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I don’t like these odds.
But the European Space Agency (ESA) is reporting that there is a one in 7,000 chance, an asteroid the size of the football field will hit earth on September 9, 2019. The ESA maintain a list of asteroids posing the greatest threat to earth, and this asteroid is fourth on ESA’s list of the most concerning asteroids.
There was no mention of the odds of the top three asteroids slamming into the earth.
The asteroid known as 2006 QV89, estimated to be 164 feet (49 meters) in diameter, was first discovered in August, 2006 and according to ESA’s computer model, it will pass within 4.2 million miles of earth in early September. There is of course a margin of error leading to the odds.
Unfortunately, this list is only made up of the known asteroids. Though space agencies are tracking asteroids, they are not aware of all of them.
The asteroid that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February, 2013 was a complete shock. In fact, space agencies were tracking another asteroid when the explosion took place injuring over 1,000 people and damaging over 7,000 buildings. For the record it was only 17 meters (55 feet) in size or about the size of a bus.
The reason the space agencies missed the Chelyabinsk asteroid is because it came in on a trajectory from the sun and blinded observers to it.
So while there is only one in a 7,000 chance 2006 QV89 will hit the earth, the Book of Revelation, a vision of the end times given the Apostle John, says there is a 100% chance an asteroid will slam into earth in the lead up to Christ’s second coming.
There are three possible mentions of an asteroid hitting the earth in the Book of Revelation.
The most obvious reference is found in Revelation 8:
8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. (Revelation 8:8-10 ESV)
In this verse, John describes an object the size of a blazing mountain slamming into an ocean killing an enormous amount of sea life. The resulting tsunami from the hit resulted in a massive destruction of ships.
There are two other mentions that are not as clear because they might be a reference to nuclear attacks and I will explain why.
The second mention is found in (Revelation 6:13-15) at the opening of the sixth seal by an angel:
3 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, (Revelation 6:13-15 ESV)
John saw multiple asteroids hitting the earth and his fig tree analogy suggests it will happen over a short space of time. Now some have wondered if John was actually seeing a nuclear attack and that is certainly possible.
Remember John has no base of reference for nuclear weapons and is finding words in his vocabulary to best describe what he is seeing.
But it is people’s reaction to these hits that leads to speculation this might be a nuclear attack as John saw leaders of the world and people fleeing to caves. NORAD is still using the huge bunker located beneath Colorado’s Cheyenne mountain that was built during the height of the cold war as a place to hide US leaders during a nuclear attack. Other countries have similar facilities.
But if this is actually a reference to multiple asteroid strikes, they could produce a similar fear associated with a nuclear attack because the asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk was nearly 30 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Similar to the first reference, the third possible mention of an asteroid is found in Revelation 8 and take place at the trumpet sound of a third angel. John describes what he saw:
10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and 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. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter. (Revelation 8:10-11 ESV)
But this one is likened to a blazing torch suggesting it is long in shape. Though John refers to this one as a star, some have suggested that this may be a description of some type of ballistic missile and then John gives it the odd name of “wormwood.”
Some believe “wormwood” is a reference to Artemisia a plant that produced a bitter green oil that the ancients used for medicinal purposes such as intestinal worms.
When this one hits it will cause waters to turn bitter and anyone who drinks the waters affected by it will die and this has some wondering it’s a description of the after effects of nuclear radiation.
The odd name and its elongated description certainly fits the description of a powerful nuclear ballistic missile and its comparison to Artemisia is also interesting, because radiation is beneficial in the battle for cancer, but is also the fallout from a weapon of mass destruction.
But obviously an asteroid would potentially cause similar damage.
But whether they are asteroids or nuclear weapons, there is a time of terror coming:
and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. — Jesus (Luke 21:11 NASV)
Sources:
OpentheWord.org 