The End Times Bible Report Quarterly Winter 2015: Number 71
Epic Climate Change Prophesied
“The heaven is my throne, and the Earth is my footstool.”
“I will make the place of my feet glorious.” — Isaiah 66:1; 60:13
Massive polar shifts in Earth’s climate have been plaguing the northern hemisphere especially in the last decade. In November 2014 an early assault of winter hit hard with deadly amounts of snowfall and record low temperatures. The news media has declared events such as these “epic,” “historic” and “of Biblical proportions.” There are other terms being commonly reported in the news today, as well, such as “global warming,” “the greenhouse effect,” “polar vortex,” etc. This subject has become politically charged with strong partisan divisions. Our purpose is not to debate the issue, but to discover whether the Bible sheds any prophetic light on the subject of climate change.
First— The Cold, Hard Facts
Reports of shrinking polar caps grabbed the world’s attention as far back as 140 years ago. By the late 1800s, scientists were beginning to study the effects of the Industrial Revolution on Earth’s atmosphere as more and more fossil fuels were used to power cars, trucks and factories. In more recent years, tests conducted on polar ice samples, indicate that there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today than at any point in human history. Research conducted at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) examined the impact of carbon dioxide and other gases upon Earth’s atmosphere and concluded that carbon dioxide emissions were the underlying cause for warmer temperatures.
The debate continues as to whether the burning of fossil fuels is the cause of warming temperatures, but whatever the cause, the icy surface at the Arctic is beginning the annual melt three weeks earlier than it did 30 years ago. As a result, the exposed, open water is much darker than the white snow, and thus absorbs and stores greater heat from the sun. This, in turn, hastens the melting of this polar region. (Scientific American, 9/21/07; 11/10/08)
If temperatures are getting warmer, some may ask, why are the winters becoming more brutal? Researchers explain that the warmer Arctic water heats the air above it and makes the jet stream weaker. This weaker, high level river of air has been dropping farther south, causing longer and more intense winters — creating new wind patterns that push frigid winds and snow southward. (See wunderground.com/climate/SeaIce)
In addition to the extreme winter effects from the warmer atmosphere, statistics reveal that tornadoes are touching down in clusters more often than 50 years ago. On some days, more than 30 twisters strike the United States.
If the reported warming trend is a reality, there will be an upside for the planet as a whole. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently reported that the Arctic is expected to be ice-free as early as late summer of 2030. It is estimated that, once the ice cap has melted, the cause of the extreme wind patterns will no longer exist, while average temperatures will gradually become more evenly moderate worldwide. (See NOAA Web Report, 4/12/13)
The Deluge Effect: Global Shifts in Climate
Throughout the history of this planet, there have been major shifts in Earth’s climate. Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming verifies this fact. Today, this geological wonder resides within desert-like conditions, with bitter cold winters and bone-dry summers. Under the surface, pressed between hundreds of layers of sedimentary rock, geologists have unearthed thousands of fossils that once lived in a lush, tropical environment. In the prehistoric past, palm trees, alligators and fresh water sting rays flourished in the moisture rich climate.
What could cause such a drastic change in climate? Many geologists agree that several water vapor canopies encircling the globe have collapsed at the poles, causing global flooding — shaping and reshaping Earth’s environment over thousands of years. Fossil Butte is an example of this reshaping. Similar areas of great sandstone, clay and shale beds exist in numerous areas around the globe — all of which science declares must have been placed as the settlings of great floods.
Astronomers point to the rings of Saturn and Jupiter to illustrate this deluge effect. These rings consist of minerals and water thrown far off in a gaseous state when the planets were at white heat. They subsequently cooled and formed into various strata or rings. As the weight of the strata drew them nearer and nearer the planet’s surface, these rings eventually spread out as great canopies over the planet — thinner at the equator and thicker at the poles. The rotation of the planet on its axis gave least resistance at the poles, and when the weight became so great as to overcome the strength of the firmament, the canopy broke through from both poles, causing global flooding. The most recent of major convulsions in Earth’s climate was that of Noah’s Flood.
God’s Timing Perfect
God, foreknowing all things, anticipated the necessity of the Noachian Deluge, and hence so timed the features of His Plan that the last of Earth’s rings was still unbroken when man was created. (Genesis 6:9-22; 7:11-24) At the time of Noah, the temperature was nearly the same at the poles as at the equator — the sun’s rays acting upon the watery canopy as they do upon the white glass of a greenhouse. It is because of those previously warmer temperatures throughout the Earth that we find the remains of tropical animals and plant life imbedded under layers of rock as in the Fossil Butte region and under the ice in the polar regions. The sudden break of the canopy of water not only caused a deluge to come down at the poles, but it also produced a sudden and intense cold. The water froze rapidly, as evidenced in Siberia by the discovery of a huge woolly mammoth encased in clear, solid ice — perfectly intact with grasses still in its mouth in process of chewing.
