of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal,
and prophesy against him.» (Ezekiel 38:2, ESV)
existed was deluged with water and perished. But
by the same word the heavens and earth that now
exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the
day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.»
(2 Peter 3:6–7, ESV)
1. Prediction of the Catastrophe
The most authoritative among these predictors employed all three approaches, invariably including their own interpretation of the obscure quatrains of the medieval physician and astrologer Michel Nostradamus [Ref. 1]. Particularly frequent was the citation of Quatrain 72 from Century X concerning a worldwide catastrophe in July–August 1999 (according to various interpretations of the original French text); however, this prediction did not come to pass.
In the twenty-first century, especially with the development of the Internet, the number of such sensational predictions increased even further. Thus, according to incomplete estimates, during the period from 2008 to 2020 alone, at least twelve predicted "ends of the world" were expected.
«Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.» (Isaiah 42:9).
«For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret (other translations render this: "purposes," or "plans") to his servants the prophets.» (Amos 3:7).
"It is perfectly clear that we are rapidly approaching the end of the world." [Ref. 3, p. 23]. "One would have to be blind not to see how closely the present situation corresponds to what the Bible says about the last days." (ibid., p. 24)
2. The End of This Age
Understanding these extraordinary events is further complicated by the figurative language of the prophetic books, especially the Book of Revelation. For these reasons, various questionable theories concerning the destruction of the world have arisen, contradicting biblical eschatology, the principles of interpreting biblical texts (hermeneutics), and their practical application (exegesis).
Among contemporary Christian eschatological hypotheses translated into Ukrainian or Russian, the views of the authors [Refs. 2–7] and the interpretations of the Apocalypse [Refs. 8–19, 24, 32, 35, 36] are of particular interest. These works suggest that the Savior will return:
- after the end of the Millennial Kingdom established by the Church (the postmillennial position);
- at the beginning of the millennial era of the theocratic kingdom (the premillennial position);
- during the already existing kingdom, understood not literally but as an invisible spiritual reality of indefinite duration (the amillennial position).
- at the beginning of the Great Tribulation;
- after its completion;
- in the middle of the days of the Great Tribulation.
- a superhuman being;
- a demon;
- the Pope of Rome;
- a collective evil spirit or ideology.
Using the astronomical language of His time, understandable to His contemporaries, Jesus thus describes this mysterious astronomical phenomenon: «the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers (bodies) of the heavens will be shaken (will lose their stability)» (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:25).The meteors will fall like the fiery feathers of the phoenix or of the Slavic Firebird, arriving from the distant cosmos, as though from a fairy-tale faraway kingdom. They will resemble the sharp teeth in the gaping jaws of a monster (Job 41:14), like magnificent weapons of wrath brought out from God's arsenal (Jeremiah 50:25).
"When the sun, the moon, and the stars change the order of their motion, the end of the world will come," write the authors [Ref. 20] in commenting on Revelation 6:13. William MacDonald agrees with them [Ref. 21] in his explanation of Matthew 24:29: "The stars will fall from heaven, and the planets will be thrown out of their orbits," as though waging war against the heavenly luminaries (Judges 5:20; Revelation 8:10–12).
John sees what the Teacher had spoken about: the falling of the "stars" (Revelation 6:13; 8:10), hail, fire, and a great mountain (verses 5–9). The holiness of God will be revealed to the sinful world in His wrath and judgment (Revelation 16:5). Everything has already been counted, weighed, and will be broken, just as it is written concerning this unparalleled calamity.
«Now the end is upon you (destruction), and I will send (pour out) my anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways (deeds), and I will punish you for all your abominations» (Ezekiel 7:3; another translation renders this: "I will make you pay for all your dreadful deeds" [Ref. 33]). For the measure of the lawlessness of this evil, adulterous, and unfaithful human race has become full.
«The above list of opinions, hypotheses, interpretations, and commentaries represents only a small part of a much broader debate. To it may be added the works [Refs. 2–19, 21–24, 31, 32, 35, 36, 40]. This convincingly demonstrates the absence of a unified view concerning the mysterious events of the end of the world even among Christian authors.
Let us therefore attempt to examine the above predictions independently, relying on the Bible and drawing upon modern scientific knowledge where necessary. Nevertheless, the Holy Scripture will remain the highest authority for our study.
For «I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children» (Matthew 11:25; another translation renders this: «having hidden these things from the wise and learned, you have revealed them to little children» [Ref. 39]), that is, to people who receive the Word of God with trust.
3. What Appears in the Evening, Shines at Night, and Disappears in the Morning
The Creator's intervention at the major stages of history is usually accompanied by some sign (Genesis 9:13–16; Exodus 4:2–7; Joel 2:30). The most significant stage is the end of this God-opposing civilization and the return of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory to reign in the Millennial Kingdom. It is therefore logical to assume that these events will be heralded by an astronomical sign from God, just as at Christ's first coming (Matthew 2:9). For «he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth» (Daniel 6:27). A mysterious miraculous sign in the sky will certainly appear, for the Teacher Himself foretold it.
«Then will appear in heaven the sign (token, portent) of the Son of Man ...» (Matthew 24:30a). Then «all the tribes of
the earth will mourn» (verse 30b; "will wail in despair", Ref. [39]), "they will cry out in fear d coannfusion" (Ref. [41]), for the Great Tribulation is approaching (Matthew 24:21).
This is why no interpretive hypothesis can be considered sufficiently well founded if its author overlooks this warning of the Teacher or offers only a superficial explanation of it. In one of his earlier studies, first published on the God Day website in 2006, the author [Ref. 43], on the basis of exegetical analysis and taking into account selected scientific data, arrived at the following conclusion.
The physical sign announcing the Day of Christ will prove to be the radiant (from the Latin radiāns, "that which emits rays") of a meteor-asteroid stream of extrasolar origin (a detailed justification has been presented in the previous articles). Then the prophecy will be fulfilled: «Then will appear (from the Greek verb meaning "to shine") in heaven the sign» (Matthew 24:30).
The sign of the nocturnal sun radiating its rays (Fig. 1) will arise as countless "falling stars" enter the Earth's atmosphere – solid cosmic particles of meteor bodies traveling from the constellation Cepheus. It is not one of the currently known annual Cepheid meteor showers that is meant, but a gigantic meteor-asteroid stream that will arrive from the same region of the sky in the near future.
4. The Falling Stars
Does the breathtaking spectacle of countless meteors falling through a breach in the night sky on the Day of the Lord actually pose a real danger? Yes. This is evidenced by the catastrophic consequences of these events described in the Holy Scriptures.
«There will be great earthquakes, and in various places (in different places) famines and pestilences (epidemics). And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven» (Luke 21:11). Earthquakes and the shaking of the heavens (Isaiah 13:13) are preceded by great signs (Luke 21:11), ominous phenomena in the sky (Matthew 24:29).
Not real stars, unclean in God's sight, but so-called "falling stars" will wage war against the earth (Revelation 6:13; 8:10–12; 9:1–5; 12:4), as they did in ancient times (Judges 5:20). An unprecedented fire will leap down from the vast heavens; the sky will thunder, and then disappear, being rolled up like a scroll (Isaiah 34:4).
The sea will roar (Isaiah 5:30); every island and every mountain will be removed from its place (Revelation 6:12–14). The planet will groan under the impact scars, crying out like a woman in labor, in keeping with the imagery of Revelation 12:2.
In those days, «all the tribes of the earth will mourn» (Matthew 24:30b; "will wail in despair"); literally, everyone living on the earth will tremble (Joel 2:1; Nahum 1:5; Ezekiel 38:20). John saw (Revelation 14:20): «and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia» ("a river of blood" from the winepress). If this biblical unit is converted literally, the "river of blood" would be approximately 1.5 m (5 ft) deep and 300 km (186 mi) long!
The author of Ref. [12], commenting on Revelation 6:13, writes: "The stars falling to the earth should not be understood as suns or planets, but as meteors. On November 13, 1833, a genuine meteor storm fell over the American continent for three hours. The phenomenon was so terrifying that people thought the end of the world had come..." (p. 91).
Another author [Ref. 19] adds the following historical detail to the description of the "meteor storm of 1833": "On that day people fell to their knees, pleading with God for mercy." The cause of the massive influx of small cosmic bodies during the night of November 12–13, 1833, was the intense Leonid meteor shower, produced by material from Comet Tempel–Tuttle. Its radiant was located in the constellation Leo, and its ZHR (Zenithal Hourly Rate) is estimated at tens of thousands of meteors per hour.
The prophet Zephaniah foretells this tragic period of great destruction (Jeremiah 4:6) for all the inhabitants of the earth. «I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth (destroy utterly, sweep away), declares the LORD. I will sweep away (destroy, wipe out) man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea ... I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth, declares the LORD» (Zephaniah 1:2–3).
The prophet then moves from describing the universal scope of judgment to its consequences for humanity. «I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk (wander) like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung» (Zephaniah 1:17; another translation renders this: "Many people will be killed, blood will flow... and corpses will cover the ground like dung," Ref. [33]).
