WHY THE EARTH WAS CURSED
By L. A. R.
FOR the creation was subjected to vanity.” Thus does inspiration through Paul state over again what was declared when sin entered the world. The record of that curse is found in Gen. 3:17-19: “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Then we know from this that the creation was subjected to vanity by the will of God on account of sin. It was not the plan of God that sin should enter, and creation be lowered in the scale of power until decay and death should mar its fair and glorious aspects. But when man by his own choice inexcusably and unreasonably had sinned, God saw, in His infinite wisdom and goodness, that it was necessary to place within man’s dominion that same rebellion which man had brought into the dominion of God. It was to help him see what he had done, and to show him that he could not transgress the law of God with impunity, and that having once transgressed it, he could not escape its just and certain penalty. He was to eke his existence from the earth by toil and labor, until he returned again to it. Therefore, in his hard work and in the various aspects of nature, he had constant reminders that dust he was and to dust would he return. Before man sinned, the earth was under his dominion, and obeyed him perfectly. He was in complete harmony with the laws of God, and his obedience to God was pictured in nature by the obedience of the animals and the perfect response of the growing world about him. He found everywhere perfect sympathy to his slightest touch. After sin had come, all was changed. His fear of God in consequence of his sin was repeated by the fear of every creature about him. As he had not trusted God, the birds and the animals could not trust him. The fear of man and the dread of man was upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of heaven. Gen. 9:2. And this fear increased with man’s deeper abandonment to sin and crime. Thus the creation was subjected to vanity by God Himself, as a means of redeeming man from his sin. It pictures in its various phenomena the deranged condition of man, mirrored in its own imperfection and decay. This is the explanation of death wherever we find it. It is but the wages of sin; and the preliminaries of death are vanity, vexation of spirit, waste, unprofitableness, and corruption generally. The signs of death in creation are the omen to man that dust he is and to dust will he return, because he has sinned. The wages of sin is death. Every sign of fear among the creatures of this world is but a token of that fear which has come within the heart of man himself since he turned away from God, his rightful Lord and Protector.