In Australia the death toll resulting from floods in the northeastern state of Queensland has reached 12. Massive water flows from the floods have already reached Queensland’s state capital, Brisbane, and the power has already been shut off to much of its central business district. The latest estimates are that nearly 20,000 homes will be inundated today, but the worst is expected tomorrow when king tides clash with the floodwaters. At least Wednesday dawned with a watery sun in the city and it had stopped raining. But the confluence of a king tide and rising floodwaters from the big wet are expected to reach peak levels Thursday.

As the floodwaters continue to move south they have already caused flooding in the northern New South Wales city of Grafton. Major rain is also heading for the southern states of Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia and the forecast is that five states could be affected by flooding by the end of the week.

At this stage the initial estimate of cost for the Queensland floods is aus$13 billion (us$12.9 billion), but that will certainly rise. Already billions of revenue from coal exports have been lost, and with so much infrastructure severely damaged that figure also is certain to rise. With many businesses destroyed in so many places, it is easy to see a lot of people losing their employment, which will put an additional drain on welfare payments.

By contrast, and to place this disaster into an even more prophetic context, westward, a whole continent away from Queensland, the state of Western Australia is suffering from bushfires. This brings to mind the prophecy for our day, “… I caused it to rain upon one city, and I caused it to not rain upon another city; one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered” (Amos 4:7). The irony is that so much of Australia’s northeast was not so long ago in the grip of record drought, giving even greater emphasis to Amos’s prophecy.

How many will consider that the sins of a nation will bring a penalty from our Maker in the form of such catastrophes?

Few indeed.

Few will truly heed any warning that rings of a flood of publicly declared “biblical proportions” being caused by biblically specified reasons, the results being predestined according to inerrant Bible prophecy.

Yes, few will heed until our Creator turns up the heat by imposing more and increasingly severe penalties of “biblical proportions” for the generations of rebellion against His law to force them to listen.

But, thank God that the floods and the fires in Australia are just one of many great indicators that our Creator has had enough—enough of mankind’s wayward rebellion against the very reason for which they were created. Thank God indeed that He will soon directly intervene to impose His government of peace and global unity for the good of all mankind! (Isaiah 9:6-7). Then humankind will understand its truly incredible potential and will move en masse to embrace it. But, only after it has suffered terribly for rebellion against its own Creator.

Read our book Mystery of the Ages and grasp the true meaning for your existence and understand why this world suffers for the moment with terrible catastrophes such as the Queensland floods. It’s a book that will give you a vision to look beyond catastrophe to the coming of a far, far better world of stability in weather and abundance of physical blessings—globally!

With research by Richard Guy in Queensland.