By now everyone has heard of the major earthquake to hit Italy in April of this year. Outside of the obvious tragedy of the loss of life and tremendous property damage, what can we say is significant about the event? There have been earthquakes since the beginning of time. So in that sense we can say there is nothing significant about it. It is simply an earthquake. A bad one but other than that, nothing unusual. But is that the sum of the tale? Maybe so. I don’t want to be the promoter of super theories or say, “see, this is a sign of the end.” But on the other hand, I don’t want to be asleep at the wheel and be oblivious to what is coming about in this changing world.
Jesus said, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. “ Matt 16:2-4 NIV
He also added; then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.” Luke 21:10-11 NIV
We’ve talked about this before. We cannot know when because people have been making predictions since the earliest of post Ascension times. We cannot know the date but if we are not to know the season then why was Christ so adamant in telling us these things? So what about the seasons? We are critical of early predictions and “reading of signs” by even the most sincere and just because they were wrong we dare not try the same reading of the signs ourselves. Just because they were wrong, we would be wrong too.
I think there is something of a fallacy in that thinking. Last Autumn, Sandy and I transplanted some tuber plants from one area to another. We did so for two reasons. Not related to the discussion as such but maybe in a small way it is. Where they were before, there were three disadvantages. One, they were in an area where we had placed surface stones many years ago with the intent of minimizing weed and grass growth. It is along side the house in the area near the pool filter. We have a walkway there but we certainly did not want it to be a part of the lawn requiring the use of the lawnmower there. That would be a hard area to mow. So we put down the white stones over a layer of black plastic with the intent of discouraging any growth there. For the most part it worked. At least it kept weed and grass growth to a minimum and made it easier to control what did come up on occasion.
How these iris and daylily plants got there, I have no clue. We might have put a few there which we came across somehow. If so, I don’t recall the origin of them. Over the years they would sprout their long thin blades and even on occasion a bloom would develop. The problem was, the surface of the soil was really not good and did not lend itself to good cultivation, irrigation or nutrient supply. Mostly owing to the rock covering. Secondly, there is hardly any sun in that area and thus the plants never had much help to develop. Other than to spread more of their tubers and pop up more green blades every year. Hardly any flowers though. Last year I had one iris bloom. I probably sent a picture of it too. Lastly, the area for the most part is out of sight. What’s the point of having flowers if you never see them? Other than to walk through the area to pass from the front to the back, or to work with the pool filter there is no reason for us to ever go to that part of the yard.
Anyhow, for that reason we went out there in the Autumn after the last of any hope of blooms and when the green blade leaves were beginning to die away and we dug them all up and moved them to the area behind the swimming pool. The area off one end where the diving board is. This is an area bounded by two nice crape myrtle bushes on either side and between the pool deck and the side fence. It’s an area favored with good afternoon sun and the soil is very nice brown sandy loam mixture. Rather healthy soil I would say. So now we know that they will be in a better soil location and also have much better sun exposure we expect a much better crop of flowers. Already that is coming to be.
Let me get back to the seasonal thing though. We planted them in the Autumn. It was before Winter so the next development we would expect is that with the coming of the colder months what we would expect from the plants would be that the remainder of the leaves would die back. We would not expect any blooms. By no stretch of the imagination would we do this. What would you think of me if I went out there every day through the month of December and looked and expected to see a big iris bloom? It was not the season to even expect it. But suppose I am not sure about how seasons work and I don’t know that iris and daylilies don’t bloom in December? It might not be surprising that I would go look with expectation. Same thing for January. February. Even March, perhaps. But what begins to occur around March? There are signs of the coming Spring. I have lived enough years to be able to recognize those signs. And what can I predict in March concerning my iris? I can predict with an ever increasing confidence that they are going to be blooming out soon. At this point I cannot say for certain the date, but I can see the stalks rising and the small buds arising and I can look around and see other plants beginning to bloom out. You see, it is not the iris alone I look at but what is happening all around them. As March moves on and especially as it gives way to April I can with greater certainty look at the plants and expect them to bloom any day. In fact I can go so far as to say, “I believe that by tomorrow this bloom will be open and fully developed.” I may not be 100% correct for it may not be tomorrow but if not it will be the next day. I know that the season is right for them to bloom and so I know to expect them.
Christ is telling us the things which will be the indicators of the season. He didn’t just name one item or one event. No, He added a fairly large list. He didn’t just do it one time but throughout the Scriptures He caused the writers to give us clues. This is something we have talked about before and illustrated that in earlier times they had the same clues from the Scriptures but they did not have the seasonal indicators. They went out in the Winter months and expected the iris to be in bloom.
We aren’t in the Winter months though. We are in April. The signs are not only known to us, they are witnessed by us. Those signs were vaguely known about by the early church but they weren’t witnessed. That is the difference.
Now I am not using the occurrence of the earthquake in Italy to say, “see, there you go….” but I am saying that it is significant. I acknowledged before that earthquakes are nothing new. There have always been earthquakes. So why should this one have any significance at all? Why did Jesus add earthquakes to his list of signs? Why not add “the leaves of trees will turn brown in Autumn”? It’s a common event. Earthquakes are and always have been common events. Ask the Japanese about earthquakes.
Look at the rest of the statement he made. What else will be occurring which is considered a sign? When I looked at my iris plants, I also noted that the buds were on the crepe myrtles. All of the other trees around the place are blooming out as well. Sure a good indicator that the season is correct for my iris to bloom out, isn’t it.
Think on this. More to follow……
