"And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth."
A picture of end times. A revelation foretelling that which shall be among the wicked.
And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth - word study, go; Theses same places of hiding from God is what they shall cry out to fall on them; They will leave the earth, the ground level to scurry into hiding places. Anything that could get them away from what is going on. They will go below ground, into the caves and into the holes. They go into the darkness. They go away from that which is on the above ground. (We will address that in a moment). Isn't it amazing that they seek to hide? As if they could escape anywhere from His Presence.
'They shall go' is defining the wicked, the lost. The children of light have no reason to go and hide. It will still be a fearful sight for all, but there would be no reason for the church to run and hide in caves. And again, a paradox, those that persecuted the church and drove the saints to hide in the desert, in the caves from persecution, now flee there also. A Christian draws nigh unto Him; a sinner flees from Him. One stays in the light, the other runs to the darkness.
For the fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty - word study, 'fear of the Lord; word study, glory; both attributes of God are precious to us as His people - the fear of the Lord and the glory Shekinah of His majesty. Both should be a captivating force for us in meditation and study.
1. Fear of the Lord is found throughout all of Scripture. Both saved and lost souls fear the Lord. EVen those, who might brag of their defiance will cowering in fear when they see His glory. No man cann see the glory of God and not go down in humble dread. Sin is the wounding of the soul that knows that we have provoked God and now will have to answer to God. A saint has the same conduct of sin, but they know the assurance that Christ blood cleanses us. A saint also knows grace and glory will deliver them from His mighty hand of judgment. In truth, a saint learns to fear the Lord now, a sinner will fear Him then. Better is the first, than the latter.
2. Glorfy of His majesty - This is the marvel that as hard as I try, I cannot get my mind around. Literally my mind is beyond ability to know the glory of God. In all of the descriptions of Scripture it is more than I can process.