The climax of this prophecy is the declaration that no material wealth will be able to protect anyone from God's judgment. «Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. In the fire of his jealousy all the earth shall be consumed (the whole earth will be burned up); for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth» (Zephaniah 1:18; Isaiah 13:6–13; Jeremiah 4:13; 23:19–20; 2 Peter 3:10).
"Two fundamental principles are embodied in the biblical imagery of the end of the age. The first is its universal scope. The prophecies concerning the last days do not refer to specific individuals but to the forces of nature and to nations... The second characteristic is that the images of the end of the world inspire terror, intensified all the more by the magnitude of the phenomena associated with them." [Ref. 38, p. 869].
5. Meteor Swarm
The reconstruction presented below is the author's attempt to combine biblical descriptions with modern concepts of a future cosmic catastrophe. It does not claim to replace the biblical text but is intended to offer a possible physical model of the events described in it.
Thus, the material instrument of the sudden destruction of all living things (Zephaniah 1:2–3) will not be locusts, animals from the sea, or a human army, but a meteor-asteroid stream. A huge swarm of predatory "animals," a swarm of angry "insects" that sting to death, will fly like birds and howl like beasts.
This will not be a regular encounter with small, highly dispersed clouds of cometary meteor particles from comets that have long since disintegrated. It will not be a periodic encounter. On the contrary, the Earth will cross the trajectory of countless relatively large cosmic fragments that once originated from the destruction of planets and asteroids (Fig. 2).
Asteroids (from the Greek meaning "star-like") are planet-like bodies ranging in size from several meters to 940 km (the largest object in the belt, Ceres, is now classified as a dwarf planet). These asteroids orbit the Sun, mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. They pose little danger, but an uninvited rocky visitor from deep space may one day reach the Earth.
The dark airborne assault force flies in the form of a "cloud" stretched along its direction of motion for 50–100 million km. Its diameter may reach 30–40 million km, and its speed exceeds the speed of sound in air by more than one hundred times.
One of the killer asteroids, the master of the north, has a diameter of about 15 km and a mass of approximately 5 trillion tons, which is about one quarter of the mass of the seasonal Arctic sea ice cover. Possessing kinetic energy of approximately 3 × 10²⁴ J, it will collide with the Earth with a deafening roar in the region between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, near the northern coast of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
According to the author's calculations, the celestial visitor will fall almost vertically onto the ice of Kane Basin in Nares Strait at coordinates 79.5° north latitude and 68° west longitude [Ref. 44]. The northern parts of Ellesmere Island and Greenland will be destroyed by a terrifying thermal explosion; all lithospheric plates will begin to move. The ice of the Arctic Ocean, cracking and breaking apart, will shift toward Canada and Greenland, while the ice of Antarctica will move toward Australia.
6. The Dwarf Planet
Nothing good will come to the world from what the author conditionally calls "Northern Stream 2", because «Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land.» (Jeremiah 1:14) and «great destruction» (4:6). The full meaning of this conditional name will become clear in Section 8, where its origin will be explained.
One of the most detailed Old Testament descriptions of the events of the end times is the prophecy of the prophet Yehezkel (the Hebrew name of the prophet Ezekiel) concerning Gog from the land of Magog (chapter 38). If the principle of figurative description considered in the previous section is applied, then he apparently referred to a meteor-asteroid stream, representing it as a great anthropomorphic army; naturally, in the terms, concepts, and archetypal images of his own era.
The ice-cold, brutal northern empire of evil consists of many nations despised by the king, khan, and shape-shifter Gog. A gathering of countless agile servants who revolve, «all of them (?!) riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army» (Ezekiel 38:3–7, 15).
Obedient slaves rising from the ends of the earth bring death; they are fierce and merciless (Jeremiah 6:22–24), roaring like beasts (Isaiah 5:28–30). With wild, thunderous laughter they will rush into battle, shake and bend the heavens, rolling them up like a scroll (Isaiah 34:4; Revelation 6:14). The Earth will crack like the shell of a ripe walnut and cry out in pain (Revelation 12:2).
The mysterious destroyer upon which the prostitute sits, John calls a scarlet beast (Revelation 17:3); the enemy of the human race has already visited our planet (verse 8). Daniel calls the realm of the fourth beast with great iron teeth a "kingdom" that differs from all historical nations; this totalitarian federation «shall devour the whole earth, and shall trample it down, and break it to pieces» (Daniel 7:23).
All these images should not be understood literally. They reflect the attempt of biblical prophets to describe a cosmic phenomenon unprecedented in their experience using the language of military images of their time. The physical instrument of terror, trampling, crushing, and shattering will be an unusual stone (Daniel 2:35), the fiery chariot of El Shaddai (Isaiah 66:15).
Despite the figurative nature of this prophecy, several important circumstances can be identified that are directly relevant to further analysis.
1. The attack foretold by Ezekiel in chapter 38 will occur in the "latter years" (verse 8), "latter days" (verse 16), that is, it relates to the Day of the Lord. This is confirmed by verse 23: «I will ... make myself known (reveal myself) in the eyes of many nations» (compare with Matthew 24:30 and Revelation 1:7).
2. The Bible contains no references to an aggressive Gog as a tribe that ever existed. Moreover, "Scripture provides no basis for associating these terms with any modern nation" [Ref. 27, p. 760].
3. The title "prince" was also used by the Jews in relation to supernatural beings, for example, in Daniel 10:13 and the Qumran manuscripts [Ref. 28, p. 862].
7. What Animal Has a Human Name?
There has long been considerable debate concerning the mysterious leader Gog, "from the Christian perspective, the Antichrist" [Ref. 26, p. 104]. Particular difficulty is caused by the expression "the prince of Rosh," although it does not occur in the original text of Ezekiel 38:2 (for example, neither does it appear in the ESV). Moreover, Rosh is nowhere attested in the Bible as the name of either a people or a country.First, although the prophet attributes personal qualities to this shape-shifter (38:10–12), he nevertheless describes him as though he were a creature being led by hooks and bridles.
«Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince (ruler) of Meshech and Tubal. And I will turn you about (cause you to go in another direction) and put hooks into your jaws...» (Ezekiel 38:3–4; the word "Rosh" may also be understood as "head" or "supreme ruler" [Ref. 39]).
To this day, "the numerous and varied attempts (over many centuries!) to identify these names with specific peoples have not been successful" [Ref. 22, p. 315]. Nor are convincing candidates likely to emerge among the nations of the earth. Perhaps these names are symbolic rather than ethnic: Rosh may signify "head" or "mountain summit"; Meshech, extent; Tubal, the world or the universe.
Second, the one who has hooks in his jaws will rise «like a storm (tempest, whirlwind). You will be (fly, Ref. [42]) like a cloud, covering (concealing beneath it) the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you» (Ezekiel 38:9).
If, however, this prophecy is understood as a figurative description of a cosmic catastrophe, then the cloud of cosmic dust—the horde, the legion of darkness, the inhuman host from the abyss – literally comes "like a cloud." At its collision with our planet, a storm will arise – an unprecedented global hypercane. The surface of the land will be covered with meteor dust and meteorites, the "many peoples".
Third, the unique escort of the ruthless ruler Gog will attack peaceful settlements, «the land of unwalled villages» and «upon lthe quiet people who dwell securely» (38:11).
A hail of stones, fire, and sulfur will be poured out; everything that crawls, runs, and swims will tremble; mountains will be thrown down, cliffs will collapse, walls will fall; a many-day, all-consuming downpour will begin, and a deadly plague will break out (Ezekiel 38:18–22).
Here we see the description of a cosmic catastrophe on a planetary scale, producing a wide variety of natural disasters, rather than an account of military operations carried out by earthly armies. Chapter 38 says nothing about a war between the Israelites and Gog as a military criminal, adventurer, or bald centaur.
Thus, the three arguments presented above provide grounds for understanding the terrifying "Ethiopian" host of Gog – an image associated with the ancient depiction of the constellation Cepheus – as a prophetic personification rather than the description of a specific earthly army. In that case, his coming «of uthe uttermost parts of the north» (38:15) may be correlated not with a particular nation but with the direction from which the meteor-asteroid stream will appear – from the constellation Cepheus in the northern part of the night sky.
Before us is one of the characteristic features of biblical language, in which human characteristics (anthropomorphism) or animal characteristics (zoomorphism) are transferred to unfamiliar inanimate objects in order to make future events understandable – events that had no analogues in the time of the biblical prophets.
8. The Flood in the Days of Noah
It is precisely this biblical principle that prompts us to turn to mankind's oldest testimonies concerning a global catastrophe. In the distant past, the Almighty, in His wrath, moved, shook, and overturned mountains; darkened the light of the sun and the stars; stretched out the heavens; subdued the waves of the sea; and poured out torrents of water (Job 9:5–8; Genesis 5–7; 7:17–20).
Thus, John received a revelation concerning the repeated visitation of mankind by a mysterious zoomorphic being. «The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit (is to come) and go to destruction» (Revelation 17:8).
