THE ENVIRONMENT TODAY, AND IN GOD’S KINGDOM

 

June 2005 article by Mark Williams

 

The summer months are upon us again, a time to enjoy the wonderful sights of the British countryside.  For country–lovers everywhere, there is nothing better than the wonderful greenery, rivers and coastal lines that the British Isles has to offer.

 

It was brought to my attention in the news recently that the plight of our wild plants is worse than anyone has imagined. The worst hit countries have lost on average, one native flower every year throughout the 20th century. Today wild plants are being lost at a still faster rate. Britain’s wild flower species is threatened with extinction with more than 300 species classed as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable to extinction.  All of this is the consequence of human stewardship, this beautiful earth and its multitude of life forms battered, exploited by greedy men, despoiled, polluted and desperately sick.

 

The national laws given by God to Israel through Moses contained many provisions which were environmentally sound. Indeed, in this respect as in many others, the Mosaic law was superior to any other ancient law, and was far in advance of its time (1440 BC).  There were laws for the protection of birds (Deuteronomy 22 vs 6-7), for the conservation of forests (20:19) and for the humane care of animals (22:4, 10; 25:4). The land was to be rested periodically in a cycle of ‘Sabbath’ years, which guaranteed that its fertility was maintained (Leviticus 24:34). Quite specifically God said: “Do not pollute the land where you are” (Numbers 35:33). The land was to be kept clean, holy and fit to be both man’s home and a sanctuary for the Almighty.

 

In modern times these principles have been forgotten. People, whether as individuals, or organised as private companies or government agencies view the land, the sea, the air, the whole of nature in a selfish way. As Moses warned, they forget the Lord.

 

Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his judgements, and his statutes, which I command thee this day (Deuteronomy 8:11).

 

Earth scientists all over the world speak with one voice that there is a global environmental crisis of horrifying dimensions. The evidence is unmistakeable: spreading deserts, soil erosion, ruined agricultural land, dying forests, poisoned air and water, famine, sinister diseases induced by polluted environments. All experts today are unanimous in concurring that humanity’s very existence on earth is threatened. Bible believers recognize that without divine intervention to restore paradise on earth, mankind is doomed.

 

One of many marvellous hymns in the Bible extolling creation and the Creator is Psalm 104. The Psalmist was evidently greatly impressed by his visit to Lebanon.  He wrote:

 

“The trees of the Lord are well watered,

The cedars of Lebanon that He planted.

There the birds make their nests;

The stork has its home in the pine trees.

The high mountains belong to the wild goats;

The crags are a refuge for the conies” (Psalm 104:16-18)

 

Today Lebanon is a virtual desert. Its soil and vegetation are gone, its usefulness is a thing of the past, and its people, when not fighting one another, subsist off trade and oil revenues from the other Arab states.

 

When Jesus returns to set up God’s Kingdom on earth, that earth will be in a sorry state. Thousands of years of gross and selfish misuse of the planet will have to be reversed and its scars healed. (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13).  There are glowing pictures, indeed very detailed and realistic ones, in the Bible of this renewed environment under the wise rule of Jesus Christ and his immortalised saints. The prophet Amos describes a situation where the agricultural seasons more or less run together:

 

“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes” (9:13).

 

Psalm 72 emphasises that in the reign of God’s “royal Son”.

 

The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. (Psalm 72:3)

 

He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth. (Psalm 72:6)

 

Although Christ will be responsible for this regeneration of our devastated planet, we do not believe that this transformation is going to be effected by merely waving a magic wand. The whole work of restoration, moral and physical, will take a thousand years (Revelation 20:4) before the royal Son can present this earth, cured and redeemed of its ills, and filled with the glory of God, to His heavenly Father (1 Corinthians 15:24,28).

 

It will obviously take some time to complete, but eventually the environmental crisis will be cured. This earth will achieve the state designed for it by God – a planet filled with His glory. We have His own Word that it will one day come to pass:

 

“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”.