The world is in anguish with the recent news of the enormous earthquakes that struck Turkey and killed over 30,000 (to date, but rising each day) in Turkey or Syria and injured and made homeless countless others. Pray for the people affected and those trying to help. Pray that the Lord may be seen at work in the midst of the tragedy.
Connecting Earthquakes to the Bible
The images and videos of the earthquake damage give us a glimpse, but it can still feel far away and unfamiliar. We have a bit of personal connection through past travels in several of the affected cities on a biblical studies tour. While people easily connect Israel with the Bible, most don’t make a link between the areas affected by these earthquakes and the Bible. This map may help better understand their location.
This region is earthquake-prone, on plate boundaries marked with red lines.
Antioch (modern Antakya, west of Aleppo which is on this map) was a center of early Christianity and where believers were first called Christians. Paul left from here for his first missionary journey, along with Barnabas and John Mark (Acts 13). Then the Spirit rocked the Roman world through the spread of the gospel — a lot better kind of shaking than this physical one.
One of the cities shaken by these quakes was Paul’s home city of Tarsus. Israel felt a more mild trembling. The most famous biblical sites in Turkey are the Seven Churches of Revelation. This area, in western Turkey over 500 miles away, was not damaged by this quake.
Earthquakes in the Bible
Earthquakes are not new, appearing long ago in the biblical record. A very prominent one is mentioned twice. First, Amos opens his scroll by telling when he prophesied, listing the kings of the time and adding that it was “two years before the earthquake” (Amos 1:1). A couple of centuries later the prophet Zechariah referred to the same event: “And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah” (Zechariah 14:5). This was apparently quite the event! It was not just an earthquake, but the earthquake, a tale passed on for generations.
Other mentions of earthquakes include Elijah on Mount Sinai when he found the LORD was not in a wind or earthquake but in a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:11-12). When Ezekiel received the vision from the LORD of wheels and living creatures, God’s voice sounded like an earthquake (Ezekiel 3:12-13).
The New Testament is no stranger to earthquakes either. When Paul and Silas were unfairly imprisoned in Philippi, God rescued them with an earthquake (Acts 16:26). When Jesus sailed with his disciples on the Sea of Galilee, “there arose a great storm (seismos) on the sea” (Matthew 8:24). While Mark and Luke use the word windstorm, Matthew uses the word seismos (an earthquake, related to our word seismic)! How badly did the boat rock in those waves?
Israel Earthquakes After the Time of the Bible
Part of Israel’s eastern boundary follows the fault line of the Rift Valley, including the Jordan River. This crack in the earth continues by the Sea of Galilee where evidence of earthquakes can be seen by tourists where massive pillars were jarred off their bases and have been laying there since. There is archaeological evidence of a large earthquake in Israel in AD 363 and a huge one in AD 749.
Future Earthquakes in Biblical Prophecy
Zechariah 14 describes an earthquake that will happen in the future Day of the LORD, when God’s feet will split the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
Jesus warned, “There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” (Matthew 24:7-8) Many expect the signs he spoke of will increase in frequency like birth pains until He returns.
The book of Revelation speaks in multiple places of earthquakes (Revelation 6:12, 8:5, 11:13, 11:19, 16:18).
Earthquakes with the Most Significant Event in History
There was even an earthquake at the moment Jesus died on the cross and another when God raised Him from the dead!
Behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. … When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
Matthew 27:51, 54 (ESV)
Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
Matthew 28:2 (ESV)
To Ponder…
We may think there is nothing more solid than standing on bedrock. But what happens when the bedrock shakes? What is the firmest foundation? Trust the One who was raised from the dead during an earthquake! Both Peter and Paul identified Jesus as the prophesied precious cornerstone (Acts 4:11, Ephesians 2:20).
Thus says the Lord GOD,
Isaiah 28:16 (ESV)
“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
Even when the world literally is falling apart around us, we can trust in our God and not fear, because he holds both the world and us securely:
When the earth and all its people quake,
Psalm 75:3 (ESV)
it is I [God] who hold its pillars firm.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
Psalm 46:2-3 (ESV)
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:26-29, quoting Haggai 2:6 (ESV)