Tsunamis, Hurricanes, Shakings

Biblical Earthquakes:
What Do They Mean?

And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.—Luke 21:11

Adam Kopczyk

Numerous earthquakes have been experienced in different parts of the world in recent times. Prior to December 26, 2004, few knew what a tsunami was. Now a tsunami that shook the world is known worldwide. Tsunami (tsoo-na-mee) is a Japanese word: tsu means harbor and nami means wave. The wave can range from hundred-foot-high breakers close to shore moving at speeds of twenty miles per hour to barely noticeable ripples in the deep ocean traveling at speeds as high as 620-mph (faster than a passenger jet) moving away from the sudden movement of the ocean floor. Earthquakes, landslides on the sea floor, volcanic eruptions, or meteorite impacts, form them. Large earthquakes on the sea floor cause most tsunamis; huge slabs of rock on the earth’s crust are forced to move past each other suddenly, causing the overlying water to move.

On the morning of December 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.0+ earthquake struck 155 miles southwest of Ache Province, Indonesia. This is at the edge of the ring of fire, an earthquake belt that accounts for 81% of the world’s largest earthquakes. The earthquake was only twenty miles below the surface; it deformed the ocean floor, pushing the overlying water into a massive tsunami wave. The rupture was 750 miles long from Western Sumatra to the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. There was a thirty-to-sixty-foot horizontal motion and some vertical movement.

The earthquake itself lasted approximately ten minutes, a surprise since major earthquakes usually last no more than a few seconds. It generated a tsunami that ranks among the deadliest disasters in modern history. TV showed vivid images of the surging waves with debris floating in a wave surge that swept away cars, buses, and even trains. It overturned huge ships in the harbors and some large ocean vessels were swept a mile inland.

It caused our planet to wobble on its axis one inch and shortened the day by three-millionths of a second. Its power was said to be the equivalent to 23,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs, a number calculated according to the pressure required to displace the billions of tons of water. Smaller islands southwest of Sumatra moved 66 feet. The northern tip of Sumatra moved 118 feet southwest. The earthquake had a huge impact on the topography of the seabed. A newly formed oceanic trench several miles wide was found in the earthquake zone.

The tsunami devastated nearby areas. The wave was up to a hundred feet high and killed over three hundred thousand people. The U.N. estimates that it displaced one million people and deprived five million of basic services.

The wave itself traveled around the globe and was measured in the Pacific and many other parts of the world. It also triggered earthquakes elsewhere as far away as Alaska. The resulting tsunami devastated the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South India, Thailand and other countries. Some eighteen countries around the Indian Ocean sustained damage. It caused serious damage and deaths as far as the east coast of Africa, five thousand miles away from the epicenter.

For the survivors of the catastrophe, an immense challenge lies ahead. Families are fractured and loved ones are missing or dead. Livelihoods have been lost and local economies are devastated. Much of the infrastructure has been swept away. In some areas no houses remain, not a road, not a bridge, or a water well. In the worst natural disaster in modern times the world community has rushed to help traumatized victims recover from the wreckage. Villages on the west coast of Indonesia were totally leveled. All vegetation has been wiped out. Roads are under water and bridges look like a giant hand has picked them up and tossed them hundreds of yards away. In many cases the seawater reached three miles inland destroying hundreds of thousands of square miles of farmland.

Since 1900 the only earthquakes recorded with a greater magnitude were the 1960 Great Chilean Earthquake (magnitude 9.5), 1964 Prince William Sound (9.2), and the March 1957 Andreanof Island (9.1). Each of these mega-earthquakes also spawned tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean, but the death toll was significantly lower because of lower population densities.

What Does the Bible Say about Earthquakes?

At our Lord’s first advent, the disciples came to Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem with this question: “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3, NAS). Jesus’ answer is most enlightening: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes” (Matthew 24:7, NAS).

