Shaking and Awakening

The text begins, “In the same hour,” meaning that this event took place immediately after the resurrection of the two witnesses.

Earthquakes in Scripture often describe chaos. The Bible repeatedly mentions an increase in quakes at the end of time (Joel 2:10; Matthew 24:7; Revelation 6:12; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18). And certainly, the effort to extinguish the Bible in France caused a major disruption to its society. This is the natural consequence of forsaking God’s law. Those who had not already met their demise had to admit that “the wicked will fall by his own wickedness” (Proverbs 11:5); in so doing, they, albeit begrudgingly, “gave glory to the God of heaven.”

The Bible foretells a similar concession at the end of time: When “we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, … every knee shall bow to [Him], and every tongue shall confess to God” (Romans 14:10, 11)—even those who rejected Him.

We have been looking at “the city” as France, but some also see “the city” in today’s verse as “that great city” described in Revelation 17:18, depicted by a woman riding a beast with “seven heads and ten horns” (v. 3). Compare this beast in Revelation with the fourth beast in Daniel 7. Studies show that they are one and the same—a symbol of the Roman Empire.

Note especially the ten horns on both (Daniel 7:24; Revelation 17:12). Commentators see that those horns in Daniel represent the ten barbarian tribes that divided ancient Rome, eventually developing into modern Europe. One of those tribes, the Franks, settled into what is known today as France. So when today’s verse tells us that “a tenth of the city fell,” some interpret that “tenth” to be France, one of those ten original tribes, which did indeed fall politically, socially, and morally.

Remember also that this is the sixth trumpet, a judgment that falls upon the enemies of God’s people. The symbolic number “seven thousand” represents a complete punishment of those who pushed God out of their country and their hearts.

Dear God, I want to be fully awake to the times in which we are living, fully aware of Bible prophecy, and fully committed to You.

For Further Study: Proverbs 1:29, 31; Mark 13:8; Luke 23:27–31

Key Bible Texts

And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. (Revelation 11:13 KJV)