Obviously, the apostle is not speaking of a literal seven-headed creature. Once again, the image of the beast points to a phenomenon that has already appeared once in human history and is destined to appear again, as indicated by the words "is about to rise from the bottomless pit." (translation in Ref. [41]).
The previous catastrophic stream may conditionally be called "Northern Stream 1." According to the author's reconstruction [Ref. 44], it was accompanied by the same dwarf planet that "was" in the past and became the cause of the catastrophe that gave rise to the numerous traditions concerning the Great Flood.
This occurred at the beginning of the Mesolithic period, nearly 12,000 years ago, when the conventional point of the geographic North Pole was located in what is now Greenland. The impact of one of Gog's large satellites triggered an earthquake of extraordinary magnitude: oscillations, displacements, and fundamental redistributions of the continental masses of the rotating Earth.
Such a universal flood in the days of Noah is described in the Book of Jasher (a late medieval Hebrew text), naturally in language understandable to the people of that era. «And on that day the Lord caused the whole earth to quake. The sun was darkened, the foundations of the world trembled, and the whole earth was violently shaken...» (6:11).
Apparently, David also refers concisely to this event. «You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open (broken it apart, split it open); repair its breaches, for it (is on the verge of collapse, Ref. [41]) totters» (Psalm 60:2; cf. 82:5).
As a result, according to the author's calculations, the North Pole gradually shifted by approximately 2,000 kilometers into the Arctic Ocean. In other words, the position of the Earth's (notional) axis of rotation changed as a consequence of the impact, together with a redistribution of the planet's mass within the lithosphere and the upper mantle. The Earth's rotational parameters, topography, the position of the equator and climatic zones, the apparent arrangement of the stars in the sky, and the points of sunrise and moonrise all became different.
Mega-tsunamis of seawater and shattered ice crashed onto the northern coasts of Asia, instantly burying all living things, whose remains have been remarkably preserved in the permafrost to this day. Up to 75% of the genera of large fauna (megafauna) – animals weighing more than 45 kg, such as mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed animals, and others – perished or became extinct. According to Scripture, almost all the inhabitants of the earth perished in the Flood.
In the author's view, it is precisely such a picture that may have been preserved in the historical memory of many peoples and become the basis of the traditions concerning the Great Flood.
«And all flesh died that moved on the earth ("every living creature that inhabited the earth," Ref. [41]), birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind» (Genesis 7:21).
9. The Asteroid of the Apocalypse
This phenomenon is known as Rayleigh molecular scattering of electromagnetic waves, in which the ratio (k) of the diameter of the scattering particles (d) to the wavelength of light (λ) is less than 0.1. In other words, about two-thirds of the scattered solar radiation is redistributed within the gaseous envelope of the atmosphere and reaches the Earth's surface as additional diffuse radiation.
Today, the blue color of the sky is primarily caused by the scattering of the short-wavelength portion (0.38–0.52 μm) of the solar spectrum – blue, indigo, and violet light. Much less of the red portion is scattered, except during sunrise and sunset.
During the Great Tribulation, however, the color of the sky will be determined not by molecular scattering (k < 0.1) on random clusters of gas molecules, but by the much stronger aerosol scattering (0.1 < k < 10) produced by particles whose sizes are comparable to the wavelength of red light (λ = 0.76 μm) – that is, by particles far larger than random clusters of gas molecules (k < 0.1).
This aerosol scattering will be produced by aerodispersed colloidal systems composed of fine solid and liquid particles ranging from 0.1 nanometers to several hundred micrometers: aerosols – up to 0.1 μm; smoke – from 0.1 μm to 5 μm; dust – from 5 μm to 100 μm and larger.
These particles will be generated in enormous quantities through the vaporization of meteoroids during atmospheric entry, the impacts of asteroids with the Earth's surface, the atmospheric condensation of vaporized rock, volcanic eruptions, supervolcanic eruptions, wildfires, dust storms, and similar processes. Such colloidal systems will also form as sulfur-oxygen and nitrogen-hydrogen compounds [Ref. 25], produced through chemical reactions among gases released into the atmosphere.
As a result of the formation of a coarse aerosol dispersion medium in the atmosphere, the light of the Sun will become so greatly dimmed (Revelation 9:2) that shadows will disappear from the Earth's surface, while the Moon and the stars will lose their familiar brightness (Isaiah 13:10; Joel 3:15). The character of the sky's diffuse radiation will likewise change, taking on a reddish hue (Fig. 3).
It is for this reason that Gog, his "Red Guard", the Moon, and the stars will all appear in blood-red colors (Revelation 6:12; 12:3; Nahum 2:3). In the author's view, this physical model of light scattering provides an explanation for the biblical imagery of the red sky and the heavenly bodies in the last days.
10. Diffuse Radiation
Only later, when the Earth enters the tenuous cloud of the meteor-asteroid stream, will the optical properties of the atmosphere begin to change. At first, this will result from cosmic dust and the products of its sublimation; later, from impact ejecta, smoke from widespread fires, volcanic ash, and other coarse dispersed aerosols. Consequently, the apparent color of Gog, the Moon, and the stars – as well as of the sky itself – will acquire reddish hues (Fig. 3).
To understand the reason for this change in color, it is necessary to briefly consider the physics of the scattering of sunlight in the Earth's atmosphere.Solar light reaches the Earth's surface not only directly, but also after being scattered by random clusters of gas molecules and by tiny atmospheric particles.
This phenomenon is known as Rayleigh molecular scattering of electromagnetic waves, in which the ratio (k) of the diameter of the scattering particles (d) to the wavelength of light (λ) is less than 0.1. In other words, about two-thirds of the scattered solar radiation is redistributed within the gaseous envelope of the atmosphere and reaches the Earth's surface as additional diffuse radiation.
Today, the blue color of the sky is primarily caused by the scattering of the short-wavelength portion (0.38–0.52 μm) of the solar spectrum – blue, indigo, and violet light. Much less of the red portion is scattered, except during sunrise and sunset.
During the Great Tribulation, however, the color of the sky will be determined not by molecular scattering (k < 0.1) but by the much more intense aerosol scattering (0.1 < k < 10) produced by particles whose sizes are comparable to the wavelength of red light (λ = 0.76 μm) – that is, by particles far larger than random clusters of gas molecules (k < 0.1).
This aerosol scattering will be produced by aerodispersed colloidal systems composed of fine solid and liquid particles ranging from 0.1 nanometers to several hundred micrometers: aerosols – up to 0.1 μm; smoke – from 0.1 μm to 5 μm; dust – from 5 μm to 100 μm and larger.
These particles will be generated in enormous quantities through the vaporization of meteoroids during atmospheric entry, the impacts of asteroids with the Earth's surface, the atmospheric condensation of vaporized rock, volcanic eruptions, supervolcanic eruptions, wildfires, dust storms, and similar processes. Such colloidal systems will also form as sulfur-oxygen and nitrogen-hydrogen compounds [Ref. 25], produced through chemical reactions among gases released into the atmosphere.
As a result of the formation of a coarse aerosol dispersion medium in the atmosphere, the light of the Sun will become so greatly dimmed (Revelation 9:2) that shadows will disappear from the Earth's surface, while the Moon and the stars will lose their familiar brightness (Isaiah 13:10; Joel 3:15). The character of the sky's diffuse radiation will likewise change, taking on a reddish hue (Fig. 3).
It is for this reason that Gog, his "Red Guard", the Moon, and the stars will all appear in blood-red colors (Revelation 6:12; 12:3; Nahum 2:3). In the author's view, this physical model of light scattering provides an explanation for the biblical imagery of the red sky and the heavenly bodies in the last days.
11. Who Is Running That Makes the Earth Tremble?
One of the most mysterious images in the Book of Revelation is that of the horsemen riding the four horses (Revelation 6:2–8). John sees what appears to be the same rider mounted on a white, a red, and a black horse (Revelation 6:2–8). They "go forth from the presence of the Lord into the world, symbolizing the intervention of God's judgment in the course of history" [Ref. 38, p. 1307].Within the framework of the author's proposed reconstruction, however, this mysterious figure appears not merely as a symbol of certain historical events but as the image of a real cosmic object described in the language of biblical imagery. How can one see something that is itself only a symbol or a conventional sign?
A natural question therefore arises: how can one see famine or an epidemic if they are not visible objects in themselves but only symbolic concepts? For this reason, some interpreters identify the horsemen as angels. But then another question arises: why would an angel need a horse – especially one without wings or even a bridle? No; what is described here is not a spiritual being but a real cosmic body portrayed as though it were alive. But then, why the extraordinary horses?
The mythological worldview of many ancient peoples was built upon archetypes. Consequently, the heavenly bodies they worshiped were believed to move across the transparent vault of heaven on horses or in chariots [Ref. 26, pp. 116, 666]. Thus, a bright fiery bolide was perceived as a fiery chariot in which a deity descended.. As the vehicle of the gods, the horse was traditionally regarded as a mediator between heaven and earth.
