“It is not because angels are holier than men or devils, that makes them angels, but because they do not expect holiness from one another, but from God only” – William Blake.
God poured out His love through creation and His desire was and is to reveal Himself to man and have a perfect and lasting relationship with him. All of creation whether heavens or the earth were also created to exist till eternity and not decay or get destroyed. However all of creation was made perfect in every way for God is perfect and anything with a blemish cannot be in His presence. “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5) and darkness or anything opaque, creating shadows, will never be in or near God’s presence. That is why the loving God created the veil of separation between the Holiest and the holy place, for the latter was accessible but not the first. God readily visited Adam and Eve everyday in the Garden of Eden till they had nothing to hide and were transparently open to receive His love and blessings. The ill effects of sin caused no change in God but in the creation.
The creation process commenced with the glory of the Son of God setting all that was wrong right and making the earth habitable after separating darkness and evil from the Light and righteousness. All of nature was thus changed by the Divine Light and made perfect and anything that came out of that perfect state had to be perfect- water, elements of the earth, the trees and plants, animals and man- who was formed from ‘adamah’, dust of the earth. The dominion and control passed on to man and he named every creature and “God saw everything He had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).
The fall and its effects – The acts of omission or commission of the king directly affect the whole of his dominion and the sin of Adam was bound to affect all on and including the earth. Everything changed from its perfect state to a fallen imperfect nature bearing the ill effects of Adam’s sin. Thus all of vegetation, animals, mankind and every element of nature was degraded from its eternal state into a mortal and finite condition. And the change was not caused by God but occurred due to the sin committed by man and woman and the impact on all was outlined by God in Genesis 3- earth started producing thorns and thistles; animal started preying on each other; man started blaming each other and nature released its fury in the form of a flood sometime later.
But God did reveal His merciful nature and restoration was promised through the “seed of woman” and in this also God divulged the collaborative aspects of all of creation. Man was created out of the earth and by relation earth gets the relationship of a mother with man. Earth inherited the effects of sin of man being his mother and the woman was destined to be the source through whom the Redeemer must come to restore the original glory of creation by giving man a new birth, new earth and new heavens being created as places to live in.
Why did nature lose its perfection? – What was very good and eternal manifestation of God’s power and love was changed into this poor and miserable state of death and darkness- full of good and evil both. It would be grossly absurd to presume that God, of His own will, would debase His creation that is a manifestation of His power and glory into such state. Scripture is clear that a group of angels, about one third, led by Lucifer decided to rebel and tried to raise a kingdom of their own. This was an attempt to raise a seat of power and majesty parallel to God by renouncing their heavenly existence thereby directly affecting their inner and outward nature adversely. Since the inward and outward nature must act in unison and be affected by each other, the two must rise and fall together. Thus as the rebel group of angels lost their heavenly nature and life, their separate “kingdom” also had to lose its heavenly status and life since the two could not coexist otherwise.
In this situation where some part of eternal nature was thus debased by the rebellion of angels and changed from its glorious and perfect state into a poor, perishable, disordered and material world. At this stage God did one of the two things- either He took this affected part of heaven/eternal nature and formed it into the present temporary state of good and evil; or he excised that separated part of heaven and brought it into this mixture of turmoil of this world. The possibility of the first is more since the second option would entail bringing evil into nature as the devil had already done. Thus not only was the evil brought by the evil into nature stopped but through a glorious decree bringing evil in a temporary form to be finally overcome and made good again.
How did the angels spoil the eternal nature? – Angels by virtue of being created in the mighty glory of God were given tremendous might and power which was evident in one of them killing “a hundred and eighty five thousand (soldiers) in the Assyrian camp” (2 Kings 19:35). Such mighty spirits with their eternal power and energies would influence their surrounding nature also mightily. If a piece of coal set on fire produces enough heat to create some affect on its surrounding nature, how much more the heat produced by the acts of the fallen angels affect the whole nature itself leading to its destruction and debasement. The rebellious angels in their wrathful anger to exalt themselves above God and others became filled with darkness, got divided and confused from their original purpose creating the same affect of darkness, confusion and division on nature also.
Any fire whether of love or anger that is not controlled or governed by light is the fire of wrath only with the singular purpose of destruction of all that it can or that comes in its way. Light on the other hand is kind, mild and kind spreading love and glory into all that it breaches or who receive it. This light is heavenly and the angels on separation from the love and meekness of this light were turned into devil and demons spreading evil all around. Both of these fires create their own type of heat and energy, one comforting and life giving while the other burning and destroying, changing the surrounding nature. Fire in any material, like coal, can only affect other material things but fire of wrath as in the fallen angels or man affects the soul through inflamed passions and desires bringing its downfall and stirs up turmoil all around as the angels do in hell.
Comparing the uncontrolled fire with the fire of love and compassion established in a reborn and transformed man by the Light and Spirit of God, while the first destroys, the latter transmits a double blessing all around. Firstly, it joins the mild light of the sun to help in overcoming the wrath of outward nature while inwardly acting in unison with the power and authority of good angels in resisting the darkness and wrath of evil and hell. This power is clearly evident in the anger and wrath of a human being wherein one evil thought can suddenly discolor, poison, distort and agitate the whole being of that person. A body infected by disease of the body and mind infects the surrounding nature and conversely polluted and malignant air and nature affects the human body. Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and command to Lot and his family not to look back to remember and take along the evil (Genesis 19:26), command to the Israelites to completely destroy everything while conquering the areas in the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 7:1-3) are examples to check such ills pervading in the areas from affecting others. Evidently there is an inseparable mixing and uniting between nature and those dwelling in it creating good or evil impact on each other.
