Author Note on Revelation 6:14a I’ve read many interpretations of this verse from atomic blasts, to a near earth orbit, to storms… still for years I’ve been in the “I don’t know, and time will tell” camp.
We’ve been studying God’s prophetic clock and we have seen how God controls the cycles of the signs in the sun, moon, and stars.
Did you know that God created the sun with an internal clock?
We’ll review solar activity cycles, pole shifts, and coronal mass ejections (or CMEs) that cause geomagnetic storms and northern lights… we’ll also look at the original Greek and the mindset of John as he tried to describe what he saw in the vision of the future.
As I dug into this further I was in awe of God’s amazing and beautiful timepiece and I truly hope you enjoy this journey of discovery through the creator of the earth and heavens. I also hope that someday you are blessed to look up and see the northern lights very very soon as I plan to do with my wife and children.
This is a continuation of the Revelation Sixth Seal analysis where we have analyzed
One can only dream of seeing the northern lights but it seems they are moving south for millions to experience which inspired an unveiling correlation to Revelation 6:14a.
A phenomenon in the heavenly skies where the sky is decorated with colorful crepe-paper streamers of green, pink, blue, and red, while uncoiling, curling, and blowing in a gentle breeze as if God is putting on a party.
Word Study on Revelation 6:14a
Let’s start first by analyzing Revelation 6:14a in detail across several Bible translations:
14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up (Revelation 6:14a; NASB1995)
14 The sky was split [separated from the land] and rolled up like a scroll (Revelation 6:14a; AMP)
14 And heaven went away, as a book wrapped in [or enfolded] (Revelation 6:14a; Wycliff’s Bible with Modern Spelling)
14 The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up (Revelation 6:14a; Berean Study Bible)
14 And Shomayim split apart as a megillah scroll being rolled up (Revelation 6:14a; The Orthodox Jewish Bible)
When aligning these different translations side-by-side, it provides a greater appreciation for the challenging job of translating the ancient Greek language. Let’s break this down.
ouranos (Greek) is translated as the heavens, the sky, the starry heavens, the visible heavens, or the spiritual heavens. In Hebrew the word is Shomayim meaning the Gates of Heaven or heavens, where God dwells, and other heavenly beings, His divine council.1 In the context of Second Temple Judaism, Apostle John would look up at the heavens as the "Unseen Realm" of God and His divine council, as described by the late Dr. Michael Heiser, Old Testament bible scholar.
apochórizó, or apechōristhē (Greek) means to separate, “part asunder”. It’s translated as “split apart, receded, separated from the land, departed, and went away”. It is only used twice in the entire bible. apochórizó is used once here in Revelation 6 and another time in Acts 15:39 to describe how Paul and Barnabus had a disagreement and parted.2
biblion (Greek) means a paper or book. It is only translated as a scroll once in Revelation but used over 900 times in the bible and most often translated as book as well as certificate. In Hebrew, megillah is scroll.
helissomenon, or helissó (Greek) means to roll or coil. The word is only used twice in the entire Bible, once here in Revelation 6 and another time in Hebrews 1:12 to describe rolling a robe or mantle (i.e.: a loose cloth covering such as a cloak or shawl).3
What did John See?
Apostle John, the cousin of Jesus, authored New Testament books of John, Revelation, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. What did he see when he wrote this verse? What is the exogesis4? Or in simpler terms, what is the allegorical picture “leading out” of this verse? First we have to try and put ourselves into the historical context of the writer.
John would have been writing with ink on parchment… rolling/unrolling sheets, pages curling, and attempting to keep each sheet from moving, using a paper weight in order to keep pages flat. He would be careful to capture every Greek character properly without any mistakes using permanent ink. Once John lifts the paper weight the curled pages would roll together again, and he would need to patiently repeat the process on a new piece of parchment.
The Apostle John is banished to the island of Patmos and is given this vision of an astronomical sign to document, and in historical context of his Second Temple Judaism world, he sees this awesome sign in heaven and attempts to describe it. How can one describe this awesome spectacle in the sky?
Maybe John was reminded of something he was familiar with. He looks up and sees the ribbons of light curling, rolling, and unfolding before his eyes. He looks down transcribing the words of Jesus onto unrolled pages of parchment by flickering candlelight. He finished the letters to the seven churches of Revelation and sent them out in scrolls of parchment. The image is fresh in his mind and it fits… he describes this heavenly sight using the allegorical picture of what he is holding in his hands. Is this a possible interpretation of what John saw?
Hypothesis: Revelation 6:14a describes the Aurora Borealis
Interpretation: Revelation 6:14a, refers to the northern lights or aurora borealis which aligns itself well in context to the prophecy in Luke that you will see signs in the sun, moon, and stars.
External evidence: The increasing sightings of northern lights are in temporal proximity to the earthquake of 2023, solar eclipse of 2024, blood moons of 2025, and Draconids of 2025.
What Causes Northern Lights?
