BiblicalInsights.net

Some of the essential elements involved in sustaining physical, human life are:  food, fresh water, air, sunlight and soil.  Without these, we simply could not live.  Have you ever considered the spiritual essentials to life?  Hosea reveals three spiritual essentials to life (both physical and spiritual) in Hosea 4:1, “Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, no mercy, and no knowledge of God in the land.”  What would it mean to live in a world without truth, mercy, and the knowledge of God?  Consider the following questions.  Aren’t many attempting to create a world without truth, mercy and the knowledge of God?  When we abandon God, we are creating such a world.  Are we more concerned about the physical environment than we are about the spiritual environment that we are creating?
No Truth
Without the truth, we would be in darkness.  We would be ignorant.  In order for a belief to be considered knowledge, it has to be true.  If it is information that is not true, it is a lie and not worthy of belief.  Without truth, we would be living in the vanity of the mind.  Paul said, “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.  Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Eph. 4:17-19).  Truth may be defined as that which conforms to reality as God defines reality.  God’s Word is truth (John 17:17).  Truth is the basis for morality.  Without truth, there would be no morality.  There would be no standard of righteousness whereby we could discern between truth and error or right and wrong.  The consequence would be that anything and everything would be permitted.  Truth is the basis for justice.  If there is no truth, there is no justice.  The word just refers to that which is right according to the righteous standard that God has given to us through His revealed word.  A world without justice means that no one would be guilty.  There would be no restraint against the lusts of the flesh.  Lawlessness would result. Truth is the basis for freedom.  If there weren’t any truth, there would be no freedom.  The alternative to freedom is slavery.  Slavery to sin is the worst form of slavery (John 8:31-34).  Wouldn’t the absence of truth result in self-destruction?
No Mercy
Mercy is compassion for the human predicament that is expressed by lovingkindness, empathy, and tenderheartedness.  If there were no mercy, there would be no love of neighbor.  There would be only hatred and violence.  There would not be any hospitals or people to work in them.  Judgment without mercy would mean that there would be no mercy from God.  We would be left to face the wrath of God.  The absence of mercy would corrupt the human heart and set it on fire with wicked imaginations that would reach new heights of cruelty to others.
No Knowledge of God
Without the knowledge of God, we would be left with godlessness.  Evil would abound unchecked by anything good.  Every sexual perversion would be permissible.  Idolatry and Satanism would abound.  If there were no knowledge of God, then, there would be no good (Mark 10:18, God is Good).  There would be no life (John 1:1-5, God is Life).  There would be no Light (I John 1:5, God is light).  There would be no Love (I John 4:8,16, God is love).
The results of no truth, no mercy, and no knowledge of God would be:  chaos, self-destruction, corruption, violence, and every evil thing (the absolute control of the world by Satan without the possibility of redemption).  Such a spiritual state would result in the destruction of much of human life.  Would it be possible to live under such spiritual conditions?  If we abandon God, we will have no truth, no mercy and no knowledge of God producing the fear of the LORD which provides the restraint from the absolute indulgence of the flesh.  Without God, we would be miserable and hopeless.  Perhaps with this brief consideration of what life without God would be like, we can accept with complete gratitude what God has done for us through the revelation of His love in the unspeakable gift of His Son–Jesus Christ! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). There is hope because there is a redeemer.  Jesus Christ is the hope of the world because He is the savior of the world (John 4:42, I John 4:14). There is hope for each of us because there is truth, mercy, and the knowledge of God!

July 20, 1969 at 10:56 p.m., the first man, Neil Armstrong, set foot on the moon.  This year is the 50th anniversary of that historic event.  Landing on the moon, walking on the moon and returning men home from this adventure safely was a technological achievement that proved American ingenuity and exceptionalism.  This achievement paved the way for the computers and iPhones that we use today.
But, what if the moon didn’t exist? (see the article by Marsha Lewis, What Would Happen If There Were No Moon? insidescience.org, Dec. 2, 2015).

The Creation of the Moon
The sacred record declares that on the fourth day of creation God created the sun, moon and stars.  “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also.  And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day” (Gen. 1:14-19).
The consequences if the moon didn’t Exist
First, nights would be much darker.  God created the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night.  The moon has no light of its own.  The moon’s light is a reflection of sunlight on the surface of the moon.  The sun is many times brighter than the moon and this contrast gives us the day/night cycle.  Many animals are nocturnal and depend upon the night to function.  Sunlight is essential for all life. Consequently, both the moon and the sun are essential to life.
Second, without the moon,  a day on the earth would last six to twelve hours.  There could be more than a thousand days in one year.  The reason for this is that the earth’s rotation slows down over time thanks to the gravitational force–or pull–of the moon.  Without it, days would go by in a blink (Marsha Lewis, inside science.org).
Third, a moonless earth would also change the size of the ocean tides.  Without the moon, the tides on the earth would be one-third as high as they are now.  Tides would still exist, because of the suns’ gravitational force on the earth.  The tides affect our climate on the earth and without the moon, earth’s climate and our weather would be drastically different.
Fourth, without the moon, there would be no lunar or solar eclipses.  A Lunar eclipse occurs when the earth is between the sun and the moon.  A Solar eclipse occurs when the moon is between the earth and the sun.  Without the moon, neither eclipse could occur.  Both lunar and solar eclipses can be predicted.  This is evidence of the design involved in our solar system and demonstrates the delicate balance involved in it.
Fifth, without the moon, the tilt on the earth’s axis would vary over time.  This would create some very wild weather.  Right now, thanks to the moon, the earth’s axis stays tilted at twenty-three point five degrees.  But, without the moon, the earth might tilt too far over or hardly tilt at all leading to no seasons or perhaps even extreme seasons.  The moon revolves around the earth once every 27.3 days.  It also rotates on its axis in around the same length of time so that from the earth we always see the same side of the moon (the near side) and never see the far side (also known as the dark side). About 59% of the moon is visible from the earth.  The moon goes through eight phases:  New Moon, Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Crescent, then, New Moon again.  The time it takes for the moon to revolve around the earth gives us our month.
God created the moon with a purpose.  The purpose relates to its design and its relationship to the earth and all of the other elements in our solar system.  Life as we know it is dependent upon the moon.  Take away the moon, and the consequences would be drastic and perhaps even alter the earth in such a way as to prevent life from existing.