Theme: Welfare of Ecosystem
Text: Romans 8:18-22
Introduction:
Romans 8:18-25 discusses the place of suffering in the lives of God's people. A parallel experience shared between creation and the children of God. All created beings animate and inanimate are waiting for the revelation of God (Romans 8: 18-19), They are subjected to suffer much by the sin of man are introduced by a rhetorical figure, as waiting for deliverance and restoration to their Paradisiacal estate(Romans 8: 20-21), so till date, they are groaning (Romans 8:22).
Dear friends, today the earth is full of viruses of all kinds. The microscopic nano micro-organisms are threatening the very existence of the human race. They are unfriendly too. COVID-19 has become a deadly disease. Earlier we were afraid of safe return to home because of the speedy vehicles and friction of natural laws, I mean accidents, but today, we are uncertain of one more thing, i.e., healthy return to home.
The fear has entrapped humanity. Fear of touching one another, fear of sitting in any place. COVID-19 made all of us are untouchables within homes and offices. Therefore the whole ‘Creation waits with eager for the revelation of the sons of God to be revealed. So Paul writes ‘the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time’ (Romans 8:22).
I would like to bring out in this passage three principles for peaceful coexistence with God’s creation in the post-COVID-19 era concerning some important Bible verses:
1. Till the Earth
2. Fill the Earth
3. Still the Earth
God has commanded the first family in Garden of Eden to ‘Till the earth’, then he commanded the first family after the flood ‘to Fill the earth’, Finally the Bride of Christ, the Church after the resurrection was commanded ‘to Still the earth’.
1. TILL THE EARTH – Genesis 2:15-20
God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). Earth: The word ‘Earth’ means the nature, the ground, the soil, all organic and inorganic materials, all living and non-living elements on the globe. Earth is the only astronomical object to harbour life. its spherical form conjuncts with other planets. Bible refers to Earth plainly to the inhabited globe. From the beginning of creation, Earth is an active partner with humanity. God created Adam from Adamah. Adam means ‘human being’. Adamah means ‘ground or earth’ (Genesis 2:7). The wordplay by the author of Genesis also implies the connectivity between the Human Race and other beings on the earth. God created Adam and placed him in the garden of Eden and gave him responsibility “to Till the Land.”
The word ‘la’avod’ in Genesis 2:15 is translated by many scholars with different English words, such as, “to Dress it and Keep it”(KJV), ‘to cultivate and keep it”( Amplified Bible), “to work it and watch over it”(Complete SB), ‘ to cultivate and care for it’ (Complete Jewish Bible), ‘to take care of it and to look after it’ (Contemporary English Version), ‘to till it and look after it’ (Expanded Bible & Orthodox Jewish Bible), ‘to work the soil and to take care of the garden’(Easy to Read Version), ‘to cultivate it and guard it’(Good News Bible). The names of God Bible puts the verse as ‘Then Yahweh Elohim took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to farm the land and to take care of it’. All of them bring very clearly one understanding is that God gave the Earth to Human race to TILL it and keep it safe.
The creation was handed over to human beings to take care of it. The responsibility was laid upon human beings to handle it carefully, to give an account of it to God. We are not owners of the creation but only workers and labourers. Also Co-governors of entire creation with God. The command is to keep them under control and not to misuse them (Genesis 1:26-27). The Hebrew word ‘Kabash’ was translated as ‘subdue’ and ‘rada’ was translated as ‘dominion’. The ruling does not give the power to destroy but to maintain harmony and prosperity.
Subdue and dominion are to be understood in terms of caring and nurturing and not exploiting. It is like a shepherd who cares for, tends of and feeds on the sheep, upholding the principles of law and justice and promoting the peace and prosperity for all subjects. They were allowed to enjoy but not to destroy. We are uniquely accountable and answerable to God. Whereas today, man has tilled the land to the extent of killing the earth by deforestation, environmental ruins, endangering of various species of organisms and displacement of entire creation (Bhushanam, Earth Bible Sermons).
All creatures have intrinsic value and worth. Every creature is important whether it is small or big, whether it is significant or insignificant for us. I come from a farmer family, I am very familiar with farming. Let me explain the intrinsic value of Snakes. Snakes are friends of farmers like frogs, and earthworms, etc., But, whenever young people saw the snakes they used to kill them out of fear. In the eco-system snakes play a very vital role. Snakes eat rats and Frogs, frogs eat mosquitos. Then we live a disease-free life. A simple misunderstanding leads to extinction of one specie from the earth.
