There is a lot of talk—and in my opinion, a lot of hot air—being tossed around these days about climate change, formerly known as global warming. In the 1970’s the talk was of a new ice age coming. As usual, a lot of hypereducated would-be worldshakers are busy pontificating on the weather, which is ultimately in God’s control. Can Satan influence the weather? Yes (Job 1:6-12, 16, 18-19).
However, it is usually God who does this (Psalm 147:7-8, 15-18; Nahum 1:3b-4). I personally believe that we are in the warm phase of a natural weather cycle and that man has actually contributed very little to the increase in global temperatures. Whether you agree with that assessment or not, one thing folks do agree on is that the weather changes seasonally and yearly.
While many would be bored with the statistical minutiae of weather data, they are nevertheless interested in what the weather has done and what it is going to do next. How cold did it get last night? Are we going to have a hot summer this year? Will there be severe thunderstorms with the next cold front? How much rain is expected to fall this time? How active is this hurricane season going to be? Is it going to be a cold and snowy winter? These and other questions are the sorts of things people are interested in knowing. In all the seeking for the answers to such questions, many people overlook the fact that the seasons point to a Creator.
Since the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, no Christian should doubt the fact that God created the universe, including the earth and all the life on it. He made the weather; He made the seasons. Look at what the Holy Spirit said through Moses as he penned the following passage:
Genesis 1:14: Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;…”
The word for seasons in this verse is mowed (mo-AID) and it has several meanings, the first and foremost of which is an appointed place, time, or meeting. There is seasonality implied in this word. There are different types of seasons, and in this verse there is calendar time in view, but along with the calendar come seasons, such as times of planting, growing, and harvesting, and these are facilitated by weather seasons with their particular climatic characteristics. If there were not going to be seasons, then why would God have led Moses to write this verse this way? Why would people need to use the sun, moon, and stars as time guides for the various activities of life?
Creation scientists have discovered through painstaking scientific research that before the Flood, the earth’s climate was much more temperate, stable, and less varied than it is now, although weather seasons were still present in at least a mild form. When the Flood occurred there were great upheavals upon the face of the earth. The ancient supercontinent of Pangaea split up into the seven continents and the islands as we know them today. Seismic activity from all this produced many volcanic eruptions which, in turn, caused the one true major Ice Age.
Between the formation of multiple continents and islands, the deluge resulting from the higher degree of water vapor in the air in conjunction with the release of massive amounts of underground water (resulting in larger oceans), and the formation of such geographic features as mountain ranges, the weather and seasons have been much more changeable in regions outside of the tropics ever since the Flood ended. God, knowing all things, knew this also. Look at what He said to Noah after the Flood:
Genesis 8:22: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”
That promise was made over 4,000 years ago and God has kept it faithfully. God is the ultimate Source of the seasons. The way He has made this happen is yet another testimony of His great power. Most people know that the earth is tilted at about a 23 ½-degree angle on its axis. The tilt must have been less before the Flood, meaning the cataclysmic seismological activity must have caused a shift—but God kept it from going too far. As the earth revolves around the sun in about 365 ¼ days in an orbit that is almost circular, the direction the northern and southern axes point change in relation to the sun. In later June the northern axis area points the most directly towards the sun, marking the beginning of summer for the northern hemisphere. Since the southern axis area is pointed the most directly away from the sun at the same time, the southern hemisphere experiences the start of winter. In later December the situation is reversed. In the later part of both March and September the earth’s axis is perpendicular to the sun, with spring starting in the northern hemisphere and fall in the southern in March, and the opposite occurring in September. That is remarkable. Opposite hemispheres have opposite seasons. God did all this.
Another mark of God’s handiwork is the timing of when each end of the earth’s axis points directly toward the sun or away from it. The earth is closest to the sun in early January and farthest from it in early July. The difference between the minimum and the maximum distance is about 3.5 million miles. So, the southern hemisphere has summer when the earth is closest to the sun, but that hemisphere also has much more water and less land than the northern hemisphere does, and the vast oceans have a moderating influence on the temperatures. The temperatures do not get as hot in summer or as cold in winter as they would if there was more land down there. If the much more heavily landed northern hemisphere instead had summer and winter when the southern hemisphere does, the climate of the earth would be even more extreme than it already is, with potentially catastrophic results upon all life. God timed the earth’s axial tilt in relation to its orbital positions to prevent such severity of weather.
It is remarkable that so many people believe in evolution. This concept is not limited to biology but is extended to other fields of science as well, including astronomy. I used to believe in it myself. Even as a new Christian I tried to reconcile evolution with creation but learned that it cannot be done. The universe certainly did not just happen with a big bang, and all that is in it did not just spring into being and develop. The fact that anyone believes this shows that spiritual blindness is real.
One can view science and creation in an intellectual context, but the fact that something as central as creation is to Biblical truth can evade the minds of highly educated people when the concept of evolution is plainly ridiculous points to the fact that there is also a spiritual component to understanding the universe and everything in it. The one correct way to view it is through the lens of the Holy Spirit, since He will never deceive you and will guide you into all truth (John 16:13).
In my blog, “Our Amazing Solar System,” I discussed how finely balanced everything is in order to favor life on earth, including its orbit and the solar system’s place in our galaxy. The axial tilt and the timing of its orientation in relation to the earth’s orbit is yet another example of this. Creation scientists, like other scientists, have also ascertained that weather is cyclical. Sometimes it’s hotter, or colder, or wetter, or drier, or stormier, or calmer. Regardless of what it does, however, we can count on the work of God, the Creator, in that we will have seasons. Whether it’s winter, spring, summer, or fall, or if it’s in a rainier or a drier time if you live in the tropics, think of God in relation to the change of seasons and thank Him for what He has made and what He has done.
Psalm 19:1-3: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
Matthew 8:23-27: Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
