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| Fairdale, IL after an F4 tornado. |
It is
common for people of faith to ask the question of “why?” whenever a natural
disaster takes place in the world reaping havoc, mayhem, and death in its wake. This may be especially true for people in northern central Illinois in the wake of the F4 tornado that recently ripped through the small community
of Fairdale, leveling over twenty homes and taking two lives. Natural disasters
have been happening on the earth for nearly as long as the earth has
existed. In the 21st century alone several horrendous disasters have taken place:
- · In January 2010 over 230,000 were killed and another 300,000 injured when a massive 7.0 earthquake erupted in Haiti.
- · In April 2008 over 100,000 people were killed with another 50,000 people missing (presumed dead) when Cyclone Nargin unleashed its fury over Burma and Sri Lanka.
- · In August 2005 over 1,800 people died, primarily in New Orleans, when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast.
- · In December 2004 a tsunami in the Indian Ocean killed over 230,000 people within a matter of minutes when thirty foot waves cleared a path of death.
To have any
kind of thoughtful theological reflection of why these types of terrible things
happen we must go back to the beginning—to Genesis. In Genesis chapter one we
are given a brief account of the creation of the cosmos. Over the course of six days, God speaks creation into existence ex
nihilo (out of nothing). We read in Genesis 1:31 “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and
there was morning, the sixth day.” In studying the original languages of
the Bible, we learn that whenever a double descriptor is used, such as “very
good,” that it could read as “perfect.” So, on the sixth day, God looked at all
that he had made, and behold, it was perfect.”
The Scriptures
reveal to us that God is a creative God—and that God creates with intent and
purpose. Creation did not come into existence by chance, and neither did
humanity appear on the earth on a whim.
Rather, God had a particular vision for his creation—he had a plan for
its existence. We read in Genesis 2:15, “The LORD God took the man and put him in
the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Both the Hebrew and the Greek
Old Testament use verbs in this verse that are typically translated as “work”
and “keep.” Later in Scripture (Num. 3:7-8;
8:25-26; 1 Chron. 23:32) we see these exact same verbs being used together to
describe the work being undertaken by the priests and the Levites regarding the
tabernacle, only they have a slightly different translation as “minister/serve”
and “guard.” This reveals to us that the man’s (and later Eve’s as well!) role
is not to be only some sort of gardener/caretaker of the garden, but also its’
guardian and priest.
In other
words, the role of humanity (the only part of creation created in God’s image)
is to act as the caretaker, the guardian, and to be the priest of the Garden of
Eden. The Garden appears to be some sort of temple to God where humanity offers
up the worship of creation to its’ Creator. In Ezekiel 28:11-19 Adam is portrayed dressed in the clothes of the high
priest, functioning as a high priest. Also, later in the Old Testament, the
Temple was the place of God’s special presence where he made himself known and
felt to Israel. That is exactly how his walking with Adam and Eve in the Garden
is depicted. (Genesis 3:8)
All that being stated (and trying to
stop this brief reflection from getting too in-depth!), when Adam and Eve, the
priests of creation, ate from the tree expressly forbidden by God, they ushered
in complete brokenness into the creation.
Not only was humanity now marked by original sin and separated from God—all
of creation fell into brokenness as well.
The Apostle Paul is keenly aware of
this when he writes in Romans 8:20-22, “For
the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who
subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage
to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been
groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now…” The concept that
creation is waiting to be redeemed gives added weight to both the Easter story
and the expectation of Jesus’ bodily return to earth sometime in the future.
The Lord Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, ascension, and bodily return to
earth are rooted in the commitment of God to see his creation live into the vision
he has for it. In other words, humanity
and creation have been alienated from God because of sin; both are in need of
redemption. Jesus’ work of redemption on the cross was not limited to restoring
humanity to a right relationship with its’ Creator. Rather, Jesus’ work of redemption on the
cross was to restore the entire created order back to the plan that the Creator
has always had for it before he ever spoke creation into existence.
Jesus was never God’s plan B. Rather, God, in his sovereignty, knew that
his creation would fall into sin before creating. He knew the only way to restore his vision
for his creation would be to give fully of himself on the cross—and he chose to create
anyway! Jesus was always God’s Plan A! What a beautiful act of love!
The end of the Bible reads similarly
to the beginning. It is the story of God
recreating creation. In
Revelation
21:1-4 we read, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the
first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And then I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband. And I heard a loud voice from
the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his
people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every
tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be
mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed
away.” In Revelation 22:1-2 we are given very descriptive sentences of what
this new city/dwelling of man and God will look like. One of the most
impressive features is the appearance of the Tree of Life, which was present in
the original Garden of Eden (Ezekiel also has a vision of this new re-created
Eden in 47:1-12).
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| The River of Life in New Jerusalem. |
The story of Scripture is really the
ongoing story of God having a vision for creation, enduring the contamination
of creation, redeeming that creation, and then recreating it. Just as God desired to dwell openly with Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden, so will God dwell openly with us in the
restored, recreated Garden/New Jerusalem. Only then will natural disasters
cease to happen—and peace will prevail.
