The Lord said to Job] “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken [Job 38:12-15].

I was having coffee with my friend Jack this morning, and he told me about taking a cruise through the Alaskan fjords.  One day he was up early and taking in the awe-inspiring view of mountains beginning to stand out in the early morning sun—like folds of a garment.  While he was taking in the beauty of it all, he overheard a conversation between two men nearby.  One of their comments stunned him:  “What in the world is the value of this land; you could never really do anything with it.”

One would hope that Jack’s inner thought would be common to most of us: “Thank God that mankind can’t do anything with it!”  Sometimes I think we’d all like to see God break a few upraised arms of men.

China's Three Gorges Dam

Every generation seems to have what I call a “pride of the present”: we tend to believe that our thinking is sounder and our worldview more informed than the previous one—perhaps even all previous generations.  This is especially apparent in regard to the natural world—which modern science and technology believes it has virtually mastered.  Because nature has been our easy provider, willing patient, and sometimes cadaver for so long, we have tended to lose respect for it.  And what we no longer respect, we can easily come to abuse.

I feel we modern followers of Christ have also become somewhat blind followers of technology and have adopted the same utilitarian view toward God’s good creation that we see in much of science and industry.  This utilitarian approach, however, is really the child of the humanistic “Enlightenment” and the subsequent Industrial Revolution, not of a true understanding of the theology of nature.

Interestingly, two of the most significant Reformers, John Calvin and Martin Luther, had been quite successful in framing a sound biblical theology of nature in the 16th century that corrected the faulty dualistic theology of the Middle Ages that saw the material world as something low and degraded that needed to be escaped from (a view that goes all the way back to Plato and is also foundational to Eastern religions).  Their followers eventually became the champions of the “Protestant work ethic” that in part led to the Industrial Revolution and the ultimate devaluation of the creation that Calvin and Luther had helped to free from mysticism and dualism.  See the Wikipedia article about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic

Calvin and Luther both had a high view of the natural world that I think we need to recapture.  I firmly believe we need to trade our pride of the present for humility and an understanding that other generations before us may have had a more biblically sound view of the creation than we do.  I go into depth on that issue in the article “Listening To the Right Voices,” which you can get to by going to the “Articles” button at the top of the page.

To whet your appetite on rethinking how Christians ought to consider the creation, let me drop in a couple quotes on this post that you can also find on this Website under “Creation Quotations”:

From Luther:
“Now if I believe in God’s Son and bear in mind that He became man, all creatures will appear a hundred times more beautiful to me than before.  Then I will properly appreciate the sun, the moon, the stars, trees, apples, pears, as I reflect that he is Lord over and the center of all things.”

From Calvin:

“In every part of the world, in heaven and on earth, he has written and as it were engraven the glory of his power, goodness and eternity…. For all creatures, from the firmament even to the center of the earth, could be witnesses and messengers of his glory to all men, drawing them on to seek him and, having found him, to do him service and honor according to the dignity of a Lord so good, so potent, so wise and everlasting….For the little singing birds sang of God, the animals acclaimed Him, the elements feared and the mountains resounded with Him, the river and springs threw glances toward Him, the grasses and the flowers smiled.”

Because of our generational pride and our loss of sensitivity to the natural world I wonder often if we can ever regain the biblical perspective these influential reformers understood.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5) [emphasis mine]

One of the sad misconceptions of many within the conservative evangelical church has been the understanding that we are “aliens and strangers” on the earth. The truth is, however, that we are to be aliens and strangers to the world—to the ungodly and rebellious world system ruled over by Satan.  The Scripture informs us that this world system is going to be destroyed and its diabolical ruler vanquished for eternity.  And as a long and glorious celebration of our Savior’s victory, we are going to reign with Him on this very earth* which so many of us now abuse and malign.  When we attain our final and complete adoption as children of God, we will embrace a good earth healed from the curse where thorns no longer “infest the ground.”

So the second coming of the Messiah is bad news for this world system, yet glorious good news for the earth and for those of us who will reign with Him upon it.  I’m convinced that it is time for us to imagine with C.S. Lewis the moment when “that hideous strength” of the enemy of God and man is finally wrestled into defeat and submission, and when all the elements, plants, and living creatures of a restored earth join in one grand united doxology with redeemed mankind in praise to our Savior and Creator, Jesus Christ: It will be the return of shalom—of Isaiah’s prophesied peaceable kingdom (Isaiah 11).  The apostle John shared with us his vision of that moment:

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever! (Rev. 5:13, NIV).

Note in that passage how John explicitly includes the entire biosphere: creatures in the sky, on the earth, under the earth, on the sea, and in the sea.  Imagine the scene: larks, dragonflies, rabbits, badgers, moles, trap-door spiders, Portugese men-of-war, sharks, and sea stars all attending to the Savior-Creator and singing!  Who says Narnia is fiction?  Remember that Aslan is the Lion of Judah! Think of the joy that will fill the Hundred-Acre Wood.  Tigger will jump higher than ever and Eeyore, then the eternal optimist, will “bouncy-bounce” with him.  Earth will be Perelandra, and Neverland will become Everland!

