Revelation 6:14- And the
heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and
island were moved out of their places.
In Birth Pang Number 4 I went into specific detail
as to the meaning of “and every mountain and island were moved out of their
places.” I am convinced this Scripture,
along with “and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found,”
means that the tectonic plates, shown in figure 3, will shift sufficiently to
change the latitudinal and longitudinal mini-second coordinates of every island
and mountain on the face of the earth.
This will produce wave after wave of unbelievable earthquake activity
rippling through the horizontal and vertical structure of the earth. At the same time this fantastic earthquake
scenario is occurring, the heaven will depart “as a scroll when it is rolled
together.” The shifting of the plates
produces both phenomena: earthquakes by
an unlocking of pent-up pressures along plate boundaries, and a departure of
the heavenly view by smoke from volcanic eruptions along the same moving boundaries.
I am convinced that the shifting of the plates will
generate the formation of chains of volcanic eruptions, pictured in figure 10,
along all the boundaries shown in figure 3.
God, who made everything I have described to the point, has also created,
around the entire earth, a great temperature inversion shroud in the lower
section of the stratosphere, just above the tropopause. Any time there is a moderate to severe
vertical volcanic eruption, smoke is forcefully injected through the tropopause,
and then trapped beneath the temperature inversion of the stratosphere. There is virtually no moisture above the
tropopause and, since the smoke particles cannot be made heavy enough to fall
earthward by condensation of water vapor on them, the smoke remains suspended
in the lower section of the stratosphere for five to fifteen years. The winds in the lower section of the
stratosphere spread the volcanic smoke around the entire envelope of atmosphere
that surrounds the earth over a two to four year period. Figure 11 portrays the great temperature
inversion that exists through the stratosphere around the entire earth. As the smoke attempts to rise through this
inversion it soon reaches a temperature near its own, and then begins to
flatten out into a great shield of smoke, a shield that is then carried by
upper level winds to produce an earth encompassing cloud throughout the lower
stratosphere. Have you ever really
looked at all the Old and New Testament prophecies that describe the appearance
of the heavenly bodies during the last three and one-half years of the
Tribulation Period? Let us now consider
just a few of them, to see if we can correlate them with the increasing
severity from start to finish.
Revelation 8:12
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.
Joel 2:30,31
And I
will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars
of smoke. [31] The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
Revelation 6:12
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;
Joel 2:10
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:
Matthew 24:29
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
How can this be?
One prophet says you will not be able to see the sun, moon, and stars
about one-third of the time, but another says you won’t be able to see them at
all. These prophecies are fulfilled
gradually over the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation Period, and
the prophets have been given visions of the effects on the view of the heavenly
bodies from the earth, at different times, during this period. Let us assume that the last three and
on-half years of the Tribulation Period have begun, and a person is standing at
point “X” on figure 12. This person
could look up and see the sun, moon, or stars from this vantage point on the
earth’s surface without obstruction.
Now, let’s allow figure 12 to become alive, with the winds of the
stratosphere moving the volcanic smoke clouds around the earth in patches. Within a few hours after you had made your
unobstructed observation of the sun, moon, or stars, the thin leading edge of
the volcanic cloud would begin to move between you and the heavenly
bodies. If it were night, the moon
would turn blood red. If it were day, the
sun would be darkened. Within an hour
or so the thicker part of the volcanic smoke shield would move over you, and
the sun, moon, or stars would completely disappear from view. After a few more hours the back side of the
cloud would move past, and you would once again be enjoying a clear space
between volcanic cloud patches, such that the sun, moon, or stars would again
be visible. This scenario would be
repeated over and over again during the last three and one-half years of the
Tribulation Period, but on a gradually worsening trend. You would not be able to see the sun, moon,
or stars about one-third of the time – at times the moon would be blood red and
the sun black as sackcloth of hair – and sometimes you could not see any of the
heavenly bodies. All of this is exactly
what the Old and New Testament prophets observed in their visions. These are a part of the “signs in the sun,
and in the moon, and in the stars” prophesied by Luke.
Luke 21:25,26
And there
shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the
earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; [26]
Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which
are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
At this point it may seem I have been sidetracked
from explaining “and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled
together,” but everything up to this point has been for that very purpose. In Revelation 6:14, the word used for heaven
is “ouranos,” and there are three of them:
(1) The heaven where God dwells,
(2) The heaven that makes up our atmosphere, and (3) The heaven were the
sun, moon, stars, and other heavenly bodies dwell, that is, the universe. It is the latter to which John refers. The word used for departed is
“apechoristhe,” which, in this case, simply means “was removed from view.” John is saying he saw what the Hebrews
considered heaven (sun, moon, and stars) removed from his view. When something or someone departs, or is
removed, it is no longer visible to the one from which it departed. John says that the heaven disappeared from
his view, and then tells us the manner in which it disappeared: “as a scroll when it is rolled together.”
In figure 13 you can see the likeness of a Hebrew
scroll. If while you were reading the
scroll it was slowly rolled together, then it could be truly stated that the
writing departed from your view, “as a scroll when it is rolled together.” In his vision John looked up into what the
Hebrews considered one of the heavens and, as he watched, the heavenly bodies
slowly disappeared over a period of time.
This is exactly what will occur during the period of time we identify as
the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation Period. It will occur like the slow rolling together
of a scroll, such that by the end of the Tribulation Period a continuous cloud
band of smoke will completely engulf the earth in the lower section of the
stratosphere. No one will be able to
see the sun, moon, or stars through the thick shroud at the Battle of
Armageddon. It is through the great
stratospheric cloud shown in figure 14 that the author believes the Lord shall
return at the end of the Tribulation Period.