The aurora borealis or northern lights are caused by charged solar particles colliding with atoms and molecules in the earth’s atmosphere, creating the light we experience as the northern lights.
Solar Wind
The sun ejects a continuous stream of charged particles, electrons and protons, known as solar wind.
The solar winds reach a speed of about 400 km/s and take around three days to reach Earth.
There are areas on the sun where the solar magnetic field extends into space. From these areas, the solar winds can be ejected with considerably more mass at speeds of up to 1 million miles per hour (Updated 1/7/25)5
These particularly powerful solar winds cause powerful northern lights when the direction of the solar wind is aimed at earth.6
Solar Flares, Sunspots, and CMEs
In addition, there are solar flares at regular intervals, which release large quantities of energy from the sun. Such flares occur in active regions around sunspots. Solar flares can provide very powerful outbreaks of the northern lights. Northern lights hunters look particularly for one type of solar flare, which is called a coronal mass ejection (or CME). This can create a geomagnetic storm that results in powerful northern lights even at lower latitudes. The CMEs can reach a speed of up to eight million km/h and take about 20 hours to reach Earth.7
The GOES 16 and 17 spacecraft each carry a sophisticated extreme ultraviolet (EUV) telescope called the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI). This telescope allows forecasters to monitor the Sun’s hot outer atmosphere, or corona.8
ANOTHER CME IS COMING: But this one will not cause a severe geomagnetic storm. Unlike the CME that struck Earth on March 23rd--a direct hit--the next CME will deliver only a glancing blow. It was hurled into space on April 24th by an explosion in the sun's southern hemisphere. Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on April 27th when the CME arrives.
HOW LOW DID THE NORTHERN LIGHTS GO? A CME hit Earth's magnetic field on April 23rd, a direct hit that sparked a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm. Northern lights spilled out of the Arctic Circle all the way down to the US-Mexico border (+29.5N):9
"I was out shooting the night sky in the Big Bend region of Texas when I saw the alerts of the severe geomagnetic storm," says photographer Brad Dwight. "I decided to point my camera north just to see if I could see anything. These pillars exploded into view."10
The Sun’s 11-Year Cycle
Eos, the award winning science news magazine reports, “Hearing the Sun Tock”, by Russell, Jian, and Luhmann,
The appearance of sunspots—their number, duration, and location—suggests that the dynamics of the Sun’s outer layer is synchronized with an internal clock.
The red line shows the number of sunspots recorded annually since 1749. The dotted black line shows a 11.05-year cycle with an amplitude of 178.7, which are average measures for this series.11
Solar Cycle 25
K. Cartier, reports on August 2022,
The current solar cycle, number 25, started in 2019, which means that the Sun has been slowly ramping up its sunspot and flare activity for the past few years. Solar maximum, when the Sun’s magnetic polarity flips and it’s expected to be the most active, is anticipated to happen sometime between 2023 and 2026.12
Scientists hope that cycle 25 will continue to provide more excitement than did cycle 24—they want to see spots and flares of all sizes and intensities and many coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that traverse interplanetary space to interact with planets’ magnetic fields. But whether that trend persists or the maximum of cycle 25 is the same as any other, solar scientists will assuredly learn far more than they did 11 years ago. Since the previous solar maximum, there have been major advances in solar-observing technology, solar and planetary magnetic theory, and computational power.13
Aurora Forecasting
As the solar maximum increases in cycle 25, sun spots and flares will increase causing CME’s that may be earth bound. Aurora’s are forecasted by meteorologists as a combination of space and earth weather for optimal viewing potential during high levels of solar activity.
These areas are called auroral ovals; the Northern Lights Oval and the Southern Lights Oval. When the charged particles collide with gas atoms and particles in the Earth's atmosphere, energy is emitted in the form of light – the Northern Lights and the Southern Lights.15
The Northern Lights appear as undulating curtains or ribbons of light, which vary in shape, color and strength. The color of the northern lights can vary from dark blue via green and yellow to red and orange.16
The altitude of the Northern Lights range from 80 to 250 km above the ground, and on rare occasions as high as 500-800 km. The average height of the Northern Lights with maximum intensity is 110-200 km, but this varies depending on the form. As the Northern Lights are well above any weather phenomenon, consequently the weather also plays an important role in seeing the Northern Lights.17
God’s omnipotent context: These are astronomical and geological signs only controlled through our God almighty, thus a perfect way for God to get the attention of the world to look up and prepare.
The northern lights (aurora borealis) caused by a solar maximum which peaks in 2025
Note the timeline above has been simplified to focus in on the Revelation 6 Sixth Seal signs by associating each sign to the verse. The Revelation 12 sign has been included as a time marker which follows the first of 2 solar eclipses.
I’ve been pondering the probability of all these signs occurring at approximately the same years leading up to 2025. I think this would be a good mathematical exercise to reinforce God’s awesomeness. God is proclaimed in the heavens and He is trying to let us know the time is drawing near.
God Bless and Good Night.
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It is unlikely that the speed can reach three million km/s