THE CREATION WAS SUBJECTED TO EVIL FOR OUR GLORY

THE DEATH OF CHRIST GUARANTEES OUR GLORY AND THE RESTORATION OF THE CREATION

Christians reject the notion the creation is evil. Instead, we believe an originally good creation was cursed because our sin (originating from humans and not God) altered what was initially made good.[1] Ultimately, both ‘the sinner’ and the creation are slated for full redemption by the Creator. In other words, the death of Jesus did more than pay the penalty for humankind’s sin; it legally set the creation free to be made right again once Christ returns in glory.

These things comprise Paul’s argument in Romans 8:

For the creature [creation][2] was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature [creation] itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

In other words, God has a reclamation plan for our world and we are right at the very center of it! For our sakes, the creation in its entirety was subjected to futility. This plan incorporates the essential gospel mystery.

As Paul says, “…we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto our glory” (I Corinthians 2:7). While evil sought to wreck the creation due to our sin, God intervened in our world—in history—to redeem us and His creation. God planned from the beginning to bring good from what was corrupted.  It was done this way “unto our glory”—for the purpose of our being glorified one day.  Paul goes on to say:

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Once fully redeemed, we will overcome “the bondage of corruption and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” as quoted earlier. We are instructed this struggle was necessary to transform us into glorified children of God. For from the beginning, we were predestined to become like Jesus Christ:

For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified (Romans 8:29)

Salvation consists of a many-step process. In God’s eyes, however, all the steps have been accomplished already. There is no suspense.  Everything has already been settled.  Though our experience today does not include the perfection we call glorification, nevertheless, we are told this next step is as good as finished (or as they say in my home Oklahoma, ‘it is a done deal’).  According to Paul’s gospel, God ‘called us’ for this express purpose:  “Whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 2:14) The Lord God planned from the beginning to have many millions (at least) of sons and daughters glorified with the same glory present in Jesus Christ.

S. Douglas Woodward, Blood Moon: Biblical Signs of the Coming Apocalypse, (2014), Oklahoma City: Faith Happens Books, pp. 276-279.

[1] Remember after every day (save one) those statements by God in Genesis— “And God saw what He had made and said, ‘It is Good.’”  This language was an emphatic rebuttal to virtually all other religions blaming evil on the creation.  God’s commentary constitutes an unmistakable exclamation point for just how good it is!   God takes all manner of creation ‘dissing’ personally.  He reigns as the proud Creator.

[2] The word for creation and creature is one and the same: ktisis, (pronounced, key-teh-sees). Thus, it can be translated either way depending upon the context.  The KJV seems to mistranslate it in the Romans 8 passage we referenced here.