It seems to me that when we consider the proper treatment of animals we should speak of man’s responsibilities as steward rather than to speak of the rights of animals. It’s far easier for me to ignore the rights of others than it is to ignore my personal conviction that I have God-given responsibilities toward others. Since the Bible does not really mention rights in regard to animals, I feel it’s much more important for us to consider what the Bible means when it says we are to be in dominion over the earth and its other creatures. First we need to keep in mind that the animals, like the remainder of the creation, belong to God; and it is a major responsibility for me to do with and for them what is right in God’s eyes.

Many non-Christian animal-rights activists react strongly against the biblical idea that man has a superior position in respect to the animals—thinking that such a belief leads to human arrogance and to our frequent ill treatment of the other creatures who share this earth with us. But like so many other truths, it is not the belief that’s the problem; it’s how we act in reference to that belief. While Christianity does not con­done groundless sentimentality and the granting of personhood to animals, it does speak consistently of man’s responsibilities regarding them. Animals are creatures of God under the care of God and provided for by the natural systems God created, but they are also at our mercy—especially now that we have the technology to use, abuse, and even drive many of them to extinction.

In reality, humanity’s position of superiority should humble us; because for all our superiority, we are the ones who have sinned and continue to sin—not the animals. It is human sin that has created the havoc in the world that the animals must occupy (Romans 8:18-21). Thus superiority has, in sin, shown its potential to be a curse. Only in humble confession and submission before a holy God can we truly carry out the task of stewardship—the primary responsibility that goes hand-in-hand with our endowment of authority in the created order. As in all other relationships, prideful superiority has no place in man’s relationship to the world of animals.

In his very thorough theological examination of this question, Richard Bauckham reflects on what Francis of Assisi believed:

Francis’s principle (to be expressed most fully and beautifully at the end of his life in “The Canticle of Brother Son“) was that because the ‘creatures minister to our needs every day,’ and ‘without them we could not live,’ therefore we should appreciate them and praise God for them.  Thus the theme of human dominion is understood theocentrically [God-centered] rather than anthropocentrically [man-centered].  The creatures’ service of humanity is properly received only as cause for praise and thankfulness to God.  Therefore human dominion over the creatures becomes for Francis primarily a matter of dependence on the creatures, with whom humanity shares a common dependence on the Creator.  The creatures on whose service we depend are not to be exploited, but to be treated with brotherly/sisterly respect and consideration.  [Living With Other Creatures: Green Exegesis and Theology, p39; Richard Bauckham].

This, of course, raises a host of question about animals used for food and food production.  I believe each of us is required to ask those questions.  It is not the purpose of this website to advocate for particular policies and practices in this arena; there is a lot of information out there.  But I have to confess that my own spirit is greatly disquieted about my lack of determined and decisive behavior regarding how food animals are treated.  Do we allow them to praise their Creator by letting them live out their lives in keeping with their God-given nature?

KEY SCRIPTURE:
You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain (Deut. 25:4).

In his thought-provoking journal, John Woolman spoke about the sad state of domestic fowl aboard a ship he was taking to England.  I believe his message and reflection are important for us today:

In observing their dull appearance at sea, and the pining sickness of some of them, I often remembered the Fountain of goodness, who gave being to all creatures, and whose love extends to caring for the sparrows. I believe where the love of God is verily perfected, and the true spirit of government watchfully attended to, a tenderness towards all creatures made subject to us will be experienced, and a care felt in us that we do not lessen that sweetness of life in the animal creation which the great Creator intends for them under our government.

[Click on the Lancaster County photos to see them larger.  Click the back arrow to return to this site.]

Let me share a delight with you: I’m reading Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer Prize novel Gilead. The novel is written as a memoire of an aging pastor to his seven-year-old son (offspring of a late second marriage—his first wife having died in childbirth). The Pastor, John Ames, has been diagnosed with a heart disease that could take his life at any moment; so he wants to give his young son some of his history and his life lessons from years in the ministry.

The book is a celebration of earthly existence with all its delights and mysteries—and even its sorrows, sorrows seasoned with grace, bathed in prayer, and lightened by the hope of heaven. Woven with humor and regret, guilt and goodness, it should touch the soul of every follower of Christ. One incident that Reverend John recalls is a moment in childhood when he and his best buddy (who also became a minister) baptized a new litter of barn cats. His description of using the Congregational form of baptism by “sprinkling” has to make you chuckle—as well as his comment about his friend who thought they should have been totally immersed: “Those cats should have been grateful I was not [a Baptist].”

