Our Earth Is Groaning!!!
And it's coz of us - but not the way you think....
Fires and flood rage, earthquakes shake violently…all over the world. Famines come and go with such regularity that for the most part we ignore them now. Forests are being cut down all in the name of progress, never-ending piles of rubbish grow in dumps around the world. The media continues to tell us what we ‘NEED’ to purchase (and then dispose of shortly after so we can buy some more). The weather is not acting normal (and there is a bunch or reasons for that, which I won’t be discussing in this post - perhaps another one in the future - but I can tell you cow farts and power stations are not the issue).
There is one huge reason why it seems as if the earth is turning inside out.
SIN!!!!
Namely the ongoing sin of humanity…Because of our sinful nature most (but not all) humans tend to flow into several camps.
The first group, worships creation in the form of the mother goddess (Gaia, and all her different iterations around the world), and sees that their function is to same the Earth from all of humanity, because humanity has become the virus that destroys life as we know it - their views draw upon humanist ideals that portray humanity as the saviour of the Earth, whilst at the same time promoting views that we should be exterminated so that life can flourish on Earth without us. Their perspective is illogical at the very least and is full blown pagan idolatry at its worst.
The second group are those people who see the Earth and all it holds as a giant grocery store and we can go and take whatever we want, however we want, whenever we want. This perspective drips greed and power, and often leads to the exploitation of people in the search for profit. This position is also illogical in its foundations, as all things get used up, and are irrevocably changed in their use. It trades natural beauty for economic and social convenience and expediency. it too is a form of idolatry, as the focus on wealth becomes people’s god.
The third group, whilst somewhat more centralised in their thoughts and actions still turns good intensions into sinful, self-serving actions and ideologies. This group tries to balance out the perspectives of both the previous two groups. it maintains that the Earth is inherently valuable enough to look after and to steward well, all the while acknowledging that humanity has specific needs it must meet, and much of those are driven by natural resources. The problem with this group is that in order to try to maintain the balance they do neither very well, and are beset by frameworks that are vague and laborious at best.
All lead to a form of tyranny - be it technocratic, militaristic, economic and/or political. All impact upon God’s creation. How can I say that?
Well all of them are grounded in the sin-soaked state that humanity exists in. Sin will always corrupt, and people’s greed and desires for power will always supercede good intentions.
So, what does the Bible have to say about the effects of sin on creation? A lot actually.
Genesis is the first book of the Bible and it is in the third chapter that we see the first examples of the effects of sin on nature. Genesis 3:17-19 tells us that “And to the man he said, ‘Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”
It is clear that Adam and Eve’s sin of disobedience and betrayal impacted the rest of creation. This is in part due to the fact that they were given ‘rule over creation’ by God (Genesis 1).
Because they had turned their back on God’s will for their lives to chase after the elusive deceitful promises of the Devil - the rest of creation was cursed, because now humanity had to live amongst it, and wherever they went - their sinful nature followed them.
This curse will only be removed and overturned during the rule of Jesus on Earth, as we will see from Revelation 21.
As we move further into the Old Testament we find the Prophet Isaiah discussing the same issue where in Isaiah 24:5 it is noted that… “The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted God’s instructions, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant.”
The prophet Isaiah is speaking about the ongoing and future suffering the Earth experiences because of humanities sins.
When he says “The earth suffers” - note that just by adding the ‘s’ onto that world we see that it is a continuing precess. It does not mean ‘suffered’ which is past tense, and it is not ‘will suffer’ which is future tense - but ‘suffers’ which is present and ongoing.
And it suffers because of “the sins of its people” - that is everyone, not a single nation or tribe or group of people, but everyone. We are all adding to the suffering that the Earth experiences by our own sins and ongoing sinful nature.
How have people sinned? - by twisting God’s instructions, by violating his laws and by breaking their end of the covenant.
Jesus came to restore what was broken. His death and resurrection provides us humans with that hope and salvation. However, creation must wait till the fulness of time to be restored, redeemed and recreated to what God has planned.
Now we’ll move into the New Testament and have a look at the book of Romans, where Paul is teaching the believers there with sound doctrine. Paul informs the believers that creation has been negatively affected by humanities ongoing sinfulness.
Romans 8:19-23 informs us that…"For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.”
Just like we do - creation waits eagerly for the return and rule of Jesus Christ.
Why? Because it was subjected to the curse at the time of Adam and Eve’s fall. And also because as we just learnt from Isaiah, it continues to suffer because of our sinfulness.
It groans as if in labour - which means that the intensity of its pain and its struggle is going to increase and increase and increase as the time approaches for Jesus’ return.
We can see this today as the number of earthquakes, flood, fires, massive storms and the like are all occurring around the world. In effect they are the evidences of our combined, collective sin. The spiritual effects of sin are playing out in the physical realm of God’s creation.
Just as sin corrupts and tears apart the individual who constantly lives within its darkened foundations - it to tears apart creation in Satan’s attempt to destroy the work of God.
To finish this journey let’s turn to the final book of the Bible, Revelation. In Chapter 21 of Revelation we see that upon the final return of Jesus (and after his 1000 year reign - and final destruction of Satan and evil) to the Earth that a new Heaven and new Earth are created. Revelation 21:1 says “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.” This new creation facilitates the arrival of the “New Jerusalem”. The old ‘laws’ of nature no longer apply, for no sun or moon is needed to light the day/night because ‘The Lamb” Jesus will provide the light to the world (Rev 21:23).
Jesus will correct the effects of sin, not only within humanity, but also creation in general. This redemption and recreation of an Eden-like environment for humanity to exist in for eternity. And at the centre of that new Earth is the full presence of God, just like Adam and Eve experienced in the Garden of Eden.
Oh how we all yearn for that day.
May the Lord Almighty give you strength and endurance as we eagerly wait for Jesus’ soon-coming return.