[10] All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses. Zechariah 14:10.

Because of its exacting detail as to the section of land that would be lifted up, this is perhaps the most remarkable geological prophecy in the Old Testament.  We are advised that, along a line from Geba to Rimmon (See Figure 39), God intends to produce a fantastic geological transformation of the landscape.  When this violent transformational action is completed, there will be a plain like zone from from Geba to Rimmon and, at the same time, a lifting movement will have elevated the two hills of  western Jerusalem.  This Scripture indicates that all of the land, immediately to the west of the line from Geba to Rimmon (See Figure 39), will be “lifted up” to a higher elevation, while all the land, immediately to the east of this line, will be lowered to form what appears “as a plain.”  The lifting of the land from Geba to Rimmon will include the city of Jerusalem.   The sections west of the Tyropoeon Valley will be lifted up, and those sections to the east will collapse into a plain (See Figure 40).

The prophet Zechariah knew nothing about the existence of the many structural weaknesses in the crust of the land of Israel, nor did anyone else in his day.  There was only one being who did, the God who made the earth.  The same God, who inspired Zechariah to write of this event, placed a structural weaknesses in the crust of the earth from Geba to Rimmon long before the prophets were born.  It was an appropriate type of weakness; one that went up and down in response to shakings in the earth.  It is only within the last century that men have begun to understand how this particular type of mechanism works in the earth’s crust.  Within the last 50 years, geologists uncovered a  structural weakness, within the crust of the earth, that passes through Jerusalem on its run from Geba to Rimmon.  It is a structural weakness, embedded within the Judean Folds, and has a long history of up warping.  This up warping zone is known as the Shekhem Syncline, which is one of the lineaments within the Levantine faulting and up warping system of the Holy Land.  Along the part of this lineament, that extends from Geba to Rimmon, there is a historical pattern of lifting to the west of it, and of down warping to the east of it.

Concerning the uplifting and down faulting, along the Shekhem  Syncline, and the Jordan-Arabah Rift Valley, Horowitz, in his 1979 text, “The Quaternary of Israel,” states:  “It should be noted that the age of uplifting and up warping is synchronous with the age of major down faulting of the Jordan-Arava Rift Valley, and the opening of the Bay of Elat.  It seems, therefore, that these two lineaments acted simultaneously, but in opposite directions.”  When violent up warping begins along the line from Geba to Rimmon, then a simultaneous down faulting to its east will occur through the Mount of Olives.

God has been lifting and lowering large sections of the earth’s crust, across the entire earth, along these types of weaknesses, for many centuries.  It was along a weakness like this that the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range of California was formed (See Figure 41).  I believe the immediate land sections, west of a line from Geba to Rimmon, will be lifted like fault block mountains, and the land, immediately to the east of it, will collapse into a narrow valley plain.  Please note the two mile high fault scarp in Figure 41.  The fault scarp in Israel will not be nearly as high, perhaps ranging from increases of 500 to 2500 feet in height.

Please observe, in Figure 40, the up warping structural weakness line that separates the two western hills of Jerusalem from its three eastern hills.  This topographical feature is known as the Tyropoeon Valley.  The zone “from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses” is that section of land which includes the two western hills of Jerusalem.  It is not by accident that this structural line of weakness extends north to south directly behind where Solomon’s Temple was located.  If you visit Jerusalem, go north through the Dung Gate and walk straight north until the Wailing Wall is visible to your right.  Then turn and face west, with your back to the Wailing Wall.  You will be facing a fault scarp that has been lifted many times in the past.  Soon it will be lifted again when great earthquakes ripple through the Jordan Valley.

When the critical pressure is reached in the Gulf of Aqabah (See Figure 25), then the Arabah Fault will rip open northward across Israel.  It will generate the greatest earthquakes and topographical transformations in recorded history.

[18] And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. [19] And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. Revelation 16:18-19.

The structural weakness from Geba to Rimmon, with its branch through the Tyropoeon Valley, will undergo massive uplifting to its west, and down faulting to its east.  This prophecy will soon be fulfilled by the God who led Zechariah to write it.  Figure 42 visually displays the city of Jerusalem after the lifting has occurred.  The exposed bluff, created by the uplifting, is what geologists call a fault scarp.  There will be a massive fault scarp extending all the way from Geba to Rimmon.

During earthquake activity down through the ages, God has created thousands of fault scarps across the surface of His earth.  In this instance God has chosen to give us the exact location where He will perform His handiwork.  And he has told us thousands of years before he does it.

[19] For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; [20] So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. Ezekiel 38:19-20.

[4] And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. [5] And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. Zechariah 14:4-5.