God’s Original Plan
We’ve established in previous posts that God created everything; Heaven, Earth and everything they contain. I would like to think every Christian would, at the very least, agree with me on that point.
Genesis chapter one can be summarised as the following:
Days 1-4; God creates Heaven and Earth. Put this in its simplest terms, they are a place to live and plants to grow and to nourish sentient life forms.
Days 5-6; God creates the sentient life to fill the seas and all forms of sentient life including mankind.
Day 7; God rests.
The Animals’ Place in Creation
In Genesis chapter one we are told that God creates man in His own image Genesis 1:27. In verse 28 God also gives man dominion over all other lifeforms. But what does this ‘dominion’ actually mean?
Well first of all ‘dominion’ never meant ‘dinner.’ Neither did it mean cruelty, neglect or even indifference. It does not mean that animals were put on this earth to take their coats, wool or even to make them work for us. They were never intended to be exploited or for our amusement. Not at all.
It is sad that so many people, including Christians think this or at least think all of the above are ok, but this was never part of His original plan.
His Creation was described as ‘very good’ by God Himself, Genesis 1:31. Note the order and the context. ‘Everything’ was ‘very good.’
‘Everything’ leaves nothing out. There is nothing good about suffering, and that includes the animals. Any creature suffering or being exploited is not good. Animals being afraid of other animals and being afraid of man, is not good. Man being afraid of other men or of any animal, is not good.
On the contrary, all sentient life, all the beasts of the earth, all the birds of the air, all the creatures of the sea were designed to live in harmony both with each other and humankind. No life form, either human or animal had anything to fear.
There was no death or disease in the world. None. Neither did the plants whither and die. Every single thing that God created flourished in a way that we can’t even imagine. And because of this, all life on earth survived on a vegan diet. Genesis 1:29-30
‘And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.’
Scripture always interprets scripture, therefore we must look at the whole picture. Death only entered the world because of sin.
‘Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned.’ Romans 5:12
Ok, so the verse in Romans doesn’t specifically mention the animals, however, it does tell us that death only entered the world because of sin. Notice death entered the world. The world includes everything, not just mankind. In the beginning in Genesis 1, there was no sin so death did not exist. Everything was ‘very good.’ Death can never be described as ‘very good.’ Both man and the animals felt no fear and lived in harmony with each other. There was no sickness and no disease; there were no poisonous plants or even thorns.
Other verses which reiterate this point are;
‘For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.’ 1 Corinthians 15:21
‘For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ Romans 6:23
God is telling us the same thing again and again, ‘here a little, there a little,’ that it is man who sinned, and it is his sin that brought death.
The animals were innocent in all of this.
So where does this leave them and all other sentient life forms?
We will explore Dominion and the Genesis curse in the next blog.