When he tells his minister father what he did, he gets a reprimand: “The Sacraments must always be treated and regarded with the greatest respect.” John goes on:

We did respect the Sacraments, but we thought the whole world of those cats. I got his meaning, though, and I did no more baptizing until I was ordained. . . . I still remember how those warm little brows felt under the palm of my hand. Everyone has petted a cat, but to touch one like that, with the pure intention of blessing it, is a very different thing. It stays in your mind. For years we would ponder what, from a cosmic viewpoint, we had done to them. It still seems to be a real question. There is a reality in blessing, which I take baptism to be, primarily. It doesn’t enhance sacredness, but it acknowledges it, and there is a power in that. I have felt it pass through me, so to speak. The sensation is of really knowing a creature. I mean really feeling its mysterious life and your mysterious life at the same time. [Kitten image source]

John continues with some thoughts about water in the rite of baptism by quoting Ludwig Feuerbach, a famous atheist who nonetheless had a respect for many of the joyful aspects of religion:

Water is the purest, clearest of liquids in virtue of this: its natural character is the image of the spotless nature of the Divine Spirit. In short, water has a significance in itself, as water; it is on account of its natural quality that it is consecrated and selected as the vehicle of the Holy Spirit. So far there lies at the foundation of Baptism a beautiful, profound natural significance.”

KEY SCRIPTURE:
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy (Psalm 65:8).

This website is in large part a similar celebration of the sacred intertwined with material.  RBC’s Discovery Series includes five booklets on celebrating God’s natural handiwork: the broad celebration of the wonder of creation plus specific elements of creation: water, trees, soil, and wilderness. You can actually read these booklets online at this link, and you can obtain print copies of them to share with others or even to tuck into a backpack for trail side devotions.

It was in preparation for this post that I first saw the amazing parallel between Psalm 148:1-6, 11-13 and  Revelation 5:5:11-13.  Each passage offers hymns of praise to the Creator—the Psalm written almost a thousand years before the first coming of Messiah and the Revelation envisioning a celebration in heaven as Messiah (“the Lamb who was slain”) is honored before His coming back to earth to reign forever as Lord of the universe.

KEY SCRIPTURE:
Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise Him in the heights above. Praise Him, all his angels, praise Him, all His heavenly hosts. Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you shining stars. Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created. He set them in place for ever and ever; He gave a decree that will never pass away.

Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maidens, old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens (Psalm 148:1-6, 11-13).

I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

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!” (Revelation 5:11-13)

Each passage also has a simple two-part structure:  First the beings of heaven (who have always been intimate with the Creator/Savior) offer up their praise.  Then the creatures of earth—elements, animals, and people (who have often spurned intimacy with their Creator/Savior)—offer their praise.  Central to it all is the recognition that the Lord is above both heaven and earth.

But how do the cosmic elements and animals praise their Creator?  Theological tradition says they do it by carrying out their God-given functions within the creation.  That’s probably true; but is that all the truth?  In the Revelation passage we see more than mere utility in the non-human creation.  There we see content and some level of consciousness in nature.  By all appearances, all things created have within their different natures some capacity to respond to their Creator.  This was also alluded to by the apostle Paul: “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” (Romans 8:19-21).

There is expectation and hope in the non-human creation, expectation and hope tied directly to people—those who were made to be creation’s stewards, guardians, rulers, and keepers.  Forty years ago, Francis Schaeffer encouraged us to be involved in a “substantial healing” of all the rifts created by the Fall—including the rift between people and nature.  How have we been doing?

For those who are familiar with The Chronicles of Narnia and The Cosmic Trilogy, it does not come as a surprise to understand that Scripture in many ways hints at the reality behind these works of fiction so artfully crafted by C. S. Lewis (and more complexly by Tolkein): the evil and the good of human behavior are tied directly to the state and temporary fate of the creation.  Creation’s ultimate fate, however, awaits the coming again of Messiah, who will ensure that justice once again reigns on earth—justice not only for those people have given themselves faithfully to the cause of love, goodness, and stewardship through the power of the Holy Spirit and have accepted the atoning sacrifice of the “Lamb who was slain,” but justice for all His creatures who have suffered at the hand of those who have not been given to love, goodness, and faithful stewardship.

Take courage, His people.  Take courage, His suffering creatures.  As the excited hosts of heaven already know, justice and reconciliation is on the way!  (Colossians 1:20)

[You may want to read a PDF article on this website related to this devotional: The Lion, the Curse, and the Evangelical.]

Currently lost in my files is a print of a painting that depicts Jesus in the arms of Mary with a small bird perched on His finger. That and this etching in which it seems that Jesus is instructing Mary on the merits of a rose were apparent artistic attempts to link Jesus the infant Savior to Jesus the loving Creator. The intent of this artwork is a good reminder for us as we consider the Christ of Christmas, God in human flesh.

