Ecclesiastes 1:9,10
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): There is nothing in the world but a continued and tiresome repetition of the same things.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): We hear of some who worship the sun at its rising—that is sad idolatry.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, is another sort of idolatry which they were cautioned against, Deuteronomy 4:19. This was the most ancient species of idolatry and the most plausible, drawing the adoration to those creatures not only in a situation above us, but most sensibly glorious in themselves, and most generally serviceable to the world.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Others also, made prayer to Mother Earth.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Mother Earth was a common expression in different nations…The inhabitants of north Germany, our Saxon ancestors, in general worshipped Mother Earth; they believed her to interpose in the affairs of men, and to visit nations; that to her, in a sacred grove in a certain island of the ocean, a vehicle covered with a vestment was consecrated, and allowed to be touched by the priests only, who perceived when the goddess entered into her secret place, and with profound veneration attended her vehicle, which was drawn by cows. While the goddess was on her progress, days of rejoicing were kept in every place which she vouchsafed to visit; they engaged in no war, they handled no weapons; peace and quietness were then only known, till the same priest conducted the goddess back to her temple.
C. H. SPURGEON: Nowadays, swarms of people attribute everything that is great and wonderful to “Nature”—they talk forever of “the beauties of Nature,” “the grandeur of Nature,” “the laws of Nature.” But God is as little spoken of as if He were not alive! As to laws of Nature, these occupy with moderns much the same place as the deities of Olympus with the ancients!
STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): Creation presents us with a prospect of the wisdom of God: “By wisdom He created the earth,” Proverbs 3:19.
C. H. SPURGEON: What are laws of Nature but the ordinary ways in which God works? But these people attribute to them a sort of power apart from the Presence of the Creator. There are plenty of people who are willing to believe in a god of a certain sort, but I hardly know how to describe their god…One man says, “I do not go into your places of worship, and hear you talk about God. I like to walk about and worship Nature.” Does he mean the grass in the meadows and the flowers of the field? If so, I hardly think that I should like to worship what cattle eat—it seems a degradation for a man to stoop as low as that! But they will say and do anything to get rid of the idea of the living and true God. One standing up in the street, said that we could not do better on Sunday than go and worship Nature. There was nothing that was so refining and elevating to the mind as Nature. Nature did everything.
JOHN TRAPP: Mother Nature.
C. H. SPURGEON: A Christian man in the crowd ventured to ask, “What is Nature?” And the gentleman said, “Well, Nature—well—it is Nature! Don’t you know what it is? It is Nature.” No further definition was forthcoming! I fear the term is only useful as enabling men to talk of creation without being compelled to mention the Creator.
A. W. TOZER (1897-1963): God dwells in His creation, and is everywhere indivisibly present in all His works. This is boldly taught by prophet and apostle and is accepted by Christian theology generally—but the doctrine of the divine Presence is definitely not Pantheism. Pantheism’s error is too palpable to deceive anyone. It is that God is the sum of all created things. Nature and God are one, so that whoever touches a leaf or a stone touches God. That is, of course, to degrade the glory of the incorruptible Deity and, in an effort to make all things divine, to banish all divinity from the world entirely. The truth is, that while God dwells in His world, He is separated from it by a gulf forever impassable. However closely He may be identified with the work of His hands, they are, and must eternally be other than He Himself—and He is, and must be, antecedent to and independent of them.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Modern Environmentalism has degenerated into a secular religious cult of climate activism and earth-worship idolatry, which worships “the creature more than the Creator,” Romans 1:25; its idol-god is “Science,” so called; and its followers, with all the zealous devotion of deluded fanatics, believe that they alone will save the planet from destruction. All who disagree are dismissed as ignorant infidels.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): It is a diabolical science, however, which fixes our contemplations on the works of nature, and turns them away from God.
ALEXANDER CARSON (1776-1844): They make the dogmas of human science an authority paramount to the testimony of God in the Scriptures.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): Modern science itself teaches us that we are not anti-scientific and we are not obscurantist if we do not accept statements as absolute truth simply because they are made by certain prominent scientists. We know that great scientists have made very dogmatic statements in the past, which by now have proved to be wrong…Christianity has not come into the world to reform the world. What has it come for? It has come to save us from the destruction that is coming to the world.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Let us consider the dissolution of this present world.
C. H. SPURGEON: God’s Word declares that the whole world will be destroyed by fire.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, 2 Peter 3:13. The promise to which it is supposed that Peter alludes, is found in Isaiah 65:17, “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind;” and Isaiah 66:22, “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord.” Now, although these may be interpreted of the glory of the Gospel dispensation, yet, if Peter refers to them, they must have a more extended meaning. It does appear from these promises, and from what is said in Revelation 21 & 22, that the present earth, though destined to be burned up, will not be destroyed, but be renewed and refined, purged from all moral and natural imperfection, and made the endless abode of blessed spirits. But this state is certainly to be expected after the Day of Judgment; for on this the apostle is very express, who says the conflagration and renovation are to take place at the judgment of the great day; 2 Peter 3:7-12.
CHARLES SIMEON: That’s the period John speaks of in Revelation 21:1, when he says “I saw a new heaven, and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.”
G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): The day of the Lord will come. It will be destructive. It will be constructive.
MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546): The world is now in its working clothes, and by-and-by, it will be arrayed in its Easter garments of joy.