I would like to cite one more example to emphasis the intrinsic value of the plants. While I was involving in the Tsunami Response Program in the Andaman Islands, I heard and saw the usage of Mangroves. Wherever the Mangroves were found on the seashores, those places were spree from the attacks of Tsunami. So God has created everything with purpose and value. Last week Mr Anand Joshua also spoke on the importance of Birds from the perspective of Economical welfare from the study of Sluggard and Ants found in Proverbs 6:5-8. The biodiversity is God’s plan of life (Mathew Koshy, Earth Bible Sermons, 2015). So Psalm 104:24, 30 says ‘O Lord, in wisdom you created all of them.’
The failure to understand the intrinsic value of each one brought us to the extremity of COVID-19. So, today the creation cries, land laments, wild animal weeps and sea livings are in sorrows, in one word the whole creation wails. The entire universe groaning because of the evils of men. Man has failed to take care of the land. Rupturing the land for their benefits. Swindling the resources and out of greed, they had multiplied the yielding for their short benefits. So, the earth is longing for her redemption. The human rebellion leads to unquestionable violence on one another, raps on the land have uncontrolled blunders on handling the crisis and swallowing the resources. It is like killing the ‘Golden Goose’. The over greedy let the man manipulate everything for his sophisticated advantages. So, let us change our attitude towards resources and creation. Let us treat them with dignity and honour. Now, shall we move on to the second principle of co-existence ‘Fill the Earth’?
1. FILL THE EARTH – Genesis 9:1-3
After the flood, Noah entered into an empty world. God repeated the same mandate to Noah which he had made with Adam. He told him to FILL the Earth (Genesis 1:28 & Genesis 9:1-3). He commanded them to increase their race on the earth. Be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth. By multiplying they will be perpetuated upon the earth.
Filling the earth not only to populate but also means live with the earth. Live with shalom. God created the world out of nothing ‘ex nihilo’. God created everything by WORD so that he can relate to them by word. Even his mere look can change the taste of water into wine as in the miracle of Jesus at Cana of Galilee (John 2:7-8). Psalm 33:6,9 declares, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made by his breath all its hosts…” We fill the earth with love, care, compassion and communication with one another. We need to love the earth, animals, plants and all that God has created for us. Fill the earth with plantations, forestations.
We must dwell with the creation as Jesus did with us through his incarnation. ‘The word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ (John 1:14). Jesus often used the illustrations from Nature while teaching the kingdom of God and higher values. He used the birds of the Air, Lillis of valleys, grass of fields, fish of seas and soil of the Fields to communicate the heavenly wisdom and knowledge (Matthew 6:28-29, Matthew 13). Bible has kept so many examples for us to learn from nature.
Francis of Assisi, a patron saint of ecology, was a nature lover. He used to speak with birds and many animals. In his famous Hymn, ‘the Canticle of the Sun’ He wrote ‘my brother Sun, my sister Moon, my Brothers Wind and Air…’ The rivers in Garden of Eden found in Genesis 2 as life-giving rivers or forces again reappearing in Revelation 22 in different form as the river flowing from the throne of God feeding the trees of life (David Reichardt, Earth Bible Sermons).
Recent years we have experienced the human-animal conflicts all over the world. Hollywood is full of conflict films and power struggle films between human-animal world. The cinematic serials are for commercial purposes yet that is the reality for many centuries. Animals like Elephants, Bear, Boar, Leopard and Bison often attack the human race in many parts of the world. The major reason for the attack is the human interferences on animal corridors. The human greed and exploitation with selfish motives and accumulation of land areas more than the allotted areas by God have brought deep wounds to earth and animals finally all are living with curses (Isaiah 24:3-6).
Human activity always brings negative chain-link effects on all creation. Disobedience of Adam and Eve brought a curse on the Land to produce thorns and thistles (Genesis 3:17-18). But today, Christians are anthropocentric (Adam Centred) and never Adamah centric. The good order of creation brought goodness and coordination between creations. Good order means there is a proper function for everything to relate with one another. Sun for the day, the moon for the night, plants to promulgate, animals to propagate according to their species for the benefit of another (Graeme Goldsworthy, According to Plan). But today the church failed to promote the welfare of the ecological system. we are more worried about life after death at the expense of life on the earth. Till the Lord returns, it is our responsibility to bring peace to the Creation.
The invitation for all of us today is to fill the land with God’s word and God’s glory. ‘The earth will be filled with the knowledge of God’ (Isaiah 11:9). The knowledge of God comes by hearing of the Word of God (Psalm 119:98-100). We are called to spread the knowledge of God through Evangelism and Missions. Our call is not to establish a religion, not to establish buildings with bricks and blocks of cement, not establish Christian organisations and denominations but to fill the people with the name of Jesus. Bible tells that man can only boast of his knowledge of God; because God is kind, God is just and God righteous (Jeremiah 9:24). ‘The earth is full of God’s loving-kindness exhibited through all creation – such as Rain, Sunrays, water, air and Sunrays’ (Psalm 33:5). The knowledge of Father as only True God and Jesus Christ as his only Son is Real Eternal life (John 17:3). Then we know that we have passed from death to Life by loving one another (1 John 3:14).
