SUN, MOON AND STARS IN REVELATION 6: 12-13

In both the Old and New Testaments much of end time prophecy is given
to us by the use of metaphors. In large part, the metaphors have
sealed up
these prophecies. The angel told Daniel "Go thy way, Daniel: for
the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end (Daniel
12: 9)."

In Matthew 13:10 the disciples asked Christ "Why speakest thou unto
them in parables? Christ answered in Matthew 13: 11-15,
saying "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have
more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away
even that he hath.
13. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see
not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By
hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall
see, and shall not perceive:
15. For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull
of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should
understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should
heal them."

In talking about the use of figurative language in Bible prophecy
Hosea 12: 10 says
"I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions,
and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets."

Prophets often speak in metaphoric language in their ministry. And
to those
who insist on using literal interpretation only, the figurative
language used
by Old and New Testament prophets remains sealed up. These prophecy
interpreters and their followers are like the people in Matthew 13:
13 who see not; and hear not, neither do they understand. But
Daniel 12: 9 promises
that the sealed prophecies will be opened at the time of
the end. This opening of prophesy stated in metaphors probably will
not mean that
those without ears to hear and eyes to see will accept
the interpretations given by the Holy Spirit to a few.

It may be easier for some to accept that groups of
people who are to be players in the events of the
Tribulation are called locusts, scorpions or serpents. That
these players might also be called the sun, moon and
stars may be harder to grasp. There may also be literal
changes in the sun, moon and stars and there may also
be a great earthquake, all of which are discussed in
Revelation 6: 12-13, the Sixth Seal. But the main focus
of the Tribulation is on the people claiming to be of God.

Revelation 6: 12-13 says: "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth
seal,
and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as
sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13. 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.

The sun, the moon and the stars also have metaphorical meanings,
which
can be searched out by use of other Scripture. The first key to
understanding
what the Tribulation is about is found in I Peter 4: 17, "For the time
is come that
judgment must begin at the house of God..." The Tribulation is
primarily
about the House of God and end time metaphors deal with players and
actions
within the House of God.

Zechariah 13: 8-9 and Ezekiel 5:2-3 and 5: 8, 12 are
fundamental Scriptures which discuss three and four
groups within the entire people who claim to be of God.

Zechariah 13: 8-9: And it shall come to pass, that in all the land,
saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the
third shall be left therein.
9. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine
them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they
shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my
people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

Ezekiel 5: 2-3 says: Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the
midst of
the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt
take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part
thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after
them. Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in
thy skirts.

Ezekiel 5: 8 notes that: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold,
I, even I, am
against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the
sight of the nations.

Ezekiel 5: 12 says: A third part of thee shall die with the
pestilence,
and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a
third part shall fall by the sword round about thee and I will scatter
a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after
them.

Ezekiel 5: 2-3 divides the house of God, those who say they are of
the house of
God, into four groups. These are the three larger groups and one
small group
who Ezekiel is to bind in his skirts.

Then Ezekiel 5: 12 says one of the larger groups, a third, will die by
pestilence and famine. Another third, the second group, is to die by
the
sword. the last group, another one-third, is to scatter but a sword
will be
drawn out after them.

Luke 21: 24 explains that Christians in the end time will
be killed by the sword and taken captive, or put in prison. It
says "And they
shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive
into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

On a literal and physical level Luke 21: 24 might seem to have been
in part fulfilled
in the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Luke 21: 21 says " Then let them
which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in
the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries
enter thereinto." Some accounts
say that Christians who were in Jerusalem at that time did heed this
warning by Christ and got out of Jerusalem alive.

The fourth century church historian Eusebius claims that as the Roman
army advanced to Jerusalem, "The people belonging to the church at
Jerusalem had been ordered by an oracle revealed to approved men on
the spot before the war broke out, to leave the city and dwell in a
town of Peraea called Pella" (EH III:5). The destruction of the
city, Eusebius says, came only after the Jerusalem Christians had
made their escape." This account is on:
http://www.wheaton.edu/DistanceLearning/Pella.htm

Who is "they" on a literal and physical level in Luke
21: 24? Christ in his Olivet Discourse, reported in Matthew 24,
Luke 21 and Mark
13 is addressing spiritual Israel, so "they" are Christians. Were
Christians
in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. killed and taken captive by the Romans? Many
Jews
were killed and some were taken captive. But I don't think Christ in
Luke 21: 24
is talking about the non-Christian Jews in Jerusalem being killed and
taken
captive.

Luke 21: 24 can be read in a spiritual sense. It is a prophecy for
the Tribulation.
"They" are Christians during the Tribulation who Christ tells us will
be killed
and taken captive. "Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles"
is
metaphoric for the Christians who are to be killed and taken captive
by a
group here called "Gentiles."

