All Creatures... Pt 5

So finally we arrive at the Gospels!

How does Jesus interact with the natural world? Does He teach about how we should interact with creation?

In my opinion, Jesus' interactions with nature are very much tied together with Paul's teaching that Jesus is the second Adam (Rom. 5; 1Cor. 15). Jesus exercised perfect authority over creation much in the same way that Adam did in the garden of Eden.

We see Jesus exercise His Lordship and Sovereignty over creation in a variety of ways:

Calming the storm (Mk4), walking on water (Mk6), cursing the fig tree (Mt21), etc.

An interesting one is this passage from Mark 1:13 (ESV):

"And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him."

This one is interesting because scholars are in debate as to how the animals fit into the picture here. In the Greek this verse is all one sentence with three parts: 1) ...He was tempted by Satan; comma 2) and He was with animals; comma 3) and angels served Him; period.

No one is 100% sure where part #2 fits. The text doesn't indicate whether the animals are connected with the temptation or with His rest and recovery from the temptation. Different scholars ride different sides of the fence here. Personally I lean toward (and so do the ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT translators: notice the phrasing breaks) connecting the animals with His rest and recuperation.

This is because of the "Jesus = Adam 2.0" thing as well as the fact that Mark says that Jesus was "with" the animals (incidentally, the "wild" part of "wild animals" is inferred, not explicit. It is one word, therion, which is generic meaning any living creature other than humans). It doesn't say that Jesus fought or struggled with them; it says He was with them.

Obviously I have my own leanings on this one, but let's just acknowledge that the text isn't super clear here. As such we shouldn't read too much into it.

There are other miracles where I'm not sure if they'd fit into what we're talking about, like turning the water into wine and the multiplication of food... And how do human healings fit in?

Don't you just love this drawing of Jesus and the sheep? It's gotta be one of the cheesiest ones around! :)

Now, unless you can think of some passages that I'm missing, we also need to acknowledge that Jesus doesn't really teach/preach much in connection with "geo-stewardship." However, I don't think this can be read-into too much either. Arguments from silence usually aren't very strong.

For example, while Jesus doesn't really preach about geo-stewardship we can't ignore the beginning of the Gospel of John. There it is clear that it was through Jesus that all of creation was created (Jn. 1:3, 10). If it was Jesus who created the world and called it "very good" (or was it Jesus who created and the Father who proclaimed it "very good"? Either way I don't know that it makes any difference) then that says something about Jesus' opinion of the created world.

Now, the other aspect is that Jesus had a very specific mission. He says, Himself, that His mission was to the people of Israel (Mt. 15:24, etc) and not to the gentiles. It is only when He gives His disciples "the Great Commission" that Jesus really opens wide the doors for Christian witness.

And this brings us to "the Great Commision" in the Gospel of Mark; Mark 16:15 (ESV):

"And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation..."

I find this really interesting because the word for "creation" here is "ktisis" which Mounce defines in his dictionary as "...that which God has created... encompass[ing] both inanimate creation and animate creatures such as people."

Throughout history people have taken this to mean all sorts of different things. Francis of Assisi, for example, took this very literally and actually preached to animals! I think that might be taking it a bit far... :)

Now, this ties into some of the ideas from my previous series of posts which were asking, what is "the gospel?" I believe that prior to Paul's diverse usage of euangelion the biographers of Jesus (particularly Matthew & especially Mark) view the gospel as being a proclamation that Jesus is the rightful King of everything. If we hold this to be true (...if...) then this fits perfectly with Mark's account of the Great Commission. In other words, we might be able to paraphrase Mark as having Jesus say something like, "proclaim my rightful Reign and Rule over this world to all of creation (inanimate and animate)."

So, throughout the Gospels we see Jesus exercise His authority over creation through a variety of miracles and then upon His ascension He commands His followers to continue to proclaim that authority.

[** again, let me make it clear that this is also, even primarily, meaning that we are to proclaim the Kingdom of God to PEOPLE. This is not either/or. We are to make disciples and you can't really make trees disciples that I am aware of :) **]

So, what might it mean for us to proclaim that "Jesus is Lord over all creation" (which includes the earth, plants, and animals) to all creation?

All Creatures... Pt 4

So this week we're going to continue flying through our survey of how the scriptures speak of how we need to live in relation to God's creation and how creation lives in relation to us. This post will cover the wisdom, poetry, and prophecy books. Later this week I'll get to the crux of it all, Jesus (get it? crux! I'm so funny :).

Obviously, when we think of the Bible and wisdom we often think of Solomon.

There are at least two passages where Solomon addresses the natural world. Both of these have been mentioned either in previous posts or comments so I will simply cite them here (1Kg.4:29-34; Ecc.3:19). In 1 Kings this passage says that the wisdom that God gave Solomon included trees, beasts, birds, reptiles, and fish. If this is a part of God-given wisdom, is it fair to say that God fully endorses an intimate knowledge of the created world?