The steeds that astonish the reader in the Book of Zechariah are called "the four winds of heaven" (Zechariah 6:1–5; "the four spirits of heaven", Ref. [37]). The colors of these wind-beasts reflect "the distinction between the four separate divisions of the heavenly host" [Ref. 37, p. 545].
In the worldview of many ancient peoples, earthly objects – a horse, a rider, a spear, a bow, a sword – were regarded as reflections of corresponding realities in the heavenly world. Thus John perceives the unknown planet as though it were a horseman, giving life-like form to something moving across the heavens. Zechariah sees steeds standing in chariots before God (Zechariah 6:5). Ezekiel describes an extraordinary rider who is simultaneously portrayed as a beast (Ezekiel 38:4).
Thus, the biblical prophets already employ a literary device in which a single image combines the characteristics of a human being, an animal, and an inanimate object. This very method of description forms the foundation of the author's subsequent reconstruction.
The anthropomorphic army from "the uttermost north" consists of the satellites of the empire of the supernatural prince Gog – "all (?!) of them riding on horses" (Ezekiel 38:15). Such a picture would have been unimaginable for an invading army in the days of the prophet, and even more so in our own time.
The prophet Joel, using the comparative conjunction twice, writes: "Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run" (Joel 2:4). The nations will find themselves in the position of the suddenly besieged Trojans, to whom the Achaeans had cunningly left the wooden horse.
12. The Rider's Attributes
Some scholars of the Book of Revelation reasonably maintain that in chapter 6 the apostle John describes not four different horsemen, but one and the same rider who appears at different moments of the vision with different attributes and in different forms. Moreover, the sequence of these images does not necessarily correspond to the chronological order of future events.If one examines the description carefully, the rider shows few characteristics of an ordinary human person. The apostle says almost nothing about his appearance or actions. Instead, the emphasis falls on the consequences of his appearance: «there was a great earthquake...
...the stars of the sky fell to the earth... The sky vanished (disappeared, was hidden, was split apart) like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island (all mountains and islands) was removed from its place" (Revelation 6:12–17, in parentheses: texts from other translations; see also Ezekiel 38:18–22).Thus, the prophet's attention is fixed not on the rider himself, but on the cosmic and geological consequences of his coming. Like the goddess of retribution Nemesis (or the more familiar European figure of Themis–Justitia), who punishes wrongdoing, the mysterious horseman riding a black, unbridled steed carries a pair of scales.
«And I looked, and behold, a black (dark-colored) horse! And its rider (the one sitting on it) had a pair of scales in his hand.» (Revelation 6:5b).
But why do the scales become the rider's principal attribute? They are "an instrument for weighing objects by means of standardized weights" [Ref. 27, p. 230]. "The metal pans of the scales were suspended by cords attached to the ends of a horizontal beam" [Ref. 38, p. 133].
In the biblical tradition, scales are often associated with God's judgment and evaluation (cf. Daniel 5:27). Thus, the image of the scales naturally evokes the time when the deeds of humanity, offensive to the Creator of the universe, will be "weighed." This image may also be associated with the symbolic "weighing" of the Earth itself and of the heavenly bodies.
The Almighty will weigh the mountains in a balance and determine the mass of the hills with weights, placing the Earth on one side and the heavenly stones – the instruments of His wrath – on the other (among the Hebrews, the stone weights used with balances were called אֶבֶן,– eḇen, literally "stones"). Through the natural disasters, famine will come, and grain will be weighed out in small portions (Revelation 6:6).
At another stage of the same vision, however, the rider appears on a white horse. As he approaches the realm of the Sun, the heavenly "horse" of the fearsome archer appears white. He also wears a crown and carries a special bow – a formidable weapon with which our planet will be struck by the "arrows" of meteor bodies.
«And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he came (rode out) out conquering, and to conquer» (Revelation 6:2).
Jeremiah compares a unique quiver, one for the entire army, to «an open tomb» (Jeremiah 5:16), as though it were an opened burial chamber carved into the rock. This image may be associated with the dark central region of the radiant of the meteor stream, from which countless meteor bodies of the ancient "warriors" fly out like arrows; they «shall eat up» everything on the surface of the eart (verses 15–17).
Resembling a distant star, the usurper Gog comes forth from the great cosmic abyss out of the north (Jeremiah 1:13), «conquering, and to conquer» (Revelation 6:2). Thus begins his final march toward the Earth, to take part in the judgment upon the fallen world.
13. The Banner of the Crimson Skyglow
The besieged Earth will grow alarmed when it sees yet another "white moon" – an enormous bright heavenly body. It will hide behind the sky's thin veil, as though behind its own light shield.The cloud of cosmic "locusts" – in keeping with the imagery of the prophet Joel – will collide with our planet and tear through that veil overhead. The falling meteors, which ancient observers perceived as falling stars, will begin to vaporize in the atmosphere; according to the prophet, «All the host of heaven shall rot away» (Isaiah 34:4).
Having struck this shield, the enemy's smaller bands will burn up and be scattered as fine dust; the blue shield of the earthly sky will be stained with the blood-red color of the shattered invaders. The banner of the evening crimson glow appears at dusk and disappears by morning. With each passing day, the Sun will lose more of its brightness for the earthly observer, while the Moon will turn ominously red (Joel 2:30; Revelation 6:12–14).
«And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.» (Revelation 6:4; the Greek word μάχαιρα denotes a short sword or a large knife used for slaughtering.)
At this stage, the shapeshifter Gog no longer bears the scales – the potential threat of famine – nor the bow, the imminent threat to life. Instead, he bears a real weapon. The author interprets this great and extraordinary sword as an image of the countless fiery trails of meteor bodies cutting through the atmosphere. The sword of the Lord will be «against all flesh from south to north» (Ezekiel 21:4); it will come out of its sheath (the radiant), but «ait shall not be sheathed again» (verse 5).
From the gallop of the furious red steed, darkness will fall. The Sun, the Moon, and the stars will disappear behind a dense black veil, a shroud of death. As the larger solid and liquid particles gradually settle out of the atmosphere, sunlight will begin to be scattered by smaller particles. The diffuse radiation of the sky, in symbolic harmony with the color of the fourth horseman, will gradually acquire an ominous yellowish-green hue.
In the sequence of John's vision, the final horse appears bearing an unusual creature, one almost unnatural to earthly perception: Death appears upon it (Revelation 6:8). Since the Greek word χλωρός (chlōros) does not mean dapple-gray but rather yellowish-green, "like the color of a corpse or the pale face of a person stricken with terror" [Ref. 20].
14. A Time to Scatter Stones
The physical consequences of the Earth passing through a "cloud" of cosmic dust, sand, stones, and asteroid bodies are described in the Bible only fragmentarily, yet in considerable detail. Naturally, they are presented in language accessible to the people of that time, long before the emergence of modern science. On the basis of these biblical prophecies, it is possible to reconstruct a general picture of an avalanche-like escalation of disasters lasting approximately two weeks.
The distinctive nature of this tragedy lies in the fact that the catastrophic events will engulf the ENTIRE planet—from north to south and from east to west. "The end of the age will be marked by an increasing number of natural catastrophes as a result of God's judgment upon the earth." [Ref. 38, p. 1171]. Natural disasters will roll across the world hour after hour and day after day, increasing steadily in intensity.
At first, for approximately three and a half days (about eighty-four hours), immense numbers of very small peripheral meteoroids will fall. To an observer on Earth they will silently "burn up" in the upper atmosphere (except for micrometeorites). At night their luminous trails will resemble «fire and sulfur rained from heaven» (Luke 17:29).
Then, during the following three and a half full days, like the hunter's snare of which the Lord warned «For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth» (Luke 21:35), the enemy's principal striking force will launch its assault amid the thunder of bombardment. Maintaining strict order, every body will follow its own course without crossing another's path (Joel 2:7–8).
The fine dust will be joined by an escort of meteoroids of ever-increasing size. Like the heavenly army in Joel's prophecy, they advance in perfect order, each following its own path. These are the stones from heaven (Joshua 10:11), portrayed in prophetic imagery as «great iron teeth» (Daniel 7:7), «coals flamed forth from him» (Psalm 18:8), and «the stars» (Mark 13:25; Revelation 6:13).
Great devastation will be inflicted by those that sweep through the air – the ruthless invaders, occupiers with hearts of stone: blunt, insolent, and merciless. Mobile assault detachments will suddenly appear and disappear; they perish rather than surrender.; they devour, yet remain hungry. Whatever the ravenous fail to consume, the vandals will destroy; whatever the fierce do not destroy, the poisonous will contaminate. These barbarians will take away everything they never gave, just as Jeremiah foretold (Jeremiah 5:15–17).
During the third and most intense phase of the cosmic bombardment, approximately one week later, the Earth will be struck by «heavenly bodies» (2 Peter 3:10, 12) set ablaze – that is, blood-red fiery trails of bolides, mountains of fire in the form of asteroids, and incandescent impact ejecta returning to the planet. The Earth has no possibility of maneuvering; therefore, its defeat is inevitable.
