Ok... I am going to throw this out quick... It was a message I was thinking about sharing but I couldn't come up with a practical do this with this thought.
Caveat... I always want to leave you with a practical do this with this message. Sunday morning is for application of the word into our daily lives. There are other times and places for good biblical thoughts that form other thoughts but don't have as much practical application (It is called a University... JK... I love Universities and want a masters some day.)
Check out the Noah Story... Noah was found righteous above all other humans and was commissioned by God to build a boat to save the animals and humanity from destruction.
Genesis 5-9
Genesis 7
1 The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."
God was not just getting ride of the rotten people on the Earth God was cleaning House...the Earth completely wiping it clean.
Genesis 8
1 But
God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that
were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the
waters receded.
15 Then God said to Noah, 16 "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17
20 Then Noah built an altar
to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds,
he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the
animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can
multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."
22 "As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease."
Genesis 9
1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2
The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth
and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the
ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your
hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
I have always read this as a covenant with man and God... It was much more than that. It was a covenant with all of creation including man and God... WOW. God cared enough about the animals to make a way to save them from total destruction just like he did for man. This is for shadowing something super cool that is to come.
Jesus came we know and ushered in a new way of living for man but there was also an interesting thing that God spoke in Revelations about what would happen to Earth.
Revelations 21-22
1I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea. 2 I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband. 3-5I
heard a voice thunder from the Throne: "Look! Look! God has moved into
the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They're his
people, he's their God. He'll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is
gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of
things gone." The Enthroned continued, "Look! I'm making everything
new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate."
Revelations is a tough book to fully understand. That is meant to be. When ever you are using future speak or prophecy it is cryptic because it is something that is not yet and is hard to fully put into words... However. This is a powerful revelation that God will make all things NEW... including the EARTH. Refining it and repairing it. As our earthly bodies will be remade into heavenly bodies so our earth will be transformed into a heavenly earth.
Pretty cool isn't it? Often there is confusion about our final destination and ultimately, Ill tell you when I get there, but scripture does say that the New earth is our final home.
So next time you want to trash your body because you think Ill get a new one or trash the Earth because it doesn't matter... Think about how it would feel to be God and have your creation trashed by itself. I hope this makes sense since I will not be explaining it on Sunday... I have another Hot thought that I think will be a little simpler to get across.
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