I feel that many of us may need to repent of our careless lack of camaraderie with the other creatures of the earth and of our lack of care for the marvelous handiwork of God that has faithfully given witness from the beginning of His divine nature and eternal power (Romans 1:20).  With our hearts and with our hands, let us work toward the anticipated restoration of the good Earth.

* I realize that there is some debate about whether or not the new earth is this old earth renewed or is an entirely different planet—indeed an entirely different cosmos.  There are many passages that indicate to me, however, that the “new earth” is this same planet .  This passage from the Revelation, however, convinces me of that.  Here we read of the fulfilled prophecy when God will make His dwelling among men and there is “no more curse.”  We know, of course, that this earth was cursed at the Fall; so if this were an entirely new planet the end of the curse would be meaningless.  And Romans 8:20-21 tells us that the cursed creation is going to be liberated:

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Acts 3:19-21 tells the story of Peter’s sermon on the Temple steps.  In his message he speaks of the “refreshing” and of the restoration of everything:  Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says that heaven and earth will be reunited:   In [our Lord Jesus Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ (Ephesians 1:8-10)

Finally in his letter to the church in Philippi Paul says all things were made by and sustained by Christ the Creator and will finally be reconciled to God: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Colossians 1:15-20).

When I add to these passages the prophecies of Isaiah about the final peaceable kingdom when Jesus comes again to reign on the Earth I have to conclude that his old earth will be redeemed, refreshed, restored, reunited, and reconciled to God the Father.  Why would all this need to be done if God simply plans to annihilate this earth and give us a new planet?  Why would the creatures look for the day of redemption in hope, if they are merely going to be annihilated with the earth?

For a further discussion of this, I recommend the book by my friend Mike Wittmer of Grand Rapids Theological Seminary: Heaven Is a Place On Earth.

Tiger photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddsnet/

God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. . . . He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish” (1 Kings 4: 29, 33).

Kodachrome Basin, Utah

Several years ago my son Dave and I were on a trail ride in one of southwestern Utah’s seemingly endless awe-inspiring canyons: Kodachrome Basin.  Riding along with us was a California family that included the grandparents, par­ents, and children.  Our trail boss, Bob, a good-humored, experienced wrangler, patiently put up with our amateur horseman­ship on the trail and even took time to give us the natural history of the land and the vegetation.  One of the unusual plants he pointed out was what he called “corral grass.”  Its unique feature is that it grows in circular patches and, as he explained, by making a ring of tight growth, it pro­tects its root space from other encroaching plants.  When Bob finished his explanation, the grand­father, who had been matching wits with the trail boss, quipped, “Yes, but what’s it good for?”  And we all chuckled.

As the horses plodded on toward the next spectacular vista, I thought about the grandfa­ther’s comment:  While I knew it was meant to be funny, almost unconsciously it influ­enced three gen­erations to continue thinking, like the majority of the Western world, that natural things have little value unless we can identify some practical human use for them.  If they have no obvious value for me or for mankind in general, they are mere curiosities—not worth much, if anything.

Ecological studies, however, are providing overwhelming evidence that the survival of the earth’s ecosystems depends upon a vast diversity of plants and animals that interdepen­dently maintain life.  Living things once considered worthless, or even harmful, are now known to be vi­tal ingredients in the recipe for a healthy environment.

In fact, Christians can declare without fear of contradiction, “God believes in biodiver­sity.”  How else can we interpret the account of Noah’s ark?  Since God created the earth with astounding diversity, we can logically conclude that He in­tended for that biodi­versity to continue.  All of us who claim the authority of the Bible as the Word of God should be willing to accept biodiversity as a basic fact of creation.  Further, I believe we have a responsibility to honor all things created because God has reasons that we have no knowledge of.  When we scoff at the attempts of scientists to preserve species, could we also be scorning our Creator?

We also have an important statement in Scripture about biodiversity and the place of human utility in relationship to what God  has created in Genesis 2:9: “The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.”  Here there is biodiversity in “all kinds of trees,” and the beauty of the trees is mentioned before their utility.

Hyssop in the rocks

I feel it’s wise for us to gain knowledge of all things God created.  If you are like me in having a long history of Bible study, church going, and Sunday School, you no doubt assumed that Solomon’s wisdom pretty much had to do with social systems, government, history, economics, interpersonal relationships, and general science.  It came as a surprise to me when rereading the story of Solomon that he was also a botanist, zoologist, ornithologist, herpetologist, and ichthyologist.

So, anonymous California grandfather, if you want to match wits with Solomon, you’ll probably have to care more for such things as hyssop—and corral grass.

One of the areas of Bible study that does not seem to get much attention from Bible scholars and teachers is its vast references to animals, birds, trees, and other plants.  That’s why I really enjoy the site developed by my friend Lytton Musselman, head of the botany department at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia: his Bible Plants site.  Lytton has also written a great reference book that’s just the right size to carry with your Bible: Figs, Dates, Laurel, and Myrrh: Plants of the Bible and Quran. Timber Press

What is the price of two sparrows–one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it (Matthew 10:29 New Living Translation).