Then the odious Gog will strike with a furious roar, unleashing his royal seals: the fire-breathing projectiles of siege engines, the glowing stones of catapults, and the blazing torches of chariots, all creating long luminous trails of incandescent particles and glowing gases as they race through the sky.
According to the author's calculations, the climax will occur after the first week, when the Earth will spend about ten hours passing through the densest region of the "cloud" of cosmic bodies. During this period, several extremely massive asteroids will collide with the planet. By the end of the second week, the Earth will emerge from the Gog meteor-asteroid stream.
The cynical civilization will collapse, like the colossus with feet of clay (Daniel 2:31–35), because «the windows of heaven are opened (thrown open), and the foundations of the earth tremble (shake)» (Isaiah 24:18b); "the prophet grieves as he foresees the horrors of the Great Tribulation" [Ref. 40, p. 915].
15. Who Flies, Howls, Falls, and Digs into the Earth?
When the "cosmic beetle" strikes the surface of our planet—an image of an enormous celestial body perceived through the prism of biblical symbolism—almost all of its kinetic energy will be converted into heat, and as it penetrates the Earth's surface, it will, as it were, "dig into the ground." The vaporization and instantaneous expansion of matter will produce an explosion of unimaginable power, equivalent to hundreds of millions of megatons of TNT.
As a result of this impact, «the earth will be shaken out of its place» (Isaiah 13:13). In modern scientific terms, the parameters of its motion will undergo substantial changes. Its orbital eccentricity, axial rotation rate, orbital velocity, and the positions of its geographic and magnetic poles will all change. Consequently, the length of the day, the month, and the year will differ; the distribution of climatic zones will be altered; and the boundaries of the four familiar natural seasons will shift.
The North Geographic Pole will move into Baffin Bay, while the South Pole will shift closer to Australia. Should the Earth's axis of rotation be displaced significantly, the celestial pole will gradually move as well, and instead of today's Polaris, another region of the sky—within the constellation Cepheus – will become the principal point of celestial orientation.
The heavens will bow down (Psalm 18:9), the nightly beacons of the universe will begin their circular dance, and the signs of the zodiac will revolve into new positions. Constellations familiar to humanity will gradually change their apparent locations: Pisces will appear where Aries was formerly seen, Aries will occupy the former position of Taurus, while other constellations and their principal stars will likewise assume new positions, as foretold in an ancient Jewish apocryphal text.
"And many chiefs of the stars shall transgress the order. And these shall alter their orbits and their tasks, and shall not appear at the seasons prescribed to them" (1 Enoch 80:6). The Moon will appear to rise and set at unfamiliar times, moving not in its accustomed course nor among its former constellations (v. 4), and the same will be true of the Sun. The planets, too, will alter their apparent paths across the night sky as seen from Earth.
After this catastrophic transformation, the familiar world as humanity has known it will never again be the same as it is today. Echoing the imagery of Isaiah, «the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind» (Isaiah 65:17).
The most powerful of the impacts, caused by the nearly vertical collision of a colossal celestial body comparable in size to a small planet (Fig. 4), will produce abrupt deformation of the Earth's crust, especially along the boundaries of the lithospheric plates.
Both instantaneous and gradual deformation of the Earth's crust and upper mantle will occur, accompanied by collisions of lithospheric plates and both horizontal and vertical displacement of continental masses. Numerous deep faults will form, chiefly along the boundaries of lithospheric platforms. Some areas of dry land will sink beneath the waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans and their seas, while new islands will rise from the depths.
Alongside the volcanoes already active today, a vast number of terrestrial and submarine volcanoes may also become active. Especially many of them will "awaken" in the equatorial region between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, within the area of the Malay Archipelago, as well as in the Caribbean Sea, the Andes, the North American Cordillera, and Antarctica.
16. Consequences of the Impact
Thus John saw something falling into the sea that he describes as «something like a great mountain, burning with fire» (Revelation 8:8). According to the author of Ref. 12 (p. 106), this is not a meteor but an enormous massive asteroid. It will bring about catastrophic destruction, the death of one-third of marine life, and the loss of one-third of the ships (verse 9).
The planetoid will crush everything built of iron, clay, and sand; it will grind to powder everything fashioned from bronze, silver, and gold (Daniel 2:35). With fiery columns it will heave up the land and cover the convulsing earth with gigantic craters.
At the height of its fury, the ancient Leviathan will rip open the floor of the boiling oceans, alter the channels and courses of many rivers, shatter age-old ice, melt the snow on the mountains, evaporate the waters of lakes, and turn the surface of the seas into a boiling ointment (Job 41:31). Like a gigantic mushroom cloud, it will hurl dust, gases, ash, sand, soil, and pulverized rock high into the atmosphere.
Yirmeyahu foresaw disaster coming from the north and great destruction (Jeremiah 4:6). Within the framework of the proposed reconstruction, this prophetic image receives a cosmic interpretation. Its "face" will appear from the direction opposite the south, as the prophet describes: «I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north» (Jeremiah 1:13).
According to the author's estimate, the mass of this "pot" – that is, the stone that destroys everything on the planet (Daniel 2:34–35) – must amount to trillions of tons, with a diameter of about fifteen kilometers. In reality, «something like a great mountain, burning (blazing) with fire» will be thrown into the sea (Revelation 8:8).
According to the prophecy of the Jewish Sibyl, God, who sends down precipitation, will punish the world with «fire and the flood of rain, and brimstone falling from heaven, enormous stones, and dreadful hail» (Sibylline Oracles 3:862–865).
There was an ancient legend, recorded by Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews, according to which humanity would perish twice: first by water and then by fire (Ref. 41, p. 440). The most prudent will hide themselves in shelters for several years (Isaiah 2:19).
17. The Trumpet, the Voice, the Breath of the Lord
The inhabitants of the world will hear the voice (sound) of the trumpet (Isaiah 18:3); truly, «the Lord God will sound the trumpet» (Zechariah 9:14), «roar mightily» (Jeremiah 25:30), for a long time (Jeremiah 4:21–26). The powerful sound, like the roar of thousands of jet engines, «will resound to the ends of the earth» (Jeremiah 25:31).
A tremendous thermal explosion during an asteroid impact on the planet’s surface will create a gigantic crater (the so-called "star wound") with an initial depth of up to 20 km and a diameter of up to 250 km. The newly formed crater will be filled with boiling magma—a molten mass of materials with a temperature of 1,700 °C … 2,000 °C. One of the Old Testament prophets calls such a mysterious fiery magmatic pit a place of burning: Topheth.
Reconstructing the future events, the author associates this biblical image with a gigantic magmatic crater. It is «deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of ("burning," Ref. 39) sulfur, kindles it» (Isaiah 30:33).
Besides the crater filled with magma, a storm, a whirlwind, and a flame of "devouring fire" will instantly arise, as Isaiah (Isaiah 29:6; 30:27) and David (Psalm 18:8, 9, 14) foresee.
The pastures of the shepherds will wither; first of all, the vegetation covering the mountains and hills will dry up (Amos 1:2; Isaiah 42:15). All vegetation in elevated places will dry up, struck by heat (Psalm 11:6; Revelation 16:9), as a manifestation of God’s judgment, by the breath of His wrath (2 Samuel 22:14–16) on the day of distress (Nahum 1:7).
John sees that, with the sound of a trumpet, «a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water» (Revelation 8:10), "on one-third of all rivers and springs of water" (Ref. 37). But how could a star-like torch fall over such a vast area of the Earth's surface? This would be possible only if it somehow fragmented in the atmosphere.
In modern terms, this phenomenon corresponds to the flight of a bolide – an exceptionally bright meteor produced by a large meteoroid, that is, a large fireball brighter than apparent magnitude minus 4.
A bolide’s flight is accompanied by a shell of fire, showers of sparks, a smoke trail, changing brightness illuminating the surrounding area, and intense heat. The only ancient analogue is a torch made of tarred tow burning in the wind. Such a torch produced tongues of flame, showers of sparks, thick smoke, flickering light, and intense heat.
For cosmic bodies with a mass of less than one ton, the flight most often ends at an altitude of 80 km to 20 km, where they disintegrate in the dense layers of the atmosphere due to thermal stresses inside and dynamic pressure outside. At the same time, a great number of small meteorites fall from the dispersion zone over a large area in the form of an ellipse, scientifically called a "strewn field."
Bolides are described in the Bible as God’s arrows and spears (Habakkuk 3:11; Zechariah 9:14), fire from heaven (Genesis 19:24; Ezekiel 38:22; Revelation 8:7), snorting horses (Jeremiah 8:16), and chariots that thunder and blaze like torches, «they dart like lightning» (Nahum 2:4–5; 3:2; Joel 2:5).
They rush swiftly across the heavens, and at altitudes below approximately 55 km their flight is accompanied by fire, smoke trails, thunderclaps, roaring sounds, and whistling.
18. The Supersonic Blast Wave
Besides meteoroids, more massive cosmic bodies will also strike our planet. Among the possible biblical images that may be correlated with such objects are: the destroying mountain (Jeremiah 51:25), the stone (Daniel 2:34–35), the tongue of the LORD (Isaiah 30:27), His rod (Isaiah 11:4; Revelation 19:15), «something like a great mountain, burning with fire,» and «a great star» (Revelation 8:8, 10; 9:1–2).
