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Charles Wesley

Earthquake!

Psalm 18:7; Psalm 46:8
Charles Wesley • March, 21 2011 • Video & Audio
1 Sermon
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Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley • March, 21 2011
1 sermons
Choice Puritan Devotional

The sermon "Earthquake!" by Charles Wesley addresses the theological doctrine of divine judgment, particularly as it manifests through natural disasters such as earthquakes. Wesley argues that earthquakes are direct acts of God, signifying His wrath against human sinfulness and moral failure. This is supported by various Scripture references, notably Psalm 18:7 and Isaiah 24:1, which highlight God's sovereignty in judgment and the catastrophic consequences of sin. He asserts that these calamities serve both as a call to repentance and a warning for humanity to recognize the gravity of their sin and the reality of God's judgment. The practical significance of this message is the urgent need for individuals to prepare their hearts for God and tremble in His presence, acknowledging that natural disasters reveal both God’s power and the seriousness of human sin.

Key Quotes

“Earthquakes are the works of the Lord, and He alone brings this destruction upon the earth.”

“Sin is the cause of God's anger. Earthquakes the effect of His anger.”

“If the earth should not open its mouth, yet you shall surely at last be swallowed up in the bottomless pit of hell.”

“Truly, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

What does the Bible say about earthquakes as God's judgment?

The Bible depicts earthquakes as divine acts of judgment, specifically as punishments for sin.

In Scripture, earthquakes are frequently associated with God's wrath against sin. For instance, Psalm 18:7 describes how the earth shook and quaked as a response to God's anger. Similarly, Nahum 1:5-6 declares that in God's presence, mountains quake and the earth trembles, indicating that earthquakes serve as a judicial act reflecting divine displeasure with humanity's iniquity. Throughout biblical history, earthquakes are presented as a vital means by which God alerts sinners to the seriousness of their rebellion and calls them to repentance.

Psalm 18:7, Nahum 1:5-6, Job 9:5-6, Isaiah 24:1, Isaiah 29:6

How do we know earthquakes are caused by sin?

Earthquakes are understood through a biblical lens as the consequences of divine judgment against sin.

The connection between sin and natural disasters, such as earthquakes, is firmly rooted in biblical theology. As stated in Isaiah 24:5, the earth is laid waste due to the transgressions of its inhabitants. The righteous anger of God results in earthquakes which serve as a dramatic reminder of His holiness and justice. This biblical perspective indicates that earthquakes are not mere natural phenomena but are reflective of God’s moral order where sin incurs significant consequences. This understanding encourages believers to view such events as calls to repentance rather than random occurrences.

Isaiah 24:1-5, Job 9:5-6, Nahum 1:5-6

Why is it important for Christians to understand earthquakes as God's judgments?

Recognizing earthquakes as judgments underscores God's sovereignty and calls Christians to repentance.

For Christians, understanding earthquakes as divine judgments is crucial for several reasons. First, it highlights God's sovereignty over creation and serves as a solemn reminder of the seriousness of sin. Just as earthquakes can come unexpectedly, so can God's judgment, emphasizing the crucial need for preparedness in faith. Moreover, acknowledging these events as acts of God's righteous anger drives believers to greater reverence and a deeper commitment to living holy lives. They serve as warnings of the impending final judgment, urging Christians to engage in evangelism and intercessory prayer for those unaware of their spiritual peril.

Psalm 46:8, Jeremiah 5:22, Hebrews 10:31

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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Earthquake by Charles Wesley from his sermon, The Cause and Cure of Earthquakes, 1750. Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations He has brought on the earth. Psalm 46 8

Of all the judgments which the righteous God inflicts on sinners here in this world, the most dreadful and destructive is an earthquake. This He has lately brought on our part of the earth, and thereby alarmed our fears and bid us to prepare to meet our God.

Earthquakes are the works of the Lord, and He alone brings this destruction upon the earth. Now that God is Himself the author of earthquakes, and sin the moral cause of earthquakes, whatever the natural cause may be, cannot be denied by any who believe the Scriptures.

Earthquakes are set forth by the inspired writers as God's proper judicial act or the punishment of sin. He moves mountains without their knowing it, and overturns them in His anger. He shakes the earth from its place, and makes its pillars tremble. Job 9, 5 and 6

He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they pour out smoke. Psalm 104, 32

Then the earth shook and quaked, the foundations of the mountains trembled, they shook because he burnt with anger. Psalm 18 7

In his presence the mountains quake, and the hills melt away, the earth trembles, and its people are destroyed. Who can stand before his fierce anger? Who can survive his burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in his presence. Nahum 1, 5 and 6.

