January 18, 2010

A Response to Dr. Mike Stallard on the Sixth Seal

In 2002 at the Pre-Trib Study Group, Mike Stallard wrote, "An Analysis of the Use of Cosmic-Sign Passages by Proponents of the Pre-Wrath Rapture Theory." In an attempt to argue that the seals of the scrolls are expressions of God's wrath, making the entire 70th week of Daniel the Day of the Lord's wrath, he asserts:

"[M]en are already hiding from the wrath of God during the sixth seal and are not simply preparing to hide" (fn. 5).

This is in error since the context clearly indicates that the cosmic disturbances and earthquake are the cause of the ungodly hiding in the caves, hence the reason they recognize the impending wrath of God. The text reads:

"Then I looked when the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and a huge earthquake took place; the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became blood red; (13) and the stars in the sky fell to the earth like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when shaken by a fierce wind. (14) The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. (15) Then the kings of the earth, the very important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains." (Rev 6:12-15 NET).

In addition, in verse 15, it begins with the Greek kai (then), which in this context is resultant from a previous causal action.

Nor can Stallard appeal to the aorist tense-form of the Greek verb behind "hid," since the aorist tense-form does not grammaticalize time (Only context and/or lexeme give us time). See Exegetical Fallacies by D.A. Carson, p. 68; also, Greek grammars by Wallace, Porter, McKay, et al.

In Revelation 7, between the sixth and seventh seal being broken there is an interlude of two groups of people being delivered. The second group in vv. 9-17 is the Church who came out of the Great Tribulation (cf. Matt. 24:15, Rev. 7:14). Then in Revelation 8, we have the seventh seal broken, which introduces formally the wrath of God, which are the contents of the Scroll: the Trumpets and Bowls.