Having considered the first of three major divine purposes of the earthquakes which are revealed in the Bible, we shall today consider their second divine purpose — "divine deliverance".
Earthquakes that Betokened God’s Protection and Deliverance of His people
Although earthquakes are usually seen as something that we should try to escape, God had often used them as His tools to deliver and protect His people. Consider some biblical examples of the earth quaking when God acted to deliver and protect His people.
1) Psalm 114:1-8 — "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary, And Israel his dominion. The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters."
2) When Jonathan and his armour bearer fought a garrison of Philistines, God sent an earthquake among the Philistines to disperse them:
- 1 Samuel 14:15-16 – "And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling. And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another."
3) The prayer of the people in Isaiah’s time expressed their desire to see God shaking the earth as He comes down to deal with their enemies.
- Isaiah 64:1-3 – "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down; the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
- This is the early portion of Israel’s second plea recorded in 64:1–7 (the first is in 63:15-19). Herein, a request is made to God that He might "come down" (vv. 1, 3) in His great power to smite the nation’s enemies. They prayed that the Lord would "rend the heavens" (the sky is pictured as a piece of cloth He would tear), mountains would "flow down" (swept down), fire with fervent heat would burn (v. 2), that the hostile nations who gather against them may tremble at His power and presence. Fire and boiling water picture judgment (cf. Jer. 1:13-14; Mal. 4:1, 5). The awesome things (Isa. 64:3) probably refer to the phenomena of fire, darkness (Deut. 4:11-13), and earthquake (Ex. 19:16-19) when God gave the Mosaic Law. The prayer of the people is that God would reveal His power and glory through the catastrophic phenomena that often accompanied His appearance in order that He may act on their behalf against the enemies.
4. When our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the grave on the third day of His death, there was a great earthquake. It marked the power Christ has over death, our last enemy.
- Matthew 28:2 – "And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it."
5. An earthquake from the Lord sufficed to free Paul and Silas from their prison in Philippi at a very opportune time:
- Acts 16:26 – "And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed."
6. At the end of the future Tribulation Period, when the nations of the earth will join the Antichrist to attack Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:1-3), the Lord will shake the earth and destroy the attacking army, and will deliver Jerusalem and its inhabitants who will look to Him for salvation and deliverance from the enemy.
- Isaiah 29:5-8 – "Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly. Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion."
- At the end of the Tribulation when nations (vv. 7–8) will attack Jerusalem, the LORD Almighty will come and destroy each attacking nation. The threat of those nations will vanish like a dream.
- Joel 3:16 – "The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel."
7. Deliverance of Israel at the return of Christ to Mt Olive.
- Haggai 2:6-7 – "For thus saith the LORD of hosts; yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts."
- Haggai 2:22 – "And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother."
- Zechariah 14:5 – "And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee."
Those who love God and are faithful to Him have no need to fear the trembling of the earth. Like Psalm 46:2-3 says, "Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah." Our God is our refuge. Even if death were to come through this catastrophe, we shall be with the Lord in His presence, and thus forever delivered from all our troubles on earth!