Think of the earthly, material trappings that surrounded the birth of Jesus: the humble stable; the domestic animals; the shepherds sent by the angels from the fields where youthful David used to tend sheep and where Ruth, the Moabite ancestress of Jesus, caught the attention of Boaz; the glowing pointer in the heavens; and the rough linen swaddling cloth beaten from the flax stalks from the nearby hillsides. All of these give significance to the physical nature of Jesus and His birth that I feel we spiritualize far more than we should.

The creation Jesus entered is the creation He made, is the creation in which we live, is the creation John Muir​ loved, is the creation that groans under the heavy hand of sinful humanity, is the creation to which He will return, is the creation that He will redeem and reconcile to His Father, is the creation that in ways beyond imagination redeemed mankind will remain stewards of and continue to get sustenance from, and is the creation that will be blessed with the peace promised by the reign of Messiah whom we celebrate so joyously in the prophecies of Isaiah and in the music of George Frederick Handel.

Not surprisingly, it’s also the music of Handel that graces the poetry of hymn-writer Isaac Watts​ in one of Christianity’s Christmas favorites: “Joy to the World.”  In the carol we hear the prophecies of Isaiah and John of the Revelation repeated: “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” (Revelation 22:1-3).  Keep in mind that while we sing this carol to celebrate Jesus’ first advent, it is written about His second advent—after which the creation will once again become the “peaceable kingdom” pictured by Isaiah (chapters 11 & 65). [Wolf and lambs photo source]

May these wonderful Scripture passages grace our Christmas and rekindle not only hope for our own redemption, but also fill us with joy in recognizing that Jesus will not abandon His creation. It too has hope.  Someday, in fact, “all creatures here below” will praise their Creator and Savior along with us all!

Revelation 5:9-13 They sang a new song: “You [Jesus] are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” 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!”

John 1: 1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

Hebrews 1:1-3 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.  The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Colossians 1:15-20   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.

Romans 8:19-23   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.

So the “Good News” promises grace not only to redeemed people, but to the redeemed creation as well—the wonders of which will never cease to amaze us.

I used to be a member of the Audubon Society—in large part in order to receive the always enjoyable Audubon magazine.  My membership, of course, also gave me access to the local society meetings, which I attended for a while.  But, to tell the truth, I always left those meetings with a feeling of sadness.  I didn’t attend long enough to really develop any significant personal relationships with other members, but the impression I received was that few, if any, were followers of Christ.  All seemed to be thoroughgoing naturalists in the philosophical meaning of that word.  Nature provided them with their highest source of joy and practically functioned as their god.  And when speakers would come and talk of the decline of this or that bird species or the continuing degradation of the natural world created by careless people, gloom settled on everyone.

If nature is the highest good and you believe that nature is all there is, it’s easy to understand why general depression presses down on you.  If there is no hope beyond the material world we live in, the degradation of the earth leads to the degradation of hope.  Here’s how C. S. Lewis explained it at the conclusion of chapter nine in his book Miracles:

Only Supernaturalists really see Nature.  You must go a little away from her, and then turn around and look back.  Then at last the true landscape will become visible.  You must have tasted, however briefly, the pure water from beyond the world before you can be distinctly conscious of the hot, salty tang of Nature’s current.  To treat her as God, or as Everything, is to lose the whole pith and pleasure of her.

Come out, look back, and then you will see: this astonishing cataract of bears, babies, and bananas [and birds]; this immoderate deluge of atoms, orchids, oranges, cancers, fleas, gases, tornadoes and toads.  How could you ever have thought this was the ultimate reality?  How could you ever have thought that it was merely a stage-set for the moral drama of men and women?  She is herself.  Offer her neither worship nor contempt.  Meet her and know her.

If we are immortal, and if she is doomed (as scientists tell us) to run down and die, we shall miss this half-shy and half-flamboyant creature, this ogress, this [saucy girl], this incorrigible fairy, this dumb witch.  But the theologians tell us that she, like ourselves, is to be redeemed.  The ‘vanity’ to which she was subjected was her disease, not her essence.  She will be cursed in character: not tamed (Heaven forbid) nor sterilized.  We shall still be able to recognize our old enemy, friend, playfellow and foster mother, so perfected as to be not less, but more, herself.  And that will be a merry meeting.
[Linda Elksnin painting]

That is the joy of hope that resides in the heart of those who serve and love the true and living God.  So we are indeed saddened to see the creation degraded and abused and species formed by the design and power of the Creator driven into extinction by our carelessness, greed, and over-consumption.  But because we know the Creator and we know the hope that even nature has for its redemption and renewal in the coming Kingdom, that sadness ought to act as a motivation for us to once again become the stewards of creation we were intended to be.

KEY SCRIPTURE:
The creation waits in eager expectation for the children 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 freedom and glory 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 to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved (Romans 8:19-24).