God in His love for creation sent Jesus to redeem creation from the Fall of humanity.
John recorded in Chapter 17 Jesus’ prayer. In verse five were he speaks of being with God before he came to be born as one of us. “And now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made.” Jesus had completed his Father’s plans and purposes: he prays thanking God his Father for the word that revealed his identity to his disciples, and for them to be one as brothers (Jesus fulfilled the law) in Christ and to be kept safe from the evil one.
It was a pivotal moment in the history of the creation of the earth when the fall of humanity took place.
Moses, the writer of Genesis inspired by God gives an account of the first humans and their separation from God, their creator. He writes that Adam and Eve used their free will to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Adam and Eve sin of disobedience, making themselves a god to themselves by responding to Satan’s temptation ‘To be like God’ to use their free will and eat from the forbidden tree. In being disobedient by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their eyes and hearts were open to discern the presence of evil. As a result, Satan, was legally able to take their dominion of all living breathing creatures over to him. Satan’s power over humanity led to Adam and Eve’s death, eternal death.
After the fall of humanity, Satan’s influence over humankind caused human beings to become corrupt: their nature became self-centred and unforgiving, often envious, fearful, and retaliatory. Cain, we read his offering did not please God, whereas God blessed his brother Abel’s offering. Cain was angry, envious of his brother. “So, Cain became angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Genesis 4: 5-7. On another occasion Cain’s hatred of his brother led to him killing his brother Abel. Cain had been warned that Satan was behind his anger, and he needed to stand against it. But sadly, he was influenced by his fallen nature so he could not help himself, he slew his brother Abel. Genesis 8: 10. Every person to stand in their own strength to withstand the temptations that came to them. Most could not withstand Satan’s spirit of evil and people’s inhumanity towards each other became prevalent on the earth.
During the time before the flood, the population must have grown significantly, “And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” Genesis 1: 28.
The people in those days lived a long time: Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years. Genesis 5: 3. 5: 27. Also, their children would have migrated across the world.
The Lord used the power of his created word to remove the corruption from his creation.
Our sovereign God, had planned to destroy the earth with a flood. Noah believed God when he told him of his plan, so Noah and his family were told by God to build the ark for him and his family and for the creatures of the earth to escape the flood, “God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms inside the ark and cover it inside with pitch . . . . For behold, I will bring a flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall die.” Genesis 6: 12-17.
God used the power of water to remove the corruption on the earth. But God knew that the spirit of Satan was still influencing humanities fallen inherited nature. Noah and his family and all the creatures that where on the ark were saved by God to make a fresh start. Their story has been told by succeeding generations. The evidence remains today of the flood having taken place. “The waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered;” Genesis 7: 18,19.
“The Genesis Flood” The Biblical Record and its Scientific Implications” John C Whitcomb and Henry M Morris. “We have seen that most of the earth’s crust, up to and including some of the Proterozoic strata, was probably formed during the period of creation, Also, there must have been a primeval mantle of soil supporting the luxuriant plant life of the antediluvian earth. During the relatively brief period between the Fall and the Deluge, however, probably few deposits were formed, and those that were formed were swept away by the flood, together with the original soils and other unconsolidated materials. And it is highly probable that many of even the primeval crystal rocks were broken up and swept away, mixed and eventually redeposited by the tremendous forces of the flood waters, as well as by the volcanic and other phenomena accompanying them. For one thing seems absolutely certain, if the Biblical record of the flood is true, as we strongly affirm it to be the ‘Noachian Deluge’ was a cataclysm of absolutely enormous scope of potency and must have accomplished an immense of geologic work during the year in which it prevailed over the earth. There seems no reasonable alternative to either rejecting the Bible as of no historical value whatever or else acknowledging the fact that many of the earth’s rock stratus must have been produced by the flood! We have already shown that the Bible quite clearly and emphatically teaches the fact of a global flood, and it should be immediately obvious that if such a global flood ever occurred, it must have been the greatest geomorphic agent acting on the earth since creation itself! Anyone who can conceive of a worldwide flood being “tranquil” and geologically impotent should as easily be able to equate east with west and black and white.” “Overflowed with water.” Page ‘258’ Publishers Baker House Grand Rapids Michigan USA 1991.
