I have been doing some reading in Revelation lately, and when I spent some time in Romans, I noticed something which I thought was quite interesting.
Romans 11:15 says, "For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead."
By itself this text of scripture is quite interesting, but when I coupled it with the last part of Revelation 6 and the first half of Chapter 7 the possible sequence of future events brought my mind to attention.
Let's first take a look at Rev. 7.
Immediately after the Angels holding back the winds from the Earth and actually to be more precise, at the same time that they were holding back the winds, another Angel having the seal of the Living God came down to the Earth and sealed 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel; a total of 144,000.
I do not think that it is too much of a stretch of the imagination to think that this may be the receiving of His (Gods) People Israel.
If this is in fact the receiving of His People, then according to Rom. 11:15 we should see somewhere here the "life from the dead" of the Gentiles.
Let us now go back into Rev. Chapter 6. The last several verses of the Chapter tell us about the sixth seal and what came upon the Earth when it was opened.
Let's start at verse 12: And I beheld when He (Christ) had opened the sixth Seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became 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 casts her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14. And the Heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15. 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;
16. And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him Who sits on the Throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17. For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
What stands out in my mind as much as anything in the above scriptures is that "every mountain and island" shall be moved out of their places. What an unprecedented time of chaos and destruction.
Notice that it doesn't say, many, most, or all of those in just certain countries will be moved, but all mountains and all islands.
It's hard to imagine an earthquake so large as to move the entirety of the earth, (there is a fault line that runs entirely around the earth; much of it under the oceans) but that is what it sounds like will happen. I suppose there is the possibility of some large meteors (The stars of Heaven falling to the Earth sure sounds like meteors to me) being responsible for moving a mountain or an island or two, but it seems more likely that most of this will be caused by an earthquake.
The other significant thing which I noticed is that verse 16 and 17 call this great earthquake and the stars falling from Heaven, the wrath of God. This is the first place where the Book of Revelation says the wrath of God is poured out upon men.
The reason that I find this so interesting is that we are told that we (Christians) are not appointed unto wrath in 1 Thes. 5:9 and we are told that we are delivered from wrath to come in 1 Thes. 1:10.
I am convinced that the Christians who are on the Earth, perhaps even moments before this cataclysmic destruction will be removed by the Rapture in order to bring about this deliverance from the Wrath of God.
I believe this could very well be what Paul was referring to in Romans 11:15, when he said, "what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead."
Especially when we consider that in the following 8 verses we are told that 144,000 people, who are at that point called the servants of God, from the 12 tribes of Israel are to be sealed in their foreheads.
Let's also look at some scripture in Luke, chapter 17, verses 26 through 30.
In these few verses we are told of Noah and of Lot.
Verse 27 says that the very day that Noak entered into the ark, that the flood came and destroyed all who were not in the ark.
Verse 29 tells us that on the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven, and destroyed them all.
I believe that it is quite possible that on the very day that God removes His Children from the earth via the Rapture that this great earthquake spoken of in Revelation's 6th seal may take place.
