ALL OF CREATION IS GROANING--Pt.2

Sin has and is defiling the earth! Genesis 4:10,11, "the voice of thy brother's blood cries out to me from the ground" (Leviticus 17:11 'the life of the flesh is in the blood.' I believe God could hear the life of Abel crying out from the ground as his blood defiled the earth) "and now art thou cursed from the earth which opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood." Sin got so bad that, "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the Lord said,'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repented Me that I have made them.'" God was actually sorry that he had made man. Because of his sin he had corrupted all of the earth and all that lived upon the earth to the point where God felt it necessary to destroy it.

Gen.6:11, "The earth (beast, man, ground) was also corrupt(in Hebrew the word is shawkhath-meaning decay, waste, ruin, mar, defiled) before God, and the earth was filled with violence."

Gen.6;12,"And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh (man,beast) had corrupted his way (their way was to be in harmony and at peace)upon the earth."

After the flood that purged the earth, Noah offered up a sacrifice to God. "The Lord smelled a sweet savour (Noah's worship stirred God's mercy) and the Lord said in His heart, 'I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite anymore everything living, as I have done.'"(Gen.8:21) Although God showed mercy to man, sin continued. "Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people."(Is.60:2) "The earth is given into the hand of the wicked."(Job 9:24) Sin prevails! Man continues defiling the earth with his sin. This causes "all" of creation (earth, beast, man) to long for redemption.

"For we know that the whole creation (man, beast, earth) groans and travails in pain together until now."(Rom.8:22) Paul is stating that all of creation was looking for a redeemer to take sin away from man so that all of creation could return to the state of existance that it knew at the beginning, pure,clean,in harmony,at peace and undefiled. There is a general out cry of all creation against the sin of man. Sin is a burden to all of creation. When man fell he disrupted the balance of creation and thus all of creation began to act out of character from what they were created to be.

"The earth mourns (remember it is a living organism) and fades away. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws. changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant (the laws of existance,what God originally planned for His creation). Therefore has the curse (of sin) devoured (destroyed, defiled) the earth and they that dwell therein are desolate(laid waste)." Is.24:4,5)

The end results of man defiling the earth are what we are experiencing in the world now. "The earth shook and trembled; the foundation of heaven moved and shook because He was wroth."(II Sam.22:8) The earth was pure, clean, made for eternal existence, but man sinned and brought upon all creation the curse of sin.

As stated earlier, the earth is a living organism created to praise its Creator. To illustrate this may I share the results of an experience that was conducted to prove the effects of music on humans. A group of scientists placed two indentical plants in front of two separate speakers. Through one speaker they played hard rock music while the other plant was exposed to easy listening music. This continued 24/7. Each plant was treated the same but over a period of time the plant in front of the speaker playing easy listening music grew toward the speaker and grew much faster than normal. On the other hand the plant in front of the speaker playing hard rock grew away from the speaker and died. This proves that the plants were living organisms capable of discerning what is in harmony with creation and what is not.

Animals are also living organisms created to praise their Creator. The same group of scientists that were using the plants to prove the effects of music on nature also used animals to test the effects of music. They took four hundred cows from a dairy farm and divided them into two groups. They placed two hundred in one barn with hard rock music playing in it. They then placed the other two hundred cows in a barn where they played easy listening music. The cows exposed to the easy listening music begin to produce twice the milk that they had before. The cows exposed to the hard rock music were uneasy and dried up. Again, the cows were responding to thier environment. That which was contrary to the original plan of creation, harmony and peace, brought about a negitive response. Those cows in a peaceable environment responded positively. Why do animals attack other animals as well as man? They are out of harmony with creation. What man once had dominion over now wants to kill him. Rev.6:8 tells us that the rider of the pale horse will have power to kill one-fourth of the earth's population. He will do this with the sword, hunger, death and by the beast of the field.

What causes animals to go against their created nature of harmony and peace? The SIN of man. What causes man to face sickness, disease, depression, heartbreak, unhappiness, unfulfillment, evil, wickedness,etc.,etc.? The SIN of man. What causes the earth to suffer earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, drought, tsunamies, floods, etc.,etc.? The SIN of man. The earth and creation are trying to rid itself of what caused the problem--man, in sin.

Isaiah had this to say about the end times. "The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression (original sin) thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall and not rise again."(Is.24:20)

"Thy wrath has come---(thou) should destroy them which destroy the earth." (Rev.11:18)

"And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomits out her inhabitants."(Lev.18:25) She is trying to cleanse herself.

Six thousand years of defilement, sin!! And as it was in the days of Noah, God is about to cleanse the earth of sin. The earth is sending out signals that the end is near. She is rejecting sin. She is attempting to cleanse herself, by shaking-earthquakes; by winds-tornadoes, hurricanes, damaging winds; by washing-floods, tsunamies; by burning-drought, wildfires. Yet, man still won't listen and repent but continues to defile the earth with sin.

There is an upside to this message. "When thy judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn RIGHTOUSNESS." (Is.26:9) In the mist of all of the choas of today and its increasing effects, the church will experience a great revival! The world will experience a great awaking! We shall see a great harvest of souls! Then we shall see Jesus!!! The earth will melt away.(II Peter 3:7-13) Those who have accepted the Redeemer will put on new bodies and move to a new earth where there will no longer be any sin.

The end is near! All of creation is groaning! What should we do? (Read the answer in Ps.46:1-11.)