"Lo, There Was a Great Earthquake"
The first of a series of signs of the approaching end is thus described by the revelator:
"I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake." Rev. 6:12.
THE LISBON EARTHQUAKE
"There shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." Matt. 24:7.
The verses immediately preceding this scripture plainly describe the days of persecution of the saints of God, and the era of protest and reform that cut short that time of tribulation. Then this first sign appears. This is in harmony with Christ's statement that the signs of His second coming should begin to appear following the tribulation of those days.
Just about the close of the days of tribulation occurred the Lisbon earthquake, as it is called, though its effects reached far beyond Portugal. Prof. W.H. Hobbs, geologist, says of it:
"Among the earth movements which in historic times have affected the kingdom of Portugal, that of Nov. 1, 1755, takes first rank, as it does, also, in some respects, among all recorded earthquakes.... In six minutes sixty thousand people perished."—"Earthquakes," pp. 142, 143.
"Lo, there was a great earthquake," the revelator said. It was indeed "a great earthquake," and great was its influence. In all the world, men's hearts were mightily stirred. James Parton, an English author, says of it: