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The Message in Natural Disasters

On Saturday morning, October 22, 2005 a special Fox News Channel program, which centered around the approach of Hurricane Wilma toward Florida’s southwestern coast, carried a broader segment entitled: “Natural Disasters Igniting Fears of the Apocalypse!” The question at issue was whether God was causing these catastrophes as a mechanism for pre-announcing the end of the age. It is not unusual for natural disasters to be referred to as Acts of God, but this program seemed to take the matter a little more seriously than most.

One guest—a religious expert called in to offer an opinion on the matter—was a young Catholic scholar, who cited several combinations of cataclysmic events over the last hundred years or so that could have just as easily suggested that the end was near. The priest was simply calling attention to the obvious since time has marched on without interruption. It became obvious to me that this so-called scholar was attempting to disassociate God from any and all natural disasters where humankind is traumatized as a result. In the minds of many politically correct religious gurus, a God of love and a God of judgment are incompatible concepts!

Let’s be clear about one thing! A holy God does not need to be defended if and when, for his own sovereign purposes, he uses the forces of nature to bring retribution upon his sinful creatures for their rebellion against his authority! The classic example of this truth is the universal Flood, wherein “all the fountains of the great deep” and “the windows of heaven” collaborated for forty days and forty nights to exterminate all but eight sinners from the face of the earth (Gen. 6:11-12). The scriptures tell us that Noah “found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (6:8), and was the one person the Lord deemed “righteous before him in his generation” (7:1). That tells me the other seven—including his wife—rode his coattails to safety.

Remember Pharaoh of Egypt? Here’s another example of the natural forces of wind and water collaborating to provide a miraculous way of escape for God’s people through the Red Sea while denying that same egress to Pharaoh and his merciless armies. The forces of nature that provided a means of deliverance for the former became the instruments of death for the latter…carrying out the will of God in the process!

Now, as far as natural disasters in the current hour being indicators of the end of time, I have no conjecture to offer other than to say that they may well be exactly that. But I believe there is a more pertinent issue to be considered apart from end-of-time concerns. And that is what natural disasters tell us about…well…us! In a word, they are testimonies against us as sinners. If sin had not entered into the world through the sin of Adam, and been perpetuated by his descendants, there would never have been the first natural disaster. Those idolaters who worship at the environmental altar attribute the recent onslaught of hurricanes to Global Warming. The truth is they are directly attributable to Global Sinning!

The inspired writer of Romans gave us a glimpse into this reality with the following words: “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Rom. 8:19-22).

Sin brought a curse upon the entire creation through no fault of its own. The creation currently groans and travails under a bondage it incurred through sinful man. The day is coming when God will transform and deliver his children from the bondage of their sinful flesh. The creation is confident that that day will signify its own deliverance as well…and it longs for that day!

So, the groaning and travailing will continue until then. That’s how the believer should interpret these natural disasters—not as indicators of the end of time, but rather the sinfulness of the times. Every earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, Atlantic hurricane, or Pacific typhoon that ravages a human population conveys a message of groaning and travail to the spiritual ear that the creation has had its fill of sin. The fact that the creation senses what the world at large cannot is yet further testimony to the obtuse condition of mankind’s collective heart.

In closing, consider the role of the creation in the events surrounding the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. The sun was darkened for three hours, the earth quaked, and the rocks rent (Matt. 27:45,51). Even these objects, which we consider to be inanimate, were able to recognize and respond to the greatest of redemptive acts when they saw it! What does that say about the tens of millions who see the death of Jesus of Nazareth as nothing more than that of a good man who fell on bad times? Well, according to scripture, they’re dumber than rocks!

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