He was the youngest crippled son of King Saul. And after Saul and Jonathan's death, and David was king, he asked if there was anyone left of Saul's household that he could show kindness to. And so in a way, so instead of putting him to death, as a member of Saul's house, he invited him and told him that he could come in and dine at his table forever. And there was Mephibosheth. And that's a picture of us and what Christ has done for us. The scripture reading is Romans chapter 8. And we're going to be looking at just verses 1 through 17, Romans chapter 8. beginning in verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemns sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that's set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. And there's the great truths of God's word. We're going to this morning, continue on there in Romans eight, and that's why I read those first 17 verses to kind of set the backdrop for this as we're going to be looking at portions of verses 18 through 23. So let's ask the Lord's blessing on the ministry then of his word. Father, we thank you for giving us your word, the Lord Jesus Christ, the word become flesh. And now you've inscripturated, you've recorded your word here in this book, the Bible that we hold in our hands. And we pray that as we come to it, we would believe it and be thankful that you have come down to us and revealed yourself and shown us this way of salvation in Christ that you've provided for us and so father as we As we hear your word now and look at it more closely, try to struggle with what you're telling us, we pray, Father, that you would open our eyes and that we would be able to understand and believe. And we pray this in Christ's name, amen. Here's a challenge in regard to hearing God's word by John Calvin. It's an excerpt from his sermons on Galatians. He said, when we hear God's word, as we are about to, we must feel constrained to keep silence. We ought to accept what scripture says with all reverence. We must approach God with due solemnity if we are to hear what he has declared and spoken. And in doing so, we must fight against our sin, which is so prone to unbelief that unless we battle against it, we will never trust or cherish in our hearts a single word that God has uttered. We must never distort what the Lord has said, neither must we ever add anything to it. The excellent challenge then to us as to how to approach the word of God. And so here then, God's word. Romans eight, beginning at verse 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it. and hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, But we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Well, we are surrounded with death. I think I've told most of you that recently Verla and I lost our furry friend Sadie, our Labrador that had lived with us since puppyhood. for 15 years and was probably about the most affectionate dog that we've ever had. So we buried her out back with her sister, Sasha, that died five years ago. And I'm sure that many of you have experienced the loss of a pet and pets that in some cases may well have loved us more than most people do. And so that loss is painful and a very sharp grief. And it's happened to us repeatedly. Our first dog, Buster, he was with us for 15 years and he's buried back in the mountains in Montana. And then we had Brandy here for another 15 years. And so as you go through these times, I began to think about these questions that I've made the title of this series, and the title of this series, and I want to do a brief series, 10 sermons or less, something like that, on this subject, but the title might seem a little strange to you, but you'll see where I am going with it. The title of the series is, Will We See Sadie Again? Will we see Sadie again? And I'm sure that many people have asked that question. Many people, not just when you lose a loved one, human being, but also when we've had a beloved animal friend. And now the Bible is very clear in regard to those human beings that are loved ones that die, and if they die in Christ, then we know that most surely we will see them again, that the resurrection is coming. They will be raised from the grave, and so will we if we're in Christ. What about other creatures that God has created? And so what I wanted to do is take us to scripture and consider the doctrines of redemption in Christ and to hopefully also look more clearly at the scriptures that talk to us about the new heavens and the new earth. As I said, this isn't just an unimportant question. You know, death strikes. Here's death of an animal. If you think about it, death then is all around us. And so we ask, well, Well, how much is going to be fixed? How much of the pain and loss that we suffer in this present world is going to be fixed in Christ and in the new creation, in the new heavens and the earth? These questions concern the gospel itself and the nature of the redemption that we have in Christ because Christ's redemption is a redemption not only of sinners, but as we will see then, a redemption of the entire creation. And that's something that if we fail to understand that in Christ, all things are going to be reconciled to God, except the devil, of course, and his wicked servants. Well, if we fail to see these things, we're gonna fail to get a clear picture of what the new creation is going to be like. Let me read to you a couple of verses here from Colossians. that address this, I thought of these this morning, so you don't have it there in your handout, but in Colossians chapter one, starting at verse 15, speaking of Christ, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him, All things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And I think that if you consider, especially verse 20, you'll see that in Christ, the redemption by his blood, that redemption affects the entire universe. that the entire universe is messed up. It isn't right. And it is through Christ that God is reconciling to himself all things. All things. Well, what does that entail? You see, you begin to see. As we look into these things, and if we can understand them more clearly, I think that we'll at least get a little bit clearer glimpse into the redemption of all things that Christ then has effected. You know, the Apostle Paul said that when he was caught up into the third heaven, and I think what happened there is he was given a glimpse He was given a glimpse of the new creation, the new heavens and the new earth. And he says, basically, and I think that this is what he meant, he says, I can't, I couldn't tell you what I saw, even if I could put it into words. I can't, I can't even express the glories. He tells us, he said, look, I'm telling you, the troubles that you're experiencing here in this present world, they're nothing. They're nothing. And you're going to understand that when you see what I saw, when you're with Christ. Well, I also would hope that I could put this series of sermons together then in a small book. And I think you'll see what I mean. This is a question. I mean, on the surface of it, it