Noah’s descendant ‘Egypt’ the son of Cush, the son of Ham, the son of Noah, ( Genesis 10: 6) who’s name remains today on the land thousands of years later and in 1 Chronicles 1: 11, the land mass of the earth was divided in the days of Peleg. “To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one Peleg (for in his days the earth was divided), and the name of the other Joktan.” 1 Chronicles 1: 19. The age of the earth is estimated between five – six billion years old. “The Genesis Flood” John C Whitcomb and Henry M Morris. .Page 378.
After the flood, the Lord decided that he would never curse the ground again, “The Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day, and night, shall not cease.” Genesis 8: 21,22.
God’s plan and purpose in sending Jesus to be born as one of us was to redeem humanity from the curse that he put on man and the ground, “And to Adam he said, “’Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3: 17-19.
“The Genesis Flood The Biblical Record and its Scientific Implications” John C Whitcomb and Henry M Morris.
Paul writing to the Church at Rome, “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8: 20-22. King James Bible) “It was at the time of the Edenic curse of Gen. 3: 17-19 that “the creation was subjected to “vanity” by God. This “vanity” (of which the Book of Ecclesiastes speaks so eloquently) is further described as “the bondage of corruption,” which is the explanation of the fact that this passage teaches very clearly that some tremendous transformations took place in the realm of nature at the time of the Edenic curse: and therefore any scientific theory which purports to explain the history of life on this planet without taking into full account the effects of the fall upon the realm of nature must be rejected. The Edenic curse had far-reaching effects upon nature, including the animal kingdom. In Genesis 1: 28, for example, we are told that God gave Adam “dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” This is the dominion that we read in Psalm 8: 6-8. “Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou has put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatsoever passes through the paths of the seas “ Daily experience teaches us that dominion of this kind is no longer being exercised by the human race over the animal kingdom. Something drastic has taken place in man’s relationship to the animal kingdom since the days of the Garden of Eden. The subservience and instant obedience of all classes of animals to the will of man has been transformed into fear and dread of man that often brings with it violence and destruction.” “The Genesis Flood The Biblical Record and its Scientific Implications” John C Whitcomb and Henry M Morris “Overflowed with water” Page 459.460.” Publishers Baker House Grand Rapids Michigan USA 1991.
God planned to send his Son Jesus to redeem all creation, from God’s curse on the ground. Jesus the seed that fell into the earth and died. “Unless, a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit.” John 12: 24. A seed contains the complete makeup of a plant: leaves, height, colour of flowers and produce more seeds of its own kind. The seed of Jesus contained the fullness of his indestructible life and in his seed: a new heaven and a new earth.
Jesus redeemed the vegetation – when Jesus on the cross bore the crown of thorns. The Roman soldiers at the Praetorium mocked Jesus and put on him a scarlet robe, a crown of thorns and a reed in his hand, they ridiculed him saying, “Hail! King of the Jews.” They removed the robe and reed leaving the crown upon his head. This was significant as Jesus bore on the cross God’s curse that he put upon vegetation. Matthew 27: 27-31.
The wooden cross, or Jesus hanging on a tree, is also symbolic of God’s act of redeeming humanity from his curse upon the vegetation. “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God; you shall not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance. “Cursed is the man that hangs on a tree.” Deuteronomy 21: 22,23.
Jesus was taken down from the cross on the same day, redeeming the land.
God, had given Adam and Eve dominion over every living breathing creature, “God blessed them, and God said to them, (Adam and Eve created in the image of God Gen 1v 27 and joined as one Gen 2v 24) “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” Genesis 1: 28. After the fall of Adam and Eve, Satan took from them the dominion that God had given to them. God had used animal skins to cover Adam and Eve’s bodies. The animals became a blood sacrifice to atone, make a covering for their sin.
Jesus redeems humanity and every living breathing creature from Satan’s dominion -Moses was chosen by God to lead the Hebrew people to the land that God promised to Abraham, the land of Canaan. On the Exodus journey, Moses was given the blueprint of the heavenly temple on Mount Sinia. “The Lord said, . . And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in your midst. According to all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and all of its furniture, so you shall make it.” Exodus 25: 8.
The tent Tabernacle was carried from place to place and set up to worship the God of Israel. Within its framework was an altar where the blood of animals was sprinkled on the altar for forgiveness of sins. The person came to the entrance of the Tabernacle, where the priest stood, the person laying their hand upon the head of the animal or bird identifying their sin with the creature. Leviticus 1: 3-5. The person then killed the animal, and its blood was caught in a bowl by the priest, and he then took the bowl and sprinkled the blood on the altar. The blood of animals and birds were substituted taking the punishment for sin, Jesus in taking our sin and hereditary sin of Adam and Eve’s upon himself, he becomes our substitute having taken the punishment in dying in our place by his life’s blood shed on the cross for the forgiven of sin and its causes. Jesus redeemed the animals and birds from being used as a sacrifice for humanities sin.