There are also some interesting statements in the book of Job. In chapter 5 it is said of the one who is blessed and reproved by God: "At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and none shall fear the beasts of the earth. For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you" (vs. 22, 23 ESV). Hmm. The blessing and discipline of God leads to unity with creation?

But there's another theme that comes out of Job:

Job 12:7-10 (ESV) "But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

Job 35:11 (ESV) "who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?"

It turns out that wisdom is a two way street; the wise human will have great knowledge of the natural world... and at the same time some of that wisdom comes from the natural world (ie. from God through nature).

[In what ways is our wisdom shaped by our relationship with creation?]

But we run into some great eschatological stuff when we hit Isaiah. Like this Messianic prophecy:

Isaiah 11:5-9 (ESV) Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Under the righteous rule of the Messiah, all of creation is united (also see Is. 35; 43:19-21; 65:17-25). {and as an additional aside: notice that this doesn't happen in heaven this is on earth; again, see Is.65 & Rev 21}

[Acknowledging that this can only be accomplished in its fullness with the return of Christ: if we are followers of Christ and this is what His dominion looks like, should we not be striving for this? Why/why not? And if so, in what ways?]

In these books there is also evident the same theme that we've talked about before, where nature is bound up with the covenant obedience/disobedience of God's people.

Jeremiah 12:4 (ESV) How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the evil of those who dwell in it the beasts and the birds are swept away, because they said, "He will not see our latter end."

The land suffers because of the evil of mankind.

Hosea 4:1-3 (ESV) Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.

All of nature feels the consequences of mankind's lack of faithfulness, love, and knowledge of God.

[Do we see nature reaping the consequences of our obedience/disobedience today?]

But it's not all death and despair! There is hope!!

Joel 2:21-22 (ESV) "Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield.

So, what do you make of all this?

All Creatures... Pt 3

In this post we are continuing in our discussion of how we as Christians should be interacting with God's creation. We all understand that "the Earth is the LORD's, and everything in it" (Ps. 24:1, 50:12; 1Cor.10:26). And yet, at the same time, God has given humanity the authority and responsibility to rule over His creation (Gen.1 & 9).

We usually call this principle "stewardship", and in the specific stewardship relationship we have with creation I have called this "geo-stewardship."

What does this look like?

How is this similar/dissimilar to the contemporary, secular "environmentalist" movement?

Today we look at the Mosaic Law.

I'm going to start with the covenant that God makes with Moses and the people of Israel. I'm starting here because in my last post we saw how God included creation in His covenant with Noah. In the Mosaic Covenant we see the same thing. Creation both participates and acts as a witness to the covenant:

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (ESV) "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." (also see 4:26 & 31:28)

[What does it mean that creation is a witness to our Covenant relationship with God?]

And in Leviticus 26 we see that creation is involved in carrying out both the blessings of obedience to the covenant (vs. 6) and the curses of disobedience (vs. 22).

Creation itself is both a witness and an agent in God's covenant with His people.

But creation is also a participant in the covenant! We see this most readily in the Sabbath and Jubilee laws. I will include only one here due to length:

Leviticus 25:1-7 (ESV) "The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired servant and the sojourner who lives with you, and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food" (see also: 26:34-35, etc).

The land observes a Sabbath to the Lord? Interesting. Not only that, but the fruits of the Sabbath year go to the benefit of all creation: Jew & gentile, slave & free, male & female (yes I am intentionally using the language of Gal.3:28), mankind & animal.

In the OT Law, where there is Sabbath there is a reuniting of all of creation; a reminder of what Eden was like and a foreshadowing of New Creation to come!

[In our world today what might this Sabbath unity look like?]

But some of my favourite "eco-verses" :) in the Torah are the ones that provide minute detail:

Deuteronomy 22:6-7 (ESV) "If you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long."

In the hunting world we call principles like this "conservation." Notice that the Israelite's "wellness" is at least partially dependent upon conservation.

And it's not just talking about animals either:

Deuteronomy 20:19 (ESV) "When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you?"

Wow! Don't you just love that last statement?!

So, what do you think?

How do all of these pieces come together so far?

How might we apply these principles in today's world?

Next Post: Wisdom/Poetry/Prophets

All Creatures... Pt 2

So, there are a tonne of scriptures that I want to get to but let's start in the beginning. It's all fine and good to talk about caring for creation but this topic gets so convoluted so quickly that before we get too far we need to make sure we're anchored in the right spot.

We start with the creation of the heavens and the earth. God created, and step-by-step He called everything He made "good."

[What does that say to us about how we should interact with His creation?]

Now, normally we attribute God's final statement about creation, "very good," to His creation of humanity but, strictly speaking, that's not quite accurate. Genesis 1:31 (ESV) "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (my emphasis).

