Category Archives: End Times

Earthquakes in the Bible – A Second Look

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In the time of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation there were earthquakes. In my first Earthquake post I have more listed; this post is more on the “apocalyptic” quakes. However, 1 Kings 19:11 is the quake and story that shook this second look into being written.

These first three quakes have several things in common. The major one is that God came down to meet His people (or person) and things started. Wind, fire, and loud noise also happened when God came down on the mountains.

  • Exodus 19:18 – Moses on Mount Sinai with the Children watching in awe. The Law was given.
  • 1 Kings 19:11 – Elijah went to Mount Horeb (Sinai) to hide from Jezebel. This was a fresh start for Elijah and the beginning of the end for the Northern Kingdom.
  • Acts 2:2-3 – Okay, the earthquake here happened when Jesus died and the stone was rolled away. But the Holy Spirit came with fire and a loud noise to start the Church on Mount Zion.

The last one was a little shaky, so I will slide another one in that may challenge your thinking. The quake in Genesis could be when the “fountains of the deep were opened”. Many people might say this was just water, but the fractures that are the tectonic faultlines and volcanoes are also a type of fountain and should fit into your Creation Theory.

These first three quakes have plenty of symbolism and other actions going on at the same time as the earth shakes. The types and shadows of Old Testament quakes form the base for the ones that Jesus talked about in Matthew and will be seen before He comes again.

The seals, trumpets, plagues, and bowls in Revelation are first shown in the plagues God used to get Israel out of Egypt. But there was no quake in the plagues on Egypt. All of the other earthquakes before Jesus are the pre-tremors for the big ones to come. The shaking of the adam we come from is saved for the end.

I believe these apocalyptic pre-quakes served their purpose in their time and spoke to things to come. These quakes do not show up by themselves and have plenty of action to go with them.

Isaiah 29:6 has thunder, an earthquake, great noise, windstorm and tempest, and flames of devouring fire coming against those who attack Jerusalem. In Isaiah 36 Sennacherib does attack Jerusalem. I know this also carries past the attack by Assyria, but you have to wonder if there was more than just a “plague” killing those 185,000 men.

Ezekiel 38:19 has the Lord’s zeal, fiery wrath, a great earthquake, torrents of rain, hailstones, and burning sulfur on Gog and the nations with him.

Matthew 24:7, Mark 13:8, and Luke 21:11 are references to the “birth pains” Jesus talks about on the Mount of Olives, this is the second sermon for the day. Luke has the most things listed, but all have earthquakes and famines.

Matthew 27:51 and 28:2 happened after Jesus proclaimed “it was finished”, but they accomplished several things.

  • Matthew 27:51 – This caused the Roman guards to believe, set people free from the grave, and tore the Temple curtain, which opened the way for Jesus to carry His Blood offering into the presence of the Father.
  • Matthew 28:2 – (See Earthquake) This rock-roller got everyone in Jerusalem awake to make unleavened bread for the day and opened the tomb so the women could see a “Mercy Seat” picture on Easter morning.

Revelation 8:5, 11:13 + 19, 16:18 – I am going to list what is in the Bible about these quakes, because the opinions have produced a magnitude 10 quake and a 300-foot-high tsunami.  

  • Revelation 8:5 – This is with the seventh seal and the golden censer is the cause. It comes with the smoke of the incense, peals of thunder, rumblings, and flashes of lightening.
  • Revelation 11:13 + 19 – The quake in verse 13 is with the sixth trumpet and after the two witnesses are brought back to life; a tenth of Jerusalem collapses and 7,000 people die. The quake in verse 19 is after the seventh trumpet when God’s heaven was opened and the Ark was seen. It came with lightening, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great hailstorm.
  • Revelation 16:18 – The seventh bowl has been poured out and a loud cry of “It is done” is heard. Lightening, rumblings, and peals of thunder come with this quake. It tears Jerusalem into three sections, cities collapse, Babylon the Great gets wrath, mountains and islands are gone, and huge hailstones start falling.

Come Lord Jesus!

Latest Earthquakes from the USGS.

Jesus in the Psalms – The Nations

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Well, this study started with Luke 2:32 where Simeon announced that Jesus would be a light of revelation to us Gentiles and the glory of Israel. Paul quotes this idea in Acts 26:23 in his trial before Festus. No, it does not come from Psalms, but is found in Isaiah 42:6, which is heavy on prophecy. I wanted to see how the Holy Spirit directed the prophets who Psalms to include us Gentiles coming to Jesus. So, I started a search with the word Gentiles in the Book of Psalms. That did not go as planned but opened up a lot of things I did not expect.

