For the last couple of months we have been watching on TV and reading in the newspapers of all the destruction by the immense forest fires that are burning in Colorado, Arizona, California, Oregon and other western and mid-western states. Several hundred thousand acres of forest have burned and several hundred homes lost. Thousands of men, women and children are left with no place to live, and thousands of animals have died in these fires.
The troubling part about all of this is that according to the news media, it may be that some of these fires were intentionally started by a person or persons. Whether on purpose or accidental, it is troubling to think that mankind can cause so much destruction with something as small as a match. But if you think that these fires are destructive, just consider what the Bible says is going to happen to this earth by the fires that are started by God.
One of the most amazing verses in the Bible is in the book of Zechariah, where the Bible says, “This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths” (Zechariah 14:12).
The word that is translated into our English word “rot” is the Hebrew word “maqaq,” and it has the meaning of dissolve or melt away. The heat and radiation is so intense that it will melt the eyes in their sockets, the tongues will melt in their mouths and the flesh will melt off their bones before the body can fall to the ground-now that is hot.
We can only speculate on whether this is a God sent weapon or some kind of human manufactured weapon. It may be that that this is talking about some type of nuclear device such as a hydrogen bomb, or maybe the neutron bomb, which kills with massive amounts of radiation. It is reported that Israel has hundreds of neutron weapons. The neutron bombs would allow Israel to stop advancing Arab armies and tanks without permanently contaminating the land. The neutron radiation quickly dissipates after the explosion.
A neutron bomb the size of a baseball would be able to kill everyone within several square blocks. The main effect of a neutron bomb would be the release of high-energy neutrons that would take lives far beyond the blast area. This would be the maximum killing effect of humans with minimum damage to property. Earthen or concrete shelters are not much help because neutron radiation can penetrate several feet of earth and very thick concrete.
The book of Revelation tells us of several catastrophic events that are going to happen on this earth sometime in the future. One of them is in Revelation 8: “Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up” (Revelation 8:6-7).
The total surface area of the earth is about 197,000,000 square miles. About 57,268,900 square miles of the earth is land area, or about 29%. And if a third of the land area, or about 19,089,633 square miles, is burned up and one-third of all the trees and all the grass are destroyed, just think of all the people and animals that will be destroyed at the same time.
Green trees and grass, and all other plant life, play a major role in the earth’s water cycle and carbon cycle. The earth’s climate will be very different if a third of the forests and all of the green grass are destroyed; this will have a major impact on food production all over the world. It is going to be hard to find any food to eat when all this happens. The Lord says that He is going to do all of this and the question is, why?
You remember that the earth was cursed as a result of man’s sin (Genesis 3:17-19). Sin has had a deteriorating effect upon mankind and the entire earth. Man’s destruction has spread all over the earth. Hundreds of millions of people have been slaughtered in wars that were started because of man’s greed and arrogance. Mankind has invented weapons that are capable of destroying every person on this earth, all because we are trying to defend ourselves from each other. What a terrible situation we have gotten ourselves into.
Sin is the reason that the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. The Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous” (Genesis 18:20). Abraham tried to talk the Lord out of destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, but sin was so rampant that the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah-from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities-and also the vegetation in the land” (Genesis 19:24-25).
I do not know when all this is going to take place, but I do know that we live in a time that mankind has the power to literally wipe himself off the face of this earth with either nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. And many times, in the history of man, God has allowed mankind to self-destruct.
Let’s face it folks, ever since Adam and Eve, the world we live in has been an evil and sinful world. God created us for his pleasure and He loves us very much. But, being a holy God, He cannot allow sin into His presence. To solve this problem He sent His Son Jesus Christ into this world in the likeness of man, to live on this earth as a man, and to be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world (John 1:29).
But even this is conditional, you must accept this offer that God has made, you must put your faith and trust in Jesus as your Lord. It is a choice you have to make for yourself.