Yesterday, a report on ‘climate change’ was released amidst great ‘breast-beating’ amongst evolutionists and those blind to what the Bible reveals to us of the future of God’s Creation!
Basically the report stated ‘that global warming could make parts of the world uninhabitable’. The world will face drought in many parts and flooding in other areas with rising temperatures resulting from ‘greenhouse gas emissions’ the cause of it all.
World leaders including UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson have called the report a ‘wake-up call to the world’.
Sadly, it is a call to ‘wake-up’ to the lie and deception of evolution! Man will remain blind and indifferent and ‘fast asleep’ to the Word of Truth.
Just what does the Bible reveal to us regarding ‘climate change’ for it does mention it many times. What the Scriptures say, for the Christian, takes total precedence over the ‘bletherings’ of any UN spokesmen on any subject.
I. LET IT BE UNDERSTOOD THAT THE LORD CONTROLS THE CLIMATE
That is made clear throughout the Scriptures. I will quote just a few verses to show that this is so.
“Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields,” Job 5:10.
“To cause it to rain on the earth, [where] no man [is; on] the wilderness, wherein [there is] no man; To satisfy the desolate and waste [ground]; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?” Job 38:26-28.
“Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof,” Psalm 65:10.
“He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries,” Psalm 135:7.
“Are there [any] among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? [art] not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these [things],” Jeremiah 14:22.
“Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; [so] the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field,” Zechariah 10:1.
“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust,” Matthew 5:45.
“And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness,” Acts 14:15-17.
II. THE CLIMATE AT THE BEGINNING OF CREATION WAS VERY DIFFERENT TO THAT WHICH PREVAILED IN THE AGES WHIH FOLLOWED THE FALL
The climate in the Garden of Eden and throughout the earth at the beginning was very different to that of today. We are told that instead of today’s rainfall “there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground,” Genesis 2:6. The ‘record of the rocks’, where is found evidence of the growth of plants in various parts of the world found today only in the warmer climes, but which could never survive in climatic conditions which prevail now in the areas where their fossils have been discovered!
(This site will show you pictures of the fossils of tropical plants found in the British Isles – [fossils found of tropical plants in british isles])
However, because of man’s sin and as a judgment upon an earth given over to sin, God brought in a ‘climate change’ of a most devastating character!
“For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth,” Genesis 7:4.
The world-wide flood of Noah is recorded also in the fossil record. Creatures are found in such a state as indicates that death overtook them in an instant. For instance, creatures are found with food in their mouth! This can easily be verified by a simple Internet search.
On the highest mountains of the earth there is evidence of ‘ocean debris’, seashells etc, all of which testifies to a world-wide flood at some time in the past.
The record of that flood may be found in Genesis 6-8. It is confirmed as a fact by no greater witness than the Lord Jesus.
“But as the days of Noe [were], so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be,” Matthew 24:37-39.
III. THERE HAVE BEEN MANY OTHER OCCASIONS WHEN THE LORD HAS INTERFERED WITH THE CLIMATE
The incident in Egypt when Joseph was a prisoner there, having been sold into slavery by his cruel brothers, is just one occasion of such divine interference.
“And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh [is] one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he [is] about to do. The seven good kine [are] seven years; and the seven good ears [are] seven years: the dream [is] one. And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them [are] seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine. This [is] the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God [is] about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it [shall be] very grievous. And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; [it is] because the thing [is] established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass,” Genesis 41:25-32.
The good years and the famine years were what the Lord bought to pass!
We have another example of this in 1 Kings 17:1. “And Elijah the Tishbite, [who was] of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, [As] the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” This drought and resultant famine came about in answer to Elijah’s prayers. “Elias (Elijah) was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit,” James 5:17-18.
The message of Jeremiah was one in which he warned of the famine the Lord would send upon His rebellious people.
“Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand: therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine: and there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, [even] the year of their visitation,” Jeremiah 11:21-23.
IV. THESE INTERVENTIONS BY THE LORD IN THE NORMAL COURSE OF NATURE WERE THE RESULT OF MAN’S SIN
God’s interventions in the past were a judgment upon sinning men. The blessing of the Lord upon the obedient included fair weather, with its resultant bountiful harvests. The Lord ordained an act of thanksgiving to mark the harvest. “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD,” Leviticus 23:10-12. Israel, in its years of obedience, lived with a consciousness of the Lord’s mercy as evidenced by good weather!
However, sin brought judgment, often famine, which resulted from the Lord interfering with the normal course of the weather patterns. Thus Isaiah the prophet stated that a rejection of idolatry would bring the blessing of good weather.
“And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This [is] the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence. Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan,” Isaiah 30:21-24.
Today, the ‘environmentalists’ blame mankind for the changes that have come in our climate. I have no doubt that this is so though the ‘environmentalists’ fall far short in their identifying the faults of mankind.
We are told by scientists that “A greenhouse gas is called that because it absorbs infrared radiation from the Sun in the form of heat, which is circulated in the atmosphere and eventually lost to space. Greenhouse gases also increase the rate at which the atmosphere can absorb short-wave radiation from the Sun, but this has a much weaker effect on global temperatures. The CO2 released from the burning of fossil fuels is accumulating as an insulating blanket around the Earth, trapping more of the Sun’s heat in our atmosphere. Actions carried out by humans are called anthropogenic actions; the anthropogenic release of CO2 contributes to the current enhanced greenhouse effect.”
