Creation is Cursed... But Not For Long!
When Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible tells us that not only that we as a human race were cursed, but creation was cursed as well. When God created everything, he brought order out of chaos, order out of disorder. Before the fall, everything was in harmony; I can say this because of what God promises when He creates a new earth (see Isaiah 65:17ff.) The Bible says that not only will we be in harmony with God, but all of creation will be at peace with itself; why else would God promise that a day is coming when the Child will play with the viper and the wolf and the lamb shall graze together?When Adam and Eve rebelled, Adam rebelled as one commissioned to care for earth. Because of the curse the peace of creation has been disturbed, hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, droughts, famines, and tsunamis are not natural; they are all products of a cursed earth. But guess what? God is not going to leave things the way that they are, for in Genesis 3:15-16 He promised a deliver who would crush the head of Satan, while Satan would wound that promised deliver. That promised deliverer is Jesus Christ; the wound that was delivered unto Him occurred on a hill called Golgotha upon a wooden cross.
It is through Jesus that God promises to make all things new, and He has begun to make all things new by rescuing sinners like you and me from an impending judgment in Hell. How did Jesus do that you may ask? He did it, the Bible says, by “redeeming us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13). One day those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus, that is those who have become His followers will be freed from the curse of sin. When this happens, the Bible promises that all of creation will soon follow (Romans 8:18-25).
So why do bad things happen? We live in a sin cursed world as creatures who are cursed with a nature to sin. Is God somewhere off in the distance removed from His creation? Absolutely not! He “sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever” (Ps. 29:10). He is the King and Creator of all that exists. The mystery is that He is using a sin cursed creation to accomplish His purposes. I must trust that in His goodness, He always will do right because He is not only perfectly good, loving, gracious, and merciful, but perfectly just and perfectly holy.
Perhaps Christopher Wright is able to say it better than I can in drawing this subject to a close:
...for the moment, I grieve and lament, I weep and I feel intense anger, and I do not hesitate to tell God about it and to file my questions before his throne.... However, I express all this protest within the framework of a faith that has hope and a future built into it. For the present state of creation is not its final state, according to the Bible. And in the resurrection of Christ we have the first fruits of a new creation in which the old things will have passed away. I cannot claim to understand this great biblical hope terribly well either, but I draw enourmous comfort from the earthiness of the Bible's visionof the ultimate destiny of creation.... So my cry against the disasters of the present is not just a candle in the dark or spitting into the wind. It is much more akin to the agonized longing of the Psalmists: "How long, O LORD, how long?" They were certain that God would do something, but they were consumed with longing that he should do it, sooner than later. [1]
[1] Christopher Wright. The God I Don't Understand (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan; 2008), pp. 54-5.
To listen to the sermon "The Origin of Evil and Suffering" right click on the following link and select "save target as": http://bootes.websrvcs.com/clientimages/29768/sermons/audiosermons/theoriginofevilandsufferinggenesis3job24.wma
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