“Earthquakes in Various Places” (Matthew 24:7b)
I have been watching video footage of the terrible tragedy of the severe earthquake that has shattered part of Turkey and Syria. On the ground are representatives of quite a few nations engaging is rescue efforts. The vast area devastated remains a very daunting task for those working to rescue people trapped under concrete and rubble. Also note that Israel is at the forefront of aid medically and in regards to rescue teams and other equipment needed to rescue those still trapped. Israel was the first neighbour on ground zero. In fact Israel still came to Turkey and Syria’s aid even though technically Syria is still at war with Israel and I am persuaded the Assad regime is still against Israel. As for the Erdogan regime they too are still against Israel even though Erdogan has to some degree re-established relations with Israel at least outwardly. These regimes in Turkey and Syria are the problem, not the people by and large.
Watching Israelis at work in this disaster reminds us that God has called the Israel to be a blessing to the Gentile nations and that those who bless Abraham’s decedents will be blessed and those who curse them will be cursed (Genesis 26:4) (Genesis 12:1-3) (Genesis 28:13-14). Since the rebirth of the nation Israel’s support of other nations in times of disaster has always been at the forefront of the aid given, even when it is given to their enemies as we see happening with Turkey and Syria right now whose regimes in reality are still sworn enemies of Israel deep down on the inside of them. Israel’s ability to bless the nations like they do in giving humanitarian aid and medical and food supplies when needed is a reflection of foreshadow of what Israel will be like and do for the nations of the world after the Messiah has come back to establish His Messianic kingdom on earth with His headquarters at Jerusalem.
In that day the Israelis who have survived the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, also called the time of Great Tribulation, will have all been saved, governed by their king the Messiah our Lord Jesus (Jeremiah 30:1-9). As a restored nation, being the redeemed Israel of God, they will be a blessing to all of the surviving nations over which the Messiah reigns, and that with a rod of iron (Revelation 12:5). Under His governance the earth will become another Garden of Eden.
Today in this age the world does not even resemble the Garden of Eden as it was before the fall of man. The whole earth is racked by wars, famines, earthquakes in various places, spiritual deception, hedonism, humanism, materialism, disease, violence, ecological disasters of one kind or another and perverted sexual activity and people having no reverence for God and the things of God. Those who have not experienced the salvation that comes through repentance from sin, and the salvation received by faith in the Lord Jesus to save them, have no regard for the Laws and commandments of God nor any time to consider the great sacrifice the Son of God made to redeem humanity from the coming wrath of God upon sin and rebellion and for the power and consequences of sin in this life and for all of eternity in the lake of Fire (Revelation 14:9-11; 20:15; 21:8).
It is written in the Word of the Lord; “For when your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.” (Isaiah 26:9b). Also as the prophet Jeremiah writes concerning the awesome power of God when He brings judgement. “But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation” (Jeremiah 10:10). Also as we read in the first Book of Chronicles; “He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth” (1 Chronicles 16:14).
We have always seen earthquakes down through history and they are mentioned in the Word of God. In His end-time prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives the Lord Jesus clearly stated that there would be earthquakes in various places increasing in frequency and with intensity like birth pains (Matthew 24:7b-8). In virtually every case these earthquakes mentioned in the Bible are related to God’s judgement upon sin and rebellion of men and women in every level of society with their faces set against God. When God judges the people of the earth it will affect the religious world, the domestic world and the business world and the political world and the earth will shake at this judgement (Isaiah Chapter 24).
In Revelation Chapter 6:12-18 we see an earthquake that shakes the nations at the Second Coming of the Messiah to judge the world in righteousness and justice. The constellations are affected. The sun turns black and the moon to blood red and even the stars fall to the earth upon men. See also (Joel: 30-32) (Isaiah 13:9-13) (Isaiah 34:2-4) (Acts 2:19-21) (Matthew 24:29-31). The kingdoms and empires of man arrayed against God fall. Every mountain and island will be shaken and removed from their place as the sky is rolled up like a scroll revealing the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus. Kings, princes, generals, the rich, the mighty, and even those in servitude and every person in fact who have not been saved from sin, will hide in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
They will even call on the mountains and the rocks themselves to fall upon them to hide them from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb because the great day of their wrath has come upon the ungodly and rebellious inhabitants of the earth and they will not stand. No earthquake like it will have ever happened before on earth. It will be an earthquake of global proportions that will put all other previous earthquakes in the shade See also (Revelation 16:18b). Earthquakes are in reality God’s wake-up call to man to get themselves back into a right relationship with Him through His beloved Son the Messiah our Lord Jesus, who has shed His blood to redeem and the cleanse men and women from sin and to bring them back to Himself.
The current earthquake and the aftershocks in Turkey and Syria is a tragedy and the human suffering is appalling as only those caught up in it know full well. In any disaster God creates the opportunity for the unsaved to come back to Him and it also produces a great opportunity for believers in the Lord Jesus to witness and to preach the eternal gospel of the coming kingdom of God to their fellow humans also suffering the same calamity and to show them practical acts of love and compassion in the midst of extreme adversity.
When people are stripped of their livelihoods and of all things material in this world and even tragically loosing loved ones and friends it will have one of two effects on them. Either they will curse God in bitterness of soul and continue in their sinful desires and rejection of God even after being devastated by war, plague and famine (Revelation 9:20-21) or they will realise the futility of trusting in this world and the things of this world for their security and that there only hope will be to commit themselves to their great and faithful creator whom they will come to realise has used the calamity to bring them back to Himself and in their brevity they will be open to the gospel of the kingdom (1 Peter 4:19). God Himself will prove to be their comforter.
We also know from God’s Word that during the last great devastation that is going to lay waste the inhabitants of the whole earth immediately prior to the Second Coming of the Messiah, that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved! (Joel 2:32) (Acts 2: 21). God is in the business of saving lives, not destroying them. God is love and desires all people to come to repentance and to a saving faith in the Messiah His beloved Son (1 John 4:8) (2 Peter 3:9). Yet He is also a righteous judge who judges justly and in true righteousness (Psalm 9:8) (Acts 17:31). If He let those not cleansed from their sin by the blood of the Messiah into heaven then heaven would become as defiled as the earth is.
We also know that a new heaven and earth is coming in which righteousness, faith, justice, equality and abundance will be available to all who know the Messiah and who have been faithful to Him in this present age. Not only will they share in His Messianic rule in their glorified and immortal resurrected indestructible bodies, but after a thousand years enjoy Him for all of eternity. In that day sorrow, sighing, tears, sadness, despair, depression, sickness, sorrow and bad memories will all be completely erased forever for the Triune God will be dwelling among His people and He will be their God and they will be His people! (Revelation 21:1-4).
While this earthquake in Turkey and Syria is an epic human tragedy it is also a judgement on the Islamic world that has persecuted God’s people down through history and continues to do so to this day. While God loves all men including Muslims and wants to see them saved, and He is saving multitudes of Muslims today, He also protects His people and pays back those who oppress and persecute them. Isaiah writes about this last great judgement on the Islamic world because of the blood of His people that Islam has shed (Isaiah 34:5-10) (Revelation 17:6). These disasters are reminders to us all of the fragility and temporal nature of trusting in this world and what it offers and drives us to look to the Lord, the Triune God Himself for our future hope and security not only in this age, but more so in the age to come and after that for all of eternity.
