As the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse make clear, terrible events like wars, famines and plagues are bound to recur as long as human history continues. But the fifth seal reminds us that we should in fact long for that history to come to an end. That’s what the souls of the departed saints desire, waiting as they do for the day that God will put an end to the persecution of the Church, bringing His perfect justice to all the earth (6:10).

But that day will indeed come, as the sixth seal describes so vividly (6:17). And it will be as unmistakable as it is overwhelming. But just as we saw in the first four seals, John’s vision of the coming of Christ is really nothing new. Instead, it is drawn directly from Jesus’ own description of the way in which He will return: “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken” (Mark 13:24-25).

Moreover, John’s vision also echoes much of what the Old Testament prophets had already seen. Joel saw that on that Day, the sun would be darkened and the moon would be turned to blood (Joel 2:31). Isaiah also saw that on the “day of the Lord’s vengeance” (Isaiah 34:8) the mountains would be melted and the heavens would be rolled up like a scroll (Isaiah 34:3-4). He also saw that on that day, the lofty and the haughty “shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth” (Isaiah 2:19).

No, there’s really nothing mysterious to be discovered in the scroll that describes human history – Jesus and the prophets have told us all of this before. And so instead of trying to decipher all the details of exactly how the future will unfold, we should focus on the fact that all of history will one day come to an end.

So, will that coming Day of Judgment be good news for us? Do we long for Christ to return and to make everything right? Or will that be a terrifying day, a day when everything in which we have put our trust will be swept away in a moment, leaving us no firm place on which to stand?

Revelation 6:9-17 (ESV)

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.
10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,
13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.
14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,
16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,
17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”