Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, October 26, 2024
On the way back from our church retreat this past weekend near Anacortes, Washington, Shelley and I stopped at the tourist-friendly little town of La Conner. On the east side of Main Street, in the open air but covered with a well-built portico, is this cross-section of an old-growth tree. In 1958 it was rescued from being cut up into firewood, and was dated and put on display. Along the rings are mounted small labels telling what happened at various stages of its growth.
This tree began to grow in AD 1210, five years before the Magna Carta was signed. It was 23 years old when China first used gunpowder as a weapon, and 61 years old when Marco Polo began his 24-year journey through Asia. It was more than 200 years old when Gutenberg invented the printing press.
This second photo shows a view of the right-hand part of the tree-slice, with labels indicating when events happens. But notice something interesting. See all those white lines? The labels themselves are spread along the rings, but notice where their lines end up – mostly near the right-hand (or most recent) edge.
Examples of these near-the-edge events: Invention of the telephone (1876), invention of the light bulb (1879), Ford’s first gas-powered car (1896), Einstein first publishes the theory of relativity (1905), first TV station (1926), polio vaccine (1952).
As this tree’s flow of history shows, there’s been an incredible acceleration of knowledge in just the last couple of centuries, possibly in fulfillment of Daniel 12:4:
“But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
And the Bible gives many more signs that Jesus’ return is near. Read many of them at this link:
https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/signs-jesus-coming