As a result of the explosion caused by the impact of the mountain-like asteroid with the Earth's surface (Revelation 8:8), the immediate consequence will be the formation of a shock wave characterized by an abrupt jump in pressure, density, and temperature. Instantly, a gigantic hemisphere of incandescent gases, rock dust, and sand will be formed.
Next, a fireball several dozen kilometers in diameter will develop and rise to an altitude of up to 100 kilometers. The temperature at its center will reach several thousand degrees. This fireball, expanding at supersonic speed, appears to be described in the Tanakh as:
«the flame of a devouring fire» (Isaiah 29:6), «a scorching wind» (Psalm 11:6; another translation renders this, "a fiery whirlwind"), «A hot wind» (Jeremiah 4:11; Habakkuk 3:5; literally, "burning fire"), «the whirlwind» (Hosea 8:7), «a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks» (1 Kings 19:11), «the breath of the LORD» (Isaiah 30:33), and «the wings of the wind» (Psalm 18:10).
A great fiery hurricane from the north will destroy houses, cities, cliffs, hills, and trees. It will create conditions lethal to life for hundreds of kilometers around the epicenter of the explosion. Only those sheltered in well-protected underground refuges will survive. Yet why do David, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk describe this unfamiliar phenomenon as a hot, scorching, or burning wind?
The only natural phenomenon known to the people of antiquity that bore a close outward resemblance was the khamsin (Arabic for "fifty"), also known as the simoom – a scorching squall of intensely heated air, dust, and sand (with temperatures reaching 40 °C or more and humidity below 10 percent).
The simoom may arise suddenly, on average about once a week during the fifty days following the spring equinox. For approximately two hours, clouds of dust and sand swept from the desert by winds reaching 100 km/h (and under extreme conditions up to 140 km/h) darken the sun and drastically reduce visibility.
Through the imagery of the khamsin, «the LORD will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones» (Isaiah 30:30). In other words, accompanied by a torrent of extremely hot gases laden with dust, rock fragments, and incandescent particles produced by a tremendous thermal explosion.
19. The Creator's Indignation
Interestingly, in the Hebrew language the mysterious biblical image of God's wrath is expressed, among other ways, by the phrase charon-'af ("the burning of the nostrils"), which literally conveys the image of hot breath or a fiery blast.Indeed, the impact shock wave advancing from the north at supersonic speed will snap trees as though blasted by a giant sandblaster, stripping away their bark so that their branches become "white" (Joel 1:7). Sand and small stones will scour the branches, lash the thickets, and pierce clothing like lead shot.
A continuous front of superheated gases, dust, and rock fragments will ignite vegetation instantly, consuming everything that burns easily, while whatever remains will continue to burn afterward – precisely as the biblical prophets foretold:
«For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven…» «Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them» (Malachi 4:1; Joel 2:3).
The supersonic shock front generated by the thermal explosion of a 15-kilometer asteroid will instantly devastate everything around the impact epicenter; even solid rock will be pulverized into a lime-like powder. According to specialists' estimates, the initial parameters of such a shock wave may include temperatures exceeding 10,000 °C, pressures of at least 60 GPa, a shock-front velocity greater than 40,000 m/s, and a duration of approximately one hour.
Within a radius of up to 1,500 km from the center of the impact, conditions will become incompatible with the survival of most living organisms. «nothing escapes them» (Joel 2:3); no living organism will survive in the open environment. Within a radius of about 5,000 km, there will be «a desolate wilderness», while only small animals sheltered in burrows may survive.
Only at distances exceeding 8,000 km from the astrobleme (impact crater) will large animals remain alive. The temperature of the near-surface layer of the troposphere may rise to as much as 400 °C, and the Earth will be enveloped in dense darkness, broken only by the glow of raging fires.
20. Fires
Yet why does the apostle state that the fire will consume all the grass but only one third of the trees? The explanation may lie in the rapid advance of the shock wave, its substantial loss of temperature with increasing distance from the impact epicenter, and the widespread torrential rains accompanied by hail.
For this reason, the sweeping fires will quickly destroy all low vegetation, whereas two thirds of the trees – especially those still without their spring foliage – will neither have time to ignite nor be completely consumed. Nevertheless, in the scorching whirlwinds and firestorms, part of the land will be charred, as the temperature of its surface rises to 300 °C or higher.
Therefore it is written: «And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur» (Isaiah 34:9), «and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed» (2 Peter 3:10; many other translations read: "will be burned up"); the mountains will quake and then burn like brushwood (Isaiah 64:1–2).
Incredible though it may seem, even the "water" will catch fire – the flames will spread across the World Ocean. Of course, it will not be the water itself that burns, but the combustible gases released from its depths and rising to the surface. There they will be ignited by atmospheric plumes and by showers of burning impact ejecta that had been blasted into the atmosphere and then fallen back to Earth. As it is written in the early Christian apocryphon "The Apocalypse of Peter", a work that enjoyed a measure of authority in parts of the early Church:
"And on the day of judgment... the waters shall become burning coals, and everything on the earth shall burn, and the sea shall become fire, and beneath the heavens there shall be fierce flame..." (The Apocalypse of Peter 5:1–5). BBecause of the extreme heat produced by these catastrophic phenomena, fish will float belly-up, birds will be roasted in the air, and the bodies of animals and people will be reduced to charcoal.
21. What We Have Sown, We Shall Reap
Having eagerly sown the winds of strife, we shall reap hypercanes of phenomenal strength (Ref. 42), exceeding the upper limit of Force 12 on the Beaufort scale. They will break forests and cities, demolish hills and rocks, sweep away sand and stones, and raise enormous waves upon the seas. Through the air will hurtle uprooted trees, rooftops, fragments of walls, stones, sand, and dust, together with the bodies of birds, wild animals, marine creatures, and human beings.
In theoretical hypercane models, wind speeds over the ocean may reach several hundred kilometers per hour—according to some estimates, 500–800 km/h. Such parameters were theoretically proposed by the American meteorologist Kerry Emanuel in 1995 in his scientific theory of asteroid impact-induced hypercanes (Ref. 42).Continental-scale megacyclones will arise over the World Ocean – vast spiraling masses of turbulent air and moisture (Fig. 5), reaching heights of up to 40 km, with eyes measuring as much as 300 km in diameter.
The cause of these extraordinary hypercanes is the formation of localized regions of extremely warm seawater (approximately 50 °C), which in many hypercane models is regarded as a necessary condition for their formation—for example, above asteroid impact sites, awakened submarine volcanoes, and tectonic fractures on the ocean floor.
In such locations, the water will boil and remain abnormally hot for an extended period (several weeks), allowing the first powerful storm to persist and subsequent ones to develop. Alternatively, tropical and extratropical cyclones may form where water temperatures are below 50 °C but still exceed 26.8 °C.
Using biblical imagery, the Earth will become terrified, tremble, and howl, clutching at its garment – yet it will scarcely be able to keep it. Mighty whirlwinds will lift trillions of tons of dust, sand, and stones from the deserts; the coverings of the planet will be caught up in their swirling motion, while violent storms will tear them apart with a thunderous roar, their coverings bursting into flames.
Asaph likewise prophesies the fires and the devastating wind accompanying the future mysterious appearance of God (theophany): «Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest» (Psalm 50:3).
David points to heavenly phenomena as the source of the scorching heat, listing the agents of destruction: glowing coals, which within the framework of the proposed reconstruction may be correlated with meteoroid bodies, together with hot impact ejecta and the superheated gases of the shock wave.
«Let him rain coals (glowing coal) on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind ("fiery whirlwind", Ref. 37) shall be the portion of their cup (from the bowl)» (Psalm 11:6; see also Isaiah 29:6; Jeremiah 25:32; Nahum 1:3).
The blazing mountain that falls from the bowl-like radiant into the sea (Revelation 8:8) will generate a scorching whirlwind not only at the impact epicenter. According to David's description, similar phenomena will occur everywhere through the fall of glowing coals, tongues of fire, and sulfurous sparks. Incandescent impact ejecta hurled into the troposphere, stratosphere, and even the mesosphere by powerful explosions will likewise descend back to the Earth.
As though after the detonation of the heavens, glowing coals will fall like rain, igniting the methane, hydrogen sulfide, and other combustible gases released into the atmosphere. Much within the lower atmosphere will be consumed by raging flames. «For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven» (Malachi 4:1a).A strong temperature inversion will occur – that is, the air temperature will increase with altitude instead of decreasing as it does today. This will alter the nature of atmospheric refraction within the homosphere. The refraction of light will likewise change because of the enormous quantities of aerosols injected into the atmosphere by thermal explosions, volcanic eruptions, and hypercanes.
22. The Great Upheaval
It will howl with fear, groan from its stellar wounds, clutch its own garment as it tears apart, struggle and cry out like a woman in labor, as though its very inner parts were being overturned.Because of pain and shame, the offended and wounded Earth will be deeply shaken (Amos 8:8). The stunned heavens will erupt with indignation, the agitated oceans will tremble, seas will overflow, mountains will shake, and hills will dance (Psalm 46:2–9).
Trees will be uprooted (Psalm 29:4–6), skyscrapers will collapse, buildings, streets, and entire urban districts will cave in, as though the ancient chthonic Typhon were stirring again beneath the Earth. Vast regions of land and ocean floor will sink or rise, including mountains and islands, especially in zones of subduction and spreading. Rivers will reverse their courses, lakes will overturn, as though the planet itself had been turned upside down.
The roaring and clashing the forces of nature will be mixed together: air, water, fire, and the solid earth. «For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land» (Haggai 2:6; Hebrews 12:26; Psalm 77:17–19). In the ancient Hebrew language, the word רַעַשׁ (ra‘ash), associated with an earthquake, also carries the meaning of a powerful noise or a deafening roar (Ref. 27, p. 495).
The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, reflecting on the words of Haggai 2:6, states: «The words "yet once more" show that everything created will be destroyed ...» (Hebrews 12:27, translation in Ref. 33). «for our God is a consuming fire» (verse 29; another translation: "that burns everything away," Ref. 41).
The collision of a massive cosmic body with the rotating Earth may cause a significant redistribution of mass within the lithosphere and upper mantle. This, in turn, will alter the Earth's moment-of-inertia tensor and produce major tectonic shifts and deformations of the Earth's crust.
Intense vertical and horizontal movements of masses in subduction zones of lithospheric plates floating on the asthenosphere will produce consequences on a global scale:
- Along oceanic ridges and trenches—geological fractures of the lithosphere thousands of kilometers long, or more precisely, fault zones, that is, regions characterized by similar geophysical deformations;
- Numerous large collapses, deep pits, long and wide cracks, massive landslides, rockfalls, and debris flows blocking river channels; no structure will survive, and all coastal cities will slide into the seas;
- Evaporation of enormous volumes of seawater due to heat released from incandescent magma (1,700 °C … 2,000 °C) filling the fracture zones formed between diverging oceanic plates;
- Worldwide series of earthquakes and seaquakes, simultaneous explosive volcanic activity, and eruptions of supervolcanoes, caused by the release of enormous energy at the moment of collision between tectonic platforms along convergent plate boundaries;
- The structure and mega- and macro-relief of the planet will be transformed beyond recognition: mountains will decrease in height, while valleys will rise; some land areas will become vast bodies of water, while, conversely, some seas will dry up—as has already occurred in Earth's history;
- The circulation of the waters of the World Ocean will become different, especially around Antarctica and in the Arctic Ocean; the warm Gulf Stream current will change its course.
23. The Collapse of Civilization
The Old Testament prophets foretell an unprecedented seismic catastrophe «in the day of his fierce (burning) anger». Isaiah (Isaiah 13:13; 24:19–20; 29:6), Joel (Joel 2:10; 3:16), Micah (Micah 1:2–4), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 4:24), and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 38:19–20; "the great earthquake probably refers to cosmic cataclysms" [Ref. 28, p. 834]) – all speak of this coming upheaval.
John sees these prophecies fulfilled: «and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake, such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake» (Revelation 16:18–20; see also 6:12; 8:5; 11:13, 19; Fig. 6).The dry land will heave like an ocean wave driven by a hurricane. The convulsions of our woman in labor – the cradle of humanity – will instantly destroy everything that has been built upon her surface over the centuries.
This global upheaval "will change the entire face of the planet" [Ref. 24]. "No country or nation, no city or village, will escape it." "The entire surface of the earth will begin to move, to heave, and to tremble, and overwhelming terror will seize every living creature." [Ref. 12, pp. 91, 93]. "Now the blow will fall upon all the cities of the earth. Every one of them will be destroyed and reduced to ruins." [Ref. 36, p. 659].
It is difficult to disagree with the conclusions of the authors cited above. The probable consequences include the destruction of almost all cities, towers, ancient castles, roads, bridges, viaducts, dams, piers, breakwaters, dikes, locks, and other hydraulic structures, as well as gas and oil pipelines, nuclear power plants – including nuclear reactors and spent-fuel storage facilities – and much more.
During the period of the Great Tribulation, seismic shocks will completely destroy technological civilization. Many people will perish (Matthew 24:21–22; Luke 21:11) by falling into the ground, just as it swallowed those who despised the Lord in the days of the Exodus (Numbers 16:23–33).
Speaking to His disciples about the appearance of the warning sign of His return, Jesus Christ said: «and then all the tribes (peoples) of the earth will weep» (Matthew 24:30; "weep, wail in despair" Ref. 37). Strangely, upon seeing the sign of His coming, all people weep rather than rejoice.
They begin to weep because the dry land «and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt» (Amos 9:5). It will prove true, as the old proverb says: "Sorrow and grief may knock a person off their feet, but calamity buries them beneath the earth."
24. Macroseismic Oscillations
«and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about rand sink again, like the Nile of Egypt» (Amos 8:8; "verse 8 contains a prediction of an earthquake: the oscillations of the ground are compared to the rising and falling of the waters of the Nile" [Ref. 22, p. 456]). The enraged planet will cast off its tormentors and shake the wicked off itself toward the dawn (Job 38:13).
As a result of a series of wave-like macroseismic oscillations of the oceanic and continental crust (according to some models, with wave amplitudes of up to 10 meters), occurring as elastic deformations of the Earth that rapidly travel around the globe in less than one hour, the following may take place:
- all islands, mountains, and coastal cities will be moved from their places into the heart of the seas (Revelation 6:14; 16:20; 18:21; Psalm 46:2), while vast regions of dry land will sink beneath the raging waters;
- widowed megacities will collapse (Revelation 16:19; "the cities of the nations," Ref. 39), and their destruction will be watched from afar by their inhabitants (Revelation 18:9–10);
- mountains and hills will be brought low, while valleys and ravines will be lifted up (Isaiah 40:4; 24:20);
- wide chasms will suddenly split open with a crash; people, together with their houses, automobiles, bridges, and trees, will fall into pits and deep, elongated fissures (Isaiah 24:18);
- graves will be opened, and bones will fall out of their tombs, according to the prophecy (Jeremiah 8:1);
- mountains will crack apart, and rocks will collide with one another, breaking into pieces (Nahum 1:6); they will melt like wax (Psalm 97:5; Habakkuk 3:6);
- numerous volcanoes will become active (Psalm 104:32; Isaiah 64:1–3) as a result of the great upheaval and the collision of lithospheric plates, ejecting ash, steam, dust, and poisonous gases to altitudes of 10–30 km;
- the sea will roar (rage) and become turbulent (be stirred up) (Luke 21:25; Isaiah 5:30); gigantic waves will crash upon the dry land, and deserted cities will sink beneath the waters (Revelation 18:21).
- lowland rivers will flow backward, their channels will shift, and lakes will overturn; the «ends of the earth» will tremble and seem to draw near (Isaiah 41:5), because the relief of the Earth's surface will change radically and become flatter.
In other words, the visible geodetic horizon rose and expanded, and its geographical range increased so greatly that regions normally hidden beyond the Earth's curvature became visible. Visibility may increase to such an extent that, figuratively speaking, the ends of the earth «have drawn near and come» (Isaiah 41:5; in the Masoretic Text, "they have drawn near and come").
After these devastating worldwide seismic upheavals, one of the greatest dangers will be the flooding of the dry land by seawater for a period of five months, according to the author's interpretation of the "locusts" from the abyss (Revelation 9:1–3, 7–10) as volcanic consequences of the impact (Ref. 45).
25. Why Is There Woe When the Sea Rages?
Planet Earth will spill out its oceans and seas; the fundamental parts of its body will be exposed. Tsunami waves will encircle the coasts, completely shattering them, and salty tears will pour forth from the abyss. In figurative language, «The raging waters swept on (the waters receded from the land, Ref. 33); the deep gave forth its voice (roared) it lifted its hands on high (lifted its waves upward, Ref. 39)» (Habakkuk 3:10).
Near the coast, tsunami waves will rise to the height of mountains (Psalm 104:6–8), so high that it will seem as though the sky itself has plunged into the World Ocean. The prophet Zechariah warns of this future upheaval (Zechariah 10:9–11; in the Masoretic Text: «And He shall pass through … and stir up the waves in the sea»).
Before the arrival of the tsunami, the water will recede far from the shore, producing a powerful drawdown of the sea level because the coastline will fall into a depression between the crests of two neighboring waves, separated from each other by 100–300 km; the seabed will become exposed (2 Samuel 22:16).
Then, at speeds of 500 to 1,000 km/h, waves of unprecedented height will rush toward islands and the coasts of continents, «They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths» (Psalm 107:26; see also Psalm 46:3–4).
In the open ocean, outside the epicenter area, tsunamis are low, but when they reach the continental shelf, the wavelength (150–300 km and more) decreases because of wave deceleration. The speed of the wave front drops approximately to 30–80 km/h, while the tsunami height rises «to heaven».
