What Old Testament prophecies align with Revelation 6:12's cosmic disturbances? Revelation 6:12—A Heavenly Alarm “I watched as the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red.” Snapshot of the Sixth Seal • Great earthquake • Sun blackened • Moon becomes blood-red • (Verse 13 adds falling stars; verse 14 adds the sky rolled up and mountains moved) The Old Testament had already pictured every one of those signs. 1. Sun Darkened, Moon Turned Blood or Black • Isaiah 13:10 — “For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.” • Ezekiel 32:7-8 — “I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light.” • Joel 2:31 — “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.” • Amos 8:9 — “In that day … I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.” 2. Stars Fall or Lose Their Brightness • Joel 2:10 — “The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness.” • Isaiah 34:4 — “All the stars of heaven will be dissolved … and their stars will all fall like withered leaves from the vine, like foliage from the fig tree.” • Isaiah 13:10 — “The stars of heaven … will not give their light.” 3. Sky Rolled Up Like a Scroll • Isaiah 34:4 — “The sky will be rolled up like a scroll.” 4. Worldwide Shaking and Earthquake • Haggai 2:6-7 — “Once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all the nations …” • Haggai 2:21 — “I am going to shake the heavens and the earth.” • Isaiah 13:13 — “Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the LORD …” • Joel 2:10 — “Before them the earth quakes; the heavens tremble.” 5. Darkness, Gloom, and Cosmic Fear • Zephaniah 1:14-15 — “That day will be … a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.” • Joel 2:1-2 — “Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the Day of the LORD is coming … a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.” Why These Parallels Matter • Revelation’s sixth seal pulls together a tapestry of Day-of-the-LORD texts. • The same literal phenomena—earthquakes, darkened luminaries, falling stars, and heaven rolled back—appear in repeated prophetic portraits of God’s climactic judgment. • By echoing those passages, Revelation shows that the future Day of the LORD promised by the prophets is the very event unfolding when the Lamb breaks the sixth seal. |
    |