Revelation 16:20

The earthquake will produce other effects. It will level mountains and cause islands to disappear. A less literal view is that it will only produce political turmoil. [Note: Caird, p. 209.] As the Flood produced global topographical changes, so will this earthquake. It will prepare the earth for the Edenic conditions that the prophets predicted would characterize the earth during the Millennium. These changes will be a foreview of the final disappearance of the old creation and the creation of a new earth (cf. Revelation 20:11; Revelation 21:1-2). A literal interpretation of these changes does not preclude an earthly reign of Christ, as some have claimed. [Note: E.g., Beasley-Murray, p. 247.]