Have you ever wondered why many of the signs in Bible prophecy describe geologic catastrophes? For example: great earthquakes are described along with the collapse of whole mountains and islands (Psalm 46:2, Matthew 21:21, Revelation 6:14 & 16:20). Such signs may seem quite extreme to many people. Why would a merciful Creator not just warn humanity with loud voices from heaven? To answer these questions, we will explore why these signs are so catastrophic and why they are specifically geologic.
Understanding why the Creator has performed similar signs in history is a good place to start. Both Revelation and Exodus describe parallel signs of turning water into blood, pestilence, and darkness. When the Creator struck Egypt with these plagues, they specifically demonstrated His power over the false gods of the Egyptians. The Nile River was considered the source of life and so all its water the Creator ‘turned into blood’ (Exodus 7:20) showing His ultimate power over creation.
Similarly to then, the religion of most of humanity today is one that worships a self-made creation rather than the Creator. While only a minority deny His existence entirely, many more deny that He is the ultimate source of life. Instead, random chance is credited with being the source of the first living molecules and natural selection is believed to sustain and advance this life. These supposedly scientific theories have replaced the all-powerful Creator with an all-powerful creation supposedly capable of maintaining itself.
Vast eons of time are required to make these theories believable, and this time is derived from geologic assumptions. Soft-sedimentary layers, assumed to have been laid down in slow, gradual processes, are the foundation that support the main pillar necessary to hold up such a theory of deep time. Without eons of time to make evolution seem plausible, random chance can never result in the complexity seen in creation. The reason so many coming signs are geologic is to strike directly at the foundation of this modern false religion.
Cracks in this foundation are already beginning to form in many minds. You do not need to go far back into the past to witness an event that shows the suddenness of geologic processes. A 300 meter (984 feet) long, 50 meter (165 feet) wide, and 40 meter (130 feet) deep chasm ripped across an olive orchard on the 6th of February 2023, in Tepehan, Türkiye. That crack is one of many geologic features; evidence that geologic processes are often rapid and catastrophic, rather than slow and gradual. It would take a whole lot of faith to cling to the walls of that chasm and still believe evolution passes as a defendable theory.
In the future when the prophesied signs begin, the idea of slow, gradual geologic processes will be ripped further apart with each new event. The Creator will demonstrate His power over every aspect, every day of creation, once again. On the first day of creation, light was created. Many prophets however, speak of a time when the earth will be plunged into ‘thick darkness’ (Joel 2:2 & Zephaniah 1:15), where the heavens will have ‘no light’ (Jeremiah 4:23). In Revelation, this darkness is described in the fourth and fifth trumpets as well as the fifth bowl (Revelation 8:12, 9:2, & 16:10).
The second day of creation an ‘expanse’ (Genesis 1:6-8) was created—a layered atmosphere. In the future, there will be the creation of a ‘new heaven’ but this will come after the ‘first heaven’ passes away (Revelation 21:1). The Creator’s power over the earth’s vast atmosphere will be demonstrated as it is stripped away ‘like a scroll…rolled up’ (Revelation 6:12 cf. Isaiah 34:4). This same event is recorded also by Peter who states that ‘the heavens will pass away with a roar’ (2 Peter 3:10). The earth is wearing out like a ‘garment’, but before all things are re-created, even the heavens will ‘vanish like smoke’ (Isaiah 51:6).
The creation of the third day was two-fold. First, the waters were ‘gathered together’ exposing ‘dry land’, thus allowing vegetation to ‘sprout’ (Genesis 1:9-11). The mighty forces of tectonics, begun on the third day, are not immune to the Creator’s power. His power over vast tectonic plates, that was demonstrated during the Flood, has not diminished, and will be shown again in the future when ‘every mountain and island’ will be ‘removed from its place’ (Revelation 6:14 cf. 16:20) and ‘thrown into the sea’ (Matthew 21:21 cf. Psalm 46:2). Earthquakes make frequent appearances in the prophetic passages and this final tectonic shaking will be the greatest of them all. The second aspect of creation on the third day: vegetation is to be ‘burned up’ with the first trumpet (Revelation 8:7).
The fourth day of creation involved the celestial bodies, and likewise, many prophetic passages predict astronomical signs. The trio of the sun, moon, and stars, whose light appeared on earth on the fourth day, will be shown to be mere creations and not deities themselves. They will be ‘struck’ so that a ‘third of their light might be darkened’ (Revelation 8:12 cf. 6:12-13). Just like earthquakes, there are direct mentions of this trio in prophecy (Isaiah 13:10, Ezekiel 32:7, & Joel 2:10 & 3:15), and yet many more allusions. Jesus spoke of both earthquakes and the celestial signs as recorded by his followers (Matthew 24:7 & 29, Mark 13:8 & 24, & Luke 21:11 & 25).
On the fifth day of the creation week ‘great sea creatures’ and ‘every winged bird’ (Genesis 1:21) were created to fill the seas and skies. When the second bowl will be ‘poured out’ the sea becomes ‘like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died’ in it (Revelation 16:3). Just how long do you think the birds will survive when the ‘first heaven’ passes away? What about the animals, created on the sixth day, who also depend on the atmosphere for their breath? The pinnacle of life, humanity, created on day six is given a choice. Those who stubbornly hold to their belief that they are mere animals are doomed to die as well.
You have the opportunity, however, to believe in the Creator and be rescued from such catastrophe that leaves the earth lifeless for a millennia before being re-created. Just what will it take for humanity to finally believe in their Creator? To finally abandon their false deity: a self-made creation? The suffering in the world today is the natural consequence of making self a god. But there is hope when one day soon ‘every knee shall bow’ to their Creator (Isaiah 45:23) and ‘every tear’ and ‘death shall be no more’ (Revelation 21:4). A new creation is coming, but not before the old passes away in fire.
Instead of trembling in fear, believing the coming catastrophes to be divine retribution, their purpose is simply to awaken us to our Source and Sustainer of life. The coming signs are specifically designed to be geologic in order to demolish false religion. The power demonstrated by these signs is not a judgement poured out, but a merciful warning given to seek refuge. Our generation’s ark will be the New Jerusalem: a city of refuge while the earth is cleansed and re-created. Jesus’ return is a rescue mission!
“Be merciful to me, O God… in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by” (Psalm 51:1).
“I have come into the world as light… I did not come to judge the world but to save the world” (John 12:46-47).
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Ryan Thompson holds a Master of Science degree in Geoscience, worked for over a decade in the petroleum industry, and now teaches math and science for online homeschoolers. While a student himself, he excavated fossil fish with Loma Linda University and dinosaur bones with Southwestern Adventist University. After living in the Holy Land he authored Revelation’s Geology which discusses the geology of the region and prophecy with a focus on the first angel’s message.