Then the roaring element, sweeping away everything in its path, will spread across the face of the land, uprooting trees, carrying erratic boulders tens of kilometers away, washing away the sands of islands, the fertile soils of continents, and the ruins of port cities.
For hundreds and thousands of kilometers, the abyss will penetrate deep into the continents, casting onto the land the inhabitants of the World Ocean: fish, mollusks, seals, walruses, whales, sperm whales, sharks, and other animals. It will flood the territories of many countries, forming enormous pits and areas of severe soil erosion. As the saying goes, "Always expect trouble when you are near the sea."
This is why Jesus advises fleeing to the mountains (Matthew 24:16–18), for there will be «distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves» (Luke 21:25; in another translation: "the sea will roar and rage"). It will flood Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. The inhabitants of many countries, especially those located near seas and oceans, will follow this advice of the Lord.
According to some model calculations, if such a scenario were to occur, population losses could be extraordinarily high; in some studies, they are estimated at up to 20% of the world’s population. The survivors will groan on the mountains and weep on the hills (Jeremiah 3:21–23; Ezekiel 7:16; Isaiah 2:21).
26. Causes of Gravitational Waves
The physical causes of the disturbance of the sea and its extremely high water walls will be asteroid impacts (Revelation 8:8–9, Fig. 7) and the gigantic-scale effects triggered by them: underwater earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, large-scale landslides, deformations of the ocean floor, and so on.
According to computer modeling by specialists, under certain conditions, the impact of a 1-kilometer asteroid in the ocean may cause the ejection of a column of water (the so-called "splash" or "splash-up") to a height of up to 4,000 meters.At the impact site of a 2-kilometer asteroid, tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods will affect an area of up to 2,000 km, while the zone of complete destruction will extend approximately 500 km. Within an area of about 800 × 800 km, winds will rage at speeds of up to 500 km/h, and the area of continuous fires will be approximately 200 km.
Series of gigantic waves, caused by the primary and secondary consequences of the impact of a 5-kilometer asteroid in the Atlantic Ocean, will cover almost the entire European continent. Even more catastrophic destruction is expected from the collision of an asteroid with Earth having an equivalent diameter of 15 km.
A crater with an initial depth of up to 20 km and dimensions of approximately 250 × 250 km will form, with boiling lava at its bottom. Up to 70 trillion tons of material will be ejected into the atmosphere, most of which will later fall back onto the surface of the land or the hydrosphere.
The energy released in the thermal explosion will be approximately 3 × 10²⁴ J, which is about 12 million times greater than the energy of the explosion of a 100 Mt TNT thermonuclear device [Ref. 30]; more precisely, 58.6 Mt TNT – the explosive energy of the so-called "Tsar Bomba" of 1961).
The explosion of an asteroid with a mass of 5 trillion tons will cause destructive tele-tsunamis, mega-tsunamis and earthquakes of unimaginable power, while the ballistic energy of the ejected molten rocks will result in the widespread burning of everything that can burn across almost all continents.
The temperature of the atmosphere will rise by hundreds of degrees, but then the so-called "asteroid winter" with snowstorms will begin. According to some specialists, a collision with an extremely large asteroid, tens of kilometers in diameter, may lead to a global biospheric crisis and the extinction of many highly organized forms of life.
27. The Great Tribulation
The Almighty will cause the burning instruments of His wrath to fall. He will strike the nations with lightning, voice, and thunder; with hailstones, fire, and sulfur; with a great noise, earthquakes in the heavens and on the earth, storm and whirlwind; with the flame of an all-consuming fire, unbearable heat, and darkness; with flood, and with dust from above lasting for many months (Isaiah 29:6; 30:30; Ezekiel 38:22; Revelation 16:8–10, 18–21; Deuteronomy 28:24).
World War III pales in comparison with the unimaginable chaos of the cascade of natural catastrophes, which will produce an unprecedented synergistic effect. Suddenly, as if a black swan had swooped down, there will come «great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now» (Matthew 24:21b),
and «there shall be a time of trouble (a grievous time, a time of calamities), such as never has been (such as no nation has ever known) since there was a nation (since nations first came into existence) till that time» (Daniel 12:1; the words in parentheses are from other translations).
As a result of cumulative natural disasters, the biosphere will suffer severe damage. Large mammals will perish; many species of animals, fish, marine creatures, birds, insects, and other living beings will disappear; many people will be destroyed (Mark 13:20; Zephaniah 1:2–3; Revelation 6:8; 8:9–11; 9:18; 11:13; Isaiah 1:9; 24:6).
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it (John 12:25), but whoever loses his life for Christ's sake will find it (Matthew 16:25). At the time of the great devastation, the heavens will burst forth, the oceans and seas will overflow their shores, the blood-soaked Earth will groan, and the dry land will become like a trampled threshing floor after threshing. Then let no one who complains say, "Blind chance is the cause of this," but rather, «Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?» (Lamentations 3:39).
The Creator of the universe stretched out the heavens, prescribed a law for all their heavenly host (Isaiah 45:12), marshaled the kingdom of Gog (Ezekiel 38:3–4), and will not revoke His decree (Ezekiel 14:13–20). The Heavenly Warrior is speaking to us who are living in the last days:
«when I called, no one answered (no one answered Me); when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil (what is hateful) in my eyes» (Isaiah 66:4b). Moreover, «their soul delights in their abominations» (v. 3).
"People who reject God’s call to repentance and do not desire to walk in His ways will experience the wrath of the Lord" [Ref. 40, p. 946]. Retribution will come. «I also will choose harsh treatment for them (in the Masoretic Text: "I will choose to shame them") and bring their fears upon them» (Isaiah 66:4a; another translation: "what they fear most" [Ref. 33], "I will condemn them to torment" [Ref. 37]).
28. The Last Pages of World History
Mountains will collapse (Revelation 16:20; Ezekiel 38:20; Micah 1:4), volcanoes will awaken (Psalm 104:32), and the exposed islands will drift away (Revelation 6:14; 16:20; Isaiah 40:15; 41:5); the abandoned ghost cities will be destroyed by a great earthquake (Revelation 11:13; 16:19; Jeremiah 4:26; Isaiah 17:9; 25:2), and not one stone will be left upon another.
The ruins will be flooded by seawater, covered with dust from heaven, ashes, and dirt (Deuteronomy 28:24). The heaps of ruins will become overgrown with grass, weeds, shrubs, and forests (Micah 3:12). Wild animals and birds will settle among the remains of the destroyed buildings (Isaiah 34:11–15; Jeremiah 9:11), and piles of broken bricks and fragments of concrete will be covered with ash and salt (Deuteronomy 29:22).
At present, the Earth is polluted by harmful gas emissions, poisoned by chemicals, flooded with toxic industrial waste, covered with sewage, and buried under mountains of garbage. Therefore, on the Day of the Lord it will become a cesspool with numerous polluted areas and enormous dumps of the remnants of technological civilization.
The seawater that flooded the territories of many countries, even entire continents, for a year will partially return to the oceans and seas. Powerful whirlpools and currents will carry trees, garbage, soil, sand, and stones; it will deeply cut through the land (Habakkuk 3:8, 9; Amos 9:6), «like a rushing stream» (Isaiah 59:19), carving ravines and canyons. The water will recede, but inland seas, bitter lakes, and salt marshes will remain.
"The last pages of world history will be the most terrible and darkest ones that humanity has ever experienced" [Ref. 36, p. 785]. The Earth, dressed in mourning and with a face distorted by grief, will lose everything beautiful because of the carelessness, cruelty, and greed of its inhabitants. They now, during the years of the Great Tribulation, are dying from injuries, hunger, cold, diseases, and violence; the survivor will be more miserable than the dead.
Some theologians suggest that the planets will begin to move chaotically through space and that the universe will collapse [Ref. 20, 21, 31]. Such an interpretation is an excessive exaggeration; however, the destruction will reach planetary proportions. For «the earth will be shaken ("will move" [Ref. 39]) out of its place» (Isaiah 13:13; Job 9:5–6).
Everything lofty will be brought low (Isaiah 2:12), the low places will be lifted up, mountain ranges will become plains, the way of the Lord will be made level, and His glory will appear. «A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God"» (Isaiah 40:3).
«Every valley shall be lifted up (filled), and every mountain and hill shall be made low (brought down); the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain» (Isaiah 40:4).
«And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed (opened), and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken» (Isaiah 40:3–5). Everyone will see what no human being has ever seen.
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Author’s works related to this article
43. Zaripov, V. The Sign and Signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. // God Day: website. Рortents and Signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ Electronic resource, opened 29.03.2006.
44. Zaripov, V. How Will the End of the World Occur? // God Day: website. How will the end of the world happen? Electronic resource, opened 29.03.2006.
45. Zaripov, V. The Apocalypse of John the Theologian. // God Day: website. Electronic resource, opened 29.03.2006.
46. Zaripov, V. The Time of the Great Tribulation. // God Day: website. Electronic resource, opened 29.03.2006.