Earthquake

DATE OF PUBLICATION: JANUARY 2005 WM 1254

ARE YOU READY FOR WHAT IS COMING? —

The Great Earthquake

Have you heard about the mammoth earthquake that is coming? We are steadily drawing closer to the end of time—when the Great Crisis of the National Sunday Law—will hurl us into final events.

The most astounding events are soon to occur. You need not go to a clairvoyant to learn what is about to happen. You do not need to consult someone full of theories about future events.

In order to learn about the raging tempest that is soon to crash upon us, all you need do is open the pages of Great Controversy—and read the plain words printed there. Take them for what they say; accept their obvious meaning. Refuse to consider symbolic interpretations—and you will obtain an accurate understanding of what is ahead.

When was the last time you read the closing chapters (23-42) of that book, the most important of all books written in the past nineteen hundred years? Read it again; absorb it. Tell others what you are reading. Urge them to read it also.

After the close of probation, the entire world will be plunged into scenes of violence and misery, because the Spirit of God will have been withdrawn from most of humanity. You can read about it in chapter 39. But then, suddenly, God will deliver His faithful ones—and in a most startling way. Here are the first hints of this Divine Intervention:

"By the people of God a voice, clear and melodious, is heard, saying, ‘Look up,’ and lifting their eyes to the heavens, they behold the bow of promise. The black, angry clouds that covered the firmament are parted, and like Stephen they look up steadfastly into heaven and see the glory of God and the Son of man seated upon His throne. In His divine form they discern the marks of His humiliation; and from His lips they hear the request presented before His Father and the holy angels: ‘I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.’ John 17:24. Again a voice, musical and triumphant, is heard, saying: ‘They come! they come! holy, harmless, and undefiled. They have kept the word of My patience; they shall walk among the angels;’ and the pale, quivering lips of those who have held fast their faith utter a shout of victory."—Great Controversy, 636.

And then, all at once, it will begin to happen. All nature seems to go crazy:

"It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the deliverance of His people. The sun appears, shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession.

"The wicked look with terror and amazement upon the scene, while the righteous behold with solemn joy the tokens of their deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out of its course."—Ibid.

Forty-four different events occur within a few pages—but a special factor causing much of it is, what is called, a "mighty earthquake." The first dramatic hint is the action of the streams and clouds.

"The streams cease to flow. Dark, heavy clouds come up and clash against each other. In the midst of the angry heavens is one clear space of indescribable glory, whence comes the Voice of God like the sound of many waters, saying: ‘It is done.’ Revelation 16:17."—Ibid.

God speaks from heaven—and the sound of it shakes our entire planet. Not only does that Voice declare that the persecution of the righteous by the wicked is at an end, but it also unleashes immense forces of nature.

"That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is a mighty earthquake, ‘such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.’ Verses 17, 18. The firmament appears to open and shut. The glory from the throne of God seems flashing through. The mountains shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are scattered on every side. There is a roar as of a coming tempest. The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard the shriek of a hurricane like the voice of demons upon a mission of destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Mountain chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by the angry waters. Babylon the great has come in remembrance before God, ‘to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.’ Great hailstones, every one ‘about the weight of a talent,’ are doing their work of destruction. Verses 19, 21. The proudest cities of the earth are laid low. The lordly palaces, upon which the world’s great men have lavished their wealth in order to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin before their eyes. Prison walls are rent asunder, and God’s people, who have been held in bondage for their faith, are set free. Graves are opened, and ‘many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth . . . awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.’ Daniel 12:2."—Great Controversy, 636-637.

You will also want to read that which follows (pages 637-645).

Because of the massive 9.0 earthquake which ravaged over twelve nations in, or bordering on, the Indian Ocean on Sunday morning, December 26, and the reports of its aftereffects, all of us have learned a lot about earthquakes and the seismic waves (called tsunamis) which they produce.

We can now better understand the meaning of that predicted earthquake which will occur when, not too far in the future, the Voice of God sounds in the heavens.

But that future earthquake will be dramatically different than all that have gone before. Nearly a dozen effects of that "mighty earthquake" are described in the above quotation. —Obviously, it will be a multi-pronged shattering of the interior of our world, which will produce terrible effects on the surface.

The sound of God’s Voice will shake the entire planet,

—not merely a single location in the Indian Ocean or along the San Andreas fault line in California.

On Earth’s land masses,

mountains will shake; rocks will be hurled, as the whole earth heaves and swells "like the waves of the sea," and its surface breaks up. Mountain chains will be sinking. The foundations of the continents will crumble. Even the greatest of the cities are laid low and the palaces of the wealthy are destroyed. Prison walls are rent asunder and graves are opened.

On Earth’s islands and coastal areas,

the sea is lashed into fury, as inhabited islands sink and wicked seaports are swallowed up,

A single, momentary shifting along a short distance on one crack near Sumatra caused a 15-foot drop of part of the ocean bed. This caused that island to be horizontally shifted 48 feet.

It caused water to move on a mammoth scale. From the ocean floor to its surface, an invisible wall of water, thousands of feet high, raced outward in all directions. Hurtling along at a speed of 700 miles an hour, that water sped toward coastal areas near and far away. Nothing slowed it until it reached land.

If you have ever waded into the ocean at a beach, you know that water is continually being sucked out into the sea, in preparation for the next incoming wave. As the water depth becomes shallow, the water forms into an ever-larger wave. Then it crashes near shore.

But when an earthquake-caused wall of water races along, when it reaches land it produces a gigantic wave between 15 and 30 feet high, depending on the intensity of the originating earthquake. The December waves were about 30 feet high, about as large as they ever get.

—Now consider that great event in the future, when immense earthquakes, on both land and sea, will trigger fabulous tsunamis! Consider what will happen to the islands of the sea. What will they do to coastal areas throughout the world?

We are told that seismic waves do not stop when they reach land,—until they reach land that is higher than the top of the wave. We are told that the incoming December wall of water came onto land at 600 miles per hour, sweeping all before it.

In that future quake, immense waves will flood inland in many areas. For example, such waves would flood most of Los Angeles and possibly travel up the Sacramento River into California’s Central Valley. What would they do to Seattle, San Diego, New York City, Japan, and other major coastal areas of the world?

"Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by the angry waters."—Great Controversy, 637.

Yet great destruction inland, from equally powerful seismic activity beneath the continents, will also occur.

"The mountains shake like a reed . . The whole earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Mountain chains are sinking . . The proudest cities of the earth . . are laid low."—Great Controversy, 637.

Are we ready for what is so soon to come on all the earth? Read Great Controversy, 618-627.

"The season of distress and anguish before us will require a faith that can endure weariness, delay, and hunger—a faith that will not faint though severely tried. The period of probation is granted to all to prepare for that time. Jacob prevailed because he was persevering and determined. His victory is an evidence of the power of importunate prayer. All who will lay hold of God’s promises, as he did, and be as earnest and persevering as he was, will succeed as he succeeded. Those who are unwilling to deny self, to agonize before God, to pray long and earnestly for His blessing, will not obtain it. Wrestling with God—how few know what it is! How few have ever had their souls drawn out after God with intensity of desire until every power is on the stretch. When waves of despair which no language can express sweep over the suppliant, how few cling with unyielding faith to the promises of God."—Great Controversy, 621.

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