Last Things 7b: Earthquakes and Famines and Pestilences

Encore Post: Before the world comes to an end, Jesus told his disciples, there would be earthquakes, famines and pestilences. Fearful things and strange signs in the heavens would appear. (Luke 21:11, Matthew 24:7) As with wars and rumors of wars, these signs aren’t of much help in predicting the Second Coming of Christ. After all, disaster is a part of the curse that Adam and Eve received for committing the first sin. St. Paul describes creation as subject to futility, groaning like a woman in childbirth. (Romans 8:20-22)

Pastor Hans Fiene observes that because of the fall, the creation is cursed, turned from harmony with us to being hostile towards us. The world is trying to kill us with extremes of heat and cold, disease, floods, forest fires, famine and other disasters. Human beings need to exercise dominion over it to survive.

These signs were present from the very day Jesus predicted them. Even as Jesus died on the cross, an earthquake struck the Holy Land and the sun went dark during midday. Famine struck during the dark days of the AD 60s and 70s. Throughout the millennia that followed, many natural disasters have destroyed many lives.

Many Christians have concluded that these events will become more and more frequent as we get closer to the Second Advent. Perhaps. The problem is we will never know for sure that such indicate the return of Christ in our generation. The key to understanding what these events tell us is to realize they describe the time from the Ascension to the Second Coming. They are not like the prophecy of the Virgin Birth, the town of Bethlehem or the precision of Psalm 22 describing the crucifixion. What these signs do is remind us that the world is cursed and will one day fail. It keeps us from getting too comfortable in our sin and warns us to repent and cling to Christ.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana