This post is going to finish up our series on what the Bible teaches about weather. Thus far in the series we have learned that God is the source of weather, Noah’s flood was the start of the weather we experience today, the weather plays multiple roles of service in God’s plan, and weather inevitably at some point showcases storms. Now, with this third and final post in the series, we’re going to learn what the Bible teaches about the schooling of weather and the stabilizing of weather.

V. The Schooling of Weather

Have you figured out yet that weather can take you to school by teaching you some valuable lessons? We find evidence of this in the same story that we referenced in post #2 in regards to the storms of weather. That story is found in Luke chapter 8. In that previous post, we only went as far into the story as Jesus turning the raging wind and the churning waters instantly calm. That miracle, in addition to everything else we might say about it, was a classroom lesson for Christ’s 12 apostles. To see what they learned from it, let’s now read Luke 8:25, the closing verse of the story:

But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!” (N.K.J.V.)

So, what schooling did that storm give those apostles? They learned that Jesus is the sovereign Master of the wind and the waves. They learned that storms obey Him!

As for the lessons the weather can teach us, the list would be just about endless, but let me at least name three of them. These are three that I myself have learned from past storms. Once you hear the three, you’ll probably realize that you’ve had the same schooling I’ve had.

Lesson #1 is: The weather teaches us that we are not in ultimate control of our lives. This is a lesson about perspective. We like to think that we are in complete charge of our business, don’t we? We like to think that we are so smart, ingenious, and shrewd that we’ve got all the bases of life covered. Then a storm comes along, sending serious disruption into our lives, and we are reminded that we aren’t in control at all. Weather can knock the egomaniac out of anybody.

Lesson #2 is: The weather teaches us to be thankful for blessings we otherwise take for granted. This is a lesson about thankfulness. If you go without water, electricity, the internet, or cell-phone service for a couple of days, I guarantee that you’ll be a whole lot more thankful for those things when they start flowing your way again. It’s sad that we have to lose blessings before we are thankful for them, but that is just the way we humans are wired.

Lesson #3 is: The weather teaches us to identify those things that are most valuable in our lives. This is a lesson about priorities. Isn’t it amazing how a weather event can teach you what you should be prioritizing in life? When the weather turns catastrophic, if you are married, you’ll be asking, “Is my spouse okay?” If you are a parent, you’ll be asking, “Are my kids safe?” If you are a child, you’ll be asking, “Are my parents out of danger?” When the wind starts howling, the rain starts falling, the waters start rising, or the snow starts piling up, you’ll figure out very quickly who and what your priorities should be.   

VI. The Stabilizing of Weather

I am happy to report that there is coming a time on this planet when the weather will no longer be destructive. There will be no more hurricanes, tornados, high winds, big rains, hailstorms, or snow storms. You say, “When will that be?” Well, if you are a born-again Christian, you’ve probably prayed for this coming period of time more than once in your lifetime. What are the opening words of the so-called “Lord’s Prayer”? They go like this:

“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed by Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth, as it is in heaven.” (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

Is God’s kingdom really coming to this earth? You bet it is, and when that happens God’s will is going to be done on this planet the way His will is done in heaven. What we’re talking about here is the age of Jesus Christ’s 1,000-year reign upon this earth. The chronological order of prophetic events isn’t hard to understand.

First, the Rapture of the church is going to take place. The Rapture is that moment in time when Jesus will step down out of heaven, make a quick appearance in earth’s sky, and snatch the bodies of all Christians up to be with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). The bodies of the Christians who will have previously died will be resurrected and glorified at that time, and the bodies of the Christians who will be alive on the earth at that moment will be glorified, not having a need to also be resurrected.

Amazingly, 1 Corinthians 15:51-58 tells us the entire Rapture will play itself out in “a moment” and “in the twinkling of an eye.” The Greek word translated there as “moment” is atomos, and it is the word from which we get the word “atom.” The Rapture taking place in an atom of time explains why the moment has been called “the secret Rapture.” It can rightly be described as a “secret” because the resurrecting, glorifying, and snatching away will happen so fast — in less than a second — the world’s population won’t know what has happened.

Then, once the bodies of the true Christians have all been removed from this earth, the world will enter into a seven-year-period that is commonly referred to as “the tribulation period.” This period will see that man the New Testament calls “the Antichrist” (1 John 2:18-19) come to world prominence and power. Also, during those seven years the earth will experience many different kinds of catastrophic ecological disasters. The Bible’s best description of these seven years can be found in chapters 6 through 18 of the book of The Revelation.