Such catastrophic global events give rise to fear of the future for man’s home. However, looking to the Scriptures, the current changes of severe weather events will result in the blessing that God has planned for humanity. Prophecy shows that there is a silver lining to these ominous clouds on the horizon.
Man’s Home was Cursed
To understand what God’s plans are for the future of Earth, it is necessary to review the past. Man’s original home in the Garden of Eden was perfectly suitable for living — forever. When Father Adam sinned, the curse also extended to the Earth. He was driven out of his perfect Edenic environment into an unfinished Earth where the components of nature were still imperfect and unstable. God said to Adam: “…cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Genesis 3:17-19
God left man’s home in an unfinished condition, so that mankind would have to work hard to survive. Ever since Adam was expelled from Eden, mankind has been subjected to sporadic upheavals of nature, as yet, unbalanced. Regrettably, many call these natural disasters, “acts of God.” But are they? No, these alternations of drought and deluge, of blizzards and scorching heat, of hurricanes and tornadoes are actually random acts of nature upon this yet to be perfected planet.
Curse Upon the Earth to be Lifted
While the first Book of the Bible began with this curse upon man and his home — the last Book assures us that this curse will come to an end! “And there shall be no more curse…” (Revelation 22:3) He who prepared our planet for habitation is also able to recover it after man’s experience with sin and its consequences.
Despite the suffering and sorrow that comes as a result of extreme weather events, God has promised that something constructive will result from it in due time. The Bible foretells of an everlasting kingdom to come where death and destruction will be no more. There, mankind will exist in a perfect Garden of Eden condition worldwide, such as Adam experienced before Satan’s deception led him into disobedience. The whole creation groans under this curse upon the Earth. But, because “God is love,” He intends to take away these cursed conditions upon the Earth, in due time. (Romans 8:22; 1 John 4:16) He promised in Genesis 8:22 that there will always be “seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night...” But when the habitable parts of the Earth become a paradise, the extremes of dangerous weather patterns will no longer plague mankind as they do now.
Planet Earth Made Glorious
“Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the Earth is my footstool.” (Isaiah 66:1) Although the Earth may seem in jeopardy now, God said, “I will make the place of my feet glorious.” (Isaiah 60:13) The Lord will overrule the warming trend in Earth’s atmosphere for mankind's eventual good in preparation for “the restitution of all things spoken of by the mouth of all God’s holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:19
Therefore, whether man is compromising his Earth home by emissions of CO2 or not, God has the ultimate power over the destiny of our Earth. Even those places which were never cultivated and made useful will be productive. “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus [after a hard winter], it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.” Isaiah 35:1, 2 NIV
We may be sure that great changes must take place in the climates and soils of the Earth before it will be a fit home for perfect man. That God has the entire scope of His plan in all its details measured exactly, we cannot doubt. When man’s trial is ended, it will be due time for all the willing and obedient to enjoy God’s favor to the utmost, when “there shall be no more curse” either upon man or upon the Earth for his sake. “Then shall the Earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.” Psalm 67:6
Jehovah is the great Emperor of the whole universe, and His wisdom, power, goodness and benevolence are abundantly equal to all the responsibilities of so exalted an office. Think of the memory that never fails, of the judgment that never errs, of the wisdom that plans for eternity without the possibility of failure, and of the power and skill which can harness every opposing element and make them all work together for the accomplishment of His grand designs. Think of one whose eye never sleeps, whose ear is ever open, and who is ever aware of all the necessities, and active in all the interests of His broad domains. Well has the Psalmist said, in consideration of the immensity and the minutiae of God’s providence over all His works -— “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me: it is high, I cannot attain unto it.” Psalm 139:6
Whatever lack of harmony we now see in nature must be viewed as incidental to the preparations for the perfection of all things, which is not due until “the dispensation of the fulness of times.” (Ephesians 1:10; 3:11; 1 Corinthians 15:24, 25) If we keep this thought in mind, and do not lose sight of the ultimate purpose of God, and of the fact that the present is only a preparatory state progressing toward final completeness, we need never be skeptical about an overruling providence which now permits nature’s convulsions and distresses. They are all means working toward the grand ends of eternal peace and glory and beauty.
When God’s wonderful plan of the ages is understood, everything in nature and in experience bears testimony to the overruling of His providence. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork.” (Psalm 19:1) This scripture speaks of an intelligent Designer, wisely adapting means to good and benevolent ends, and ministering to the necessities of His intelligent creatures. To the thoughtful, every leaf and every sunbeam bears a loving message of divine providence. And every inharmony of nature, when viewed in the light of God’s plan, is seen to be but a part of that great process whereby He is preparing for the perfect order of things which shall continue forever, when sin and its consequence shall have been banished under the successful reign of Christ. In due time, even the long permitted wrath of man will praise God. Psalm 76:10
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