As a kid, I was a wanton killer of non-human creatures [wanton meaning "lacking reason or provocation"].  I grew up in a town where if a critter had fins, fur, feathers or four or more feet, it was fair game.  I got my first BB-gun when I was about 10—a Daisy Red Ryder at that!  One of my later BB-guns had 110 notches on it before it wore out (the notches indicating the number of birds I had killed with it).

I even continued into adulthood with little regard especially for creatures conveniently labeled as “vermin.”  Often frustrated with an unsuccessful day hunting “game,” I would look for something else to kill: porcupines, chipmunks, red squirrels, or even blue jays (which were actually protected by law).  [See under "Articles" my story "Conversion of the Birdslayer," ]

I realize now that my behavior was at the very least unsportsmanlike.  Perhaps becoming a nature writer and a creation-care advocate was my Creator’s way of compelling me to make amends for my heartless deeds!  Isn’t it something how we can justify such behavior so easily by labeling our targets—which are His creatures—vermin, pests, dirty, trash—even game?  When we take a bead on any of His creatures with the intention of killing it, might it not be wise to remember that God’s eye is on that creature—and on us?  Should that not at least compel us to ask, “Do I have a God-blessed reason to take this creature’s life under His watchful care?”  Or at least, “Do I have a steward’s reason for killing this animal?”  There are biblically sound reasons for killing animals, but how often do we take the time to actually think about it that carefully.

I’m a different person now as a grandfather—my having been reminded of the fact that my heavenly Father notes the fall of even the most humble of birds.  I encourage my grandchildren to avoid doing what I did as a kid.  Our oldest granddaughter is a master bug catcher, and not yet having been stung, she boldly captures bees with a jar and lid—even the big bumble bees.  But I let her know how much I like it when she releases them and doesn’t let them die.  I tell the grandkids this: “God has made each creature with specific work to do—work that is vital to nature’s processes and balance.  We have our work and they have their work.  So unless they are harming you or threatening to harm you, let them do what God made them for.”

In his landmark book Pollution and the Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology (Tyndale House: 1970, p.76), Francis Schaeffer spoke about the reason for such respect for God’s non-human creatures [He was writing this at the end of the sixties]:

The hippies are right in their desire to be close to nature, even walking in bare feet in order to feel it.  But they have no sufficient philosophy, and so it drifts into pantheism and soon becomes ugly.  But Christians, who should understand the creation principle, have a reason for respecting nature, and when they do, it results in benefits to man.  Let us be clear: it is not just a pragmatic attitude; there is a basis for it.  We treat it with respect because God made it.  When an orthodox, evangelical Christian mistreats or is insensible to nature, at that point he is more wrong than the hippie who has no real basis for his feeling for nature and yet senses that man and nature should have relationship beyond that of spoiler and spoiled.  You may, or may not, want to walk barefoot to feel close to nature, but as a Christian what relationship have you thought of and practiced toward nature as your fellow creature over the last ten years.

The emphasis in that quote was Schaeffer’s—and probably a good emphasis for followers of Christ the Creator today.

His Eye Is On the Sparrow

I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” (Rom. 8:19-25, NIV).

Having grown up in a Christian home, having gone to a Christian university, having taught in Christian colleges, and being familiar with the Bible from toddlerhood, I have no idea how I missed understanding for so long the truth found in this passage from Paul’s letter to the church in Rome: the creation itself, in its own non-human nature, looks forward to the coming of Christ just like we do.  In his paraphrase of this passage, J. B. Phillips elaborates on just how much creation looks forward to the Consummation: “The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own.” 

But reflective of Adam’s task to understand, care for, and name the animals, note that the creation is looking expectantly for something from us: it is eager to so see us “coming into [our] own.”  Nature has been suffering under God’s righteous, man-disciplining curse (Genesis 3:13-19) and under the abuse of sinful mankind and it is looking forward to our being sinless, Eden-like stewards once again.  Simply said, we are not what we should be, and nature knows it.  Every time animals flee from me or try to attack me out of perceived self-defense when I mean them no harm, I hurt.  Don’t you?  And when wild animals do take the risk to venture close, I thrill at being trusted. 

Eden resides down deep in us—and in the animals.  O how I long for that day when things will be even better than Eden and trust returns between us and the creatures.   Margaret Clarkson’s poem “Expectation” from her poetry collection All Nature Sings, expresses this longing in a way that has long touched my soul:

Expectation

This glowing dawn,
all nature stands on tiptoe
waiting
drenched in wonder.

Grasses nod
soft air breathes
leaves sigh
petals stir
waters ripple
mists rise.

Birds loose shining shafts of song.

High in the blue
bright wings drift
hover and dart.

By fragrant brier
furred bodies freeze
nostrils twitch
whiskers quiver and stiffen
sharp eyes glance
sure paws flash.

Shimmering insects flit and fall.

On dewy thorn
the patient spider weaves
her jeweled web.

In weedy depths
of still green waters
shadowy forms gleam
silently gliding.

Breezes freshen
the morning quickens.

Washed in new gold
all nature waits on tiptoe
watching
wordlessly questing:

“Is this the day?
will it be soon,
the hour of earth’s redemption,
Life’s return?”