That should be killed BY THEM as they were.—Similarly make covenants of consecration to the Lord.—Rev. 6:9.
Should be fulfilled.—Should be filled full, completed in number. “The Gospel age is for the very purpose of calling those who shall participate in the marriage feast. If, therefore, it be true that we are in the end of this Gospel age, it implies that a sufficient number of worthy guests have been found, or, to reverse the proposition, if a sufficient number of worthy guests have now been found, it proves that we are in the close of this age. It was after the wedding had been furnished with a proper number of guests, that ‘the King came in’ and began the inspection of the guests. This, we have elsewhere shown, marks the date April, 1878.”—Z. '98-137.
6:12. And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal.—Disclosing the events leading up to and associated with the Lord's Parousia, presence.
And, [lo,] there was a great earthquake.—Literally, the great Lisbon earthquake, Nov. 1, 1755, which extended over 4,000,000 square miles; shocked all Africa and Western Europe, including Scandinavia and Greenland; slew 90,000 persons in Lisbon and many thousands elsewhere; destroyed every church and convent in the city; caused a tidal wave 60 feet high; split mountains from top to bottom; sunk an immense area to a depth of 600 feet and threw sailors to the decks hundreds of miles at sea. It is believed to be the most severe earthquake shock ever felt on the earth. Symbolically, the American Revolution, 21 years later (the underlying cause of the French Revolution); the most successful and most extraordinary movement upward of the lower strata of human society that had ever been seen in the world up to that time. God has so written Revelation that those who will not accept the symbolical significance of what is expressly declared to be a symbolical book (Rev. 1:1) may find literal fulfillments, and thus lose the light they would otherwise get.
And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair.—Literally in the dark day of May 19, 1780, which extended over 320,000 square miles. (D. 587.) Symbolically, the light of the papal heavens (the pope) became darkened when Napoleon fined the Pope ten million dollars, organized the Papal territory into a republic and took the Pope a prisoner to France. (C. 41, 55.) Symbolically, too, the light of the true heavens, the Gospel light, the Truth, and thus Christ Jesus, has become hidden from view of many by the denial of the clergy of our day that we were bought with the precious blood and by the teaching of the theory of Evolution.—D. 590; Joel 2:10, 31.
And the WHOLE moon became as blood.—Literally on May 19, 1780. Symbolically, the creeds (the moon of the papal heavens) have become repugnant, though still hypocritically professed. Symbolically, also the light of the Mosaic Law (the moon of the true heavens) has been made to appear evil by the claims of the clergy that the typical sacrifices were bloody and barbaric.—D. 590, 592.
6:13. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth.—Literally, the meteoric shower of Nov. 13, 1833, covering 11,000,000 square miles. (D. 588.) Symbolically, the bishops and the priestly stars of the papacy fell from their positions of power and influence over the minds and consciences of the people. Symbolically, also, the Protestant pulpit stars make a great display in coming down from spiritual things to the Christian-citizenship-politics level.—D. 595.
Even as a fig tree.—“The fig tree in this prophecy may be understood to signify the Jewish nation. (Matt. 24:32.) If so, it is being signally fulfilled; for not only are thousands of Israelites returning to Palestine, but the Zionist movement, started recently, has assumed such proportions as to justify a Convention of representatives from all parts of the world to meet in Switzerland to put in practical shape the proposal for the reorganization of a Jewish state in Palestine. These buds will thrive, but will bear no perfect fruit before October, 1914—the full end of ‘Gentile Times.’ ”—D. 604.
[Casteth] CASTING her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.—The immature fruits of the Zionist movement were dashed to the ground by the great war. Thousands of the Jews already in Palestine were deported to Egypt at the breaking out of the war. At this writing the British are besieging Jerusalem and the Turks are driving the Jews into the desert to perish rather than permit them to remain and come under British control. Out of this turmoil Zionism will soon start afresh and the Jews become the actual rulers of their native land.
6:14. And the heaven departed as a scroll.—“The ‘sure word of prophecy’ indicates very clearly that the various Protestant sects will form a coöperative union or federacy, and that Catholicism and Protestantism will affiliate, neither losing its identity. These are the two ends of the ecclesiastical heavens which, as their confusion increases, shall roll together as a scroll (Isaiah 34:4) for their self-protection—as distinct and separate rolls, yet in close proximity to each other.”—D. 258; Psa. 102:26.