Revelation 6:12-17 12And when he opened the fourth seal, I saw, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, and the full moon became like blood, 13and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale, 14and the sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from their place. 15And the kings of the earth and the important people and the military leaders and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16calling 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, 17because the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
The description of the sixth seal is longer than the previous five. Two major events happen in this passage. The first leads to the second. As the seal is broken, a great earthquake announces the coming of cataclysmic disturbances in creation. Earthquakes are common in the area of the seven churches. Big ones have devastated cities in the area for millennia. Another great earthquake is mentioned in 16:16–21 at the pouring out of the seventh bowl. Other references to earthquakes can be found in 8:5; 11:13, 19; 16:17–21. Earthquakes are mentioned in Isaiah 29:6 and Ezekiel 38:19 as a form of God’s judgment upon Israel.
Creation responds to the earthquake, possibly as a result, beginning with the sun being blocked like black sackcloth. This vivid image shows how the light and warmth of the sun will be blocked, possibly by dust from an earthquake or a volcanic eruption, which could also cause the moon to turn red. The earthquake could also be interpreted as the cause of the mountains crumbling and the islands shifting. However, it is difficult to connect all these events to an earthquake; for example, the falling stars are beyond Earth’s influence unless these might be lights in the skies, like airplanes or satellites. The original readers could picture these events because of the similes John uses to describe them (sackcloth, blood, falling fig fruit, rolled up scroll, leveling). These images create fear in most people, especially those who have been through a devasting earthquake.
The effect of these cosmic disturbances is that the rulers of the world cower in caves. They acknowledge God but show no signs of belief or repentance. They simply cry out for relief. This pattern is common: people say they believe in God but do not act on it. Their faith is in some distant power that they ignore most of the time until something big happens. They complain or curse God for their problems. To acknowledge the existence of God should lead to belief and repentance, but people are blinded and deceived. They think that believing in “God” (defined in their own ways) is good enough. Their “god” is one of their own creation. Evidence of God is all around. We ought to respond now in faith while it is a time of grace.