On Easter, we Christians celebrated the bursting forth of the new creation in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The restoration of creation has begun with him and with us. Consider the story. God had first created the earth and its creatures. And then he created us. But we ruined his creation. So God begins the restoration of creation at the point where it came unraveled. He first restores us in Christ. And then he restores his creation.
In the meantime, we live in the midst of a groaning creation (Romans 8). On the one hand, the groaning of the creation that has been subjected to corruption calls us to repentance. For it is on account of us that the earth suffers beneath the curse and ongoing human destructiveness. On the other hand, the groaning of creation in anticipation of its renewal calls us to embrace the goodness of creation and the goodness of our creatureliness.
As new creatures raised with Christ, we have been set free from the need to possess and control the earth for our self-aggrandizement. Instead, we’ve been set free to recover our place within creation as those whom God created to live in a unique relationship with him and with our fellow creatures. As the ruin of creation began with us, so the renewal of creation begins with us.
(from "together with all creatures" by charles arand)
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