Revelation 6:15-17

These verses close the chapter and complete the vision. John saw that the kings, great men, rich men, mighty men, bond and free, hid themselves in the dens and mountains, and cried to the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of him that sat on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand?

The persecuted Christians had often been compelled to flee and hide, as many did, in dens, and mountains, and in the catacombs; but now the tables are turned and the persecutors are fleeing and hiding.

This may have been intended as an encouragement to the suffering saints of John's day, to show that their time of triumph was approaching. But if any one thinks that this description is too terrible to apply to the destruction of Jerusalem, and to those historical events, I will just remind him again that it was as terrible a thing as the world has known. And if any one thinks that this symbolism outstrips the event, and must apply to the final judgment at the end of the world, then I may further remark that it is also a feature of prophecy that it sometimes looks beyond the near judgment or event as if the near had suggested the remote. It may be so here. It is possible that the vision looks away off beyond the events at Jerusalem to the final judgment of the world. And yet it is quite probable that these startling symbols, and more startling descriptions, may all refer to the terrible events that were ready to break upon the heads of the people of John's day, and in the sight of the churches to which he wrote. But of this we may be sure that if God did not with-hold judgment then, he will not do so now or ever. All sin and sinners must face the wrath of the Lamb, and all combinations of wicked men shall go down as did those wicked persecutors of Christ's church in the days of John. The Lord reigneth and he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.