering wrath is about to break out in fury.
Blessed be God, that day has not yet come. Mercy still lingers on the steps of her golden throne. The still small voice of the gospel still reaches you. Oh, listen to its message of pardon and peace; come now to the Saviour.