“SIGNS” UNDER THE SIXTH SEAL
When God made the sun, moon, and stars at creation, He said, “Let them be for SIGNS, for seasons, and for days, and years”. Genesis 1:14. So we should not be surprised to find God giving us signs of His return in the heavens. He planned it from the beginning.
LISBON, PORTUGAL EARTHQUAKE
November 1, 1755
“The sixth seal opens with great convulsion of the earth. One of the most extensively felt earthquakes ever recorded occurred November 1, 1755. It is sometimes called “the Lisbon earthquake,” because the greater part of that city was destroyed with the loss of between 60.000 and 90.000 lives. The sea rose to fifty feet above its ordinary level.
“The great earthquake of (November 1) 1755, extended over a tract of at least four millions of square miles … It pervaded the greater portions of the continents of Europe, Africa, and America.” – Robert Sears, Wonders of the world, pp 50, 58” – Unfolding the Revelation p. 71.
Up to this point in human history, this earthquake was probably the greatest natural disaster since Noah’s flood.
THE DARK DAY – NORTH AMERICA
May 19, 1780
“Almost, if not altogether alone, as the most mysterious and as yet unexplained phenomenon of its kind, in nature’s diversified range of events, … stands the dark day of May 19th, 1780, – a most unaccountable darkening of the whole visible heavens and atmosphere in New England.” – R. M. Devens, Our First Century, pp. 89
Noah Webster, in his “American Dictionary of the English Language” (1882 edition), says of the dark day; The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known.” Since Webster’s day, some have explained this strange phenomenon on a natural basis. There may well be a natural cause. After all, God used a natural means to open the Red Sea for Israel, Exodus 14:21. The important point is that a strange, dark day occurred at the right time as Jesus said it would be. It came shortly after the period of persecution sometimes called the Dark Ages.
THE MOON RED AS BLOOD – NORTH AMERICA
May 19, 1780
The night of the dark day was so black, a piece of white paper could not be seen when held directly in front of the eyes. People looked for the moon, but like the sun, it was blacked out. At about midnight, the unusual darkness lifted, and the moon appeared, but it was as red as blood. Milo Bostwick says of this event, “The moon, which was at its full, had the appearance of blood. The alarm that is caused and the frequent talk about it impressed it deeply on my mind.” Stone’s History of Beverly, Massachusetts.
FALLING OF THE STARS – NORTH AMERICA
November 13, 1833
“The morning of November 13th, 1833, was rendered memorable by an exhibition of the phenomenon called SHOOTING STARS, which was probably more extensive and magnificent than any similar one hitherto recorded …. Probably no celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with so much admiration and delight by one class of spectators, or with so much astonishment and fear by another class. For some time after the occurrence, the “meteoric phenomenon” was the principal topic of conversation in every circle.” – American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol XXV, 1834.
R.M. Devens, speaking of the great star shower, said, “The whole firmament, all over the United States, being then, for hours in fiery commotion.” The Great Events of Our Past History, pp 214, 215.
Of this event Charles A. Young, a Professor of Astronomy at Princeton University says: “Probably the MOST REMARKABLE of all the meteoric showers … was that of the Leonids, on November 12, 1833. The number … was estimated as high at 2.000.000 an hour for five or six hours.” Manual of Astronomy, p. 469. The heavens were ablaze with falling stars. People thought surely it was the Judgment Day.
Of the extent of visibility of this meteoric display we read in the Encyclopedia Americana, under Article “Meteors” as follows: “This spectacle … WITNESSED THROUGHOUT NORTH AMERICA … excited the greatest interest … Hundreds of thousands of shooting stars fell … Some observers compared their number to the flakes of a snowstorm, or to the raindrops in a shower.” The spectacle was of the sublimest order. It began about nine o’clock in the evening and continued until well after daylight.
Elijah Burritt says: “The most sublime phenomenon of shooting stars (November 13, 1833) … COVERED NO INCONSIDERABLE PORTION OF THE EARTH’s SURFACE … covering the entire vault of heaven with myriads of fire balls.” Geography of the Heavens, p. 157. Within a little over a half century after the darkening of the sun and moon, this most remarkable of all meteoric showers took place.
When God’s great prophetic clock struck the hour, events as predicted took place:
1. November 1, 1755
– The great earthquake
Then 25 years later, 2. May 19, 1780
– The dark day and the moon as blood
Then 53 years later, 3. November 13, 1833
– The falling of the stars