“Who Is Able to Stand?” (Revelation 6:16)

Who Is Able to Stand?

Sunday, February 27, 2022

At the beginning of this year I decided to do a “fast” read-through of the Bible, marking all the questions. Having completed this, I’ve paged back through, noting what I call “Critical Questions in the Bible.” The very first question in the Bible, in the book of Genesis, I included in my subjective list of critical questions. It was a question asked, surprisingly, by the serpent, or, the devil. “Has God really said …?” I wrote about this a few weeks ago.

I’ve got several pages of handwritten questions. The plan is to continue to write about a number of these, though I’m not sure how to order the list. Since I’ve written about the first, maybe it would be good to note the last critical question in the Bible: Revelation 6:16, “Who is able to stand?"

The scene from Revelation is the “revealing” of God’s wrath upon godless humanity. The definition of “godless” can be framed by morality (or, a lack thereof). Or it can be defined as a rejection of God, or, more specifically, a rejection of God’s Son. The Son is presented as the leading agent for the “pouring forth” of judgment throughout the chapters of Revelation. This onslaught of judgment produces as response from mankind, from the leaders of mankind, who are regarded as mighty and fearsome in the world. But now they are cowering. They would rather die than face this kind of judgment. And so the question, “Who is able to stand?”

There are situations in life that we think we can manage. We have an “eternal” optimism that we can avoid the worst, and often make things better. We can weather the weather. We can survive economic downturns. We’ll find a way to defy external threats, from nations, and maybe from climate itself. But who gives a thought to how we manage the unmanageable - the wrath of God? Now that’s a critical question.

The only answer to the dilemma of avoiding God’s unavoidable wrath is through the escape that God Himself has intentionally and graciously provided. It involves our recognition of God’s Anointed One, Jesus, and a submission to Him as Savior and King. We receive the gift of salvation, which is purchased for us by Jesus Himself, a gift that we could never earn or purchase ourselves. It requires a confession that we are not the kings of the universe or the lords of our lives, but that we owe our lives, and our future lives, to Him. We humble ourselves before Him, something that the men of our (uni)verse would rather die than do. 

“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?”” (Revelation 6:16–17 NAS95)