Moderator
Staff Member
The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted God's instructions, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant. Isaiah 24:5
Two national parks were established on February 26, ten years apart: the Grand Canyon (1919) and the Grand Tetons (1929). The idea was to conserve and protect America’s stunning natural vistas, ecosystems, and wildlife. The implication, however, was that they needed protecting. Sin’s effects include the breaking of nature.
What many Jews call tikkun olam—“repairing the world”—includes morally righteous behavior as a way of fixing hearts, which would then act rightly toward other people, as well as the environment. Messianic Jews see that work as ongoing, but only completely possible—and possible to complete—in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
The wounds that Jesus came to heal include those our sin has wrought on the world (Isaiah 53:4-5). The peace that His blood purchases for mankind will be extended toward healing the earth during the kingdom age (Isaiah 11:6-9).
There’s a middle path between rampant industrial greed and radical environmentalism: biblical stewardship. Nothing you can know, see, or hear has been spared sin’s impact—not a mountain range or a whale or a redwood. However, God’s beautiful creation, though broken, is still worth preserving. Even knowing the earth will get an extreme makeover when Jesus returns doesn’t excuse you from doing what you can to take care of it now.
Two national parks were established on February 26, ten years apart: the Grand Canyon (1919) and the Grand Tetons (1929). The idea was to conserve and protect America’s stunning natural vistas, ecosystems, and wildlife. The implication, however, was that they needed protecting. Sin’s effects include the breaking of nature.
What many Jews call tikkun olam—“repairing the world”—includes morally righteous behavior as a way of fixing hearts, which would then act rightly toward other people, as well as the environment. Messianic Jews see that work as ongoing, but only completely possible—and possible to complete—in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
The wounds that Jesus came to heal include those our sin has wrought on the world (Isaiah 53:4-5). The peace that His blood purchases for mankind will be extended toward healing the earth during the kingdom age (Isaiah 11:6-9).
There’s a middle path between rampant industrial greed and radical environmentalism: biblical stewardship. Nothing you can know, see, or hear has been spared sin’s impact—not a mountain range or a whale or a redwood. However, God’s beautiful creation, though broken, is still worth preserving. Even knowing the earth will get an extreme makeover when Jesus returns doesn’t excuse you from doing what you can to take care of it now.
