Wednesday, March 10, 2021
“For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody” (Isaiah 51:3 KJV).
Behold, the glory days—both past and future!
Is it not depressing to see once magnificent structures now aging, fading, and crumbling? An impressive movie theater, formerly state-of-the-art, currently empty and dilapidated because internet streaming has brought about its closure? The extravagant mansion vacated long ago, vandals stealing its treasured furnishings and weeds choking its once well-manicured gardens, now in ruins? A booming city currently a ghost town because of a natural disaster, a new interstate isolating it from society, an economic downturn? What about the time when an athlete’s physical body was stronger, swifter, and comelier? No longer in their “glory days,” these are suffering the fate of decline. Creation has experienced a similar doom.
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31). Believe it or not, at one time, planet Earth was a “heavenly” place to live. All creation—the entire universe—was in pristine condition back then. Sickness, pain, suffering, and death were unknown. There was neither war nor fighting, selfishness nor greed, corruption nor deception. Sin was totally unfamiliar to that earthly realm and its first two inhabitants, our parents, Adam and Eve. The animal and plant kingdoms were at their zenith of beauty and order. In Genesis chapter 3, however, those glory days of Earth ended most tragically.
Man’s federal head, Adam, made the conscious choice of rebelling against his Creator. With that one defiant act, man brazenly announced in the spirit of Satan, “I will live for my glory, Creator God, not yours!” At that very moment, creation was ruined, and the curse of sin was established. The celestial body we call “Earth” today is but a collection of remnants of that perfect world found in the opening chapters of Genesis. Its grandeur and tranquility long gone, nevertheless we through the eyes of faith see the breathtaking view of its future restoration. What a sight it is….
333 Words of Grace 