Hidden Under His Shadow

July 6

“And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,” Revelation 6:15.

There is a great and awful day approaching. It will be a time of upheaval and bloodshed. It will be a time of indiscriminate hatred and violence. We see shades of it today, evidenced in church bombings, in mothers being chained in dungeons with their babies, in the actions of ultra-vitriolic sects that seem unable to grasp the truth that God is a holy and merciful God, who says of Himself that He is love (see I John 4:8) and that whoever does not love, does not know Him.

We see shades of it when 50,000 men flee before 8,000—hiding themselves in dread of the ruthless butchers who gave them flight. Can we not see in this the foreshadowing of the army of the “one who comes to steal, kill and destroy,” John 10:10 wreaking havoc upon the earth as his demon-possessed minions soak the land with the blood of the martyrs! (See Revelation 18:24.)

But the ultimate day of anguish, the “great and terrible day of the Lord,” Malachi 4:5, will not be the horrific period of time when the devil’s minions run in vile terror through the landscape, it will be when the vile men who furthered the purposes of the evil one are arrested in their demonic mischief by the Lamb of God who will destroy them in His wrath!

We are told in Revelation 16: 16-17, “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

People, there is a day coming when the only secure place to abide will be in the hollow of the hand of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. There is a day coming when every other hope of safety will fail. As we see the stirrings of the final day approaching, should we not empty ourselves of self, empty ourselves of the world and its fleeting allurements.

Should we not fill ourselves with Jesus, the One in whom we have meaning and hope and truth and righteousness—the One in whom we have life forevermore! We will then have no need to flee to the mountains or to call on them to cover us, Luke 23:30, for we will be “hidden under the shadow of the Almighty,” Psalm 91:1.