big (literally or figuratively · adjective — nominative singular feminine
day
ἡμέραhēmera
G2250
day · noun — nominative singular feminine
his
αὐτῶν,autōn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
wrath
ὀργῆςorgēs
G3709
properly · noun — genitive singular feminine
come
ἦλθενēlthen
G2064
to come or go (in a great variety of applications · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
who
τίςtis
G5101
an interrogative pronoun · interrogative pronoun — nominative singular masculine
able
δύναταιdunatai
G1410
to be able or possible · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
stand
σταθῆναι;¶stathēnai
G2476
to stand (transitively or intransitively) · verb — aorist passive infinitive
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 76:7 Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
Joel 2:11 And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the…
Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Jeremiah 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Revelation 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to t…
Isaiah 13:6-22 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Zephaniah 1:14-18 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bi…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 6:9–end
In the remaining part of this chapter we have the opening of the fifth and the sixth seals.
I. The fifth seal. Here is no mention made of any one who called the apostle to make his observation, probably because the decorum of the vision was to be observed, and each of the four living creatures had discharged its duty of a monitor before, or because the events here opened lay out of the sight, and beyond the time, of the present ministers of the church; or because it does not contain a new prophecy of any future events, but rather opens a spring of support and consolation to those who had been and still were under great tribulation for the sake of Christ and the gospel. Here observe,
1. The s…
Literally, "the day, the great (day)," which can only mean the last great day. After the Lord has exhausted all His ordinary judgments, the sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts, and still sinners are impenitent, the great day of the Lord itself' shall come. Mat. 24:6-29 plainly forms a perfect parallelism to the six seals, not only in the events, but also in the order of their occurrence: Mat 24:3, the first seal; Mat 24:6, the second seal; Mat 24:7, the third seal; Mat 24:7, end, the fourth seal; Mat 24:9, the fifth seal, the persecutions and abounding iniquity under which, as well as consequent judgments accompanied with gospel preaching to all nations as a witness, are particularly…
For the great day of his wrath - The decisive and manifest time in which he will execute judgment on the oppressors of his people.
Who shall be able to stand? - No might can prevail against the might of God. All these things may literally apply to the final destruction of Jerusalem, and to the revolution which took place in the Roman empire under Constantine the Great. Some apply them to the day of judgment; but they do not seem to have that awful event in view. These two events were the greatest that have ever taken place in the world, from the flood to the eighteenth century of the Christian era; and may well justify the strong figurative language used above.
Through I do not pretend to sa…
The Church Fathers
For then the divine anger will burn righteously as a furnace, consuming those who built upon the foundation of faith with wood and chaff and stubble, as though food for the fire.
And who will be able to stand? Certainly, the one who now strives to watch, to stand firm in faith, and to act manfully. If you interpret this earthquake literally as referring to the very day of judgment, it is not surprising that earthly kings and princes, fearful of the holy mountains, seek refuge, as we read has already happened in the case of the rich man clothed in purple and the poor Lazarus.
For the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? As if they were saying, "If even a saint is terrified by the wrath of that God, who of us shall hold out?" We may disregard all that has been said about saints, and understand those things as referring to the reprobates: the mountains are the proud; the islands are the greedy (according to this: Be silent, you that dwell in the island, the merchants of Sidon); [Is. 23:2] the kings, princes, and tribunes represent the reprobates according to their qualities; by the rich he means those who need no help from others to do evil; by the strong he means the strong at drunkenness; [Ref. to Is. 5:22] by bondman he means bondman of sin; by freeman he means free of justice. There is no doubt that when the future judgment is imminent, all these will run to seek the help of demons as they are desperate and do not dare to come to any of the saints. This is indeed what is meant by their seeking hiding places in the dens and rocks of mountains; but how will demons defend others from the furious wrath when they will be the first ones to receive it? Finally, all this inspires listeners with great fear even if taken literally, but this is not a reason to violently reduce figurative statements to their literal meaning.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Anger Of God, The · Specially reserved for the day of wrath — Specially reserved for the day of wrath
Despondency · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Escape · NONE, FROM THE — NONE, FROM THE
Fear, Unholy · Is described as: A fear of judgments — Is described as: A fear of judgments
Judgment · 6:2;9:27;10:27; — 6:2;9:27;10:27;
Judgment, The · Called the: Day of wrath — Called the: Day of wrath
Riches · Cannot deliver in the day of God’s wrath — Cannot deliver in the day of God’s wrath
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
For the great day of his wrath is come,.... The Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, "of their wrath"; both of him that sits upon the throne, and of the Lamb, against the Heathen gods and Heathen persecutors, in answer to the cry of the martyrs in Revelation 6:9.
And who shall be able to stand? against either of them, or in their presence, and so as to bear their wrath and displeasure; all which expresses guilt, shame, fear, and despair.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Revelation 6:15-17
hid themselves: In the face of God’s judgment, unredeemed people will be terrified and seek a safe hiding place, but in vain (Isa 2:19-21; Ezek 38:20; Hos 10:8; Luke 23:30). The prophets repeatedly warned that the great day would be a day of wrath and judgment (Isa 13:6-11; Joel 1:15; Amos 5:18; Zeph 1:14-15). • The ultimate question concerning God’s judgment is, who is able to survive? (Mal 3:2). God’s children will rejoice to see him (Rev 5:13-14; 14:3-5) because they understand God’s response to the martyrs’ cry for vengeance (6:9-11), and they themselves have nothing to fear from God’s judgment (Acts 10:34-36; Rom 5:1-2). Those who have persecuted God’s people, however, will quake in fea…
