“Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up.” - Hosea 6:1.
But what has God to do with earthquakes? “And there shall be earthquakes in divers places. But all these things are but the beginning of sorrows.” - Matt. 24:7-8. Judgment for sin.
“Arise, go to -, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me.” - Jonah 1:2.
Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” - Rev. 18:5.
“When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” Isa. 26:9.
“God is angry with the wicked every day.” - Psalm 7:11.
For it is God that “removeth the mountains and overturneth them in His anger; that shaketh the Earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.” - Job 9:5-6.
Therefore, “stand in awe, and sin not.” (Psalm 4:4), lest He return, and “wring out a full cup.” - Psalm 73:10.
“The mountains quake at Him, and the Earth is upheaved at His presence.
“His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by Him.” – Nahum 1:5-6.
“I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity.”
“The Earth shall be shaken out of her place, in the day of His fierce anger.” - Isa. 13:11-13.
And how else shall wicked men be kept in subjection? and wickedness be stayed?
God must needs make a fearful example at times. And who dares say that such is not deserved? God dare not wink at sin.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” - Prov. 9:10.
“THE EARTH SHOOK and trembled; the foundations also of the mountains moved and were shaken, BECAUSE HE WAS WROTH.
“There went up a smoke in His wrath, and FIRE OUT OF HIS MOUTH DEVOURED.
“The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice.
“Then the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were laid bare, BY THE REBUKE OF THE LORD, at the blast of the breath of His anger.” - 2 Sam’l 22; Psalm 18.
“Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thy righteous acts have been made manifest” - Rev. 15:4.
“Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and turneth it upside down (perverteth the face thereof), and SCATTERETH ABROAD THE INHABITANTS THEREOF.
The foundations of the earth do shake, the earth is utterly broken, the earth is moved exceedingly.
“The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall be moved to and fro.
“THE TRANSGRESSION THEREOF SHALL BE HEAVY UPON IT.” Isa.24:1, 18, 20.
“Fear ye not Me! saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at My presence!” - Jer. 5:22.
Shall I not visit for these things! saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on SUCH A NATION AS THIS?” - Jer. 5:9.
“THOU SHALT BE VISITED OF THE LORD OF HOSTS WITH EARTHQUAKE, and great noise, and the flame of A DEVOURING FIRE.” – Isa. 29:6.
“Come and see the works of God; He is terrible in His doing toward the children of men.
“Let not THE REBELLIOUS exalt themselves. - Psalm 66:5-7.
“Now consider this, YE THAT FORGET GOD, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.” - Psalm 50:22.
“Hell hath enlarged her desire, and opened her mouth without measure; and THEIR GLORY, and THEIR MULTITUDE, and THEIR POMP descend into it.” - Isa. 5:14.
Even the demons “believe, and tremble.” - Jas. 2:19.
It is not a question of bravery, but one of wisdom.
The man is A FOOL who does not fear to grieve God.
It is utter SUICIDE for one to take his life in his hands in such a case.
God has arisen “to SHAKE TERRIBLY the earth.” - (Isa.2:19) - to shake the sin out of it.
“I (God) will shake all nations.” – Haggai 2:7.
“Yet once more will I make to tremble not the earth only, but also the heaven.” (SPIRITUAL UPHEAVAL, WORLD-WIDE REVIVAL.) - Heb. 12:26.
“And THE SEVENTH ANGEL (of wrath) poured out his vial into the air and there was A GREAT EARTHQUAKE.” - Rev. 16:17, 18.
The recent earthquake has literally shaken this nation FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO BALTIMORE. The news of it has shaken the world.
WHAT NEXT?
Los Angeles received a slight shock later (a waning), at least for evil doers.
Rev. Lee Spangler, the prophet of Pennsylvania, declared some months ago that the following events would speedily transpire:
“A destructive eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
DESTRUCTIVE EARTHQUAKES IN CALIFORNIA.
THAT CHRIST WILL MAKE HIS SPIRIT FELT AMONG THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, IN WHICH COUNTRY THERE WILL BE A FERVENT RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT.”
It would seem as though these drastic earthquake measures were necessary in order to accomplish this in the hearts of the people.
Will we appreciate the waning, and God’s wonderful and unprecedented mercy in sparing life, in the recent shock? Also His mercy in sparing the Sister City (Oakland), for a refuge, and so wonderfully moving upon the hearts of the people to alleviate the sufferings of the stricken.
The reaction will be beneficial to our own hearts, in creating sympathy and love.
Our present and imperative duty is to pour, without stint, the oil of divine love and sympathy into the wound so recently made by the Almighty, that it may be healed, to the glory of God, and to the salvation of the souls of the people whose lives have been so miraculously preserved.
And let us “be not high minded, but fear” lest He spare not us. - (Rom II:20.)
Oh, people, tempt not God!
Would you charge God with causing the innocent to suffer? Be careful! For your sakes they suffered! Look to yourselves!
Do you claim there is no God in earthquakes? – and yet you secretly curse Him in your hearts for it. Beware!
And are you saying, “We will build another city, a greater one?” Is it for God you would build it? or for greater crime?
Remember Babel’s tower!
What is puny flesh in the presence of an Almighty, angry God?
“And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all.” - Ezek. 20:32.
“Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; I (God) did blow upon it (blow it away).
“Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of Mine house that lieth waste.” - Haggai 1:9.
John Wesley has said: “Of all the judgments which the righteous God inflicts on sinners here, the most dreadful and destructive is an earthquake.”
Now note the indisputable fact of history that it has ever been the wickedest cities that God has so visited.
There are innocent in every city, and God is mindful of them. He will spare them from the destruction, or better yet, take them to heaven in it, out of this wicked world. All shall work for their eternal good, and His glory, do they but commit their case to Him.
Innocent babes destroyed are safe with Him; will never grow up to become infidels and blasphemers, to be lost in hell. So now “go (come to us) and sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee.” - John 5:14; 8:11.
Remember, while God has passed by, for the time, He is still within hearing distance, and may return. Be careful of your speech. Now, “except we repent, we shall all likewise perish.” - Luke 13:3.
For “God no respecter of persons.” - Acts 10:34.
The present, seeming calamity is but a blessing in disguise for a lost and ruined race, if we will have it so. A rude awakening to the fact that we are but transients here. Oh, people, let us take up our march for that City which hath foundations, “not made with hands,” whose builder and maker is God, and abideth forever.
Very soon this poor old earth will be struggling in the mighty throes of a final and complete dissolution. “Be ye reconciled to God.”
F. BARTLEMAN.
Los Angeles, Cal.
Written April 21-23, 1906.
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