Sin is the cause of God's anger. Earthquakes the effect of His anger. I will bring disaster on the world, and their own iniquity on the wicked. I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and will humble the pride of the ruthless. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of His burning anger.

See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it. He will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants. The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken. – Isaiah 24, 1 and 19

And again, the Lord Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire. – Isaiah 29.6.

Nothing can be more expressed than these Scripture testimonies which determine both the cause and author of this terrible calamity. We cannot conceive that the universe would have been disturbed by these furious disasters before sin entered. Therefore reason, as well as Scripture, sufficiently assure us that earthquakes are God's works of judgment, the proper effect and punishment of sin.

Nothing can be so affecting as this judgment of an earthquake, when it comes unexpectedly, as a thief in the night, when there is no time to flee, or method to escape, or possibility to resist, when no sanctuary or refuge remains, when the earth opens suddenly, and becomes the grave of whole families, towns, and cities, either sending out a flood of waters to drown them, or vomiting out flames of fire to consume them, or closing over them.

When parents and children, husbands and wives, and all people without distinction, in the midst of health and peace and business, are buried in a common ruin and pass altogether into the eternal world, and there is only the difference of a few hours or minutes between a famous city and none at all. Now, if war is a terrible evil, then how much more an earthquake, which in the midst of peace brings a worse evil than the extremity of war? If a raging pestilence is dreadful, which sweeps away thousands in a day and ten thousands in a night, if a consuming fire is an amazing judgment, then how much more astonishing is an earthquake, whereby houses and inhabitants, towns and cities and countries, are all destroyed at one stroke in a few minutes.

For a man to feel the earth which hangs upon nothing, as some vast ball in the midst of a thin air, totter under him, must fill him with astonishing fright and confusion. History informs us of the fearful effects of earthquakes in all ages, where you may see rocks torn in pieces, mountains not cast down only, but removed. Hills raised, not out of valleys only, but out of seas, Fires breaking out of waters, stones and cinders belched up, Rivers changed, seas dislodged, earth opening, Towns swallowed up, and many such like hideous events.

Of all divine judgments, there is none more horrid, more inescapable, than an earthquake. For where can we think to escape danger, if the most solid thing in all the world shakes? With what horror are men struck when they hear the earth groan, and feel it trembling beneath them, when houses are loosened from their foundations, when the roofs fall upon their heads, and the pavement sinks under their feet? In other evils there is some way to escape, but an earthquake encloses what it overthrows, and wages war with whole provinces, and sometimes leaves nothing behind it to inform posterity of its outrages.

More insolent than the fire which spares rocks,
More cruel than the conqueror who leaves walls,
More greedy than the sea which vomits up shipwrecks,
The earthquake swallows and devours whatever it overturns.

Therefore, fear God, even that God who can in a moment cast both body and soul into hell. When God makes the mountains tremble and the earth shake, shall not our hearts be moved? Should you not fear me, declares the Lord, should you not tremble in my presence? Jeremiah 5, 22.

Will you not fear Him, who can open the windows of heaven above, or break up the fountains of the deep below, and pour forth whole floods of vengeance when He pleases? Will you not fear Him, who can reign upon the wicked, snares, fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest." Psalm 116.

Will you not fear Him who can kindle those earthquakes in the caverns of the earth and make them force their way to the destruction of towns, cities, and countries? Will you not fear Him who can thus suddenly turn a fruitful land into a barren wilderness, an amazing spectacle of desolation and ruin.

Oh, that his fear might this moment fall upon all you who read these words, constraining every one of you to cry out, My flesh trembles in fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments. Psalm 119, 120

O that all might see that his hand is now lifted up,
As in an act to strike, it is stretched out still,
And he shakes his rod over a guilty land,
A people fitted for destruction.

God will never lack ways and means to punish impenitent sinners. He has a thousand other judgments in reserve, and if the earth should not open its mouth, yet you shall surely at last be swallowed up in the bottomless pit of hell. Truly, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. If the earth just now were to open its mouth and swallow you up, what would become of you? Where would you be?
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