The 6th Seal: They Cried for the Rocks and the Mountains...They Prayed, but their prayers were too late

It's a huge shock when we discover that "it's all over," and the final act is upon us. I can recall a number of instances in my own life when I thought, "I have more time," and I was wrong. At some point, judgment falls.  It just does.  It may come with a whisper, it may come with an explosion, but there's always a climax.
The preceding Seal revealed the martyrs--people murdered because they dared to believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him. They were not soldiers, nor were they political agitators.  They were Christians.  God tells them, "Wait a little while;" and then the next act is upon the world, the 6th Seal is opened, and terror strikes.  It's the time of judgment. It's too late. The men and women who murdered the martyrs, they now come up for judgment and there is no respite, no quarter, no reprieve.
"But wait!! I didn't mean it! I didn't know those were your friends, Lord!"
"Please! Give me another chance!"
And then, they cry out to the earth, if perhaps the earth itself will take pity when God won't. But it's too late. This is seal #6, and it actually comes early in the book.
Here's the text (NASB 1995, for those who care)

6:12 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;
13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind.
14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 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;
16 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;
17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

This is indeed a terrifying time, and there IS some respite. So guess what happens? That's right. Once they see respite, most of the "civilized" world reverts to the behavior they did before. No change.   More mercy. More respite. No change. Later, additional judgments. No change. Finally, no more chances.

The point is that God gives me and you many chances to turn to Him, but eventually there comes a day when it is actually "too late."

There are things about the book of Revelation that make it unique. This is one of them--The finality of it all. It's pretty harsh. On the other hand, this very finality ensures that the sufferings of the martyrs, the temptations that Christians face, the pain of being a godly soul in a world gone mad--those will end, for the "end" also means that God wipes every tear from the eyes of those who love Him, and ushers them into eternity, where they will be "ever with the Lord."

The question of the ages is, "Where do you stand in all this?  Are YOU going to cry out for the rocks and the mountains when that day comes, or are you going to stand with those who "enter into eternal life?"  It really is your choice.  Procrastination over this is quite natural, and goes right up to the end of time. Procrastination certainly is part of the human condition, as we read in Revelation 6--but it can be fatal.  Don't let events catch up with you until there is literally "no more time," and you have to face God as Judge.  It will not be to your liking.

After the Four Horsemen: Martyrs!

The "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"--Conquest, War, Famine, Death & Hell are bad enough, but the next thing we see is the effect of all the war and fighting on Christians. Multitudes are martyred, murdered by the same evil forces that initiate conquest, start wars, and are the instruments of all that follows (See Revelation 6, the 5th Seal). It's an open secret that the 20th Century was an era of martyrdom.  The totalitarian governments of the world almost always mark several groups for extinction: honest reporters, intellectuals who won't change their thinking, and Christians.  The reasons Christians so often get caught up in the murderous rampages of dictators and their regimes are these:

1. The devil (Satan, "that Serpent of Old," the Dragon) hates God, His Son Jesus Christ, and therefore hates Christians.
2. These regimes are in league with the devil.  We will meet him as the mighty Dragon in Revelation 12.  Until then, he stands in the background, manipulating men and their thoughts and deeds invisibly.  Once the "war in heaven" occurs in Revelation 12, the devil, we are told, descends to earth, bringing his worst to the world.
3. Allied to the fact that these regimes are in league with the devil is that demons empower the dictators, so that we wrestle...against the forces of evil (see Ephesians 6).
4. Men and women who hate God also hate Christians.  It's not necessarily that the Christians do anything wrong.  They are just the objects of the hatred of evil men and women.  This is part of the reaction evil men and women have to men and women of God.  

In any event, the 5th Seal that the Lamb opens gives John a vision of the martyrs, who say, basically, "How long are You going to wait before we are avenged?" That question is both refreshing and chilling.  Refreshing because we know God is not simply going to forget the evil done to His people. Chilling if you are one of the persecutors. The answer is even more chilling: "Just a little while, and I'm going to take vengeance on all the evil men and women who have murdered you."

I suppose that the main question is, "What camp are you in?" There are three possibilities: either you are a potential martyr (every Christian is), you are a bystander who allows it all to happen, or you are one of the persecutors.  The events of Revelation 6 are in the future, but you will still stand before God in one of the three categories. The book of Revelation doesn't give you much solace if you're a bystander, because at some point everyone is going to have to take a stand, either for God or for the devil.  It's your choice.  The consequences will be yours, too. There is no "third road." Judgment or salvation.  Your call.