TSUNAMI
A Modern Parable
Sunday, December 26th, 2004, a sleeping world was shocked and awakened into a horrible world of death and destruction that followed a deep undersea earthquake of 9.3 magnitude on the Richter scale. The geophysical cause of this horrendous outburst was a ruptured fault line between two tectonic plates. The energy release compared to 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs. The impact occurred at 07:58:53 local time, just off the west coast of northern Sumatra. This mega shock caused the entire planet earth to vibrate and induced echoing earthquakes as far away as Alaska, USA. Following the initial devastating outburst, the ocean could do no less than respond in kind. What followed was a tsunami of epic proportions. The tsunami begins as a swell of sea water upward and outward from the epicenter. Sometimes barely visible as an increase in height above the normal level of the local sea, but its water quantity is exponential when distributed across the surface. When this mostly-hidden extra mass of sea water approaches land, it finds itself rising visibly above the surrounding waves. In the case of the 2004 Sumatra tsunami, the tidal wave that came ashore was 100 feet high. A curious and deceptive feature of this collection of water is that it pulls water away from the shore line before it makes its presence known to the unwary. Such was the case at its first landfall on that fateful day in December, 2004. Puzzled curiosity seekers had ventured out onto a sandy floor where the sea water had once stood, trying to determine what had happened. Tragically, if they had even seen the towering waves coming, they would have been unable to outrun them. This crowd of sightseers was among the first casualties of the horrible tragedy. The final scope and death toll from this monster included devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand Malaysia, the Maldives, and the shoreline of the Indian Ocean. The death toll reached 230,000. Total cost: 15 billion dollars. Many weird and unexplained events spun off of this tragedy. The animal kingdom had somehow got a message in advance of the storm. Screaming elephants headed for high ground. Dogs cowered indoors. Flamingos abandoned their nests. There were reports that a new species of sea life washed up from the ocean floor.
Before we apply this modern parable, there are a few VERY IMPORTANT facts to consider from the cited events:
1. None of the events could have been initiated by human means.
2. None of them could have been prevented by human means.
3. None of them could have been averted by human means while in progress.
4. Many people perished due to lack of understanding when the giant waves were forming offshore.
5. Destruction was widespread and catastrophic.
6. The whole world was shaken by the initial earthquake.
7. A possible new life form was revealed.
THE APPLICATION
Ecological Impact
This is a prophetic proclamation. In the near future, perils on land, sea, and in the air will come to pass. God sent the prototype in 2004. The anti-type (fulfillment) is at hand. No refinements of the earth’s ecology will prevent, delay, or remedy the outpourings of wrath on the earth. The cup of iniquity is full and overflowing. The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah are prevalent and widespread in the world today. Judgment is coming and it is long overdue. This addresses items 1-3 above. They apply primarily to the world at large outside of the church.
Geopolitical Impact
Governments will fail. Anarchy will break out worldwide. Once-sovereign nations will succumb to the forces that demand globalism at any price. Political chaos will run rampant.
Spiritual Impact
Item 4. Describes the religious Gypsies who wander from church to church seeking the right kind of music, the most comforting sermons, and the cutting edge of the latest doctrinal distortions. The few church-goers will despise the hidden gems of Bible truth, but will fill any auditorium where they can hear the lies and deceptions of the enemy of their souls.
2 Timothy 4:3. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears…”
Hosea 4:6. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee…”
Many will discover—too late—that the towering waves of spiritual tsunami are coming down on them in destructive force.
Items 5 and 6 describe the worldwide scope of the judgments that will be poured out on the earth and its people in the near future. Much of this sounds like the Tribulation period, but it may start before the beginning of that final 7-year period. Even in wrath, God remembers mercy. He does not delight in pouring out His wrath, but will extend His arms of forgiveness well beyond any limits known to man.
Item 7 describes a possible discovery of new life emerging from the very pit of destruction of several tsunamis in the past. New life. New hope. For many years, the faithful ones have been interceding in prayer, petitioning the Lord to send One! Last! Worldwide! Revival that will sweep many unsaved loved ones into the Kingdom of Heaven before that great and dreadful final wrath is poured out.
That is the subject of TSUNAMI PART TWO.