Shake, rattle, & roll: These quakes should shake awake your faith
Luke 21:5Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6“As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
7“Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”
8He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. 9When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”
10Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
Are these the Signs of the Times?
It certainly seems like the Lord is pressing a series of warning buttons. From 2004 to 2008, we had a historic number of tropical systems in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Ocean basins. In 2009, we had the global financial meltdown. Here we are in 2010 with two historic earthquakes. There continue to be stronger and stronger birth pangs across the globe:
Mark 13:8 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines; this is but the beginning of the birth-pangs”
What’s the mainstream media reporting?
An article on MSNBC’s site caught my eye today, titled “Big quake question: Are they getting worse?” The article quotes a J. Ramón Arrowsmith, a geologist at Arizona State University, as saying:
“From our human perspective with our relatively short and incomplete memories and better and better communications around the world, we hear about more earthquakes and it seems like they are more frequent,” Arrowsmith said. “But this is probably not any indication of a global change in earthquake rate of significance.” Coupled with better communication, as the human population skyrockets and we move into more hazardous regions, we’re going to hear more about the events that do occur, Arrowsmith added. However, “relative to the 20-year period from the mid-1970s to the mid 1990s, the Earth has been more active over the past 15 or so years,” said Stephen S. Gao, a geophysicist at Missouri University of Science and Technology. “We still do not know the reason for this yet. Could simply be the natural temporal variation of the stress field in the earth’s lithosphere.” (The lithosphere is the outer solid part of the Earth.)
Once again, I find it utterly fascinating that we “do not know the reason” for these increasingly powerful and more frequent quakes…though the answer lies in the most popular book in the world.
Come, Lord Jesus!
It’s easy to become absorbed in the current events, and wanting to piece together the Book of Revelation to understand when it is that Christ is returning. If you spend anytime at all studying the books of Ezekiel and Isaiah, as well as Revelation, you’ll see that it’s difficult to deny that our generation may well be the one that witnesses His Glorious Return. Any Bible prophecy worth its salt would point to the Haiti and Chile earthquakes as a warning of our own need to be ready for eternity. Now that it seems we’ve had a double warning, it is all the more important for Christians to have a sense of priority in their witness to the world. God is very patient, but He is no fool. He is not going to send an endless number of warning signs.
And for myself, I do what the Bible commands, because “…when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28. If I continue looking at Him and for Him His peace that passes all understanding flows through me and I can be His instrument of calm in the gathering storm. This will attract seekers of Truth, and I can share the Good News.
Revelation 22:20He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