Even the ceremonial laws for separation of the sick, lepers and others infected from the rest of the society, even exactly defined laws to cleanliness after touching a dead body (Leviticus 11-15). All diseases in nature and creature proceed from the sinful desires and deeds of the creature and the onset of most diseases has been directly linked to human weakness. Death comes from sin and all disorder, confusion and chaos is the direct result of the ill-effects of this power of man on nature. Thus the darkness, fire, disorder and wrath that came up in the angels who rebelled automatically evidenced itself in nature also.
In like manner the sinful nature that developed in man after his sin of disobedience and wrathful desire to “become like God” not only caused his separation from God and heavenly nature but also adversely affected the nature and bringing a curse on it. The earth that had brought forward at heavenly command such beautiful plants, flowers and fruit trees was this changed to produce “thorns and thistles also” (Genesis 3:18). The inward fall of angels and man affected the outward nature directly causing a permanent and it is clearly evident for all to see that all of creation – with our without life, is in a permanent state of turmoil and pain. All of us who have been blessed with a foretaste of the Holy Spirit await a different consecration and redemption of our mortal bodies thus realizing our adoption as sons in the Lord. While we are sure of being saved by our Redeemer but it still means waiting in expectant hope for that which is yet to come and with us whole of nature also waits for the same restoration (Romans 8:22).
Why is there in everything a search for perfection? – All elements of nature were created in perfection by a Perfect God with everything aligned and acting in conformity with one another. This was the heavenly state of total bliss and peace with all looking up to God the Creator for sustenance and light. This state was debased and disturbed by the rebellion of the angels in heaven and later by disobedience of man on the earth. It is an established law that all unstable matter must endeavor to return to its original state and in this effort grasp at every upper and improved level. This is the “travail and groaning of nature to be delivered from its present vanity” (Romans 8:22). And this effort is seen in everything including man endeavoring with all power within to reach the original state of union with the Creator in His perfection which was available before the fall.
The Garden of Eden on the earth and the heavens above were the perfection of God displayed in them and everything therein. The dark, fiery, wrathful fire generated within and without each created being brought about due to the angels rebellion, destroyed the perfection of color, fragrance, taste, power and virtue of everything. But all aspire to receive back that same originality in itself and works towards it and a flower blooms to its fullness, a fruit ripens to its aroma and taste of sweetness and every living being attempts to obey God’s laws. But all must reach a certain level and then wither away without attaining that eternal nature in the kingdom of God.
Inherent desire for restoration and transformation – The first stage of restoration was set by God through His command “Let there be Light” and since that Light has heaven within, everything was changed from its dark, void and empty state to a life giving and life receiving state. Everything created during the first four days of the creation cycle on the earth is blessed with the life giving power of this “heavenly light”. The sun gets its life giving power, water its life sustaining power and the restored earth its life generating power with all the colors, fragrances, sounds and tastes. Anything thus covered with and created in this Light inherits heavenly and paradise textures and traits of giving and blessing in all conditions even when stoned. Love and all expressions of it in union of self with all else in harmony and unity of heavenly desires in visible in all these. In its original and rational state it kindles a spirit and state of meekness, kindness, gentleness and friendship towards all else. All this is evident till they have this heavenly Light and Spirit of God within them but immediately on separation all this is not only lost but gets replaced with darkness and evil.
Man is attracted to all that is beautiful, good and pleasing for God created him in His “image and likeness” and what could be better, beautiful and more pleasing than God. Man desires all that is good in nature from animate to inanimate things- from flowers, places and people to beautiful stones, diamonds and even the beauty of self and attempts to adorn all this further with vibrant colors and embellishments. He does this to recreate the original glory and perfect beauty of his being and all of nature while being in and through this fallen nature. If this was not so about his first state of beauty and glory before the fall then he would now have no more imagination nor desire for this. Man wants himself clothed in riches, greatness and power because human nature came first into the world in this state. What he had in paradise, he is seeking for himself in this valley of death and decay.
Man tries to achieve this state in self and all around him and fails after realizing that all this is transitory and not eternal. It is then that we come to this realization that some other force is needed to bring about this permanent state of restoration. El-Shaddai, the Almighty God is aware of this and to help man He sent His own Son to acquire this permanent restoration. The Israelites suffered snake bites and death due to their sins and Moses was told to make a serpent of brass and place it on a pole. Whoever looked at this serpent on the pole after being bitten by a snake was saved from death and now we look on the Son of God on the cross and are delivered from death. He is our justification and the assurance of forgiveness of our sins by removing the same as far from us as east is from the west. In Him is our sanctification with the Holy Spirit writing His commands and statutes into our hearts and in Him is our complete redemption with the opening of the Holiest of Holies for us and He leading us in to give us permanent presence there before God’s very throne of grace and mercy.
It is through His Son that God opened the door to His presence by transferring His holiness to us by perfecting us through His sufferings. He was always perfect and our blemishes of sins get transferred to Him when we believe and place our hands through the Spirit on the cross and in return we become partakers of His glory and perfection. “God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but He does what is still wonderful: He makes saints out of sinners” Soren Kierkegaard.
The offer is for all- anyone can take it- for God so loved the world, not one group of people! Step forward and claim your redemption.
