Save the Earth! God and the Environment

As a resident of Austin, I am fairly used to the greener earth, reduced carbon footprint, organic vibe. To an extent, it has no direct effect on me. Generally I can decide whether I want to eat organically or drive a hybrid car. I can do certain things to be “greener” or more “energy efficient.” This I don’t mind so much. At times, though, our culture's obsession with fixing the environment can lead to frustration. 

Last November when I needed to get my Texas State inspection done on our 2004 Toyota, I was initially unable to pass the emissions inspection. This inspection is a bit of a waste to me anyway because the cars they are keeping from passing are not generally the ones that should be off the road if we are talking of pollution and emissions in general. I see big diesel trucks daily blowing black smoke out of their tailpipes while my Toyota rolls along, not smoking. To pass the inspection I was told I would need an $800 part. 

With some research I managed to find a way to still pass without replacing the part, and after much frustration, managed to get the sticker. It was a hard fought battle for something that seems quite insignificant to me, honestly. 

The popular opinion of the day, especially in Austin, is that we need to find ways to protect or fix our environment. The onslaught of global warming and various other related things, is damaging our world. This is at least the pitch we hear from those promoting this cause. 

It began affecting me again recently when Austin chose to do away with all plastic bags. We returned from Oklahoma to find that in order to carry out our groceries, we needed to spend $.99 per green recyclable bag. These bags were not nearly as capable of handling multiple loads of groceries, and made an already annoying task that much worse. A month or so later, I am still forgetting to bring them with me, and shelling out extra money each grocery visit to buy “environmentally friendly” bags. I would think there are more practical ways of helping the environment. I have trouble udnerstanding how my plastic bags were contributing to the earth’s deterioration.

Lest I sound too cynical, I will say that the idea is not entirely unacceptable. I can see how keeping our environment healthy would directly benefit those of us on this earth. What I sometimes fail to understand; however, is why people seem to think they can have a large affect on fixing the problem. 

While there are certainly ways of helping, there is no way that man can fix our environment. There are a few reasons for this. I would like to explore our environment and how as Christians we ought to relate to it in a Biblical context. My cynicism towards the changes I’ve had to make is partially misplaced, I will admit. Doing our part certainly isn’t hurting anything. What I would like to clarify though is that we are not to treat creation as a god to worship. We are also not to pridefully think that we have any ultimate control over our world’s fate. As we will see scripturally, God has it under control. 

We can really take comfort in that fact. If God, who created this earth, holds it in His full control, then we need not worry. After all, it’s His creation we are talking about.

The Creator

Beginning in the very first chapter of the Book of Genesis, we can already see that God has a pretty nice plan in place for the world. Each aspect of creation is followed by the note that God calls it “Very Good.” 

“Very Good” in Biblical terms is really to say that it is perfect. It is not yet introduced to sin, or the curse. It is as it was always meant to be, and as we will see, how it will someday again be.

“God saw all that he had made, and it was VERY GOOD. And there was evening, and there was morning-the sixth day.” Genesis 1:31 (Emphasis Mine)

Right away, by the sixth day of creation, God is finished and says the creation is very good. This creation includes all of the animals at this point; as well as, the earthly environment. It is Earth in its finest hour so to speak. We will see; however, that as soon as man is given some freedom over this creation, we immediately screw things up. 

Genesis chapter 3, verse 15 is considered the first prophesy of Christ. It is also the verse that causes the entire world shift into its current state. With one disobedient act, God’s perfect creation is cursed. 

“...and I (God) will put enmity between you (the serpent) and the woman (Eve), and between your offspring (those who are in sin) and hers (Christ); he (Christ) will crush your (serpent) head, and you (serpent) will strike his (Christ) heel.” Genesis 3:15

The majority of Biblical scholars point to this verse as the prediction of a future redeemer who will defeat the serpent (Satan), restore creation to its original state, and redeem man. While it is hard to see in the immediate, literal reading of the text, multiple commentators and early church Fathers have pointed to this verse as the first look at the Gospel in scripture. We know, of course, that Satan did “bruise Christ’s heel,” at the cross. What appeared as victory at the time, became inevitable defeat 3 days later when Christ rose and conquered death. At his second coming, He will put away Satan once and for all, and restore His creation. He will “Crush ‘the serpent’s’ head.” While this is an essential verse for our faith, it is not meant to be my primary focus for this post, so moving on, we examine a few verses later why the earth was cursed.

“To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, you must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:17-19

This is really the key section for my point with this post. In Genesis 1, creation was perfect. God called it very good, and sin had not yet entered into it. After Genesis 3:15, as punishment for disobedience, God curses the earth. This prophetic punishment is a foreshadowing of an existing problem we face even today. The earth is not in perfect condition. This punishment is also done in full sovereignty. God is in total control, and even though we are separated after Genesis 3:15 from God’s presence, He has already established a plan from the moment the punishment is pronounced for the redeeming of His creation and its inhabitants that still seek Him.

The Cursed Creation is Still in God’s Full Control

Throughout Biblical history, the dynamic of a cursed creation is fully explored. The entirety of the Old Testament is a revealing of Christ who will come to redeem God’s people. Within the context of the various prophets of Israel and Judah in the Old Testament, we still see God in full control of His creation. In the following verses we will see more on the subject of the cursed earth, but will also note verses which point to God’s control over His creation, despite the punishment of the curse.