In a few words Jesus described the history of the Gospel age, with literal famines, pestilences, and earthquakes revealing the imperfect climatic conditions of this “present evil world.” God has allowed these imperfect conditions to exist for the express purpose of impressing upon mankind the unfruitful results of disobedience by our first parents.

God said to Adam when he disobeyed in Eden, “Cursed is the ground because of you” (Genesis 3:17, NAS). Famines, pestilences, and earthquakes are part of the curse upon the human family. God foresaw that the death penalty inflicted in this manner would furnish man, through experiences, a lesson of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, a lesson that would never have to be repeated. The lessons will profit everyone throughout eternity.

God gave a promise that eventually the son of a woman should provide deliverance for mankind. The apostle Paul tells us about God’s method to recover man from the original sentence of death which came through Adam’s fall. Here is what he says about this Divine Plan of the Ages by which God would remain just and unchangeable in his attitude toward sin and sinners, and yet grant favor to the willing: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:24-26).

Earthquakes and Tempests in the New Testament

The word earthquake in the New Testament comes from the Greek word seismos, Strong’s #4578, and means “a commotion (of the air) a gale; (of the ground) an earthquake.” On one occasion this Greek word is NOT translated earthquake: “Behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep” (Matthew 8:24). “Tempest” is from the Greek seismos. From a scriptural standpoint, cyclones, hurricanes, and tornadoes in recent years are considered the same as earthquakes.

Another scriptural reference to an earthquake is found at the time of our Lord’s crucifixion: “And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. … 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!” (Matthew 27:51,54, NASB).

Undoubtedly this earthquake was God’s revelation to Israel and to the Roman occupiers of Jerusalem of his great displeasure at their terrible act of crucifying Jesus. It was as though God was saying that henceforth, their temple services were finished. The veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom. God’s presence with Israel would no longer be manifested in the temple. Jesus pointed forward to this time when he answered the woman of Samaria who said: “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” (John 4:20-23).

On the morning of Christ’s resurrection God also used an earthquake: “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” (Matthew 28:2, NAS). This further convulsion of nature, together with the appearance of God’s angel, struck terror in the hearts of those charged with securing the tomb, but it also heralded the resurrection morning and brought joy to the disciples who came to the tomb.

Here is what happened when the disciples were all together on the Day of Pentecost: “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the [holy spirit], and they spake the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). This was an evidence of God’s presence to bless the disciples, and give them courage “to speak the word with boldness.”

An earthquake was used for a quite different purpose when Paul and Silas were in prison: “But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 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” (Acts 16:25,26, NAS). In addition to freeing these two men of God who had been unjustly cast into prison, the jailor and his house were converted when he realized God was speaking to him through that amazing act of nature. Truly, God works in mysterious ways.

Because of Christ’s redemptive work, all may escape death by accepting the conditions of life. All members of the human race, sharers in the death penalty, will be released from the tomb, brought to a knowledge of Christ and his ransom work, and their opportunity to repent and receive full restitution to divine favor (Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22).

Adam’s death penalty has been cancelled by Christ’s ransom. No longer should death be regarded as final but as a sleep (Matthew 9:24; John 11:11-14; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; 5:10) from which all will be awakened and given a full opportunity to live forever. However, all who fail to repent and accept the kingdom conditions will perish (Acts 3:23; Psalm 37:8-11). Second death will apply to any who refuse God’s favor of reconciliation and life (Revelation 20:14,15).

God’s judgments were manifested through the convulsions of nature at Christ’s first advent, and in the days of the apostles. But today the earthquakes occurring throughout the world are not direct judgments of God; they are an evidence of the imperfect condition of the earth.

Earthquakes can well remind us of the great judgments of God that are yet to come when “this present evil world” will pass away so that there can be a “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).

“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). This principle will be demonstrated in a marked way in the closing days of this “present evil world” or dispensation, in which “earthquakes” will play an important role in the Lord’s plan to bring eternal peace and happiness to the world of mankind.