As I write, world leaders are meeting at COP27, the 27th meeting of the United Nations on climate change. Speaking at this world leaders summit, the UN chief stated that “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator.”
Does the Creation Mandate Still Apply?
Whatever you think about the climate change agenda, what contribution should we be making as God’s representatives on Earth?
Ultimately, I don’t believe the Creator of the universe will permit His Earth to be destroyed by those He gave responsibility to for its stewardship and care. But, does the so-called ‘creation mandate’ of Genesis 1:28 & 2:15 still apply today?
Do we need to continue to look after our planet?
Does the Earth have a future?
Will God Destroy His Own Creation?
Some Christians feel there is little value in developing the Earth or caring for the environment, because they believe the Earth will be destroyed. Not necessarily by mankind’s mis-management, but by God Himself.
If they are soon to vacate the Earth (perhaps via a secret rapture if they believe in dispensationalism), which God will then destroy, and then spend eternity in a nonmaterial Heaven which is located somewhere else, there seems little value in investing in things on Earth that will not last into eternity.
Did Jesus Come to Save His World?
However, the Bible states that the Earth will not be burned up but will be refined and restored to its original state.
Many Christian teachers down through the centuries have maintained that 2 Peter 3 teaches not the annihilation of the created universe but its transformation. Just as the Great Flood did not annihilate the Earth but judged and purified it, so the final fire of judgment will destroy evil from the earth (3:5–7), bringing forth new Heavens (plural) and a new Earth where righteousness dwells (3:13). (1)
God said His creation was ‘good’ and He sent Jesus, not only to save sinners like you and me, but also to save and redeem His creation.
For God so loved the world (kosmos– the entire created order) that He sent His Son (John 3:16). He is not about to discard it and throw it away into some bin of history.
Was Creation to Blame?
Besides, whereas mankind chose to disobey God’s command and has suffered the terrible consequences, the created order was subjected to the effects of the Fall unwillingly.
“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 rest of God’s creation did not choose to go their own way. It had no choice in the matter. But due to Adam’s sin, was forced into bondage and decay. Why then, would creation be sentenced to ‘death row’ for a crime it never committed?
Brand New or Renewed?
No, God’s intent is to fully establish His Kingdom on a renewed Earth. Just as our bodies will be raised to new life, so the Earth will be raised to a new state, transformed and liberated from its present condition of decay and the effects of the curse. Like the passing of a caterpillar and the emergence of a butterfly, so a new Earth will emerge into a glorious liberty. Paul makes this clear in Romans 8.
Another important thing to understand is that when Peter and John refer to new heavens and new earth (2 Peter 3:12-13; Rev. 21:1), the word used in the original Greek language is kainos, which means qualitatively new or renewed (it is not the word neo, which means new in time, i.e. brand new).
Interestingly, kainos is the same word used by Paul to describe the new follower of Jesus, as a new (kainos) creation (2 Cor. 5:21). The original person has not been vaporised into non-existence. Instead, the old (archaois) has passed away, and the new (kainos) has come. (2) In other words, they are renewed, as someone would totally renovate and renew a house, rather than building completely from scratch.
This is what will also happen to the created order. It will be renewed (kainos) to its full glory, beyond what we can currently imagine!
Where Will We Spend Eternity?
Our future is not to worship God in Heaven through eternity (at best a temporary waiting place for the righteous dead in the presence of God), but to reign on Earth (Rev. 5:10). We are not escaping off to some other place; rather, God will come down to dwell among His people.
Joining God in His New Creation Work
The Book of Revelation gives us a vision of a creation comprehensively and wholly restored to God’s original intent and order. The scope of redemption is both cosmic and personal.
Speaking of Jesus Christ, the apostle Peter declares,
“…whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21).
As God is already in the process of renewing and restoring His creation, should we not join with Him in doing our part in His work? Do we not have a role in ushering in the ‘new Earth’?
When we have a biblically-informed view of our future and that it is vitally connected to our planet, it will impact our vision and how we seek in the present to bring God’s Kingdom to Earth, as it is in Heaven (Matt. 6:10).
It was this understanding that led Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, to state that “If I knew the world would end tomorrow, I would spend today planting an apple tree.”
Without such a vision, we can lose sight of the very purpose for which God made man which was to take responsibility for all that He had created.
God’s original plan was for mankind to care for the Earth. Knowing why God made you gives divine purpose and meaning to your life. The Earth is important to God and should therefore be important to us.
Environmental Responsibility & Motivation
It also gives meaning and purpose to caring for and stewarding the wonderful Earth that God created. An Earth that He is committed to preserving and that one day, as our own bodies will be transformed and take on immortality, will also be gloriously liberated!
In the meantime, the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. One of the world’s top New Testament theologians, N.T. Wright, says this revealing includes “the unveiling of those redeemed humans through whose stewardship creation will at last be brought back into that wise order for which it was made. And since Paul makes it quite clear that those who believe in Jesus Christ…are already God’s children, are already themselves saved, this stewardship cannot be something to be postponed for the ultimate future. It must begin here and now.”
This is part of seeing “[His] kingdom come, [His] will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Wright goes on to say, “people who believe in the resurrection, in God making a whole new world in which everything will be set right at last, are unstoppably motivated to work for that new world in the present.” And again, “If it is true…that the whole world is now God’s holy land, we must not rest as long as that land is spoiled and defaced. This is not an extra to the church’s mission. It is central.” (2)
(1) https://www.logos.com/grow/new-heaven-and-new-earth/
(2) https://www.christianweek.org/new-earth-renewed-earth/
(3) N. T. Wright’s book, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
(Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash)