The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
Jesus' disciples were very proud of the enormous, ornate temple of gold and stone that Herod had built for the Jews. The gold and white stone shone so brightly in the sun that it was difficult to look directly at the temple.
The temple complex consisted of several buildings. One day, when Jesus came out of the temple, His disciples wanted to show him around to all the buildings of the temple, but Jesus replied, "See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down" (Matthew 24:2).
Later that day, as they sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came to him and asked him two questions: 1) "When shall these things be?" (when shall the temple be razed), and 2) "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" (Some Bible Scholars divide the later question into two parts: "the sign of thy coming," and "the sign of the end of the world?"
The prophecy of Jesus Christ concerning the temple was fulfilled in 70 A. D., when Titus and his Roman army destroyed Herod's temple, completely razing it to the ground. Most of the other signs Jesus' gave the disciples were not fulfilled at that time, so it is obvious that they had reference to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ! Jesus warned of earthquakes in different places, and also floods (Matthew 24:7, Luke 21:25).
Notice the following statistics, taken from the 1998 "World Almanac," for various types of "natural disasters":
Major Earthquakes (Matthew 24:7)
1000 - 1500 AD 4 major earthquakes - 1 every 125 years
1500 - 1900 AD 17 major earthquakes - 1 every 24 years
1900 - 1950 AD 21 major earthquakes - 1 every 28 months
1950 - 1970 AD 12 major earthquakes - 1 every 20 months
1970 - 1990 AD 35 major earthquakes - 1 every 7 months
1990 - 1998 AD 28 major earthquakes - 1 every 3 months
While in the process of compiling this information, a major earthquake, with the magnitude of 6.9, took place in Afghanistan that took the live of thousands of people. I personally believe that during the next two years or so there will be several major earthquakes.
In preparing this book, I went to many web sites. I read some that stated there definitely was a continued increase of earthquakes, while others denied this was true. Generally speaking, it was the people in the field of science who declared there was no increase in the number of major earthquakes. In fact, some of them gleefully proclaimed this in answer to Christians who declared "earthquakes" as a sign of the Second Coming of Jesus. In doing so, they themselves fulfilled the prophecy of Peter:
"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation" (II Peter 3:3-4).
At the website of the National Earthquake Information Center, I found this chart, which covered a period of only three days:
DATE -- (UTC) -- TIME MAGNITUDE COMMENTS
98/05/30 - 06:54:56 - ----- - Southwestern Pakistan
98/05/30 - 09:42:26 - 4.8Mb - Hindu Kush Region, Afghanistan
98/05/30 - 11:31:51 - 4.7Mb - San Luis Province, Argentina
98/05/30 - 16:03:39 - 4.2Mb - Southern Alaska
98/05/30 - 18:18:15 - 5.7Ms - Off E Coast of Honshu, Japan
98/05/31 - 01:43:38 - 4.7Ms - Northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge
98/05/31 - 01:46:09 - 5.3Mb - Vanuatu Islands
98/05/31 - 03:32:56 - 4.9Mb - South of Mariana Islands
98.05/31 - 09:32:43 - 2.9Md - Northern California
98/05/31 - 16:27:53 - 4.4Mb - Near Coast of Guatemala
98/05/31 - 17:54:22 - 4.4Mb - South of Panama
98/05/31 - 21:47:15 - 4.3Mb - Panama
98/06/01 - 01:21:11 - 5.0Mb - Near E Coast of Honshu, Japan
98/06/01 - 05:34:01 - 6.2Ms - Off E Coast of Kamchatka
98/06/01 - 07:35:50 - 5.4Mb - Near S Coast of W Honshu
09/06/01 - 07:59:36 - 4.4Mb - Guerrero, Mexico
09/06/01 - 11:44:14 - 4.9Mb - Hindu Kush Region, Afghanistan
09/06/01 - 13:42:09 - 4.7Mb - Afghanistan-Tajikistan Bord
09/06/01 - 13:59:50 - 3.0Md - Central California
09/06/01 - 18:26:25 - 4.5Mb - Near E Coast of Honshu, Japan
98/06/01 - 22:31:04 - 3.1M1 - Northern California
Although not all of these earthquakes were major, death-dealing earthquakes, we can get a picture of what is happening to the earth every day, and how fragile life really is in consideration of these things. Did not the prophets warn:
"And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
And I will make a man more precious (scarce) than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger" (Isaiah 13:13).
"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 2:6-7).
This is also true of other storms, such as hurricanes and tornados. Return to The Second Coming of Jesus Christ!
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