Sixteen Hour Days?

Shortened Days

I am neither a scientist nor a writer, which should become painfully obvious as you read my hypothesis for the coming of sixteen hour days. I am simply a layman who prayerfully studies the scriptures with a contemplative mind. This idea was developed several years ago but has gone heretofore unpublished. Now may be the time. I may or may not be the originator of this hypothesis but I have never heard it from any other source.

According to National Geographic,

Saturday's Chile earthquake was so powerful that it likely shifted an Earth axis and shortened the length of a day, NASA announced Monday. ...[t]he story is quite similar to the December 26, 2004, magnitude 9.0 Sumatra earthquake...

With each of these earthquakes the earth has been shaken on its axis and the days have become shorter as a result. Though this shortening has been minuscule, to say the least, I accept these shorter days as proof that my 16 hour day hypothesis could someday pass into the realm of theory...someday.

My first conception of this hypothesis came to me while studying the scriptures. Firstly:

The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. (Rev 8:12 NIV)

A day minus one third of the night and one third of the day would be 8 hours shorter than our current 24 hour day, or 16 hours. You don't buy it? Why any need for shorter days? Here is one very good reason...

The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. (Rev 16:8-9 NIV)

(Sounds a little like "global warming", doesn't it? Could global warming possibly be caused by the sun?)

And as stated by Christ Himself:

Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now-and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. (Matt 24:20-22)

I have personally heard shortened in this instance presented thus, "the tribulation period is shortened to three and one half years as opposed to being longer than three and one half years, because if the tribulation period were longer then no flesh would be saved." This never made much sense to me, for scripture mentions many times that this period is three and one half years, 1260 days or time (1yr), times (2yrs) and half a time (1/2yr). How can a three and one half year period of time be shortened to three and one half years?

Merriam-Webster Online defines shorten, in one instance, as; 1 b : to cause to seem short, and 2 obsolete : to deprive of effect.

Indeed, by comparison, sixteen hour days would "cause to seem short" a normal day and would "deprive of effect" the "scorching" effects of an intensified sun.

Eccl 1:15 states...

What is twisted cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.

And if it's counted it's not lacking! (Mine)

Scientifically speaking, there are several scales with which to measure a day, and consequently a year. The astronomical unit of time is 1 day (d) of 86,400 SI seconds. Sidereal time is time kept with respect to the distant stars. And the mean solar day is the average time of a single rotation of a planet with respect to its star. Sidereal days and solar days (or synodic period of rotation) vary from planet to planet. Neptune for example has a 16 hr 6.6 min "day".

Earthquakes and the effects

The end of this age will be plagued with earthquakes, and their effects will be devastatingly more severe than anything known to date.

Rev 6:12-14

I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Rev 8:5

Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

Rev 11:13

At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Rev 11:19

Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

Rev 16:17-20

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found.

Whether or not one is familiar with scripture, most everyone understands that the book of Revelation is the last book of the New Testament, as well as the last book of the Canonized Scriptures. Consequently, because the last book speaks of the last times we often fail to understand that some books of the Old Testament also speak of events that will take place at the end of this current age of time. The following are a few that speak of the severity of the last days quakes.

Isa 13:9a,10,13a

See, the day of the LORD is coming...The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light...Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty...

Isa 24:18b-20a

...The floodgates of the heavens are opened,
the foundations of the earth shake.
The earth is broken up,
the earth is split asunder,
the earth is thoroughly shaken.
The earth reels like a drunkard,
it sways like a hut in the wind;...

Conclusion

Therefore, taking into account Jesus' statements as recorded in Matthew 24 concerning "cutting short the days" along with "a third of the day and also a third of the night being without light" per Revelations chapter 8, the severity of end times earthquakes and the recent scientific observations of the "shortening of days" impact of recent quakes, I believe my "16 hour days hypothesis" should at least be considered in the realm of possibilities.

(All quotes are taken from the New International Version unless otherwise noted)