Translations and Phrases

The translation you use will determine what word you use in your search, on-line or with leaf and ink. An example – the King James seems to have followed the Geneva 1599 Bible in calling us heathen instead of Gentiles or nations. In Psalms many verses, in Hebrew, use the word gō·w·yim, and that is not the only word that is translated nation. A beauty of our God is the poetry and imaginative language He uses when speaking through His prophets and song writers. Between our God’s creativity and translators doing their job I only scratched the surface of all the verses in Psalms that have or show nations and how they relate to God. Here are several links that may help.

gō·w·yim

The reason for me using gō·w·yim as a point of reference is it appears in Psalm 2, 22, and 33, and they (in my opinion) all refer to nations coming to Jesus. Psalm 102:15 also mentions them coming to God. Now, this was not the only topic/idea that the Psalms have about nations relating with God and the future Jesus’ life and mission. There is a plethora of verses on God ruling and battling, and then the nations and peoples praising God. Israel as a nation is referred to many times and other nations and their gods also have several mentions.

Here is one example – Psalm 22:27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. (KJV)

Initially, these posts were to be Christmas related. The Magi are the Gentile representation involved in the story. You will not find the term Magi in Psalms, instead think about kings and rulers as in Psalm 138:4 and 72:10-11. If you stretched real far in the other books of the Old Testament magic and magician might be grabbed, but that is very iffy. Since rocks can cry out, trees can clap their hands, and waves can roar; Psalm 97:6-8 can include the heavens proclaiming His righteousness and glory. These verses also suggest the angels were worshipping Him. Let’s include the star first mentioned by Balaam (Abraham’s seed, but not Jewish) in Numbers 24:17.

Time to vent my very active imagination. What else in the world joined the angels in singing that day when the Savior of all creation was born? Does Psalm 97 give other hints? Mary told Matthew and Luke what she knew and could see in Bethlehem. What about everywhere else; did the earth quake, volcanoes erupt, forests rustle, herds and flocks sing, clouds drop lightning bolts, and the seas make noisy waves? Alas, we may not find that out until Heaven, but I have to think a lot of praise happened that night for the birth of the Creator. Silent Night is a beautiful song, but I want to believe that there was a lot of rejoicing.  

A Few Observations

  • Psalm 2 is a Father writing to His Son.
  • Psalm 22 I call the Jesus Psalm.
  • Psalm 33:10 -15 is about the people He chose for His inheritance.
  • 22 +33 have a mention of food and provisions.
  • Many times, nations and peoples are in the same verse or Psalm.

My takeaway. For the most part, the Psalms were written before most of the historical books in the Bible and before the Prophets. Besides the Law, the Prophets had the Psalms to read and reflect on. There is so much about the life and ministry of Jesus nestled in these songs, but how the nations will be treated are a major theme from beginning to end. Psalms proclaim just part of the message, but their voice deserves to be heard with the Prophets.

Judas, Adonijah, Absalom, Man of Lawlessness

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This post comes from my year-through the Bible readings near Easter that included 2 Samuel and 2 Thessalonians. If 2 Samuel was given a modern genre, I think it would be a soap-opera drama. Like all Scripture it was included for instruction. This time when I read through 2 Samuel and 1 Kings, I asked myself if Absalom and Adonijah were types and shadows of someone to come and why was this story included in the Bible.

With Holy Week approaching I went to the person who betrayed someone for monetary gain, Judas. I have a post called Judas in the Old Testament that contains mostly sections of Psalms that relate to how Judas acted. Types and shadows can be hard and may not be agreed on by everyone. Like Absalom and Adonijah, not everything they did may fit 100% with Judas. Yes, I did leave myself a bit of an open door. Joseph’s brothers taking money (Genesis 37:28) is more like Judas than Absalom and Adonijah.

Good studies generate answers, but should also create questions. So, is all of this written in stone in my thinking? No, there are questions and “what if’s” that have come along. That is where 2 Thessalonians comes in, which then took me to Revelations and Genesis. First a little history from 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles and some thoughts on human nature.

In 2 Samuel 3:2 and 1 Chronicles 3:1 we find lists of David’s children. The only timestamp I can find is that these narratives took place in the thirty-three years of David in Jerusalem. Adonijah’s story is at the end of that time. By my count there are twenty children and seven wives listed by name. How many concubines did he have, who knows? According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, concubines were not “wives” but shared the same privileges as one; that was a messy business. So, you have twenty-seven egos and David’s wishes combined with customs and traditions put on display for millions of people to view. A reason for all of this is to show that the progenitor of the Messiah was very human and needed a Savior.

Bathsheba/Bathshua, Solomon, and Nathan are important in the histories of Mary and Joseph. Bathsheba and Solomon are part of the Adonijah story in 1 Kings. Here are the first six children in order minus their mothers. (That’s six wives in seven years.) I would think the mom’s may have had their hands involved in these dramas. David’s extended family (Joab) provide their own drama in 2 Samuel and 1 Kings.   

