Recent months have seen major earthquakes rock Haiti and Chile. What does the Bible tell us about natural catastrophes, and what does this mean in today’s world?
Suddenly, the ground started heaving and shaking. I felt the car jerking as if all four tires had suddenly gone flat. I couldn't help swerving back and forth on the road and barely kept the car from crashing.
Then I saw telephone poles swinging wildly back and forth and plumes of dust rising to the sky. Around me, buildings were collapsing and people were screaming. It seemed so surreal.
Back home, my wife, barely able to keep her balance, watched horrified as my little daughter, still asleep after a day of swimming, was being tossed around on her bed as if she were a rag doll.
Thankfully, all of us survived the ordeal that took place when we lived in Santiago, Chile. On that day in 1985, the earthquake registered 7.8 on the Richter scale and 178 people perished, while many thousands were left homeless.
Now, 25 years later, almost to the day, it has happened again—but this time the earthquake was much worse. It rocked Santiago and all the cities and towns 500 miles to the south, killing close to a thousand people and leaving over a million homes severely damaged. A tsunami also engulfed several coastal villages. At 8.8 on the Richter scale, it was 500 times stronger than the quake that had devastated Haiti six weeks before.
Is this normal?
What is happening? If we look at the 12 strongest earthquakes registered in the world since measurements of them began some 300 years ago, four—or a third of the list—have occurred within the last six years.
This recent one in Chile is rated eighth in intensity, and the earthquake off Sumatra, Indonesia, five years ago is ranked third. It caused a tsunami that killed 226,000 persons. Then, just six weeks before the earthquake in Chile, a great quake hit Haiti and killed about the same number of people as the one in Indonesia.
Until recently, geophysicists have said these great earthquakes are normal occurrences and there hasn't been a noticeable increase in them—but that is no longer the case.
According to Asian News International, "The 8.8-magnitude earthquake that shook Chile on Saturday was not outside the realm of normal, but the Earth has been more active over the past 15 years or so relative to a time period in the past, according to a scientist.
"'Relative to the 20-year period from the mid 1970's to the mid 1990's, the Earth has been more active over the past 15 or so years,' Fox News quoted Stephen S. Gao, a geophysicist at Missouri University of Science and Technology, as saying.
"'We still do not know the reason for this yet. [It] could simply be the natural temporal variation of the stress field in the earth's lithosphere,' he added" ("Chile Earthquake Shows Earth More Active in the Last 15 Years: Scientist," Feb. 28, 2010, emphasis added throughout).
In fact, according to the data available, over the last 15 years there have been more large earthquakes that have rocked the planet than in the previous 300 years.
In the scientific community, there is some disagreement over the historical magnitude and frequency of earthquakes; however, the impact earthquakes have had on human lives is unquestionable.
"There have been more deaths over the past decade from earthquakes, said University of Colorado geologist Roger Bilham, who just returned from Haiti... 'We found four times as many deaths in the last 10 years than in the previous 10 years,' Bilham told the Associated Press Monday. 'That's definitely up and scary.' Other experts said they too have noticed a general increase in earthquake deaths. The World Health Organization tallied [about] 453,000 deaths from earthquakes from 2000 to 2009, up markedly from the previous two decades" ("Not More Quakes, Just More People in Quake Zones," Seth Borenstein, Associated Press, March 9, 2010).
This brings to mind one of Jesus Christ's predictions as the end-time scenario nears. He said, "There will be great earthquakes [Greek megas seismos] in various places" (Luke 21:11).
After describing numerous other signs, He ended by saying, "Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (verse 27). Since there have always been earthquakes on the earth, Jesus was speaking of these momentous events increasing in intensity and frequency.
Earthquakes in the Bible
The Greek term in the Bible for an earthquake is seismos, from which we get the English words seismic, seismograph and seismologist. The word conveys a meaning of anything that produces an intense shaking of the ground.
For example, The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible describes seismos as "a shaking, trembling, as of a sieve. A trembling of the earth, caused sometimes by volcanic activity, but more frequently, by a displacement, often very slight, of the earth's crust (tectonic earthquake)" (1989, Vol. 2, p. 4).
Clearly, the earth seems to be suffering from more violent shaking than normal. Going back to the list of the world's 12 strongest recorded earthquakes, three happened in the 1700s, one in the 1800s and now, eight in the last hundred years. The four mega earthquakes that have struck the planet in the last six years have killed almost half a million people—an unprecedented figure.
Just a "natural" phenomena?
Is God trying to get our attention? Certainly in the Bible, earthquakes can be seen as a means to wake people up out of their complacency. Here are some scriptures to keep in mind:
Psalm 18:7: "Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, because He was angry."
Isaiah 13:11-13: "I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible... Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger."
Isaiah 29:6, 13: "You will be punished by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire [here God includes tornados, hurricanes and scorching fires]... Therefore the Lord said: 'Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.'"
Revelation 6:12, 15-16: "I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood...And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'"
Naturally, there are parts of the earth more prone to earthquakes, but almost everywhere in the world there have been major earthquakes, or there is a potential for them, so no place is truly exempt. The earthquake in Haiti, for instance, took almost everyone by surprise since there had not been an earthquake of this magnitude in 200 years.
In fact, the entire crust of the earth is heavily cracked, with major and minor faults running virtually throughout the globe. Unfortunately, when a large earthquake strikes a place that is not prepared for it, and the building codes are lax, then the damage is much greater, as witnessed in Haiti.
Thankfully, Chile has among the strictest building codes in the world, which are strongly enforced, so these rigorous regulations probably saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
Why?
What about the idea that somehow people suffer these consequences because they are more unjust than others? Christ Himself answered this question in Luke 13:1-5, "There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
"And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.'"
In other words, as the Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). No one is exempt from suffering the consequences of some natural catastrophe.
God does intervene at times to punish sin, but usually He allows natural disasters to occur in this fallen world as a reflection of man's rule under Satan's influence.
As Solomon wrote: "I returned and saw under the sun that—The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them" (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12).
Does this mean God doesn't protect a righteous person in the moment of danger? Of course He does, and there are many instances of God's timely intervention when He has His powerful and holy angels protect the just (see Psalm 91). But in an increasingly degenerate society, more catastrophes are bound to happen. Consequently, we should always pray for God's protection and also apply biblical principles by carefully securing our dwellings so we will not be found negligent (Deuteronomy 22:8; Proverbs 22:3; Ecclesiastes 10:18).
Remember, God is very patient and does not want anyone to perish but to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Unless it is part of a prophetic event, God in His mercy "makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). Moreover, He "is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful just as your Father is also merciful" (Luke 6:35-36).
Be spiritually prepared
We can't be completely certain why this increase of major earthquakes is occurring and whether it is a temporary phenomenon or a permanent trend. But it behooves us to be alert and to watch whether this pattern continues into the future and what it can portend for all of us.
This intensity and frequency of earthquakes might be a wake-up call for the world—and for us. One thing is for sure—we should spiritually prepare for the coming of Christ, whenever that happens. We cannot afford to get caught unprepared.
Jesus warned, "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:34-36).
This is no time to take it easy spiritually. Thankfully, we know one day, earthquakes will be a thing of the past. When Christ comes to reign on the earth, He will remove the curse upon the land and heal this ailing planet (see Isaiah 32:16-18; 60:18-21).
As a final admonition, Peter tells us, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
"Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:10-13).
As we have seen in the past six years, there is much suffering and death because of major earthquakes. May that day soon come when Christ comes back and heals this fractured earth!
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