Earthquakes in Diverse Places

Posted by Lorren on April 15, 2010

In Matthew 24, Jesus’s disciples were asking him what would the signs be at the end of the age. On of the signs that he pointed out was that there would be “earthquakes in diverse places” (v. 7). There have been quite a few earthquakes in the news lately. Are we having more earthquakes than normal?

I was curious, so I looked up the average amount of earthquakes per year. According to the US Geologic Survey, there is an average of 1 earthquake above magnitude 8.0, 15 earthquakes that are 7, and 134 earthquakes that are 6.

So far this year, we have had 1 8.0+ earthquake, 5 magnitude 7s, and 59 earthquakes of magnitude 6. We are currently 28.8% of the way through the year. If we continue having earthquakes at this rate, we would have three or four magnitude 8s, 17 magnitude 7s, and 205 magnitude 6 earthquakes. So far this year, we are ahead of the average amount of earthquakes.

The death total from earthquakes this year has been 223,542. The only year in the past decade that exceeded 100,000 was in 2004; in that year there were 228,802 deaths. We are on the way to surpass that number too.

A large number of earthquakes doesn’t necessarily mean that the Lord is coming back soon, but it could be.