  1. Amnon (2 Samuel 13 is the start of this soap opera with Absalom.)
  2. Kileab
  3. Absalom
  4. Adonijah (1 Kings 1)
  5. Shephatiah
  6. Ithream

David’s extended family

This was not in my original thinking for this post; this comes from questions and thoughts during my studies. It seems to be popular these days to bash Father Jesse and David’s brothers. Much of the drama in 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles come from his sister’s families; the brothers are all but forgotten.

Zeruiah was David’s aunt, she had three sons Abishai, Joab and Asahel. Joab is a main character in several stories, and he is not a cheery personality in them. Zeruiah, however, is a true standout from the norm. First, she has no husband listed. Abigail, her sister, is married to Jether (a non-Hebrew) and had Amasa (Joab killed his cousin). Jesse was a leader in Judah, so who did Zeruiah marry? David was very conscious of his cousins and their “power” in the family/tribe/community. Normally, listing children by their mother’s name (sons of Zeruiah) was not a good thing; of course, the husband may not have been living. See 1 Chronicles 2:10-17.

Joab is hard to read, he has an agenda, but. He is leader of the army, seems to be for David most of the time, but has no problem eliminating anyone who might stand in his way. With friends and family like him, who needs enemies. He is very easy to think of as a Judas-type, but not in this post.

Judas and his types and shadows have received a lot of my ink in past years. I have heard even more from pastors and teachers, he is never portrayed as a nice guy, but some have edged very close to making excuses for his actions. One person even thought that since God is love, Judas would be forgiven in the end. How special was Jesus? He dealt with Judas for years, even though He knew what he would do.

For some reason I never thought of Judas as just one character in a long line of deceivers and betrayers, he was always an endpoint. 2 Thessalonians and the man of lawlessness is what put Judas in his proper place. I have had a shift in thinking on Absalom and Adonijah. Adonijah and Judas betrayed the promised heir to the kingdom; Absalom, like Satan, went after everything by trying to displace the true king. For me, that adds to the parable in Matthew 21:33, the Parable of the Tenants. Now Judas joins the corrupt priest, who bought the high priest position from Herod, in monetizing the sacrifices to God.

As bad as I have always considered Absalom, now to see him as a type of Satan, he is horrible.

  • He was goodlooking and high favored.
  • He stole most of the people’s hearts from the king by lying.
  • He would have killed his father and anyone that got in the way.
  • He destroyed the lives the ten concubines. I will do some projecting here; the Law, the Ark of the Covenant, and the worship of Yahweh would have been slowly destroyed or allowed to disappeared.

Now I am wondering if Satan tempting Adam and Eve in the Garden was his first open act of rebellion that then went into angels or just one of many.

Where does Judas fit into other parables of Jesus? Is he the bird in the mustard tree? Can you see him as a weed in the wheat field? Judas, Adonijah, Absalom, and the Man of Lawlessness now have a few more layers to their stories.

Bible 911 Revelations

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Revelation 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. (KJV)

Our verse is at the end of the fifth angel sounding his trumpet and is the first WOE. The whole section is from 8:13 to 9:12. I will study the parts involved in this section and leave the apocalyptic predictions to works of fiction, Hollywood, favorite study Bibles, and the makers of all of those great study boards I have seen. The cryptic nature of the Book has taught me one great truth – Jesus is coming again when the Father says it is time to get His Bride.

So, I will start at Revelations 1:1 which states that John got this revelation of Jesus Christ (Man-God) from God to show what would happen. I know that some of Revelations has not happened yet, but we tend to forget it was written for churches in Asia in the first century. The Holy Spirit was giving wisdom and comfort to our brothers and sisters who were about to go through a very bad time.

Abyss – The shaft that is “bottomless” or the place of the dead. The first use of this word is in Luke 8:31 where Legion is begging to not be sent there. (They know it is coming.) The second place we find it is in Romans 10:7 with the thought of Jesus going and getting the Keys back. The other seven references are in Revelations starting at 9:1 and going to 20:3. See ἄβυσσος | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com and search Strong’s G12. The NASB uses Abyss nine times.

Abaddon – It is the Hebrew word for destruction or ruin and refers to the being that is in charge of that. Please remember some of the readers had Hebrew roots. The verse compares him to Apollyon for the Greeks. Abaddon is found mostly in Job, Psalms, and Proverbs.

Apollyon – The Holy Spirit gave John this interesting name to use in this verse. It may refer to the Greek god Apollo but that is unclear. His function as ruler over those locusts that sting like scorpions is clear.  

