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Earthquakes in the Lord’s DayRevelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand!
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and every mountain and every island were removed from their places.” (Revelation 6:14) Clearly, these are not the literal heavens or the literal mountains and islands. But what do they symbolize?
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Earthquakes in the Lord’s DayRevelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand!
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24. (a) When, in Bible prophecy, is it that mountains and islands are said to rock or be destabilized? (b) How did ‘mountains rock’ when Nineveh fell?
24 In Bible prophecy, mountains and islands are said to rock or be otherwise destabilized at times of great political upheaval. For example, when foretelling Jehovah’s judgments against Nineveh, the prophet Nahum wrote: “Mountains themselves have rocked because of him, and the very hills found themselves melting. And the earth will be upheaved because of his face.” (Nahum 1:5) There is no record of any breaking up of literal mountains when Nineveh actually fell in 632 B.C.E. But a world power that previously had seemed mountainlike in its strength suddenly collapsed.—Compare Jeremiah 4:24.
25. At the coming end of this system of things, how will “every mountain and every island” be removed from their places?
25 Therefore, “every mountain and every island” as referred to at the opening of the sixth seal would logically be political governments and dependent organizations of this world that have seemed so stable to many of mankind. They will be rocked right out of place, to the consternation and horror of those who have previously trusted in them. As the prophecy goes on to relate, there will be no question that the great day of the wrath of Jehovah and his Son—the final quaking that removes all of Satan’s organization—has come with a vengeance!
“Fall Over Us and Hide Us”
26. How will humans who oppose God’s sovereignty act in their terror, and what expression of horror will they utter?
26 John’s words continue: “And the kings of the earth and the top-ranking ones and the military commanders and the rich and the strong ones and every slave and every free person hid themselves in the caves and in the rock-masses of the mountains. And they keep saying to the mountains and to the rock-masses: ‘Fall over us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”—Revelation 6:15-17.
27. What cries were uttered by the unfaithful Israelites of Samaria, and how were those words fulfilled?
27 When Hosea was pronouncing Jehovah’s judgment on Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, he said: “The high places of Beth-aven, the sin of Israel, will actually be annihilated. Thorns and thistles themselves will come up upon their altars. And people will in fact say to the mountains, ‘Cover us!’ and to the hills, ‘Fall over us!’” (Hosea 10:8) How were these words fulfilled? Well, when Samaria fell to the cruel Assyrians in 740 B.C.E., there was nowhere for the Israelites to run. The words of Hosea express the feeling of helplessness, abject terror, and abandonment that the conquered people felt. Neither the literal hills nor the mountainlike institutions of Samaria could protect them, even though they had seemed so permanent in the past.
28. (a) What warning did Jesus give the women of Jerusalem? (b) How was Jesus’ warning fulfilled?
28 Similarly, when Jesus was being led to his death by the Roman soldiers, he addressed the women of Jerusalem and said: “Days are coming in which people will say, ‘Happy are the barren women, and the wombs that did not give birth and the breasts that did not nurse!’ Then they will start to say to the mountains, ‘Fall over us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us over!’” (Luke 23:29, 30) The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 C.E. is well documented, and it is evident that Jesus’ words had an import similar to that of Hosea’s. There was no hiding place then for the Jews who remained in Judaea. Wherever they tried to hide in Jerusalem, or even when they fled to the mountaintop citadel of Masada, they were unable to escape the violent expression of Jehovah’s judgment.
29. (a) When Jehovah’s day of wrath comes, what will be the plight of those committed to supporting this system of things? (b) What prophecy of Jesus will be fulfilled when Jehovah expresses His wrath?
29 Now, the opening of the sixth seal has shown that something similar will happen during the coming day of Jehovah’s wrath. At the final shaking of this earthly system of things, those committed to supporting it will desperately seek for a hiding place, but they will not find one. False religion, Babylon the Great, has already failed them miserably. Neither caves in the literal mountains nor symbolic mountainlike political and commercial organizations will provide financial security or any other kind of help. Nothing will shelter them from Jehovah’s wrath. Their terror is well described by Jesus: “Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”—Matthew 24:30.
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