God’s glory is found all over the earth (Isaiah 6:3). The glory of God is found in creations (Psalm 19:1-6). ‘the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord as waters cover the sea’ (Numbers 14:21, Psalm 72:19, Habakkuk 2:14). “Glory is the manifestation of excellence. The glory of God is that display of his most blessed character and will, which opens the way for his intelligent creatures to know, to love, and to obey him. This glory is exhibited in various ways. It shines in all the works of creation. The glory of God is manifested by the works of the providence of God. Here his wisdom, his power, and his benevolence, gloriously shine (Samuel Miller, Presbyterian Preacher, site: pcahistory/glory). His magnificence and greatness will cover this world and overtake everything contrary to it (Site: Redemption hill). The earth is full of his praise because the whole creation praises God (Habakkuk 3:3, Psalm 148:1-10). So, every believer should through the ministry of the Holy Spirit glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, obey God’s Holy Word and be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. The answers to life’s problems come through a daily personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
1. STILL THE EARTH- Habakkuk 2:20
The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it (Psalm 24:1). The earth is God’s footstool (Isaiah 66:1). Let all the earth be silent before YHWH (Habakkuk 2:20). The other aspect of the Kingdom of God is to establish synergy with the creation and coordinate the human with nature. The very important relationship with nature is being established forever through observing the Lord’s supper until his return. The elements of Bread and Wine has come from his creatures and their importance were used for our spiritual formation (Matthew 26:26-29). But the world is groaning for Peace. The birth of Jesus Christ has brought peace on earth (Luke 2:14).
Giving rest to the Land, keeping the Earth under peace was the obligation of the seventh sense creation. But the human had misused, manipulated the Earth and its resources.
Joel 2:21 calls the nations to rejoice, the earth and the lands to celebrate the goodness of God. Leviticus 25:2,4,5 repeatedly talks about the rest to the land, rest for cultivation, harvest and ploughing the soil. God wanted the land to be placed under rest for certain years. At least once in 50 years. The technologically advanced world wanted to plunder the land and its resources within minimum years with maximum extracts. So God forced humanity to lay the earth at rest for more than 50 days even without their consent. The crimes reduced, exploitations stopped, plunders had a full stop. The Earth rejoice over the period. Leviticus 26:34-35,43 again reaffirms the works of God to bring rest to his creation. Joshua 11:23, Joshua 14:15 and Judges 8:28 explains that the Land was at rest because of the end of the wars.
Henry Morris (Days of Praise) in his comment to this verse writes: ‘men are indeed in the process of destroying the earth and its inhabitants. Note the following partial list of global problems, all of which have resulted from human rebellion against the will of God: (1) global water pollution; (2) global air pollution; (3) global spread of deadly pestilences; (4) global spread of nuclear and other sophisticated weapons of mass slaughter; (5) global erosion of essential layers of topsoil; (6) destruction of vital rain forests and other important ecological communities; (7) global spread of addictive drugs; (8) legalization of illicit and illegal activities; (9) chemical pollution of lands and food chains with toxic wastes, nuclear wastes, insecticides, and other noxious substances; and, (10) animal and plant extinctions, averaging over one per day throughout recorded history’.
Are they not true today? As per the recent reports are published on the functions of the world and the earth concerned, after several centuries the human race is experiencing a very long pause of the movements of all Transports. The whole earth took rest for several days since its creation, everything came to a standstill point, because of the COVID-19. The forceful shutting down of all companies, all productions was due to the fear of a 120 mn micro-organism known as ‘SARS-CoV-2’ virus breaks out in December 2019.
Mathew Henry Comments to Romans 8:22 as “There is an impurity, deformity, and infirmity, which has come upon the creature by the fall of man. There is an enmity of one creature to another. And they are used, or abused rather, by men as instruments of sin. Yet this deplorable state of the creation is in hope”. Thousands of years of God’s experience with the human race before the flood was repeated once again after the flood. Very quickly God has to use his another instrument of punishment to curtail the wickedness and evils of men, i.e., God rained the fire from heaven (Genesis 19). But again the wickedness has gone to the extremity of destroying the Earth and its resources. Isaiah 24:1-5 The Lord is going to destroy everything on earth. He will twist its surface. Priests and people, masters and their servants, sellers and buyers, lenders and borrowers. The earth will be destroyed. Everything of value will be taken out of it. That’s what the Lord has said. So in the book of Revelation 11:18, God says that “He is coming to destroy all those who destroy the Earth”.
Conclusion
Dear Freinds, I urge you to respect your environment, Honour the creation and help them to fulfil the purpose of God. Shall we take pledge to TIll the Land, Fill the Land and Still the Land during our time on earth. Glory to God, Amen.
