On Jan. 13, 2010 a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the city of Port Au Prince in Haiti and a few minutes later over 50,000 people stepped out of time and into eternity with many more souls following due to lack of health care facilities, food, and shelter.

As a student of the Bible, how and what can we learn from such a calamity?

The scripture states in Matthew 24:44, "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

Were the people living or visiting Haiti at the time of the quake thinking about the return of Christ that day? There were probably some but most were probably going about their daily routines as usual thinking it was just another day.

I'm sure the souls of many of the victims of the quake met Christ that day but I'm also sure that many other souls discovered that the horror of Haiti was nothing compared to what their souls were now experiencing.

The most important question everyone has to ask themselves is: Where I am going to spend eternity?

The lost people of Haiti who died on Jan 13 had their chance to say yes to God's pardon offered by the sacrifice of His son on the cross but now it is too late. Their hope has been forever extinguished.

The saved people who died that day are now very glad that they accepted the gift of pardon God offers to every human being. These people will never see sickness, pain, sorrow, or grief again.

One lesson that can be learned from this is that it serves as a reminder to all mankind that we are not promised tomorrow and we should always be ready for death or the return of Christ. It shows how fragile and precarious our life on Earth really is.

There is also a prophetic purpose associated with this earthquake. Jesus said there would be earthquakes in diverse places before He returns. Now there have been earthquakes ever since Jesus departed for Heaven but there has not been such a frequency and intensity of earthquakes until the past 20 years. Something is going on.

The book of Revelation talks about an earthquake that will level every mountain on earth and sink every island. If we are getting close to this prophesied earthquake, then it would make sense we would see a greater frequency of earthquakes.

When Jesus prophesied about earthquakes and wars and famines, He stated, "These are the beginnings of sorrows." Mark 13:8 This means there are worse things to come. Jesus is warning us because He has provided a way of escape through the cross.

This earthquake also reveals the danger of mankind congregating and living in a confined space such as a city. God confused the languages at the tower of Babel and scattered man among the nations. God would prefer man to remain scattered among the nations but man wants to congregate in cities.

There is a real danger with this. We saw what happened to New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. As bad at that time was, it would have been far worse had not so many people evacuated.

When people are so jammed up in a such small area, any attack or natural disaster can result in the deaths of thousands. Any nation would be much stronger if the power structures were more scattered. Haiti had many poor people living in a limited area so there were many structures built side by side. The earthquake devastated the city just like an earthquake devastated San Francisco in the early 1900's.

The survivors in Haiti are now living in a virtual hell on earth having to burn the bodies of the dead rather than bury them due to the magnitude of the dead. Let's help them in any way we can as this could happen to any one of us.

Copyright 2010 by Gary Goodworth