4
But for those who stubbornly and recklessly ignore their sin and their only Saviour, there has to be a day of reckoning. God's holiness (perfection) and His justice require and will fulfill this, just as surely as night follows day. For some, justice is swift. For others the wait is somewhat longer. But there can be no evasion...except through our repentance and the intervention of the Saviour.
"The sins of some men are conspicuous, pointing to judgement, but the sins of others appear later." (1 Ti 5.24)
I want to emphasise here, that the sinfulness of the human race through the centuries has massively impacted upon the creation. That's why it, even more than the Church, "waits with eager longing" for the Second Coming. (Ro 8.19) Historically we have taken God's command for us to "have dominion" (Gen 1.26), as a license to loot and pillage, despoil and defile His domain...rather than stewarding and nurturing it as He would, and does.
In his letter to the Church in Rome, the Apostle Paul wrote that the whole created universe "sighs and throbs with pain" as it waits to be delivered (by the Lord upon his return) from its "bondage to decay...its slavery to death"! (8.19-22) Mankind's free choice to Fall away from the grace of God has caused this, and our continued sinning has aggravated and increased this tragedy for century after century. That's in fact what lies behind the Last Days' tableau of natural chaos predicted in Luke 21.11: "There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences (epidemics); and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven." It is not a coincidence, nor is it over interpreting Scripture to note that the "pale horse" of Revelation 6 is associated with death by "famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth". And that the blowing of the trumpets in The Revelation heralds the burning up of trees and green grass, as well as the pollution of springs, rivers and oceans!
It is as if after generations of pouring waste into our water supplies, stripping the hills of vital vegetation, and fouling the air we breathe with poisonous gases (usually to make more money!)...the creation has finally said, "We've had enough! We can't take any more of this! Here's back at you!"
The extraordinary, German Christian leader, Hildegard of Bingen, prophesied this over 800 years ago. This brilliant abbess, visionary, preacher, composer and doctor, taught that "all creation God gives to humankind to use".
"If this privilege is misused," she said, "God's justice permits creation to punish humanity."
We ought not to be taken aback in the least if, immediately before the Just Judge appears, His creation turns against sinners, and all that we have treated so arrogantly and presumptuously becomes uncertain, unavailable...even hostile to us?