How will the tribulation period end? It will end with Jesus Christ returning to this earth to not only walk the planet again but also to rule and reign over it for 1,000 years (Revelation 19:11-21; 20:4-6). These coming 1,000 years are called “the kingdom age” or “the millennial reign.” Satan and all the other fallen angels will be chained up in a site called the bottomless pit — it’s that site the Greek language calls Tartarus — for these 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-3; Isaiah 24:21-22), and Jesus will rule over the whole world from His throne in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 3:17). It is during these 1,000 years that the earth itself will be reverted back to something of its pre-sin form. It won’t be completely reverted back to that form, but a good deal of its original, pristine condition will be restored.

First, this reverting back will affect the earth’s topography. Isaiah chapter 35 says the wilderness and wasteland will be made glad, the desert will blossom like a rose, the waters will burst forth from the wilderness, the parched ground will become like a pool, and the thirsty lands will become like streams in the desert. Putting it simply, the earth will be transformed into a veritable oasis.  

Second, this reverting back will affect the earth’s creatures. Isaiah 11:6-9 says that in this coming kingdom age the wolf will dwell in peace with the lamb, the leopard will lie down in peace with the kid goat, the calf and the young lion will exist together, and all the animals will be docile enough that a small child will be able to lead them around like pets. Furthermore, the bear will graze on grass like the cow does, the lion will eat straw like the ox does, and a small child will be able to play next to the hole of a poisonous snake (even putting his or her hand into the hole itself) and still be perfectly safe.

Third, this reverting back will affect the physical bodies of the people who will have become Christians during the tribulation period and survived the tribulation period. Revelation chapter 7 says that at the beginning of the tribulation period 144,000 Jews are going to get saved and head out into the world to evangelize. These Jewish Christians will lead millions of people to saving belief in Jesus during the tribulation period. Many of these tribulation-period believers will get martyred for their faith, but others of them will make it all the way through the tribulation period alive.

Those who make it all the way through alive will go into Christ’s 1,000-year kingdom in their normal earthly bodies. But here’s the thing: Jesus will grant those bodies a fresh health and vitality that will allow those tribulation-period believers to live to extended ages during the thousand-year reign before dying. As evidence of this, Isaiah chapter 35 says the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be unstopped, the lame will leap like the deer, and the person who is physically unable to speak will sing.

How long will these people live in the kingdom age before they finally experience physical death? The length of each life will be different, but according to Isaiah 65:20 if someone dies at the age of 100 in the kingdom age, that will be akin to that person dying in childhood. Likewise, Isaiah 65:22 quotes God as saying about those times, “…For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people” (N.K.J.V.). Furthermore, that same 65^th chapter of Isaiah says these people will build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them, and bring forth children and raise them during the centuries of the millennium.

Fourth, when Jesus returns to walk this earth again and establish His reign upon it, He will revert the weather back to something somewhat similar to what it was like before Adam and Eve brought sin into this world. This means that the earth’s weather will in those days become stabilized. In Ezekiel 34:25-27, God speaks through the prophet Ezekiel, and He talks about the fact that a remnant of the Jewish people will believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior in the tribulation period and live to see the end of those seven years. (According to Zechariah 13:8, that remnant will be one-third of all the Jews who are alive on the earth at the end of the tribulation period.) These saved Jews will enter into the kingdom age in their earthly bodies and in so doing become the fulfillment of all the promises that God has made to the nation of Israel about a glorious Messianic age.

Listen now to how God describes the lives those Jews will live in Christ’s 1,000-year reign:

“I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing. Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land, and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them.” (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

You see, in reference to Christ’s millennial reign, God doesn’t talk about rainstorms, floods, or blizzards. Instead, He talks about “showers of blessing” that will come down in season right on time and in just the right amount to cause the earth to produce her harvests. That means that there will be weather (rain) in the kingdom age upon the earth, but it will be good rain (nice rain, easy rain, blessed rain) that causes the crops to grow.

The only people who will have any problems with weather in the kingdom age are talked about in the closing section of the book of Zechariah. According to Zechariah 14:16-19, if there ever comes a time during Christ’s millennial reign when some of the earth’s inhabitants who are in their early bodies refuse to make the required annual trip to Jerusalem to worship Jesus on His throne in Jerusalem, God will cause the rain to cease from falling upon their lands. Those verses say:

And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.” (N.K.J.V.)

Other than this exception, however, the weather upon the earth during Christ’s coming 1,000-year reign will be idyllic. This, at long last, will be the stabilizing of the planet’s weather. Until then, though, the earth will know weather that ranges from drought to deluge, from showers to snow, and from heatwaves to hurricanes. Through whatever weather we experience, though, let us never forget that our weather comes from God, and He uses every form of it to accomplish His grand plans.

And now let me close this post and this series by reminding you that Jesus taught that times of severe weather are, in actuality, times of testing. We find this teaching in Matthew 7:24-27, which is the passage I will leave with you to ponder. I realize that Jesus is talking about figurative storms in these verses, but I have a sneaking suspicion that what He says can be applied to literal storms as well. See what you think. He said:

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” (N.K.J.V.)