We had been talking about her and her family's concern about the suffering of animals. It had been a real sunny spring-like morning, but with an ominous background to it, making for a wonderful light. I wrote:
Dear Joyce,
I thought I would
type out the verses we read this morning, and the ones about the promises of
the restoration of Paradise on earth.
The Bible message
has been so hidden from us.
Genesis 1:29-31
tells us:
"Then God said: “Here I have given to you
every seed-bearing plant that is on the entire earth and every tree with
seed-bearing fruit. Let them serve as food for you. And to every wild
animal of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to
everything moving on the earth in which there is life, I have given all green
vegetation for food.” And it was so. After that God saw everything he had
made, and look! it was very good...."
It was very good. It
was perfect. Adam and Eve lived in
Paradise. Everything was ruled by the law
of loving kindness. And nature was not "red in tooth and claw". This was not a world full of the hunters and
the hunted.
And, wonderfully,
the Inspired Scriptures promise us a restoration of that Paradise state. Isn't it what we pray for when we say the
Lord's prayer and ask for God's will to be done on the earth?
For example, under
the rule of God's Kingdom, which is a heavenly government, nature will no
longer be "red in tooth and claw".
It will return to the peace of Paradise.
Isaiah 11:6-9 promises
us this:
"The wolf will reside for a while with the
lamb, And with the young goat the leopard will lie down, And the calf and the
lion and the fattened animal will all be together; And a little boy will lead
them. The cow and the bear will feed together, And their young will
lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the bull. The
nursing child will play over the lair of a cobra, And a weaned child will put
his hand over the den of a poisonous snake. They will not cause any
harm Or any ruin in all my holy mountain, Because the earth will certainly be
filled with the knowledge of Jehovah As the waters cover the sea."
The lion will eat
straw, just like the bull. The animals
will have nothing to fear from us, or from each other. We will have nothing to fear from them.
What human
government could ever achieve that?
Jehovah is "the
God of all comfort", and this is so comforting.
A rescue for all the
earthly creation - man and animal - is so close now. It is what we are trying to tell you as we
come to your doors.
Not one of Jehovah's
promises has ever failed, or ever will.
Hope to see you next
month!
love Sue
Butterfly Mark called in for a coffee this afternoon. Great to see him. He is dealing with Silverfish and Firebrats at the moment. I know silverfish - you used to find them a lot in old kitchens, especially dank basementy ones. But I had never heard of Firebrats. Apparently, they are a similar sort of thing, except that they love the heat and the dryness, and are found in bakeries and suchlike.
His visit reminded of our years on Planet Expat, when I don't think a day went past without people dropping in. And we have both been thinking of that time because Mary is so ill. She and Chuck were a big part of our expat lives. They retired to Texas, we retired to South Coast England. But when we lived in the same town we saw them all the time. We visited the Barrier Reef together, many years ago. They went diving in the Maldives with Captain Butterfly while I house-sat all the animals.
I have been listening to the Sandy Denny song, "Who knows where the time goes?"
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