Lord of All Nature

Our lectionary and the church year have brought us to what are called Rogation Days. This is a time of hopeful preparation for the coming celebration of the Ascension. It’s also a liturgical moment to think about God’s provision in the real world. In centuries past, the church would process, that is walk out through the fields of the congregation members or around church property and ask for God’s provision and blessing and thank him for his provision in the past. As I reflected on our passages for today, I was overwhelmed by the grace, the beauty, and the love found in the promises of God. Also, I may be biased, but these passages and the theme of Rogation Days are fitting as a picture of the biblical concept of New Creation. But as we approach Scripture, the first question we should ask is not, “How does this fit into the theme of new creation,” but, “What does this passage tell us about God, and can we see Jesus here?” These passages from Joel, and the psalms, and Revelation, and John give us a peaceful picture of God’s provision. So we’ll explore that thread running throughout scripture and spend some time focusing on how they point to Jesus.

I do want to say that I’ve been enjoying watching yard work videos. Far more than I can say I’ve been enjoying yard work. In these videos, a guy gets his weed whacker and his lawn mower and finds some abandoned property and fixes it up. And it’s sped up! Like 3 or 4 times the normal speed. It’s amazingly satisfying. It is offering a different view of humanity’s relationship to nature. One where the whole job gets done in 90 seconds instead of 3 hours. It’s kind of a reversal of the cursing of the ground that happened at the Fall. And I think it’s a good picture of the hope we find in the prophet Joel, who sets the stage with war and famine. The destruction of all prosperity is evidenced by people tearing down the granaries because they are just a painful reminder of when there actually was grain to store. That’s a long and desperate famine. Further, Israel was attacked by an army nation from the North. And so the combination of these things made Israel completely desperate. The Lord speaks through Joel letting them know that if they would turn to the Lord, he would restore the years the locusts have eaten before their eyes. And that means this restoration is not just a new peace in their hearts or a smile on their face. When we open up ourselves to all of Scripture, we can see that God does his work inside our hearts, but also outside our hearts. He cares about our health, our bodies, the land he has given us to live in, our countries, the oceans, the mountains, the solar system, galaxies, and universe he has made. Growing up as a conservative Baptist, I never would have thought I’d hear those words in a sermon, let alone coming out of my own mouth. And despite what you might think from our name, there is not going to be an undue emphasis on creation care to the neglect of salvation issues in this church. Instead, though, if we care about the truth and authority of Scripture, we have to take it ALL in, and give it all its rightful place to speak. So it’s worth acknowledging that God doesn’t just work in my heart and mind. He shows his care for us in embodied, real-world, messy existence in this beautiful fallen world we live in.

THE story, the death of Jesus and his resurrection are lived out in the person of Jesus, in history, in the world. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And here in the time we set aside to live into the resurrection of Jesus, we see Jesus declared, as our song said today, Lord of all nature. The story of Israel, our own personal stories, and even the workings of nature declare Jesus as Lord. The famine of Joel and our personal losses, and the autumn leaves turning color, and falling, point to THE story, the story of Jesus in his death. And here in our Easter season, Joel shows us a picture of what the Resurrected Lord of All Nature can do, if with his love He befriend thee. Let’s look again at the words of Joel

Joel 2:21–27 ESV

21 “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! 22 Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield. 23 “Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. 24 “The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. 26 “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. 27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

We have to be careful that we don’t dislodge the blessings of Joel from our own lives too quickly. Sure, we are rightly allergic to the prosperity gospel. The good news of Jesus is not that God is going to give you health and wealth. The good news of Jesus is that God has given you Himself, and his righteousness in exchange for your sinfulness, and then eternal life. But, as the glory and significance of the resurrection of Jesus reverberates throughout all of creation, throughout all time, one of the waves of the glory of the resurrection that hits is the blessing of restoration. Not everyone gets to have wealth or even health. God has greater glory in mind for those who lack those things. But when restoration does come, it comes from the Lord. Joel gives us that hope. It comes after seeking the Lord, repenting, and following him. So if you lack something, don’t beat yourself up about it, or let anyone else beat you up about it, but you should ask at some point along the way if God is withholding restoration because you haven’t turned to him. If you have and you’ve repented, then that is not it and the job, at that point, is to wait on the Lord and let him shape your life and bring restoration to you in his time and in his way. That may be through earthly provision. It could look like abundant health, and wealth. But it could be by his merciful daily sustenance and inheriting the new creation. So whether you get to be arrayed like Solomon in all his grandeur or like the lilies of the field, the resurrection of Jesus, declaring him Lord of all nature, of all provision, is making its way into your life. When restoration comes, it comes from him.

Remember his words in John today: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. When the world gives, it is stingy, with strings attached, or with empty promises. And that’s not how Jesus gives us his peace. The peace of Jesus, given generously and faithfully, sustains us while we wait for restoration. This can be a peace that passes understanding. A peace without warning or reason, a gift from the Holy Spirit. Or it can come from hope. From hearing the promises of God and believing. 

And that brings us to the passage from Revelation, where we are given a picture of what final restoration looks like. 

There we’re told that there will be a new heaven and a new earth and that the sea has passed away. Why has the sea passed away? Why is that significant? The sea is chaos. Since ancient times, it’s been viewed that way. The enormous amorphous mass that rises and falls haphazardly and swallows up your boat, whatever your transporting, and you into the depths of chaos and anxiety, never to return, that sea will be no more.

Then instead of restoring the garden of Eden, the place for us to dwell and walk with God is a holy city, the new Jerusalem. Our needs will be met. The good creative acts of humanity as the image of God, culminating in every good thing a holy city can offer will be part of our new home. It will be safe because God Himself will dwell with us and he will wipe away every tear from our eyes and just like the chaos of the sea, death will be no more. No mourning, crying, pain, no more typos. And as Joel reminds us, the Lord will take away our shame. And if they haven’t been in this life, the years the locusts have eaten will be restored.

The Lord will be treated as he is worthy to be treated, even by the kings of the earth. In that new Jerusalem, there’s no need for the defining characteristic of the earthly Jerusalem: the temple. It’s not needed because the earthly temple is the earthly representation of the presence of the Lord and there, we will have the presence of the Lord. Our faith will give way to sight. It will be a whole new glorious life, the way life was meant to be lived.

When the peace of God transcends understanding, the new creation has broken in to our circumstances. When God grants you that peace, he has given you a breath of air from the new heavens and the new earth. When that happens, imagine what it would be like to live in that peace all the time and forever. This is what we’re being formed for in this life. Being formed isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it means the locusts eat everything you have. But we can look to Jesus who died and rose again to reshape our broken lives into something changed and healed and whole. So as we acknowledge the Lord over all creation, past, present, and future, let us trust him to provide for all of our needs and rest in him as we wait in hope to see it come to pass in its fullness.