God’s Message in Earthquakes: Faith in a Sovereign God
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
I reflect on the significance of earthquakes, linking personal experiences with biblical narratives. I discuss the destructive nature of earthquakes, exemplified in the 1906 San Francisco quake, and highlights their biblical occurrences as symbols of God’s judgment and communication. Ultimately, I emphasize that true security lies in faith in Jesus amid a transient world.
Growing up, it seems that based on all the TV shows I watched, that quicksand was the biggest threat to life. LOL, of course it is not, but it seemed that everyone was always falling into quicksand. They’d be walking along a jungle path one moment, and then the solid ground under them would disappear and they’d suddenly be up to their armpits in quicksand sucking them down to certain death.
It is the same feeling at the beach. If you stand at the line where ocean meets sand, after a few moments, your feet have sunk into the sand and you become unbalanced. The hard sand is suddenly soft and you have no solid purchase on which to stand.
I’ve learned the reason that the 7.9 San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was especially destructive. More than 3,000 people died and over 80% of the city was destroyed. 61% of the population of 410,000 was left homeless, and refugee camps were still in operation 2 years later. It was liquefaction. Liquefaction is a process by which water-saturated sediment temporarily loses strength and acts as a fluid. Marshes and landfills are especially vulnerable to liquefaction during quakes. In the Frisco 1906 quake, as liquefaction occurred, lateral landslides tipped over buildings, bridges, pipes and other ground infrastructure.
Imagine, the ground you thought was solid suddenly turning to liquid!
We just had an earthquake here in North Georgia. I was sitting at my kitchen table, no music or TV on, all was quiet. I wasn’t even typing but was just thinking. Suddenly I felt a wave roll under me and the house shook from left to right. The small chain pull on my table lamp was swinging. I quickly looked out through my window and none of the trees or leaves were shaking. It had to have been a quake. A truck rumbling by could not cause the very floor under me to feel roll-y.
Thanks to the instant nature of social media, others on Twitter reported that they felt it too. So did friends on Facebook. About 10 minutes later the United States Geological Survey confirmed a 4.1 quake about 170 miles north of us in TN. Wow. A surprise quake was not on my Saturday Bingo card.
Earthquakes are a regular feature in the Bible. The Institute for Creation research says of the big quakes, anyway:
“The Holy Land is a region where earthquakes occur frequently. By one means or another, big earthquakes have been documented in the Holy Land for a period exceeding 4,000 years. Many are known from history and literature, especially the Bible. Holy Land earthquakes are also evidenced from archaeological excavations. No other region of the earth has such a long and well-documented chronology of big earthquakes.”
The biggest quake ever to occur on planet earth was part of the cataclysm of the Great Flood of Noah. ICR says,
“The year-long, global Flood in the days of Noah was the greatest sedimentary and tectonic event in the history of our planet since creation (see Genesis 6-9). One of the primary physical causes of this great judgment was the “fountains of the great deep,” all of which were “broken up” on a single day (Genesis 7:11). The verb for “broken up” (Hebrew baqa) means to split or cleave and indicates the faulting process (Numbers 16:31; Psalm 78:15; Isaiah 48:21; Micah 1:4; Zechariah 14:4).”
Destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, Moses on Sinai, Korah’s Rebellion in the Wilderness, Amos’ Earthquake of 750 B.C., and the Crucifixion in Jerusalem on April 3, 33 A.D. are also mentioned as huge, cataclysmic biblical quakes.
In the Day of Judgment, Isaiah 24:20 says the earth will totter like a hut. This powerful imagery is designed to illustrate the earth’s instability and fragility, sort of how a flimsily built child-constructed fort or treehouse would sway and fall in a stiff breeze. The verse also says earth will be reeling like a drunkard, picturing chaos and confusion that will occur during God’s judgment.
Revelation 6:12 predicts perhaps the same future quake as Isaiah,
And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;
The word in Greek for ‘great’ quake is megas. We know that word as mega, like when we say ‘mega mansion’. It literally is defined as Great, large, mighty, Meaning: large, great, in the widest sense. Since the Tribulation period is a controlled UNcreation, it stands to reason that the cataclysmic future quake will be part of the earth’s undoing before Jesus remakes it into a New Earth.
Earthquakes have been with us since the Fall. It is still unsettling to suddenly feel the ground shift under one’s feet. This highlights the fact that nothing is solid, nothing is secure, unless it’s Jesus. He is the only solidity and security there is.
Earthquakes have been used distinctively by God to highlight some of the most important events of the Bible. The three main purposes for biblical earthquakes are judgment, deliverance, and communication. The lesson is obvious—God does not do anything really big without emphasizing it with an earthquake! In our fast-paced, man-centered, technology-based society of the twenty-first century, God would have us pause and consider His sovereign nature and the program He has been accomplishing in the world. Source ICR
Therefore as to the earthquake today in Georgia, let us consider these things such as His sovereignty, His communication to us. Do we consider Him the only security? Do we heed His message in His written word that judgment will include earthquakes? Would an earthquake shake us out of any complacency? Do we remember the big biblical quakes of the past, the reasons for God delivering them, and the promise of more to come?
Theologically, earthquakes in the Bible symbolize the unshakable power and majesty of God. They remind believers of the transient nature of earthly things and the enduring reality of God’s kingdom. As visible tokens of divine presence, earthquakes call humanity to reverence, repentance, and recognition of God’s ultimate authority over creation.
