[3] For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. [4] And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. Micah 1:3, 4

In chapters seventeen through twenty-four we discussed the ripping apart of the Jordan River Valley, the creation of a vast flood basalt plain in the wake of its ripping, the division of the Mount of Olives, the destruction of Idumea, the diversion of the Euphrates, and the shutting up of the tongue of the Egyptian Sea.  Now we find Micah’s figurative picture of a great geologic horror wrought by the power of God.  This figurative description, of God’s ability to change the topography of His earth, will be literally portrayed in His unbelievable transformation of the Jordan Valley.  The most devastating changes, on the face of His earth, will occur through this great fault block valley, which extends northward through Israel and Lebanon.  This great valley is identified as the Arabah Fault on Figure 25 (See Birth Pang Figure menu above).

As you can see on Figure 27, this valley consists of a block of earth held in place by the pressure of two tectonic plates pushing horizontally against it.  Deep within this great block of rock and earth there exists a vast lake of hot, liquid rock.  Within, and below, this undersea lake of magma, there is a vertical pressure pressing upward on the block.  Only the greater horizontal tectonic pressures restrain the block from lifting, and the liquid rock from rising through the cracks on both its sides.  When the horizontal pressure is suddenly released erratically along the faults on both sides of the block, then magma will shoot forth on the surface as great lava fountains.  But while this is occurring, large sections of the block will be in a massive up and down motion.  This upheaval will continue for some length of time, but will finally stabilize to produce a completely restructured Jordan River Valley.  The changes anticipated to occur are portrayed in Figure 37.

From the Gulf of Aqabah to the southern tip of the Dead Sea the great fault block will subside as the plates spread apart.  After the surface lava cools in this area, a narrow riverbed will exist in its center from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqabah.  At the southern tip of the Dead Sea a new elevation of about 200 feet above mean sea level will slope southward to sea level at the Gulf of Aqabah.  From the southern tip of the Dead Sea northward to Lebanon the block will be lifted by sub-surface magmatic pressure and, while the lifting is occurring, springs of lava will spurt up along both sides of the block.

Once massive lifting has occurred, horizontal readjustment pressure will lock the block into a new, much higher, elevation above sea level.  The portion of the block, upon which the Dead Sea lies, will be lifted such that the Dead Sea, now about 1300 feet below sea level, will have a new sea surface approximately 300 feet above mean sea level (See Figure 38).  From southern Lebanon to the Syrian Border there will be expansion and subsidence as shown in Figure 37, and from the Syrian border to northeastward to the Euphrates River there will be massive rifting and subsidence through the Palmyra folds and faults.

All of these fantastic horizontal and vertical adjustments in the valley will produce a new Jordan River system, a system planned, prophesied, and created by God.  As the lava cools, and the isostasy balance returns to the Jordan Valley block, one will discover a new river system forming into what Figure 36 depicts.  The headwaters of the Jordan River system will begin in Turkey, flow across northern Syria into northern Israel, move slowly through the Idumean rift, and finally empty into the Gulf of Aqabah.  The Euphrates River will be diverted from A to B on Figure 36, and the Arabah Fault will be opened from C to D.  What we know now as the Dead Sea will gradually become an inland lake as most of its salt content drains slowly southward into the Red Sea, and its waters will be used to make the deserts of Israel blossom as the rose.