The wrath of a merciful, longsuffering God, that has been ignored and mocked:

“The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquakeThe Lord will roar from Zion,. And he said, and utter his voice from Jerusalem” (Amos 1:1, 2).

“Behold, the day of the Lord cometh,ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. . . . And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee” (Zechariah 14:1, 5).

“In the prison at Philippi, while suffering from the cruel stripes they had received, their feet fast in the stocks, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praise to God; and angels were sent from heaven to deliver them. The earth shook under the tread of these heavenly messengers, and the prison doors flew open, setting the prisoners free.”3

“While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, [Satan] will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power.”4

The significance of the earthquakes,

“We see and hear of confusion and perplexity, want and famine, earthquakes and floods; terrible outrages will be committed by men; passion, not reason, bears sway. The wrath of Godthe inhabitants of the world,as corrupt as were the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah is upon who are fast becoming .”5

“I am bidden to declare the message that cities full of transgression, and sinful in the extreme, will be destroyed by earthquakes, by fire, by flood.”6

“Pleasure resorts, theaters, hotels, and the homes of the wealthy were shaken and shattered. Many lives were blotted out of existence, and the air was filled with the shrieks of the injured and the terrified.

The destroying angels of God were at work. One touch, and buildings, so thoroughly constructed that men regarded them as secure against every danger, quickly became heaps of rubbish.”7

“There will be mighty earthquakes and great destruction of human life.”8

The very first sign when the sixth seal was opened: (Lisbon 1755).

“And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seala great earthquake, and, lo, there was ; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood” (Revelation 6:12).

“These signs were witnessed before the opening of the nineteenth century. In fulfillment of this prophecy there occurred, in the year 1755, the most terrible earthquake that has ever been recorded.”9

On a single apocalyptic day in 1755, Lisbon, Portugal, was hit with an earthquake, a tsunami, and destructive fires.

“Though commonly known as the earthquake of Lisbon, it extended to the greater part of Europe, Africa, and America. It was felt in Greenland, in the West Indies, in the island of Madeira, in Norway and Sweden, Great Britain and Ireland.”10

“Tremors and waves rippled across the North Atlantic, raising rivers in Scotland and claiming lives as far away as Brazil.”11

“It pervaded an extent of not less than four million square miles.”12

“There has been much discussion on the estimated size of the earthquake, but it is believed to be between magnitude 8.5–9.0. . . . The earthquake was a massive slip of the Azores Gibraltar Faultline.”13

“Seismically speaking . . . that morning the tectonic plates slipped and released as much energy as 32,000 Hiroshima bombs.”14

“The monarch, Dom José I, had narrowly escaped death by staying at his country palace outside the city. . . . After the earthquake, Dom José suffered from acute claustrophobia inside buildings and lived the rest of his days in a palatial tent.”15

“In Africa the shock was almost as severe as in Europe. A great part of Algiers was destroyed; and a short distance from Morocco, a village containing eight or ten thousand inhabitants was swallowed up. A vast wave swept over the coast of Spain and Africa engulfing cities and causing great destruction.

“It was in Spain and Portugal that the shock manifested its extreme violence. At Cadiz the inflowing wave was said to be sixty feet high. Mountains, ‘some of the largest in Portugal, were impetuously shaken, as it were, from their very foundations, and some of them opened at their summits, which were split and rent in a wonderful manner, huge masses of them being thrown down into the adjacent valleys. Flames are related to have issued from these mountains.’ ”—Sir Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, page 495.16

“ ‘The shock’ of the earthquake ‘was instantly followed by the fall of every church and convent, almost all the large public buildings, and more than one fourth of the houses. In about two hours after the shock, fires broke out in different quarters, and raged with such violence for the space of nearly three days, that the city was completely desolated.’ ”—Encyclopedia Americana, art. “Lisbon,” note (ed. 1831).”17

“For the religious celebration [Feast of All Saints – November 1], every candle in every church was lit, and the churches were decorated with flowers and flammable decorations. As the tremors rocked the churches, the candles tumbled, igniting the decorations, and creating massive fires which ravaged Lisbon for five further days after the earthquake.”18

“ ‘The sea first retired, and laid the bar dry; it then rolled in, rising fifty feet or more above its ordinary level.’ ” —Sir Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, page 495.”19

“Before the tsunami hit, the water drained from Rio Tejo estuary, revealing shipwrecks loaded with treasures. Thousands of people raced into the muddy river to claim the riches, but no person of that era could predict what was about to be unleashed upon the city of Lisbon.

