BIRTH PANG NUMBER 24
Chapter 26 – God Lifts His Land and His City
November 22,2001
Zechariah 14:10
[10] All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of
Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from
Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and
from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's
winepresses.
Because of its exacting detail as to the section of
land that would be lifted up, this is perhaps the most remarkable geological prophecy
in the Old Testament. We are advised
that, along a line from Geba to Rimmon
(See Figure 39), God intends to produce a fantastic geological transformation
of the landscape. When this violent
transformational action is completed, there will be a plain like zone from from Geba to Rimmon
and, at the same time, a lifting movement will have elevated the two hills of western Jerusalem. This Scripture indicates that all of the
land, immediately to the west of the line from Geba
to Rimmon (See Figure 39), will be “lifted up” to a
higher elevation, while all the land, immediately to the east of this line,
will be lowered to form what appears “as a plain.” The lifting of the land from Geba to Rimmon will include the
city of Jerusalem. The sections west of
the Tyropoeon Valley will be lifted up, and those
sections to the east will collapse into a plain (See Figure 40).
The prophet Zechariah knew nothing about the
existence of the many structural weaknesses in the crust of the land of Israel,
nor did anyone else in his day. There
was only one being who did, the God who made the earth. The same God, who inspired Zechariah to write
of this event, placed a structural weaknesses in the crust of the earth from Geba to Rimmon long before the
prophets were born. It was an
appropriate type of weakness; one that went up and down in response to shakings
in the earth. It is only within the last
century that men have begun to understand how this particular type of mechanism
works in the earth’s crust. Within the
last 50 years, geologists uncovered a
structural weakness, within the crust of the earth, that passes through
Jerusalem on its run from Geba to Rimmon. It is a structural weakness, embedded within
the Judean Folds, and has a long history of upwarping. This upwarping zone
is known as the Shekhem Syncline, which is one of the
lineaments within the Levantine faulting and upwarping
system of the Holy Land. Along the part
of this lineament, that extends from Geba to Rimmon, there is a historical pattern of lifting to the
west of it, and of downwarping to the east of it.
Concerning the uplifting and downfaulting,
along the Shekhem
Syncline, and the Jordan-Arabah Rift Valley,
Horowitz, in his 1979 text, “The Quaternary of Israel,” states: “It should be noted that the age of uplifting
and upwarping is synchronous with the age of major downfaulting of the Jordan-Arava
Rift Valley, and the opening of the Bay of Elat. It seems, therefore, that these two
lineaments acted simultaneously, but in opposite directions.” When violent upwarping
begins along the line from Geba to Rimmon, then a simultaneous downfaulting
to its east will occur through the Mount of Olives.
God has been lifting and lowering large sections of
the earth’s crust, across the entire earth, along these types of weaknesses,
for many centuries. It was along a
weakness like this that the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range of California was
formed (See Figure 41). I believe the immediate
land sections, west of a line from Geba to Rimmon, will be lifted like fault block mountains, and the
land, immediately to the east of it, will collapse into a narrow valley
plain. Please note the two mile high
fault scarp in Figure 41. The fault
scarp in Israel will not be nearly as high, perhaps ranging from increases of
500 to 2500 feet in height.
Please observe, in Figure 40, the upwarping structural weakness line that separates the two
western hills of Jerusalem from its three eastern hills. This topographical feature is known as the Tyropoeon Valley.
The zone “from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto
the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto
the king’s winepresses” is that section of land which includes the two western
hills of Jerusalem. It is not by
accident that this structural line of weakness extends north to south directly
behind where Solomon’s Temple was located.
If you visit Jerusalem, go north through the Dung Gate and walk straight
north until the Wailing Wall is visible to your right. Then turn and face west, with your back to
the Wailing Wall. You will be facing a
fault scarp that has been lifted many times in the past. Soon it will be lifted again when great
earthquakes ripple through the Jordan Valley.
When the critical pressure is reached in the Gulf of
Aqabah (See Figure 25), then the Arabah
Fault will rip open northward across Israel.
It will generate the greatest earthquakes and topographical
transformations in recorded history.
Revelation 16:18,19
[18] And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was
not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. [19]
And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations
fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the
cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
The structural weakness from Geba
to Rimmon, with its branch through the Tyropoeon Valley, will undergo massive uplifting to its
west, and downfaulting to its east. This prophecy will soon be fulfilled by the
God who led Zechariah to write it.
Figure 42 visually displays the city of Jerusalem after the lifting has
occurred. The exposed bluff, created by
the uplifting, is what geologists call a fault scarp. There will be a massive fault scarp extending
all the way from Geba to Rimmon.
During earthquake activity down through the ages,
God has created thousands of fault scarps across the surface of His earth. In this instance God has chosen to give us
the exact location where He will perform His handiwork. And he has told us thousands of years before
he does it.
Ezekiel 38:19,20
[19] For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath
have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of
Israel; [20] So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and
the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and
all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence,
and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and
every wall shall fall to the ground.
Zechariah 14:4,5
[4] And his feet shall stand in that day upon the
mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives
shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and
there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove
toward the north, and half of it toward the south. [5] And ye shall flee to the
valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the
earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and
the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.