The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. Revelation 8:7
As far as I know, I have no Irish roots in my ancestry. But on the 17th of March every year, I take notice of all of the emphasis on things Irish, including the music, the stories, the people. Among all the Irish attention, one fact always seems to be apparent: Ireland is a green place. The climate of Ireland, we are told, lends itself to a verdant topography, with very little drought. Pictures of Ireland always show beautifully green lawns and foliage. This makes us wonder how much of Ireland’s lovely scenery will be destroyed during the great plague described in today’s text. For that matter, how much of earth’s beauty is already spoiled by the presence of sin?
The earth was a beautiful place when our first parents inhabited the garden of Eden. Much of that beauty persisted until the time of the flood, at which time the climate of our planet underwent a tremendous change. Much of earth is still beautiful, of course, but much is not, spoiled by natural disasters and man’s incompetent stewardship. Even the beautiful forests of the Maritimes, lovely with blossoms and new leaves in the spring, impressive in their greenery of summer, and spectacular with their vivid autumn colours, become drab and plain in the cold and leafless winters. Sin has destroyed much of what nature intended to be beautiful. This is most evident in our mortal bodies. The cuteness of childhood and the beauty of adolescence and young adulthood soon give way to wrinkles, hair loss, and physical infirmities. Sin causes disfiguring diseases and eventually the calamity of death. There is nothing we can do to prevent this, because of our sin. And sin must come under judgment, because God is holy.
The destruction of a third of the trees and a third of the grass of earth is a terrible judgment. This is not just the loss of scenery. It also is a terrible loss of food production including the loss of vast quantities of fruit trees, the burning up of many of the crops that provide food for our planet’s billions of people and animals. It is also the loss of the plant life necessary to produce the oxygen that is needed to allow us to live. People who assume an inexhaustible supply will be brought to the realization that God can cut off that supply in a moment. The only sure supply is from the hand of God Who has promised to feed His people.
As we think of the destruction of the trees and grass in the great tribulation, we are reminded that God will not take us through that terrible time of judgment. Even now, he offers to supply all of our needs. He also calls on us to access His supply, both now and for eternity. -Jim MacIntosh