13 In that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
in that hour – being 1/12 of the human clock of 6,400 years. Jesus said, “Are there not 12 hours in a day”. . . “the night is coming when no man can work” (John 11:9; John 9:4).
There are four “hours” described in the Book of Revelation. In the first hour the Ten Kings reigned with the Beast (Rev 17:12; Rev 18:10, Rev 18:17, Rev 18:19); followed by this second hour; the third hour is, “the hour of God’s judgment” (Rev 14:7); and the last hour is the “the hour to reap – the harvest” (Rev 14:15).
a great earthquake – meaning a great war. See Rev 16:18 for the great earthquake that describes the battle of Armageddon. Ongoing religious wars and persecutions followed the Reformation for about 100 years. The Book of Revelation refers to people as “the earth,” and the battle of the people as a “quake.”
a tenth of the city fell – those of the “Great City” who died. The estimate of the deaths in this period range from 6 to 18 million; being one tenth of the 80 million people in Europe.
seven thousand were killed – see 1 Kings 19:18, “the knee who did not bow to Baal” that is the saints “in the wilderness” Rev 12:14, who did not “worship the beast” – the comparison is with Elijah in verse 6. These seven thousand represent the faithful martyrs.