Lesson Three
Earthquake

The “Merriam-Webster Dictionary” defines dad jokes as “a wholesome joke of the type said to be told by fathers with a punchline that is often an obvious or predictable pun or play on words and usually judged to be endearingly corny or unfunny.” I appreciate the fact that an official well-respected dictionary actually defines what a dad joke is; however, I am not as keen on the word “unfunny” being used. With that being said, here are a few dad jokes to start this lesson:

1. Have you ever experienced an earthquake? Please explain some details.

As we continue this series on some of the miracles that happened during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, we pick up the third event in being an earthquake. I want to pause for a moment and apologize if I offended anyone with earthquake jokes as I know they can be very devastating and often take lives. I was hoping to ease into an intense topic.

At the time of Jesus’ death, there was an earthquake. Matthew 27:51 records, “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” The timing of the earthquake is precise. It is clearly not coincidental.

2. What are some of your initial thoughts about this earthquake?

As the Creator of the Universe dies, the sun refuses to work, and the Earth rebels. Nature realizes that what is happening is not natural.

These events are even recorded in history by secular writers. H. D. M. Spence-Jones (“The Pulpit”) writes, “An account of it is given by Phlegon of Tralles, a freedman of the Emperor Adrian. Eusebius, in his records of the year A.D. 33, quotes at length from Phlegon, who says that, in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, there was a great and remarkable eclipse of the sun, above any that had happened before. At the sixth hour the day was turned into the darkness of night, so that stars were seen in the heaven; and there was a great earthquake in Bithynia, which overthrew many houses in the city of Nicaea.” The darkness and earthquake were note-worthy occurrences. People could use them as a reference point of history.

3. Do you have an event from history (personal or national) that depicts a timeline for you?

A.T. Robertson (“Word Pictures in the New Testament”) adds, “Josephus tells of a quaking in the temple before the destruction and the Talmud tells of a quaking forty years before the destruction of the temple.” The temple was destroyed in 70 AD. This quaking would have been at the time of Jesus’ death.

Jesus’ death is obviously an earth-shaking event.

God’s timing is precise.

In Acts 16:25-34, Paul and Silas are in prison when another earthquake takes place, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.’ And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.”

4. What can be said of the timing of this earthquake?

5. What were some of the results of this earthquake?

God is able to create good out of an apparent horrible situation. He is active in the world and His timing is perfect. The God who made man out of dirt and made dirt out of nothing is not bound by our limited imaginations.

6. Do you have a painful or apparent horrible situation that God used for good?

7. Are you going through something right now that you need to give to God? How can you refocus your thoughts to look for God’s intervention?

The response of the centurion after the death of Jesus is quite moving. Matthew 27:54 records, “When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’”

A.T. Robertson (“Word Pictures in the New Testament”) points out that tradition claims the centurion’s name was Petronius. He adds, “Evidently the centurion was deeply moved by the portents which he had witnessed. He had heard the several flings at Jesus for claiming to be the Son of God and may even have heard of his claim before the Sanhedrin and Pilate. How much he meant by his words we do not know, but probably he meant more than merely ‘a righteous man’ (Luke 23:47). If he was won now to trust in Christ, he came as a pagan and, like the robber who believed, was saved as Jesus hung upon the Cross.”

8. Why is it important to believe that Jesus was not merely a righteous man?

9. What is the story of the robber who believed?

The sun refusing to do its job was a message of who Jesus is. The earth throwing a temper tantrum made the statement of who Jesus is. It reminds me of Luke 19:40, “He [Jesus] answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.’”

10. How is Luke 19:40 a challenge to believers today?