In the last year or so we’ve seen the world rocked by numerous earthquakes. Haiti so far has been the one that has caused the most deaths but earthquakes have also rocked Japan, Chile, Portugal and Turkey to name a few. It naturally makes us wonder what is going on. The Bible predicts that great earthquakes will happen just before Jesus comes back a second time.
“There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.” — Luke 21:11
It certainly causes people who are familiar with this Bible text to stop and take notice. If we look back on the last 10 years alone, there have been a number of serious natural disasters. In 2003 an earthquake in Bam, Iran killed more than 26,000 people. in 2004 there was the Indian Ocean eartquake and resulting tsunami in Indonesia which killed an estimated 230,000 people. In 2005 the Kashmir earthquake killed at least 74,500 people in India and Pakistan. 2005 also saw the cyclone Nagris cause massive landslides that killed over 100,000 people. In 2008 an earthquake in Sechuan, China killed 18,396. These earthquakes are by no means the only ones in history that have caused large death tolls but they do seem to be increasing in frequency.
With the four or five that have struck lately it brings our mind back to the words of Jesus. You find Jesus mentioning the earthquakes in Matthew 24:7, Mark 13:8 and Luke 21:11. All three of these references refer to the same sermon by Jesus. These words were spoken by Jesus because the disciples asked how they would know when the end of the world would come. Jesus had just finished predicting that the temple would be destroyed and to the disciples this had to mean the end of the world. They were devout Jews and like any Jew of their day they believed that if the temple was destroyed it meant that God had forsaken His people. Jesus answered their questions regarding the temple while also weaving in signs of His second coming at the end of time.
So is this the end of the world?
Earthquakes alone won’t be enough to conclusively make that case but they certainly should cause us to take a personal inventory of our personal walk with the Lord. We don’t know how much time we personally have left. We could get in a car and get hit by a cement truck tomorrow and the end of the world will have come for us. We can’t wait for the perfect time to give our life to God. Jesus has already done everything possible to make sure that we make it to heaven with Him. All He asks of us is that we are willing to obey. Willing to accept His free gift by faith. If our heart is completely His we have nothing to worry about the end of time. God will be our provider. He will be our protector.
Are you ready for Jesus to come? I know I can’t wait!