8.9! It was just a couple of days ago that I opened my web browser and the lead story on my home page was an earthquake in Japan that registered 8.9 on the Richter scale. My jaw literally dropped.
I was aware that somehow each point on the Richter scale represented a multiplication of 10 times the previous number. That means a 5 is ten times a 4. It also means that a 6 is 100 times a 4 and a 7 is 1,000 a 4. I knew that the 1989 earthquake in the San Francisco area that buckled highways and brought down bridges was around a 6.9 on the Richter (about the same as the Haiti quake of January 2010) so that meant that this one was 100 times stronger.
After doing some research I have discovered that this multiple of ten business is not the measure of the release of energy. The release of energy (which is more indicative of its destructive power) is figured differently. A 2 point spread actually indicates a release of energy 1,000 times stronger!
Ever since I was old enough to read I have understood that one of the signs of the End Times is earthquakes. With a simple download to your smartphone you can be kept up to date of the fact that there are measurable earthquakes somewhere on earth virtually every day.
No big deal, right? Am I really saying that the largest measured earthquake on record means the Lord will return soon? No, that's not really what I’m saying. Apparently there are, and have always been, earthquakes happening all the time. I do think it is interesting that Jesus didn’t say more earthquakes would be a sign of His coming. He didn’t say that bigger earthquakes would be a sign of His coming. He said the fact that we would “hear about” them would be a sign of His coming.
Go to http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ and you can discover in a matter of seconds that on 3/6/11 there were 15 earthquakes between 4.2 and 6.5 on the Richter. Better yet, go to the Apple app store and download iEarthquakes Lite. It’s free and you can “hear” about earthquakes every few hours of the day. And THAT, my friend, is a sign of His coming.
No comments:
Post a Comment