Niagara and God’s Holy Spirit

Bold, majestic, and thunderous, yet also bearing the exquisite beauty of rainbow-laden mists and cascading blue-green waters, Niagara Falls is an overwhelming and breathtaking sight to behold. The spectacle actually consists of three distinct falls—two on the United States side of the Niagara River, and one on the Canadian side. The American and Bridal Veil Falls are located in the state of New York, while Horseshoe Falls is in the province of Ontario. Together, these three falls are a magnificent display of the wonder of God’s creation, a reminder of the God-given ingenuity and engineering capability of man, and a symbol of unity between nations.

Tourism

Niagara Falls has been drawing tourists for more than 200 years. An estimated 10 to 14 million people visit annually, ranking it among North America’s most popular tourist destinations. When people think of Niagara Falls, the image that typically comes to mind is of the iconic Horseshoe Falls, a curved curtain of water stretching 670 meters (2,200 feet) wide and 57 meters (188 feet) high.

During the day in the busy tourist season, the flow rate of the falls is approximately 168,000 cubic meters (6 million cubic feet) every minute, with roughly 90 percent of that water plunging over Horseshoe Falls, making it the major attraction. The falls are a marvel of creation, presenting a cornucopia of sights and sounds that fuel the regional tourist economy. However, Niagara Falls is of significant importance for another reason—the generation of electrical power.

Electrical Generation

Water that tourists observe cascading over the falls ultimately ends up in the Atlantic Ocean via Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. However, not all the water in the Niagara River flows over the falls. A significant portion is diverted and used to generate electricity that serves parts of southern Ontario in Canada and New York in the U.S.

Canada and the U.S. have an agreement regulating the amount of water that flows over the falls at any given time. Enough water flows during the daytime of the busy tourist season to allow for a pleasing visual display. In the evening and outside of the tourist season, the rate of water flowing over the falls is reduced, with a greater volume diverted to power-generating facilities.

The International Control Dam, under the supervision of the International Niagara Board of Control, manages the diversion of water from the Niagara River, dispersing it between Ontario Power Generation and the New York Power Authority. The 1950 Niagara Treaty outlines the means by which this is achieved, while ensuring that the flow of water over the falls is sufficient to create a spectacular exhibition. It is a complicated balancing act, with both countries working together to support tourism while jointly harnessing the electrical power produced.

The power available from a moving fluid is directly proportional to its flow rate multiplied by the height of its drop. Only a few places in the world have both a large flow of water and a significant natural drop in elevation, and this combination has given the Niagara region prominence in the development of North American and global electrical generation. Niagara Falls is an excellent example of how mankind can harness the energy inherent in God’s creation and direct it to meet specific needs. In the case of Niagara Falls, energy is converted from potential to kinetic energy, then to mechanical energy, and finally to electrical energy.

Through surface canals and underground tunnels, water is diverted from the Niagara River upstream of the falls to be stored in reservoirs or used immediately. At Niagara’s power-generating facilities, because of a rapid elevation change, the potential energy of the water’s mass is converted into kinetic energy of motion and pressure. That kinetic energy is converted into mechanical energy as the water turns turbines in the aforementioned facilities. Shafts attached to the turbines spin rotors within the generators, converting—with the help of copper and magnets—the mechanical energy into electricity. The combined capacity of the falls is about five gigawatts (5,000,000,000 watts)—a massive amount of electrical power that is able to supply millions of homes.

Power That Changes

Surprising though it might be, there are several aspects of Niagara Falls that can help us understand God’s Holy Spirit. That Holy Spirit is the creative energy of God, through which He made all things—put another way, it is the very power of God. Like the falls, the Holy Spirit can appear bold, majestic, and thunderous, as it did on the Day of Pentecost after Christ’s death and resurrection, when it entered the house like a “rushing mighty wind” (Acts 2:2). But it can also be displayed in the delicate winsomeness of a butterfly or a flower—or in the repentance of someone who responds to God’s calling.

Just as Niagara Falls draws people from all over the world to view a wonderful part of God’s creation, the power of the Holy Spirit draws those whom God calls, bringing them from diverse backgrounds and nations so they can enter His Family and serve in the Kingdom of God. God’s Spirit, that vital energy, is as powerful today as it was when God used it to create all the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). And while Niagara Falls fosters a unity between Canada and the U.S., the Holy Spirit unites the members of the body of Christ, His Church. But perhaps the most vital comparison is the conversion of energy.

God tells us that we are not like Him: “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8–9). Yet He wants us to become like Him, as we read in the famous Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus Christ tells us that we are to become perfect, just as God our Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). The Apostle Paul wrote that we are to “be imitators of God as dear children” (Ephesians 5:1).

Passages throughout Scripture describe how those who heed God’s calling, submit to His rule in their lives, and develop His righteous character will be His sons and daughters and inherit the entire universe (e.g. Romans 8:32). These two concepts—that we are so very different from God and that God wants us to become like Him—cannot be reconciled naturally or by our own effort. So, how can we become like God when we are so different from God?

The incompatibility gap is vast—akin to the difference between active electricity and the latent potential energy of water. To close the gap, either God must change or we must change—and God has made it clear that He does not change (Malachi 3:6). The change must take place in us, and such a change is not possible without the Holy Spirit working to change our hearts.

Just as the power of water from the Niagara River can be transformed into energy able to bring electricity to millions, the Holy Spirit can convert us into what God wants us to become, lighting the whole world and eventually all of creation. You can learn more by reading our powerful free booklet What Is the Meaning of Life?, which you can find right here at TomorrowsWorld.org. You can also request a free printed copy from the Regional Office nearest you.