Cursed

“The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt...” Isaiah 24:4-6

“I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.” Jeremiah 2:7

God is in Control despite the Curse Because it is His  Sovereign Creation

“You alone are LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” Nehemiah 9:6

“For since the creation of the word God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has ben made, so that people are without excuse” Romans 1:20

“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16-17

“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:3

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

“In the beginning was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” John 1:1-2

Creation’s Ultimate Redemption

We can see from the previous verses that God is absolutely in control of His creation. Nothing created by God is out of His control. Everything falls within His final redemptive plan.

We may ask; however, what is God’s redemptive plan? For the Christian, one aspect of it should be a no-brainer. We are redeemed from our separation from God by Christ’s death on the cross, and his substitutionary atonement. We who are called by God’s spirit to repentance and trust in Christ, are redeemed from our sin. 

While mankind’s redemption may be a more obvious purpose of God, we can see in scripture that the ultimate redemption of this earth (and God’s total creation) is a part of the divine plan as well. Christ didn’t just die to redeem people, He died to redeem this world from the curse. He who was sinless, suffered God’s wrath (which we had been storing up since the Fall) and justified us while we were yet sinners. For those in Christ, we have been justified by His sacrifice. If Christ’s crucifixion was about redemption, why do we still see an imperfect earth? 

“For 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.” Romans 8:19-22

Paul’s words here are pivotal in establishing creation’s relation to us in the redemptive process. The reason Christ isn’t sitting here with us as I type this, is because in God’s patience, he is waiting for all who he has called to come unto him. God is not willing any of his should perish, and so he patiently allows creation to continue groaning, as more continue coming to him. 

Paul’s speech here is very interesting as he anthropomorphizes creation, suggesting that it is anticipating its own redemption. Interestingly enough, the Bible is not silent on what this redemption of creation will look like.

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.” 2 Peter 3:10

“...That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:12b-13

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea...And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! god’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.’” Revelation 21:1, 3 

Our Response

So, when Christ has finally returned, and when the judgment has finally occurred, then this cursed earth will pass away, and God will make a new heaven and a new earth, for the righteous to dwell. This is Heaven, as I have mentioned in a previous blog: “Heaven: Our Hope in Christ.” The old picture of harp playing on clouds is scripturally inaccurate. Will we worship with music? Yes. But our bodies were originally created to dwell in a perfect creation, not to float around on clouds. Adam and Eve prior to the fall, were living in a perfected creation. It is only the curse of sin from the Fall that causes our world to be as it is today. Speaking both to the unbelievers’ separation from God, and to the destructive forces our earth experiences everyday, it is cursed. 

Though God is sovereignly in control, destructive storms were not part of the original creation. Earthquakes and destruction were not in the original perfected earth. With this in mind, it should be our great hope as Christians to see this new, perfected earth.

I’ve often joked that if all the misguided people out there following the New Age religions and worshipping the earth would simply trust in the God of creation and Christ, they would eventually see their desire for a perfect world come to pass. Sadly, even now, people misplace their efforts. No amount of reduction in carbon footprints will bring about the redemption of our environment on this earth. It is not possible. And, while I don’t want to be a total negative Nancy, we can see clearly in scripture that God has another plan. So what should our response be as Christians to the environment? Should we ignore and abuse it?

I think we can find this answer in a few key places in scripture. God originally set Adam to tend the garden and to subdue the earth. In this way, mankind was always meant to take care of creation. We are not here to abuse and destroy it, but to tend to it. 

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:15

“The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.” Leviticus 25:23-24

Now, with the curse preventing its perfection, we certainly need not waste our lives pursuing perfected creation by our own hand. That would be a product of misplaced pride in our own abilities. 

I suggest that we do the small things that make an obvious difference. This may look different to different people, and I think that’s ok. I might continue to whine about the recyclable bags because I don’t see the full impact of that right now. Perhaps, someone can point it out and I will change my mind. It seems to me that people smoking or big trucks blowing diesel out is more damaging than my plastic grocery bag.

What I suggest is not so much a passive approach, as an actively passive approach. We need not waste our time trying to perfect something that cannot be perfected. But, if we see trash on the road, we can pick that up. If we get the choice we can buy a “greener” option for air fresheners or whatever the case may be. We can respect God's creation, despite its current cursed state.

The earth belongs to its Creator, and our hearts should be towards Him as well. The Bible says in Christ we are a new creation, the old has passed away. In this way, the earth will experience the same type of redemptive process at the end of time. For Christians, Heaven will be something familiar, but perfected. We will have redeemed bodies in a redeemed creation.

The next time someone is mocking our idea of Heaven, explain how it is simply a perfected version of our current world. Even the scoffers can admit to seeing some beauty in this world. How much more beautiful when it is redeemed, and we again have perfect fellowship with our Creator. In eager anticipation we wait, with creation, for its redemption. In the meantime, we look to the author of it all, and the sacrifice he made, that we might have unending fellowship with him, in this life and the next. Praise God!