“The tsunami arrived so fast that several people riding on a horse back were forced to gallop as fast as possible to the upper grounds for fear of being carried away.

“Thousands who had escaped the earthquake’s destruction, were either drowned, killed by debris or dragged out to the sea by the tsunami.”20

“The earthquake generated a tsunami that produced waves about 20 feet (6 meters) high at Lisbon and 65 feet (20 meters) high at Cádiz, Spain. The waves traveled westward to Martinique in the Caribbean Sea, a distance of 3,790 miles (6,100 km), in 10 hours and there reached a height of 13 feet (4 meters) above mean sea level.”21

“ ‘The terror of the people was beyond description. Nobody wept; it was beyond tears. They ran hither and thither, delirious with horror and astonishment, beating their faces and breasts, crying, ‘Misericordia! the world’s at an end!’ Mothers forgot their children, and ran about loaded with crucifixed images. Unfortunately, many ran to the churches for protection; but in vain was the sacrament exposed; in vain did the poor creatures embrace the altars; images, priests, and people were buried in one common ruin.’ It has been estimated that ninety thousand persons lost their lives on that fatal day.”22

“Corpses were buried en masse or ferried out to sea to avoid an epidemic.”23

“How frequently we hear of earthquakesGod’s purpose may be readarouse men and women to a sense of their danger and tornadoes, of destruction by fire and flood, with great loss of life and property! Apparently these calamities are capricious outbreaks of disorganized, unregulated forces of nature, wholly beyond the control of man; but in them all, . They are among the agencies by which He seeks to .”24

These will be more and more frequent, and you will be pointed at as being guilty for them.

“[Men in responsible positions] will point to calamities on land and sea—to the storms of wind, the floods, the earthquakes, the destruction by fire—as judgments indicating God’s displeasure because Sunday is not sacredly observed. These calamities will increase more and more, one disaster will follow close upon the heels of another; and those who make void the law of God will point to the few who are keeping the Sabbath of the fourth commandment as the ones who are bringing wrath upon the world.”25

“And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Mark 15:37, 38).

“Now when the centurionsaw the earthquakeTruly this was the Son of God, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, , and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, ” (Matthew 27:54).

“There was a violent earthquake. The people were shaken together in heaps. The wildest confusion and consternation ensued. In the surrounding mountains, rocks were rent asunder, and went crashing down into the plains. Sepulchers were broken open, and the dead were cast out of their tombs. Creation seemed to be shivering to atoms. Priests, rulers, soldiers, executioners, and people, mute with terror, lay prostrate upon the ground.”26

“Amid the agonizing sufferings of the Son of God, blind and deluded men alone remain unfeeling. The chief priests and elders revile God’s dear Son while in His expiring agonies. Yet inanimate nature groans in sympathy with her bleeding, dying Author. The earth trembles. The sun refuses to behold the scene. The heavens gather blackness. Angels have witnessed the scene of suffering until they can look no longer, and hide their faces from the horrid sight. Christ is dying!He is in despair! His Father’s approving smile is removed, and angels are not permitted to lighten the gloom of the terrible hour. They can only behold in amazement their loved Commander, the Majesty of heaven, suffering the penalty of man’s transgression of the Father’s law.”27

“Yet the priests and rulers were not at rest. . . . They had heard the cry, ‘It is finished.’ ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit’ John 19:30; Luke 23:46. They had seen the rocks rent, and had felt the mighty earthquake, and they were restless and uneasy.”28