Paul teaches in Romans 2: 28-29 that "For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the
flesh:
29. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that
of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is
not of men, but of God."
"They," the Christians who are to be taken captive and killed during
the
Tribulation, are spiritual Jerusalem. Spiritual Jerusalem, or
Spiritual Israel,
is to be trodden down by these "Gentiles." These "Gentiles" are then
part
of the house of God during the tribulation, that is, they say they
are of the
house of God. The "Gentiles" may not do the actual killing of these
Christians themselves but may cause them to be taken captive - put in
prison - and killed by the government.

So at some point during the Tribulation there is to be a division in
the house
of God. Remember that in Ezekiel 5: 12 the last group, another
one-third, is to scatter. Then a sword will be
drawn out after them. They scatter in running away from
the "Gentiles" who
want to have them put in prison and killed.

Revelation 6: 14 says "And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is
rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their
places."

"Heaven" can be the kingdom of Heaven, that is, the house of God,
including
the "Gentiles" who persecute a group of Christians during the
Tribulation. The Greek word translated in the King James Version as
"departed" is Strong's
Exhaustive Concordance Number 673, apochorizo, to separate.

On page 49 of The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised, 1978, by Harold
K. Moulton
it says that apochorizo means to separate, to be swept aside, to part.

In Revelation 6: 14 the kingdom of heaven is divided and the mountains
and islands being moved out of their places is part of his division of
the house of God.

Isaiah 34: 4-5 says "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.
5. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down
upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment".

Zechariah 5: 1-3 also mentions a roll or scroll. There it says "And
he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll;
the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten
cubits.
3. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the
face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off
as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be
cut off as on that side according to it"

In Revelation 6: 14 "heaven departed as a scroll..." Scroll is from
Strong's Number
975,. biblion, a roll, book, scroll, writing.

In Revelation 3: 5 Christ promises that "He that overcometh, the same
shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name
out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father,
and before his angels"

Those called "Gentiles" in Luke 21: 24 have gone bad since they
are to cause that one-third of the house of God in Ezekiel 5: 12 who
are to scatter
with a sword coming after them to be put in prison and killed. In
addition, and
importantly, in Zechariah 13: 9, this one-third of the house of God
will be brought
through the fire and they are to be refined. "They shall call upon my
name, and I will hear them; I will say, It is my people: and they
shall say, The Lord is my God."

So, in Luke 21: 24 the Christians who are to "fall by the sword, and
shall be led
away captive into all the nations" are those of Ezekiel 5: 12 who
scatter with
a sword coming after them and those of Zechariah 13: 8 who are to be
brought
through the fire and refined so they turn to God who accepts them.
Remember
that all three groups mentioned in Zechariah 13: 7-8 and in Ezekiel 5
2-12 started
out being a part of the house of God, or at least they claimed they
were of God
One third comes out of Babylon, which represents the apostate Church
in Revelation 17: 1-7 and Revelation 18:.4 where God's people are
called to come
out of her so they do not receive the plagues as compensation for her
sins.

Matthew 10: 17 in saying they will deliver you up to councils and
beat you in
the synagogues is talking about what will happen to those of Luke 21:
24. It says
"But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and
they will scourge you in their synagogues." I know that early
Christians were delivered
up to councils and Paul was scourged by the Jews, but this prophecy
was not
exhausted in early church times. Luke 12 :11 says "And when they
bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take
ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall
say:" The Christians persecuted by
the "Gentiles" during the Tribulation will be brought before
magistrates, or judges,
and before powers, and perhaps before Christian Churches to be
charged for having "incorrect" beliefs and teachings..

This one third who are brought though the fire and then turn to God
are the
overcomers of Revelation 3: 5. We know now from Luke 21: 24 that
they are
to be killed during the Tribulation. And in Revelation 9: 18 it
says "By
these three
was the third part of men killed, by the fire, by the smoke and by the
brimstone..."
This is the Sixth Trumpet Judgment where
that one-third who comes out of false doctrines to the truth are
killed by the group within the "Church"in
Revelation 9: 14. In verse 19 are they are said to be like serpents.
There
is also the
other one third who remain apostate and go bad that are called
locust-
scorpions in Revelation 9: 3. They come out of the smoke of the
bottomless pit,
meaning as they turn bad they are following Satan.

Now lets go back to Christ's promise in Revelation 3: 5 that he will
not blot out
the names of the overcomers from the book of life. This means that
the names
of these people in the three groups were somehow written in the book
of
life, but that the names of the serpents and locust-scorpions will be
blotted
out of the Lamb's Book of Life.

In Revelation 6: 14 where heaven is said to depart (divide) as a
scroll when it is rolled together, the scroll is a book, or roll.
This must be the Book of Life. And the flying roll of Zechariah 5: 1-3
and the scroll of Isaiah 34: 4-5 have something to
do with the Book of Life and the kingdom of heaven being divided into
parts with
names of some being blotted out of the book of life and some who are
overcomers will not have their names blotted out but they walk with
Christ in white robes (Revelation 3: 4) and having the truth
will shine as the brightness of the firmament...(Daniel 12: 3).