It is the whole of creation that God is so pleased with.

[So again I ask: What does that say to us about how we should interact with His creation?]

I would also like to draw to your attention that in Gen. 1:30 it says that all of the animal world "...has the breath of life...". It is not just humanity that God breathed His breath of life into. So, while animals are not Image Bearers we do share the life giving breath of God with them. [And on top of this we need to remember that in both Greek and Hebrew the word for "breath/wind" is the same word as "spirit." ... in fact, in the LXX it doesn't even say "breath/spirit"; it says SOUL]

This explains Solomon's words in Ecclesiastes 3:19 (ESV) "For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity." (also see: Gen. 7:15)

And, of course, we see in Genesis 1 & 2 that mankind live in complete unity with the plant and animal world. Adam & Eve, as bearers of the Divine Image, rule over creation and creation submits to their rule.

[In what way should we "rule/have dominion" over creation? What does it look like to rule over creation in a Godly way?]

It is only with the Fall of mankind that this unity with the created world falls apart. With the curses (3:14-22) we see the division between humanity and both the animal world and the plant world (and obviously the division between man-God; man-man... that's a given). Mankind is cast-out from the Garden and the holistic unity of God's "very good" creation is broken.

But does this mean that God's mandate that Mankind rule over all of creation is done with?

Absolutely not! The same language that God used with Adam & Eve is used when God makes a Covenant with Noah after the flood: "be fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 9:1, 7), all animals are "given into your hands" (9:2). (also check out: Gen. 7:3; 8:1)

The part that really strikes me about the Noahic Covenant is that God doesn't just make the covenant with Noah; He also makes it with animals.

Huh?

Now you're all going to think that I'm really off my rocker!

Well, read it for yourself:

Genesis 9:12 (ESV) "And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations..." (my emphasis; also check out 9:15, 16).

A covenant "for all future generations" that includes God, Mankind, and the animals.

And again:

Genesis 9:13 (ESV) "I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth."

God makes a covenant with the earth.

So, what do you think?

In posts that will come soon we'll move into the Mosaic Law and the rest of the scriptures so let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Putting aside our preconceived notions of what "environmentalism" means in our contemporary world what do you think these passages (and any others from GENESIS that you might think of) say to us about how God relates to nature and how we need to relate to nature?

"All creatures of our God and King..."

Here's another big word for you: anthropocentrism. It means to view the world as though humanity (Gr. anthropos) is the centre of it all. Evangelical Christians (like myself) are notoriously anthropocentric.

Take for example our favorite verse, John 3:16 (ESV) ¹⁶ "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

The way we read this is usually like so: "For God so loved humanity, that he..." But is that what it says? I'd say no! For God so loved the world. The New Testament word here is kosmos which refers to the observable created order; God sent Jesus because He loves ALL of his physical creation. That means trees and tigers, earthworms and elephants, hamsters and humans.

God didn't send Jesus to die for me (not only is that anthropocentric, it's egocentric!), He sent Jesus to redeem all of creation (which, thankfully, happens to include me).

As we saw in my last post, Romans 8 tells us that all of creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth (ever been in a delivery room!?! That's a vivid metaphor). Creation suffers under the curse of sin and God's plan is not to send humans to heaven when they die and then let the rest of creation perish. God's plan is to recreate the world into the place He originally intended it to be.

Understand this: heaven is not our home. Heaven is a pit-stop on the road to a New Heaven and a New Earth (Is. 65:17; Rev. 21:1). I don't know if there will be dogs in heaven but there were a whack-load of animals in Eden and I'm guessing a recreated "Eden" won't be any different!

So what does this have to do with my previous post? Everything.

Jesus inaugurated His Kingdom and we, as His followers, are to continue His work until He comes again to bring it to completion/perfection. If His task was nothing less than the redemption of the whole of creation then this, too, is our task.

Yes, Conservative Evangelicals, I am saying that it is part of our God ordained mission to care for plants and animals (insert shocked gasps).

No, I'm not getting all "PETA" or "Greenpeace" on you. If you know me you know that I have no problem shooting and eating animals. I have no problem cutting down trees and using them for firewood or to build something with. I hunt and camp frequently... in fact, that's part of why I care deeply about this.

The fact is that the Bible does give us a theology of zoology. The Bible gives us a theological framework for environmentalism. For some reason we don't like using these words, so we usually call it stewardship... but we also usually ignore this topic all together.

[ I blame American dispensationalists but they're pretty easy to blame ] :)

There's a lot more I'd like to say and explore so please join me over the next number of weeks and leave your input.

So, what do you think?

What scriptures speak to our stewardship of the animal and plant world?

What do you think that passage from Romans 8 means to us?

What do you agree/disagree with so far?