Jesus has redeemed humanity – The Lord Jesus’ victory over sin for all those who believe in him, and in his resurrection from the dead, through repentance and faith in Jesus, believers are raised up in the likeness of Jesus’ resurrection by the power of his indestructible life (Hebrews 7: 15,16) and enter eternal life. Jesus through his victory over Satan transforms our fallen nature so, we feel how God feels about sin, it is abhorrent to us. Thank you, Lord God for what You have done for us by redeeming humankind from the curses and the inherited sin of Adam and Eve, making it possible to be reconciled to God our Father and creator.
Jesus has redeemed the creatures in the sea – Jesus gave the scribes and Pharisees the sign of Jonah, “But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12: 39,40. Jesus was speaking of his death, burial in a tomb for three days and nights and just as Jonah had died inside the whale’s stomach and on the third day was vomited out alive, so Jesus would rise from the dead on the third day. Jonah 2: 6,7,10. The fact that Jesus gave this sign he included the creatures of the sea. On another occasion Jesus was asked to pay the half shekel tax, he told Peter to go fishing and the fish he caught had the shekel in its mouth. Jesus showed his dominion over the fish in the sea. ”Jesus said, “However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel; take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.” Matthew 17: 24-27.
Jesus redeems the birds – The sign of the Cockrill crowing three times is not a co-incidence, the Cockrill represents the birds of creation being redeemed by Jesus as they were involved in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus predicted Peter’s denial of knowing him, “Jesus said to Peter, “Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” Matthew 26: 34. The Cockrill was included in the downfall of Peter’s denial of knowing Jesus, “ Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a maid came up to him, and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the porch, another maid saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again, he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man. . . . . “I do not know the man. And immediately the cock crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly.“. Matthew 26: 69-72,75. Peter’s response must have hurt Jesus, but God had forewarned Jesus of Peter’s fallen nature taking control. But Peter was broken-hearted, we are told he wept bitterly, The angel at the tomb particularly asked the women to tell Peter that Jesus was risen. Mark 16: 7.
Jesus redeemed all living, breathing creatures on our planet from God’s curse upon the ground.
Every living breathing creature, and creation itself, is waiting for the redemption of creation. (excluding humanity). This will happen on the day of the Lord’s coming. It will take place after Jesus’ Millennium reign and after Satan has been set free for a short period of time. John’s vision, “And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, that is, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but fire came down from heaven] and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20: 7-10
Paul in his letter to the Romans writes, “Because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay. . . . .We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Romans 8: 21-23. Paul knows that creation is redeemed, but creation is having to wait for Jesus’ return. Paul likens it to the church waiting for the restoration of our bodies at the calling out his church.
Peter in his second letter writes, “ Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3: 12,13
The perfection of nature will be in the new heaven and the new earth, every living breathing creature will live at peace with one another. Isaiah writes, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatlings together; and a little child shall lead them.” Isaiah 11: 6.
John writing towards the end of the first century, tells us that Jesus was willing to do his Father’s will, even though he would suffer and be killed at the hands of men. He was innocent of all the charges against him, Jesus bore on the cross the curses that God put on humanity (Both men and women and the 3rd and 4th generational sin, and sins of humanities fallen nature.) In his bodily resurrection Jesus won the total victory over the whole of humanities fallen nature, curses, and sins of the flesh. Jesus has dominion over all creation.
When I was filled with the Holy Spirit, ‘I knew God was my Father and I felt one with creation.’ The revealing of the word, that ‘Jesus has redeemed creation,’ I now understand why I felt one with creation. Jesus completed in himself total victory over Satan’s dominion over the earth, (Matthew 4: 8,9) and redeeming all living breathing life that is on the earth. Satan and his principalities and powers have been disarmed, (Colossians 2: 14,15) he has no longer a kingdom of power. Christians who use the God given gifts of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, have the power to win Christ’s victory over Satan. Jesus holds the keys of death and Hades.
John makes it clear that Jesus’ victory over Satan still stands today.
John writes in Revelation, “When I saw him, (Jesus) I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” Revelation 1: 17,18.