In Revelation Chapter Seven, which describes the 144,000 and their
sealing
to protect them from the events just described and more, the very
next verse,
Revelation 7: 9, says "And this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude,
which no man
could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,
stood before
the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in
their hands."
In Verse 14 an angel told John that "These are they which came out of
great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the
blood of the
Lamb." These are the overcomers, the martyrs of Christ, the ones of
Ezekiel
5: 12 who scattered when a sword was sent out after than, and the
people
in Zechariah 13: 9 who come through the fire to Christ's full truth,
call on him and
are accepted by him.

With this background, lets look at the moon, the sun and the stars in
Revelation
6: 12-13 as metaphors for the three main groups of players of the
Trumpet
Judgments and elsewhere in the Book of Revelation.

First, Joel 2: 10 talks about all three groups in saying "The earth
shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the
moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:"

The "heavens" in Joel 2: 10 is the kingdom of heaven, the house of
God, which will be shaken - and will tremble -
by the Lord in judgment during the Tribulation. The sun, moon and
stars, all three
major players in the trumpet Judgments start out as being spiritually
dark. That is,
all three groups are following lies and all tend to be carnal.

Joel 3: 15 says essentially the same thing. "The sun and the moon
shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining."

Revelation 8: 12 says "And the fourth angel sounded, and the third
part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the
third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened,
and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise."

This seems to be saying metaphorically that the sun, moon and stars
are each one third and all are spiritually darkened.

Joel 2: 31: gets more specific in saying that "The sun shall be turned
into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the
terrible day of the LORD come."

We already know that it is the Multitude whose blood is shed by the
serpents, or
the serpents cause the government to kill them. Joel 2: 31
identifies
the moon as being the Multitude in Revelation 6: 12-13.

Acts 2: 20 quotes Joel 2: 31.

Isaiah 13: 10 says "For the stars of heaven and the constellations
thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his
going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine."

Jude 1: 13 says "Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame;
wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for
ever."

Jude 1: 6 sets the stage for the discussion of the evil described in
the following
verses. "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left
their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under
darkness unto the judgment of the great day."

Jude 1: 10-11 goes on in describing evil in saying "But these speak
evil of those things which they know not: but what they know
naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
11. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran
greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the
gainsaying of Core."

The stars metaphorically in Revelation 6: 12-13 are the more evil of
the
two groups who persecute the Multitude. So the stars are the serpents
of Revelation 9: 19.

The sun is darkened in several Scriptures (Isaiah 13:10, Jeremiah.
15:9, Joel
2:10, 2:31, 3:15,
Amos 8:9, Matthew . 24:29, Mark 13:24,). Then in Revelation 9: 2 "And
he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit,
as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened
by reason of the smoke of the pit."

Metaphorically, the smoke from the bottomless pit, i.e., from Satan
and his
domain, darkens the sun. The sun figuratively represents the
locust-scorpions of
Revelation 6: 12-13. Spiritually, the group identified in Revelation
9: 3, the Fifth
Trumpet, as the locust-scorpions, are darkened by Satan. And so a
darkened
sun represents them also.

The great earthquake of the Sixth Seal of Revelation 6: 12 can be
described
figuratively as a shaking in the house of the Lord. The Lord arises
and
shakes his house to thresh out those who are not following his truth
but are
hiding in the refuge of lies and under falsehood of Isaiah 28: 15.
There may be a great earthquake which is literal.

These people are quoted in Isaiah 28: 15 as saying "...when the
overflowing scrouge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for
we have made lies our refuge..." One of
the reasons those operating under falsehood do not think that the
overflowing scrouge - the Great Tribulation - will come to them
is because
they have been taught by seminary trained preachers and professional
theologians that they will be raptured off the earth before the
Tribulation hits.

If you want to hear more on the Sixth Seal, the Four Horsemen and
related
topics go to:

http://threshingfloor.onevoicemm.net/weblog/?m=200610

Look on this page for The Four Horsemen Unsealed, staring with part
one. Then go to:

http://threshingfloor.onevoicemm.net/weblog/?m=200611

After this page, go to:

http://threshingfloor.onevoicemm.net/weblog/?m=200612

The above link includes part 14, the last show, of The Four Horsemen
Unsealed. These
are all downloadable one hour broadcasts of The
Threshing Floor by Sue Paterson and Randy Maugans.
In some cases you can hear the streaming audio without
downloading. Be sure also to download the notes
for each broadcast which are pdf files.

Since this material will probably be new, you need to
listen carefully and/or take notes.

Bernard