Really big, fancy words

OK, so I was getting ready to do a post that I've wanted to do for a while now, but as I was thinking it through I realized that before we can eat the meal we need to set the table.

I realized that underneath the ideas of this post there were some pretty big assumptions. In order for for this post to make sense we need to have a common starting point.

Inaugurated Eschatology.

Yup, really big fancy words.

To inaugurate means: to initiate something or put it into operation.

Eschatology means: "eschatos" (Gr. last) "ology" the study of = the study of the last/end-times.

Inaugurated Eschatology.

I am assuming that underneath it all, we as Christians understand that a large part of what it means that we are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), that Jesus is the firstborn among the dead (Col 1:18; Rev. 1:5), and that we have the firstfruits of the Spirit (Rom. 8:23) is that we are to live lives of inaugurated eschatology.

Basically what I'm saying is that as Christians we need to live our lives in light of God's future. The Kingdom of God is the breaking in of God's future reign into today, into the here and now.

It's a bit of an heady concept, no?

But truly, this is the basis for all Christian behaviour. Biblical theology shows us the "bookends" of our faith: Eden and the New Jerusalem. In between is the fallen world that we currently live in; God's good creation under the curse of sin.

But do we live our lives like the rest of the fallen world? Of course not! No, we seek to live our lives in light of the Gospel: the true Lordship and reign of the Christ which is seen in original creation and new creation.

"...Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven..."

In other words, we (as new creations) are to begin God's work of New Creation (as we see it in Gen. 1 & 2 and Rev. 21 & 22) here and now. We aren't just here to bide time until God cleans up our mess. No! We are to be working for the Kingdom of God.

Inaugurated Eschatology: to put into operation today the reality of God's future reign.

And so, in preparation for next week's post read through and ponder this passage from Romans:

Romans 8:19-23 (ESV)
¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³ And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

No Rapture Here!

Matthew 24:37-42 (ESV)
³⁷ As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. ⁴² Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

As I've mentioned before (and as you can see in the side-bar) I've been reading Ben

Witherington III's book The Living Word of God. In his chapter, "Truth Telling as an Art-Form" BW3 uses the above passage as an example of how certain texts are often abused.

For years these 6 verses have been used to describe "the Rapture." As I read BW3's interpretation of this passage I felt like I was slapped across the face! What is described here is so NOT rapturous! In fact, it is very much the opposite of what we picture when we think of the rapture. After thinking through this I was very much frustrated that I had never really read this passage properly before.

Often it is only verses 40-42 that are quoted from this passage and what is left out is the context of the analogy that Jesus is using: Noah.

"As were the days of Noah...they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."

What is described in the following verses where two people are side-by-side and one person is "taken" has nothing to do with 1 Thess 4 or any other passage that supposedly describes the Rapture. What Jesus describes here is the opposite.

Two people will be side-by-side and the people who will be "taken" will be those who (as in the days of Noah) are"swept away" in the flood of judgement.

After all, that's exactly what happened with Noah. The righteous (Noah and his family) were left behind to restart God's creation while the unrighteous were destroyed.

And so, it is not the righteous who will be taken away... it is the righteous who will be left behind! It is the unrighteous who will be swept away.

So, if you want to keep your ideas of the Rapture you'll have to use different scriptures than this one!

I don't know why I had never thought of this passage this way before. Now it seems so obvious, and it makes way more sense in the full context of Jesus' teachings on end times... too much dispensationalism in my Sunday School I guess!! :)

So, what do you think:

What do you think about this interpretation of Mt. 24?

Have you ever had something like this happen where you've thought of a certain passage a certain way most of your life only to have it flipped around on you?

What other passages do you think are often misinterpreted?

Just Looking for Your Input.

If you are a regular here at my blog you will have seen that I'm reading "Surprised by Hope" by N.T. Wright. As the subtitle suggests the book is all about "rethinking heaven, the Resurrection, and the mission of the church."


His main idea is that as Western Christians we have allowed too much of the Medieval Church's tradition to seep into our perspectives on what it means to become a "New Creation" and our views on the "New Heaven" and "New Earth." But I'll let him speak for himself briefly:

"A massive assumption has been made in Western Christianity that the purpose of being a Christian is simply, or at least mainly, to 'go to heaven when you die,' and texts that don't say that but mention heaven are read as if they did say it, and texts that say the opposite, like Romans 8:18-25 and Revelation 21-22, are simply screened out as if they didn't exist" (Wright 90).

As he develops his argument he has shaken some of my views profoundly. And so I'd like to hear from you on a few things. Without overthinking anything too much:

1. What is the first thing that enters your mind when you think of Heaven?

2. In your mind's eye what does Heaven look like?

3. Where do we go when we die?

4. After Christ's return where will we be, the New Heaven or the New Earth?

I just want to know if my old perceptions were just me or if, like he says, we're all a little messed up!