GLEANINGS — April 6, A.D. 2014                                                                                                           
 "What Do You See?" 

Tourists, vacationers, and other sightseers have a wonderful opportunity to improve the depth and breadth of their Biblical World View. They can give greater glory to the great God of the Scriptures when they "...look down from lofty mountain grandeur, and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze." (Thank you, hymnist Stuart H. Kine, author of How Great Thou Art.*) 

How can visitors to Interstate highway scenic overlooks and all of us do that? By remembering that the God of creation is also the God of the great Flood, that terrible judgment upon the wicked world in which righteous Noah lived and from which he was delivered. Scoffing fools lead astray others who are gullibly foolish, as they deliberately keep this great historical reality OUT of their unbelieving world view. Consider the solemn words of the apostle Peter:

"For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." (2 Peter 3:5-7)

Peter thought like the sons of Korah, as we discern in a Psalm attributed to them: "Come, behold the works of the LORD, Who has made desolations in the earth." (Psalm 46:8) So should we think; so should our mindset be. Our home the Earth is God's inescapable general revelation of Himself (along with the heavens) to all mankind. It clearly shows God's creative power and majesty as well as His providential care. But let us not stop there.

When we consider the Earth in the light of God's special revelation, the Scriptures, evidences of the Flood also become apparent. Those evidences include but are not limited to the polar caps, the present world's highest mountains – formed AFTER the Flood (Genesis 7:19,20 would not apply to Mount Everest), the sedimentary rock layers which exist all over the world and contain billions of fossilized plants and animals, the fossil fuels found on every continent, and the vastness and depth of the Earth's oceans – which are actually one global ocean, the residue of a global flood.

Note that the globe of the Earth itself was not destroyed by the Flood as was all air breathing terrestrial life outside of the ark. After the Deluge, the formerly inundated Earth was restored. It once again became a place where vegetation could flourish in its stunningly diverse forms, and innumerable kinds of fauna multiply. Likewise, Peter proclaimed of Christ that Heaven must receive Him "...until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began" (from Acts 3:21, emphasis added). 

Just as God purges and purifies in smaller measures here and now, so at the future consummation of history there will be a final, fiery purification. This inconceivably powerful work of the LORD will not annihilate the heavens and the Earth, but will renovate them to a state of surpassing, incorruptible glory. In that day, the Scripture will be fulfilled which says, "...the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." (Romans 8:21). Look forward with hope, Christian! 

Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." (Revelation 21:5)

* Mr. Hine's original words in verse one of his hymn were, "all the WORKS Thy hands have made," not "all the worlds, etc." See the footnote on # 44 in the red Trinity Hymnal