So
He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the
Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and
breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was
not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle
blowing.
(Note: The wind, and earthquake, and fire, did not
make him cover his face, but the still voice did.)
From
the Lord of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and
loud noise, With whirlwind and
tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.
In
My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake
in the land of Israel.
(this seems to be a cross-reference
to the same earthquake in Rev. 16:18)
[ Judgment on Neighbor Nations
] The words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders from Tekoa, which he envisioned in visions concerning Israel in the days of
Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel,
two years before the earthquake.
You
will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will
reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake
in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!
(these verses in Amos and Zechariah
both refer to the same great earthquake that happened in the days of Uzziah
king of Judah. Archaeologically, they’ve
found evidence of this earthquake in several places in the middle east and have
dated it to 760 bc, which correslates exactly to the timeline of Amos the
prophet. There’s a really great website
that explains this earthquake: https://patternsofevidence.com/2019/01/20/biblical-quake-confirmed/)
For
nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various
places there will be famines and earthquakes.
Now
the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they
saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very
frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
And
behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord
descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.
(a strong earth shaking and movement
occurred, done by an angel, which rolled the stone away from the grave of
Jesus. Jesus had been resurrected).
When you hear of
wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. For nation
will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes
in various places; there will also
be famines. These things are merely
the beginning of birth pangs.
and
there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and
famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
(In the mark 13 and Luke 21
passages, these both refer to when Jesus spoke about the things to come. This could be a reference to the same
earthquakes that are described in Revelation).
and
suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the
prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and
everyone’s chains were unfastened.
(An earthquake, in such circumstances,
was regarded as a symbol of the presence of God, and as an answer to
prayer. See cross reference Matthew
28:2)
[
The Sixth Seal—Terror ] I
looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake;
and the sun became black as sackcloth made
of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;
(the seals are God’s judgment. It says later in verse 14 that every mountain
and island were moved out of their places).
Then
the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw
it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of
lightning and an earthquake.
(this earthquake brought in the 7
trumpet judgments. )
And
in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell;
seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were
terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
(This happened after the 2 witnesses
were raised from the dead and taken into heaven. This event happens after the 6th
trumpet but before the 7th trumpet).
And
the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant
appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and
peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.
(This happens after the 7th
trumpet is blown and before the bowl judgments).
And
there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was
a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon
the earth, so great an earthquake was
it, and so mighty....... verse 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
(This happens after the 7th
bowl judgment was poured out on earth.)
It seems, from looking at these verses, that earthquakes either represent God's presence or his judgment. And looking at the ones in Revelation, I think about how intense they will be and that we really have no concept of how bad they will be.
In today's modern world, it seems that the instances of earthquakes have been getting more intense. I found an interesting article that did a graph of this. It is a graph of 5.0 magnitude earthquakes since 1900. https://ocean.si.edu/planet-ocean/seafloor/graph-magnitude-5-or-greater-earthquakes-1900-april-2011
From looking at the graph, one can clearly see how many more earthquakes there have been in the 2000's. And we think about how many people have been killed by these quakes. Most recently, the large quake and tsunami in Indonesia that killed 230,000 people. But this will pale in comparison to the quakes that will happen in Revelation. It will be much, much worse during the events of Revelation. I cannot even imagine every mountain and island moved out of their place (Rev 6:12), or every island disappearing and every mountain leveled. (Rev 16:20). Humans during this time will face horrifying hardships. But to tribulation Christians during this time, they will have to remember that this time will be short (7 years) and Jesus will be returning quickly.
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