What do you do when your world falls apart?

These images are titled "De-Creation".

When the world falls apart
I will hold you in my arms like a friend

When the world’s unkind
I will make you smile
I will stay right by your side until the end

Through the dark of night
When no hope's in sight
When the walls start closing in
I’ll be your friend

When the world falls apart
If you should ever feel so broken that you can’t go on
If your world falls apart
I will hold you in my arms like a friend [x2]

‘Til the end… [x4]

When the world’s unkind
I will make you smile
I will stay right by your side until the end

Through the dark of night
When no hope's in sight
When the walls start closing in
I’ll be your friend

When the world falls apart
If you should ever feel so broken that you can’t go on
If your world falls apart
I will hold you in my arms like a friend

‘Til the end… [x2]

"I watched as he opened the sixth seal.  There was a great earthquake.  The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.  The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.: --Revelation 6:12-14

 In Genesis 1, God created the heavens and the earth in six days.  Everything beautiful, everything necessary, everything good was all made in under a week.  But it only took one hour for sin to be introduced, for temptation to be yielded to, and for Man to be banished from the Garden of Eden.  From then on, it was what man would make of it; the earth would go on, but without the splendor, without the grandeur, without the Father being able to walk with his children and show them the marvels He had made. And on the seventh day, He rested.

In the end, as Revelation records, God takes six days to clean up Man's mess.  And the seventh seal is not grouped with the first six, and its purpose in chapter 8 will be to introduce the seven Trumpet Judgments.

In the Genesis 1 account of Creation, the first three days are spent taking a formless void and forming the earth, sea and sky; and the next three days are spent filling the earth with good things. See the chart below:

Days of Forming	Days of Filling
1. “light” (v.3)	4. “lights (v.14)
2. “water under the ex- panse….water above it” (v. 7)	5. “every living and moving thing with which the water teems…every winged bird” (v.21)
3.a. “dry ground” (v.9	6.a. “livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals” (v.24) “man” (v.26)
b.  “vegetation” (v. 11)	b.  “every green plant for food” (v. 30)

In the sixth chapter of Revelation, God de-constructs the universe in a similar pattern.  Four days are spent emptying the earth of sin, peace, prosperity, and life. The next day is spent scheduling judgement. The last day is for wiping out anything that divides: mountains and islands (that had divided men) are removed, and the sky (which had divided heaven and earth) is rolled back.

One of the signs of judgment in the Old Testament were great earthquakes.  Psalm 97:4 says, "His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles."  Here the land and the continents on the earth are personified--they tremble as a frightened person would.  This signified hope for the world--if the earth (men, not land) repented, then destruction would be averted.  But here in the New Testament, the Great Earthquake is not meant to shake things up (pun intended).  It is meant to signify the beginning of the end.  Romans 8:22 says, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."  When a woman begins having labor pains, she can be in a hospital room for many, many hours before it is time to deliver the baby.  But when the baby is ready to come, the doctor arrives and brings the new life into the world safely.  Similarly, the earth has been in pain ever since Man was thrown out of Eden.  But the time will come when the Great Physician will draw back the curtain, and a new Heaven and a new Earth will be born.

The "day of the Lord" is described as one in which the cosmic (world) order is disrupted, and light is turned to darkness, as if creation is being undone.  Jesus described it this way to his disciples: "Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken." (Matthew 24:29)  Isaiah 34:4 says, "All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree."  This sounds very much like John's vision in Revelation 6; many of his readers would no doubt be familiar with the passage in Isaiah.  But the familiarity should not give comfort.  What is being described is a horrific event.  Can you imagine the star gazers and horoscope writers of today seeing this cosmic event unfold?

Further, John describes the darkness as if the earth was covered in "sackcloth made of goat hair."  Sackcloth is a coarse, dark cloth woven from the hair of goats or camels.  It was worn as a sign of mourning and penitence.  Since the earth will not repent of its sins in sackcloth and ashes, God will do it for them.  If Adam had sought out the Lord instead of hiding from Him; if he had covered himself with sackcloth instead of a fig leaf, don't you think God would have shown mercy?  Similarly, if all men had repented in sackcloth, removing themselves from their comfort zone and showing true repentance, maybe the final judgment would not be necessary.  But since God knew we were obstinate, entrenched in sin, a "stiff-necked people", it will be His will to come to judge the earth.  2 Peter 3:7,12-13 says "By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men....That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.  But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness."

Wickedness will get what wickedness deserves.  It will be destroyed by fire.  The only ones that will survive the fire are those who are pure in heart.  Impurities will burn away; purity is only refined by fire.  Remember the Old Testament story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?  Daniel chapter 3 tells of these three men who would not bow down to the king and worship him, nor would they worship his image.  In a rage, the king threw them into a furnace that was so hot that the men who threw them into the furnace died.  But when the king looked into the fire, he said, "Look!  I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like the Son of God." (Daniel 3:25).  The three faithful men were not harmed by the fire, and they fellowshipped with Jesus there.  2 Peter 3:10 says, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare."  How do we escape? By holding fast to the Word of God.  "The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them.  Surely the people are grass.  The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever." (Isaiah 40:7-8)

“It Is Well With My Soul” is one of the most well-known hymns of our time. The music was composed by Philip Bliss in 1876, after having heard the story of the man who wrote the lyrics. In 1874, a French steam liner, the “Ville de Havre,” was on its way back to France from America, with a large number of passengers. “On board the steamer was a Mrs. Spafford, with her four children. In mid-ocean a collision took place with a large sailing vessel, causing the steamer to sink in half an hour. Nearly all on board were lost. Mrs. Spafford got her children out of their berths and up on the deck. On being told that the vessel would soon sink, she knelt down with her children in prayer, asking God that they might be saved if possible; or be made willing to die, if that was his will. In a few minutes the vessel sank to the bottom of the sea, and the children were lost. One of the sailors. . . found Mrs. Spafford floating in the water”.  Mr. Spafford soon received a wire message from his wife in England, which simply read, “Saved alone.” He immediately made the trip to England to pick up his wife and bring her back to the states. Standing on the deck of the ship heading across the Atlantic, Horatio Spafford soon saw with his own eyes the very spot where his four daughters and 226 other people drowned . Only because of his faith in God was he able to write, “When sorrows like sea billows roll. . . it is well with my soul.”

What do you do when your world falls apart? You rely on God.  The last verse of this hymn goes like this: "And, Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, “Even so” it is well with my soul."  Spafford referred to the final judgment, a passage that should strike fear in the heart of evil men.  Yet he looked forward to the time with great peace and rejoicing, for that is when Jesus calls His children home.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul. 

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul. 

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul. 

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! 

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul. 

But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul! 

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.