The Earth Will Reel from its Place

At that perilous moment when Israel seems doomed, Christ will appear with a heavenly host (Zechariah 14:3). The instant his toe touches the Mount of Olives, the hill will split in two. There will be a great crash from the hills, says Zephaniah 1:10 in a context describing the wrath with its day of clouds and gloom. Israel will flee out of the city to the east through a newly formed valley (Zechariah 14:5). The Israelis do not flee the armies of the world dictator— rather they flee the earthquake. Yes, you will flee, just as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah… Zechariah 14:5. The split in the Mount of Olives and the uplift of Jerusalem will be closely connected events. Both will be results of the same devastating earthquake that will level the buildings of the world in a few minutes of terrifying convulsions. On a spiritual level, the earth will recoil at Christ’s touch. Men may choose not to recognize their maker, but the dumb rocks will know Him. Then it will be true as Jesus said, “If these do not cry out, the rocks will.” The earth quivers at the touch of its creator. And, while the whole world will suffer horribly from the resultant quake, the complicated geology of the Mid East will make it the focus of the most dramatic shifts. Christ’s timely intervention will demonstrate that the Lord has not forgotten his people. Then will come true another prophecy of Isaiah. “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness will not leave you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,” says the Lord who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:10. Not just Jerusalem, but the entire land of Israel will be re-sculpted by this quake of quakes. From Geba, a town that lay north-northeast of Jerusalem, to Rimmon, southwest of Jerusalem (in the far south of the territory formerly allotted to the tribe of Judah) the earth will be depressed “like the Aravah,” becoming a plain (Zechariah 14:10; cf. 4:6). Hebron, which stands to the south-southwest of Jerusalem and Bethel which sits to the north-northwest will both subside. This brings us to one of the most exciting bits of evidence I turned up in all my researches. This was a report by Zvi Garfunkel in the Israel Journal of Earth Science of a fault eight miles deep which, upon examination, can be seen to follow the very line that Zechariah says will sink down! (Garfunkle). This fault was found through gravity anomaly mapping. Think of it! Thousands of years before Zvi Garfunkle made his analysis (a study possible only with modern scientific instrumentation) the Bible had already predicted that Israel would sink down along that very line. Not only do the gravity anomalies show that the faults extend to the depth of eight miles, but they show that the earth’s crust thins between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea rift, the very region that is supposed to sink according to Zechariah (Kovach). This is another powerful piece of evidence supporting the Bible’s case. Put Zechariah and Isaiah together with these scientific findings and we can see how Jerusalem will become the highest point in its vicinity.