Cosmic Liberation
"Creation itself will be liberated" Rom. 8:21.

Aleksandr and Elimu stood at the bow of a ship cruising on Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake, located in Siberia.

Although Aleksandr was Russian and Elimu came from Zambia, Africa, they had become friends through countless e-mails. Recently, they finally had met face to face at a scientific conference held near Lake Baikal. As scientists and Christians they shared a common faith in the Creator who designed and preserves the natural world they so loved to study.

"It's hard to believe," reflected Elimu, "that we are floating on 20 percent of the world's fresh water supply."

"And even that is endangered." Aleksandr scowled. "On the horizon you can see the infamous Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Plant, pouring chlorine into this ancient lake, 'The Pearl of Siberia,' home to 1,500 species found nowhere else on earth."

"Paper plants are polluting the Zambezi River in my country also," said Elimu.

"When I consider how we humans are mismanaging God's creation, sometimes I simply groan uncontrollably. Have you ever done that, Elimu?"

"Yes," the African nodded his head solemnly. "When we mourn for the earth, I believe we are echoing the groans Saint Paul describes in Romans 8:22: 'We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.'"

Intrigued, Aleksandr pulled a pocket New Testament from his coat and read Rom. 8:19-24. "Hmmm," he pondered, "Phrases like 'creation was subjected to frustration' and 'bondage to decay' bring to mind the doomsday fears of modern science."

"Like deforestation, topsoil degradation, water contamination, greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion and extinction of species."

"Precisely!" Aleksandr agreed. "On the other hand, Paul speaks hopefully. Verse 19: 'The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.' Verse 21: 'The creation itself will be liberated... and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.' But when will this wonderful prospect ever be realized?"

"It is happening in stages," Elimu said. "First, missionaries proclaim the Good News of Christ in place after place, including Zambia and Russia--"

"And Buryatia."

"What's Buryatia?"

"The region right there on the eastern coast of Lake Baikal. Only 0.05 percent of the two million Buryats know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. I pray for them often, and the Holy Spirit is now mobilizing mission efforts to reach them."

"Praise God!" Elimu affirmed. "World evangelization is the first stage of God's fulfillment of Romans 8. The second stage is that believers like you and I seek to be good stewards of the global home God has given us. Due to human sinfulness, we won't succeed perfectly, but every improvement can serve as a sign of God's coming Kingdom. The final stage will arrive when God creates the new heaven and new earth. Then, we and all God's creation will be 'brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.'"

"Yes," Aleksandr joyously shouted into the sea breeze, "On that great day, our groaning will end forever!"

1. What ecological issues trouble you? Why?
2. To what degree should Christians be concerned about such matters? See Rev. 11:16-18.
3. Search Ps. 96, Ps. 98 and Is. 55 for poetic images of nature's response when God's global mission shall be fulfilled and "creation itself shall be liberated" (Rom. 8:21).