Genesis 1, 29-31, 2,1-4
For some weeks now I have held out the tantalising carrot of the Genesis explanation as to why Wasps Sting. Now today at last we must deal with this.
We must firstly identify one overriding factor. The world described in Genesis Chapter one is the world before the Fall. We are looking here at the perfection of God's creation. A perfection hat we know we lost in the fall. And a perfection promised again in the coming Kingdom of God. A perfection so beautifully dreamed of and described in Isaiah Chapter 11. I remember this passage so well from my childhood. Listen to it again.
"Wolves and sheep will live together in peace and leopards will lie down with young goats. Calves and lions cubs will feed together, and little children will take care of them. Cows and bears will eat together and their calves and cubs will lie down in peace. Lions will eat straw as cattle do. Even a baby will not be harmed if it plays near a poisonous snake. on Zion God's sacred hill there will be nothing harmful or evil."
Now do you see there some very salient points. Lions will eat straw as cattle do. Children will play unharmed. Animals we regard as natural enemies will lie down together and feed together. On Zion, God's sacred hill writes Isaiah there will be nothing harmful or evil. This is both a vision of the past and of the future!
We read here of a time to come when there will be nothing harmful. No poisonous berries, no nature read in tooth and claw. No wasps stinging. In that day they will land on us and we will find nothing to fear. Nothing will be killed to provide food. No bear or snake or disease will threaten us or harm us. Life will be truly wonderful says Isaiah. No alarm calls will be heard from birds as cats approach. No bird will pluck a worm from the ground. Do you see this wonderful picture of all of God's living creatures living together in loving harmony. For Isaiah it is a picture of the peaceful Kingdom yet to come. And this does indeed lie in our future. But it also lies in our past.
For in Genesis we read of the time of creation these words: "I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for you to eat; but for all the wild animals I have provided grass and leafy plants for food."
Put simply there was no need in God's creation to farm. Grain and fruit were to hand to provide for all our dietary needs. Animals were given the grass and leaves to eat. Nobody and nothing was killed for food. No wasp would be eaten by a bird. So no wasp needed a sting to protect itself. No lion needed to roar in hunger and tear flesh from an antelope. No human being needed go out and kill an animal for food.
However in the real and terrible FALL that came as a result of our disobedience the world and the universe was deeply distorted. Violence, killing, hatred entered the world. And fear entered the world. Danger entered the world. And with it came the need for defence and attack. And that is why the wasp stings!
We turn to now the Chapter Two and there we read the great words: "And so the whole universe was completed."
The work of creation was over. Everything as we see it now distorted through the mirror of sin was in place. And then we read at verse two, "By the seventh day God finished what he had been doing and stopped working." We might rightly ask at this moment in time what is meant by "God stopped working", for we know that God sustains the world by his power and is constantly at work in that sense. For if God were for one moment to remove his hand from his creation it would in that instant collapse and cease to be. As the Psalmist said, "When you turn away, they are afraid; when you take away your breath they die and go back to the dust from which they came." So what is meant here is quite clear. God ceased from his work of creation. No new things were created from that point on. And nothing new has been created since that time of creation. And that moment when the act of creation stopped, all was perfect.
It was later after the Fall that the curse comes. Later that the earth changes, Later that beauty is marred by the thorn and the sting and the claw. And so what see now are corruptions of that which once was perfect. Degeneration set in, in a big way. AS Calvin put it, "We must come to this conclusion respecting the existence of fleas, caterpillars and other noxious insects. In all these, I say, there is some deformity of the world, which ought by no means to be regarded as in the order of nature, since it proceeds rather from the sin of man than from the hand of God...... At the present time, when we look upon the world corrupted and as if degenerated from its original creation, let that expression of Paul recur to our mind, that the creature is liable to vanity, not willingly, but through our fault and thus let us mourn, being admonished of our just condemnation." Calvin is referring here to Romans 8v20, "For creation was condemned to lose it purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so" .... that is in curse of the FALL but as Paul continues, "Yet there was the hope that creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God."
On this day when we celebrate and give thanks for the Harvest we may want to reflect a little on what the world should be like and what it will one day be like again. We might want to reflect and mourn and grow sad at what we have done to this world. And as pictures of drought and and famine fill our minds and we dig deep into our pockets to try and help those who suffer we might also think of what sin has done to this world and continues to do to this world that once was perfect. But lest we mourn too much we must also bring to mind the beauty we can still see in the world. The harmony and wonder of creation. We can see beyond the rust and the disease with spiritual eyes to what it once was. We can also hope and pray and work for the future, for Isaiah's peaceful kingdom, for the coming Day of the Lord. And we can give thanks that God has revealed to ordinary people like ourselves the great secrets and truths of the universe. For we know the truth and we understand while others still wander in darkness. Let us rejoice in the LORD!