EARTHQUAKES EVERYWHERE

By:  F. Kong

Max Lucado in his book entitled “When Jesus comes” wrote of an earthquake.

The 1989 Armenian earthquake needed only four minutes to flatten the nation and kill thirty thousand people. Moments after the deadly tremor ceased, a father raced to an elementary school to save his son. When he arrived, he saw that the building had been leveled. Looking at the mass of stones and rubble, he remembered a promise he had made to his child: “No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you.”

Driven by his own promise, he found the area closest to his son’s room and began to pull back the rocks. Other parents arrived and began sobbing for their children. “It’s too late,” they told the man. “You know they are dead. You can’t help.” Even a police officer encouraged him to give up.

But the father refused. For eight hours, then sixteen, then thirty-two, thirty-six hours he dug. His hands were raw and his energy gone, but he refused to quit. Finally, after thirty-eight wrenching hours, he pulled back a boulder and heard his son’s voice. He called his boy’s name, “Arman! Arman!” And a voice answered him, “Dad, it’s me!” Then the boy added these priceless words, “I told the other kids not to worry. I told them if you were alive, you’d save me, and when you saved me, they’d be saved, too. Because you promised, “No matter what, I’ll always be there for you.”

What faith! To stand on the promise of a father. The father made good his promise and the kids never wavered in their belief. Now don’t you wish that the same thing happens to the community of believers?

Lucado continues:

God has made the same promise to us. “I will come back …,” he assures us. Yes, the rocks will tumble. Yes, the ground will shake. But the child of God needn’t fear – for the Father has promised to take us to be with Him. But dare we believe the promise? Dare we trust His loyalty? Isn’t there a cautious part of us that wonders how reliable these words may be?

Perhaps you have no doubts. Congratulations, then. Others, however, could use a reminder. How can we know God will do what He said? How can we believe He will move the rocks and set us free? He’s already done it once, that’s why.

He was crucified on the cross, and His body brought down and kept in a rich man’s tomb. It was sealed with a boulder but no rock is big enough to contain Him. No grave is deep enough to keep Him. He rose up, conquered death, and moved the boulder away. He’s done the impossible before and He’ll do it again.

The book of Revelations pictures the destruction of this decaying world and earthquakes will be used to accomplish this. But do you realize that these will be utilized not only for destruction but also for the formation of the New Heavens and the New Earth?

Would it be so impossible to believe that the shuffling and rearranging rock formation would propel Mount Zion to be the earth’s highest point? And there you find the King of Kings reigning in His rightful throne. I don’t know, do you?

Wouldn’t you think exciting days are ahead of us?

One translation of the Bible says, “Christ rose first; then when Christ comes back, all His people will become alive again.”

Guess what? Even rocks and graves won’t be able to hold us either!