Healing the Earth

I am probably getting ahead of myself here, but this stuff will be really important in the future.

The New Testament gospel is good news for the whole of creation. Up till the time of Jesus, it was subject to frustration.

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it (Rom 8:20).

The one who subjected it was the devil. He gained authority on earth when humans fell into sin, and gave him authority one earth. The damage that he did left the created world needing to be set free.

The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God (Rom 8:21).

The creation needs to set free from bondage to decay. How will this happen? The answer is given in the same passage.

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed (Rom 8:19).

According to Romans, the restoration of the creation gets under way when the children of God are revealed on earth by coming to faith in Jesus. Up until the time of Jesus, it was in bondage to decay.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time (Rom 8:22).

The death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus was meant to end the groaning of creation. The gospel of Jesus is good news for humans. It was meant to be good news for creation, too.

The gift of healing is the key. If the Holy Spirit can heal human bodies, he can heal any creature on earth. If the Holy Spirit can heal any creature, he can heal everything in the physical creation.

We need to understand the damage done to the created world by the fall. God created a good world. He did not create a world where floods, earthquakes and droughts kill people. These things came into the world after the fall. When mankind sinned, Satan was freed to do his harm in God’s creation. He released harmful viruses, dangerous animals and destructive forces on earth. He turned peaceful animals into dangerous carnivores. He changed good plants into poisonous weeds. Animals, insects and plants changed into dangerous forms that had not existed when the world was good as God crated it. Bacteria and viruses the cause sickness and disease emerged and began to spread. All these things that marred God’s good earth were the work of the devil.

Jesus death and resurrection destroyed the power of sin and evil. The gospel and the Spirit are now his vehicle for rolling back the effects of sin and restoring creation to its full glory. As Paul noted, creation is now waiting in eager expectation for this to happen.

The earth will be restored in two ways.

1. As the gospel spreads and the Kingdom advances, the forces of evil will be slowly and gradually squeeze out of the earth. Their ability work harm in creation will dissipate and disappear. This will bring huge relief to the earth.

2. When the powers of evil are forced out of the earth, they will not clean up their mess before they leave. God’s people will have to actively restore the earth by tidying up behind them.

Some of the restoration of the earth will take place through normal “caring for the earth”, as people grow gardens, and farmers nurture the land they are using. However, some of the harm done on earth will need more active healing. Christians who have worked with the Spirit to heal the sick will turn their attention to the sickness of the created world. The gift of healing will be needed to heal the harm done to the earth by sin and evil. Here are some examples.

• Land that is unproductive due to the curse of sin may need to be healed.

• Land that is sick due to misuse of chemicals or excessive cropping may need to be healed.

• Poisonous plants may need to be healed so they become edible.

• Prolific weeds that swamp other useful plants may need to be healed to so they lose their tendency to dominate and destroy other plants.

• Some highly nutritious and productive plants may need to be healed to become palatable.

• Some volcanoes that are harming human life will need to be cast into the sea. Jesus explained how this could be done.

  Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you (Matt 17:20).

• Land that is subject to serious earthquakes will need to be healed.

• Destructive weather patterns will need to be healed. Hurricanes and tornadoes will need to be calmed.

Dealing with these problems will require immense faith. God’s people will develop the faith that is need for this task by working with the Holy Spirit to heal the sick. This means that the gift of healing is much more important than many realise.

The time when these wonderful things will happened is described in Times and Seasons.