Lessons from the Recent EARTHQUAKE
Preached in Hanover county, Virginia, June 19, 1756, by
Samuel Davies.
(Note: In this sermon, Davies is referring to the
Great Lisbon Earthquake which took place on November 1, 1755.
Contemporary reports state that the earthquake lasted nearly six minutes,
causing gigantic fissures 15 feet wide. Approximately forty minutes after
the earthquake, an enormous tsunami engulfed the harbor and downtown. It was
followed by two more waves. In the areas unaffected by the tsunami, fire
quickly broke out, and flames raged for five days! Tsunamis as tall as 66
feet swept the coast of North Africa, and struck Martinique and Barbados
across the Atlantic.)
“Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap, and
those who escape the trap will step into a snare. Destruction falls on you
from the heavens. The earth is shaken beneath you. The earth
has broken down and has utterly collapsed. Everything is lost, abandoned,
and confused. The earth staggers like a drunkard. It trembles like a tent in
a storm. It falls and will not rise again, for its sins are very great!”
Isaiah 24:18-20
That’s an excellent message from Samuel Davies. Much good at Grace Gems. We need to learn from the Bible and from history – God is sovereign and suffers long with rebellious people. Let all who profess Christ be humble before our great God and not be the cause of His anger.
I’d be very leery about declaring that a natural disaster is a specific punishment from God, and yes, davies does exactly that here. Davies gave the example of Sodom and Gomorrah, but those are explicitly stated in the Bible to be specific wrath. Now it may have been that the particular earthquake he mentions was a specific punishment to Lisbon, but it is also possible that the purpose was to move Portugal off the stage as a world power, which this played a big role in doing.
This does raise an interesting question: if the reason for a major disaster is the wrath of God, would it then be morally wrong to attempt to help those who suffered from the disaster? This is not being snarky. I know of someone a couple years ago who left his church because they were sending money to help the relief effort in Haiti; he believed (because Pat Robertson told him) that God sent the tsunami there because of their wickedness and because of that, the suffering was also part of God’s punishment. Ergo, trying to relieve that suffering was actively opposing God.
072591,
While nobody should speak for God beyond what He has revealed to us, in several places in His revealed Word, He does tell us He commands nature – He is Sovereign. The fish for Jonah, general storminess in Job 37, Jeremiah 10, and Psalms 78. So it’s not like “nature” decides to have a bad event.
No one is saying the Japanese are more wicked than anyone else; they live in an area prone to earthquakes, I live in an area prone to tornadoes and earthquakes. How and when God chooses to unleash His cataclysmic wrath is entirely His doing. His word does make it quite clear He is in charge of catastrophes.
As for it being morally wrong to help,this is insane. We should be on our knees crying out for the Japanese people, as well as all sinners.’In wrath, remember mercy’.
BTW, Well said Manfred.
072591:
You raised an interesting question regarding what should we as Christians do regarding disasters. Though God does what is His good will, be it judgment, getting our attention, allowing Satan to cause havoc, or just letting sin have it’s consequences, the Bible does tell us we have our responsibilities toward individuals. Since God is sovereign, God allowed the traveller (of the Good Samaritan parable) to be beaten and left for dead. We aren’t told the reason why God allowed it. We are told that those who did nothing to help him were unrighteous for their inaction (and of course the good samaritan was righteous for his benevolence). We are commanded to love our neighbor, as well as our enemies. Jesus Himself provided the example of healing the sick. Was their sickness a result of sin? No matter, He healed them anyway. Did God then go against His own sovereign will? Obviously not. Nowhere do I find a Scriptural mandate or justification in the New Testament for withholding, or neglect, of benevolence for those who are physically suffering or in need.