Wonder Of Creation friends! 

To help us improve what we are doing with WOC, we’d like to survey our readers. 

Would you take a moment to consider these questions and give us some feedback?  (Don’t feel compelled to answer them all.)  You can respond by using the comments box on this post.  Since this is a personal survey, your comments will not appear online; so you can be as frank as you wish to be.  They will be read only by me and our Web team. 

Questions: 

1.  Do you enjoy the content?  If not, what changes would you like to see?
2.  What new content would you enjoy reading and/or viewing?
3.  Do you like the photo content?  If not, what would you like to see different?
4.  Is there anything else you’d like to share to help us in our planning?
5.  Would you be interested in viewing short video clips on the site?
6.  Would you be interested in my adding an informal journal of my nature observations (more like the earlier blog format)? 
7.  Are there any other creation-related topics you’d like to see discussed?

Thanks, 

Dean Ohlman

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/

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. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:19-28). [emphasis mine.]

As much as I am captivated by nature, it never fulfills me. Though I find delight in the natural world, I’m also filled at times with sadness—a spiritual sadness caused by a lingering sense that something is missing—something is wrong. Our material world ultimately does not satisfy my soul, which often feels trapped within it.

The material realm in which we live and move and have our being has a veil that stands between it and the Glory that transcends it. The veil consists of these elements: Humanity’s lost access to Eden and the intimacy Adam had with the Creator, a sin nature that has warped our perceptions, spiritual dark forces that have bound the majority of mankind, and the curse that God placed on the earth to discipline us for our rebellion.  So the creation groans, you and I groan, and the life-giving Spirit who attended the creation and witnessed the glory of Eden groans.  There is a universal groan rising from the entire material creation into the ears of God.

Further, I’m saddened by the realization that those who have not been born from above are incapable of perceiving the things revealed to the spirits of followers of Christ by the Holy Spirit.

The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14).

And still beyond that is the action of God to eventually blind those who deliberately reject their inborn knowledge of Him:

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21).

Hence when unbelievers adamantly claim to see no evidence of God in the natural world, they are speaking the truth. For followers of Christ to argue with them is fruitless. By God’s grace, through the Spirit and the Word, we are able to discern truth about the realms beyond the material world that unbelievers are not able to discern. However, since God “is not willing that any should perish,” unbelievers can, by turning to Christ, be given the grace to see what they could not previously see—which should motivate us in our evangelism.

We can’t forget, though, that even believers are still operating and living under the same clouds that obscure what our souls long for—lost access to paradise, the sin nature, the spiritual forces of darkness, and God’s curse on the earth. In addition, we are still confined, in this life, to the realm of the mortal. This will not always be the case, however. We will one day obtain an incorruptible body just like that of Jesus Christ, which will be capable of moving about freely in and between both the spiritual and the material realms. In the days after Jesus arose from the grave, dozens, if not hundreds, of witnesses, saw Jesus in such a body. [Read 1 Corinthians 15:35ff.]

But until then “we see through a glass darkly.” Hence we know that we’re missing or are not seeing clearly many aspects of reality that will one day make us complete. So when we experience our present natural world, we have a degree of sadness and a longing for Eden. Paul expresses that fact profoundly in the passage above

So there’s a universal groan that’s more felt than heard throughout the cosmos: a groaning non-human creation, a groaning body of believers, and a groaning Holy Spirit that labor for and long for the restoration of Paradise—the coming Kingdom of Peace when the spiritual and material realms will again be one.

So, oft sad soul, be encouraged, and let your heart sing in anticipation with Isaac Watts:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.

 

Illustrations from the English poet and artist William Blake found at this website. 
Blake is probably best known today for his poem “The Lamb”:

Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed,
By the stream and o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee.
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and He is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!

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