Revelation 9:11 MOUNCE – They have as king over them the angel – Bible Gateway

Strong’s Greek: 623. Ἀπολλύων (Apolluón) — “a destroyer,” Apollyon, the angel of the abyss (biblehub.com)

Apollyon Meaning – Bible Definition and References (biblestudytools.com)

Apollo – Wikipedia

Strong’s Greek: 622. ἀπόλλυμι (apollumi) — to destroy, destroy utterly (biblehub.com)

Five Months – This part of the study was fun. As I am leaning toward this being a teaching tool for the first-century Church as well as it being something in the future, I started in the Bible.

  • Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s mother, was in seclusion for five months before Mary showed up in the sixth month of her pregnancy. Okay, that one left me with nothing.
  • There are two 150-day periods associated with Noah’s flood. One month = 30 days in the Hebrew scheme of timekeeping. See Genesis 7 and 8; take a look at Genesis 911 and Noah’s covenant. At least this one deals with destruction, but I was left treading water with this reference also.
  • The siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. lasted five months. Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE) – Wikipedia Rome did it in five months, it took Babylon about twenty-three months in Jeremiah 52. Yes, this took place during John’s lifetime, but Revelation 12 also seems to have taken place. How does this fit into a nice timeline? It does not, but I can imagine the people in Jerusalem praying really hard. Is there more to come? It sure seems that way. I would bet that by the time John got this revelation that reference would have made sense to his readers.
  • My ink and leaf concordance (Strong’s, 2001) identifies five months as the lifespan of the insect. The internet says from 3 to 5 months for the adult stage and around 7 months for the entire life cycle.

Woe! Woe! – Depending on your translation you might find woe or alas. It appears to be the same Greek word ouai, Strong: G 3759. You will find this word in Matthew, Luke, and Revelations; Mark may have one also. Revelations 8:13 has an eagle flying and announcing that three “woes” are coming. The first woe is 9:12, the second woe is 11:14, and the third one we will explore. The woe to the earth and sea in 12:12 somehow seems caught up in the first two. (Those four are translated as woe in Mounce and the KJV.) The three alas/woe in chapter 18:10, 16, and 19 are all about Babylon and are repeated or written as “Woe, Woe”. So, we have the locust (possibly the Romain army), the two witnesses, and the fall of Babylon as the three woes. Many say Babylon in this chapter is Rome, which at the time was a major shipping giant. Was John writing about the fall of the mighty Roman Empire just a few hundred years in the future? Is there a second layer in this prophecy, probably? A symbol of ancient Rome was the eagle (8:13). Wow, I would love to go over all the metaphors and opinions about those two witnesses, but I will say we have not seen them yet.   

Locusts – These insect and arachnid hybrids that come from the Abyss are something else. I have heard physical and metaphorical explanations. The Greek word is Strong’s G200 for locust and G4651 for scorpion. I am pretty sure that John the Baptist would not eat these creatures. A DNA splicing experiment gone wrong would be way too simple. For their adult lifespan, they don’t eat, their purpose is to make humans miserable who do not have the seal of God on their lives. Just like in Exodus 10, these things leave God’s children alone.

A look into our Old Testament shows that locusts can have several descriptors so there is more than just one reference in the Strong’s Concordance – H697, H2284, H1357, H5556, H6767.

Well, the fifth angel blowing his trumpet and the first woe introduces us to a global event that releases a terrifying problem for those who do not think about Father God and reveals their king. What strength, comfort, and understanding did it bring to the first Christians who read John’s words? I am not sure, but it worked because the Church grew and prospered. What lessons are we to learn from them and these prophetic words? I know enough to say it starts with Jesus and echoes Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 1:30 –
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. (NIV)

Ephesians 1:6

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Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (KJV)

Verses three through six are more than an introduction and a reminder to the Ephesians, they are the foundation of the Good News of Jesus’ Kingdom. Use 2 Corinthians 5:21 as a reference and comparison.

For study purposes, I suggest you compare verse, 1:6, in both websites. I listed five words that deserve your attention, so spend some with them and let them in.

  • Praise, epainon G1868.
  • Glory, doxes G1391. Paul will use this word many times in his writings.
  • Grace, charitos G5485. Let this word, thought, and gift to us from the Father settle into you as a foundation, so it can steady you as you soar into the heavenlies.
  • Freely given, echaritosen (charitoo) G5487. This is a Christmas connection word. The angel Gabriel said this to Mary in the Book of Luke. Take a Muse Moment here and reflect on how important you are to the Father. Charitoo is used only twice in the New Testament.
  • Beloved, egapemeno G25.

Use the links below to explore all of the words in the passage in Ephesians.

Ephesians 1 MOUNCE – Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the – Bible Gateway

Ephesians 1 Interlinear Bible (biblehub.com)