The birth pang theme is also alluded to by the apostles Paul and John. The word translated "sorrows" in many English Bibles is the Greek work for "birth pangs." Just as we know that a woman is going to give birth to a child because of birth pangs, Jesus says we know that the intolerable anguish of God's judgment and the return of His Son is at hand. Furthermore, He said this sign is the "beginning of sorrows" (Matthew 24:8 Mark 13:8). He said, "There will be earthquakes in divers places" (Matthew 24:7 Mark 13:8), a fact now verified by the global distribution of earthquakes recorded on seismographs. Jesus Christ spoke of them as "signs" of His coming again to earth. Recent earthquakes should receive a different interpretation in the Christian's thinking. The jailer who witnessed the event recognized the Lord's hand and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. An earthquake not only released Paul and Silas from the prison ( Acts 16:26), but it authenticated their testimony. No human agency rolled away the stone blocking the opening of our Lord's tomb ( Matthew 28:2). Because of the earthquake, the centurion and those with him at the cross recognized that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. The earthquake was used by the Lord to show the great salvation that had been accomplished that day on the cross. When our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, a great earthquake tore the curtain of the sanctuary of the temple, and many dead saints were resurrected from their tombs ( Matthew 27:51-54). A recent technical report gives evidence that this earthquake was the largest in the last 4,000 years of Palestine. The Lord afflicted Uzziah's kingdom and buildings with a great earthquake (Amos 1:1 Zechariah 14:5) as well as Uzziah personally, with incurable leprosy. Uzziah, the longest-reigning King of Judah, became proud of his great buildings and the strength of his army (11 Chronicles 26). Elijah, who had been hiding in a cave, realized that the Lord does not need to use a mighty earthquake to speak, but can, in His meekness, reveal Himself simply in a still, small voice. God spoke to Elijah at Mount Sinai (Horeb) as He did before to Moses after the occurrence of an earthquake (I Kings 19:11). Jonathan and his armor bearer were separated from their army and would otherwise have been killed by the Philistines.
Israel conquered the Philistines near Geba after an earthquake occurred in their camp (I Samuel 14:15). The 250 men were destroyed by God because they were in rebellion against Him. Korah and all his men were killed, and all of their possessions taken, as the land on which they were camped split apart and closed back upon them ( Numbers 6:31-33). God delivered the city, by whatever means, into Israel's hand. There is no doubt that the fall to earth of the city's great wall would have caused the earth to shake. However, the account of Israel's conquering the city of Jericho ( Joshua 6) contains no reference to earthquakes. Bible readers, especially those who are familiar with the archaeological excavations at Jericho, have supposed that an earthquake toppled the walls of the city. No doubt the earthquake prepared both Moses and Israel for the important truths the Lord was going to communicate. Before God spoke to Moses and gave the Ten Commandments, there was a great shaking of the mountain ( Exodus 19:18). Although the historical record of Israel's crossing the Red Sea ( Exodus 14) has no reference to earthquakes, the poetically heightened account in Psalm 77:18 speaks of God's voice expressed as earthquakes accompanying this extraordinary deliverance. God's purpose was to begin the human race again from the family of Noah. Enormous earth upheavals on the sea floor occurred as sea floor springs were faulted open, unleashing a universal flood on our planet. One of the primary physical causes of God's great judgment in Noah's Flood was the splitting open of all the fountains of the great deep ( Genesis 7:11). We are told that angels saw and praised the omnipotent God as this earth-shaking process occurred (Job 38:4-7 Psalm 148:1-6 possibly Psalm 104:5,6). Continents were uplifted and the ocean floor was depressed during a great faulting process which "established" the foundations of the earth. On the third day of creation the earth's waters were collected into their oceanic basins as continents appeared ( Genesis 1:9,10).
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