If ‘greenhouse gases’ are indeed to blame for the climatic changes that are presently impacting upon us all, the increase of these gases is the direct result of man’s unlicensed appetites. Greed has driven the desire for ‘more’ of just about everything. Man before the fall was entirely happy and content to labour in the Garden of Eden and live off THE fruit of his labours. During that period called the ‘Millennial Reign of Christ’ upon the earth, we will see a return to a very large degree to that blessed primacy! Isaiah describes the tranquillity that will reside amongst the righteous citizens of that day. “And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make [them] afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken [it],” Micah 4:2-4.
Wars have been invariably fought as a result of man’s greed and pride. During Christ’s reign sin will be greatly subdued and righteousness will dominate the world. “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea,” Isaiah 11:9. (See the earlier verses in this chapter for the context and time of this blessed season.)
In the last two centuries mankind has striven after wealth, increased comforts, the satisfaction of earthly appetites and lusts. This has resulted in the abuse of earth’s resources until the exhaustion of many them has almost been reached. Modern living has undoubtedly brought about the ‘imbalance’ in nature that has unbelieving mankind panicking at the dark prospects in nature they see looming before them! The recent climate report states: “According to the latest IPCC report, heatwaves, heavy rainfall and droughts will become more common and extreme. The UN’s chief has labelled it a ‘code red for humanity’.
Mankind without the Lord is lost! The ludicrous measures that are proposed to rectify the deteriorating situation in the earth are utterly unworkable and that because of man’s sinful nature. A conference of national leaders on the whole climate crisis is planned for the near future in Scotland, I believe. Already, commentators are anticipating that there will be much talk but little action taken! Rich nations in particular are not willing to take the actions that the ‘environmentalist’ believe are necessary to rectify the situation. It would not merely cost immeasurable amounts of tax-payers’ money but a forfeiting of many of the comforts that mankind has become acquainted with and counts ‘essential’!
So the situation will continue to get worse.
However, what has not been understood by the scientists investigating this whole problem is the role of God in today’s events. I just wonder what men blamed for the deluge in the days of Noah. Then “It came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights,” Genesis 7:10-12.
We are told “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that [were] under the whole heaven, were covered,” Genesis 7:19. That did not happen immediately. There would have been a period of some days before the flood covered all the earth. Men would have had opportunity to discuss and consider what they thought was the cause of this flooding. I have no doubt that despite the years of Noah’s witnessing against man’s sin and the coming judgment of God, (the very building of the Ark the most telling witness) there would have been few if any who recognised the true cause of the flood. There had been other witnesses as well as Noah. Enoch, the man of God, had a son whom he called Methuselah. Hebraists tell us that his name means “when he dies there shall be an emission,” or “a sending forth of waters upon the earth, to destroy it”. Methuselah died the very year the flood came and this can be calculated through the chronological information of his age at death and the year in Noah’s life the flood came, given us in Genesis. “And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. . . . And Noah [was] six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth,” Genesis 5:27, 7:6.
I have no doubt that the thoughts of those men on the cause of the catastrophe in their final few days were as wide off the mark as those of today’s ‘wise men’! The Bible makes clear that the Lord will intervene in the climatic affairs of the earth in the days preceding the return of Christ. Such will be clear warnings of the approach of judgment as were the words and the building of the Ark by Noah.
Heed these verses which I will give.
“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. . . . . How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her,” Revelation 18:1-2, 7-8.
There will be even greater environmental catastrophes, resulting in famine and deprivation, symbolised by the four horsemen of Revelation 6. “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and [see] thou hurt not the oil and the wine (an indication of famine). And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth,” verses 5-8. The final intervention in the natural realm will announce the return of Christ in judgment upon Antichrist and his forces. “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 6:12-17.
But many other great and terrible interventions will take place in the days immediately before that heralding of the return of Christ.
“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads,” Revelation 7:1-3.
“And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer [it] with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, [which came] with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast [it] into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!” Revelation 8:1-13.
Men may scoff at these words but the events depicted here will most certainly take place! The paltry words of warning contained in the UN climate changes report pale into insignificance in the light of Holy Scripture.
What a mercy to be granted faith to believe God and to enter into the ‘Ark of salvation’ found in Christ. He has said: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him,” John 3:36.
Dear reader, are you yet safely in the Ark of salvation that is the Lord Jesus Christ? All around us we see ‘the fading and falling leaves’ of the approaching winter of God’s judgment upon this wicked earth.
Take heed and be in time! Enter now by faith in Christ and be saved. Learn from the experience of the Philippian jailer and the words of Paul and Silas.
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house,” Acts 16:30-31.
Life at best is very brief,
Like the falling of a leaf,
Like the binding of a sheaf,
Be in time!
Fleeting days are telling fast
That the die will soon be cast,
And the fatal line be passed,
Be in time!
Be in time! Be in time!
While the voice of Jesus calls you,
Be in time!
If in sin you longer wait,
You may find no open gate,
And your cry be just too late:
Be in time!
Fairest flowers soon decay,
Youth and beauty pass away;
O you have not long to stay,
Be in time!
While God’s Spirit bids you come,
Sinner, do not longer roam,
Lest you seal your hopeless doom,
Be in time!
Time is gliding swiftly by,
Death and judgment draweth nigh,
To the arms of Jesus fly,
Be in time!
O I pray you count the cost!
Ere the fatal line be crossed,
And your soul in hell be lost,
Be in time!
Sinner, heed the warning voice,
Make the Lord your final choice,
Then all heaven will rejoice,
Be in time!
Come from darkness into light;
Come, let Jesus make you right;
Come, receive His life tonight,
Be in time!
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
10th August, 2021.