sounds a little bit trivial, maybe, to some people, you know, okay, well, your pet died, and will I see Sadie again, and these kinds of things. But people struggle with this kind of a thing, and I wouldn't be surprised that maybe a small book like that could be used as a tool to present the gospel to them. you see as an opening to be able to use it to say, well, let me, I don't know, I didn't know your pet and so on, but have you ever thought about what the Lord has done for us in Christ? Have you ever thought about what the Bible has to say is waiting for everyone that is in Christ? Think about how this question, again, as it sounds somewhat superficial, well, it doesn't sound, if you're talking about a person, will I see my beloved person again, human being, my son, my wife, and so on? Those are significant questions, but What if God has effected the reconciliation of all things in the all things? Don't you suspect that the new heavens and the new earth are gonna be far, far, far surpassing whatever we could imagine? Think about what relates to this question. Will I see Sadie again, right? The first Eden and God's creation of the animals. How come God created the animals? He spends a lot of time in Genesis in the opening chapters. The Lord spends a lot of time talking about how he created the animals in the air, in the sea, on the land. How come? And then the last Eden, tie the first Eden together with the last Eden, which is the new heavens and the new earth. What is that going to be like? This enters into this question as well. And God's purpose in creating the animals and how they differ from man in respect to the image of God. Do animals have souls, right? Well, you see our confession would say, well, certainly not like man's immortal soul, but what about that? People would ask that question. What about the blessings that animals provide to man? For example, now think about this. victims of trauma. Let's say a veteran who's gone through all kinds of horrible experiences in war that we can't even imagine. It's very interesting how much they are helped by having like a rescue animal to be with them. This is interesting. This tells us something about that connection and What is this, some kind of a connection between all of God's creatures, you see? And we don't wanna delve over into some New Agey type thing here and get into that, but you nevertheless, you see that there is a connection there. God tells us in his word about his loving care of the animals. He takes note when one sparrow falls and they all rely upon him for their food and their sustenance. The Bible talks about the image of a little child and the cobra or the asp, right? And the lion and the lamb in the new creation. And why, have you ever thought about this? Why did God command Noah to include animals on the ark? That's a valid question. How come he did that? Well, you know, then he can procreate and say, yeah, but God created them from the dust from the first place. How come the animals had to get on the ark as well? Interesting. What about man's sin? This passage that I just read in Romans 8 about the bondage of the creation. Those are going to be central passages to this series of sermon. Man's sin and its effect upon the entire creation. So that then the curse extends even to the animals. And we're told in the early chapters of Genesis that after this, God put the fear of man in the animals. We have deer that live in our neighborhood, and we feed them apples. They come about every day. that you can still, even after several of them have been there, we've known these particular deer for like four years or so and given them apples and so forth, but they still, there's only one that will come up and eat out of your hand. The others are wary. You want to move slowly around them and so forth. The fear of man is put into them. How come? Man's, then there's man's sin as evidenced in cruelty to animals. Something as a wicked person does. How animals, the Bible tells us, Isaiah chapter 1, that animals fulfill their purpose. Even the donkey knows its master. But man, the sinner, uh-uh, he doesn't. So you begin to see it. This is an important topic that touches upon the entire gospel. Will we see Sadie again? In other words, what is the new heavens and earth going to be like? What is it in its entirety that Christ's redemption accomplishes for us? This past week Verla and I were watching a YouTube video. You know some of the spring Chinook salmon are running now and so I did a search on YouTube for spring Chinook on the on the Columbia. Anyway, there was a program that came up of some guys fishing over on the Sandy River. They're professional fishing guides. I've heard of them before. They're very well known. Anybody that does a lot of drift boat fishing on the rivers and so forth around Oregon, they know these guys. And the fishing was kind of slow, so they spent some of the time telling stories. fishing stories about what they'd experienced in the past. And they got, one of them was starting, told the story of one of their friends who's dead now, Willie. Willie's dead. And if you know much about drift boats around here, you've seen Willie drift boats. Well, this is the guy that made those drift boats. So while they're telling the story about Willie, They told about how he was dying of cancer, and he talked to them, they talked to him, and he told them how he was making plans for an unconventional memorial service, which he did, and here's his plan. He says, I'm gonna be cremated, I'm gonna have my ashes put in these small little vials, and I'm gonna give each one of those to my fishing buddies so that they can continue to take me fishing. with them. All right, well, so sure enough then, one of these guys in the video we were watching pulled out his Willie vial, and these guys in the course of telling this, by the way, said that Willie was, we liked him, but he was rather vulgar and offensive, and he liked his vodka, you know. And in fact, they said he bragged about that if people came to buy a boat from him, he would either get them high or drunk in order to sell them the boat, right? So this is the kind of guy that he was. But anyway, along with each one of these vials was a tag. that Willie had written and put on there were, and so these guys said, here's words of wisdom from Willie, okay? And here's what it was, I'm not kidding you. He says, and these guys are actually touting it as, yep, good old Willie, look at what he, here's his philosophy of life. And it goes like this, the fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. You go to heaven for the climate and you go to hell for the company. And these guys are like, they're just commending this. Oh, good old Willie, man, there's some real insight. Let's all be like Willie. What do you suppose they'd say if you were there and you said, well, I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but Willie's in hell. Willie's not enjoying any good climate in heaven. He's not even there, he'll never see it. And furthermore, he doesn't have any company in hell. because hell is a solitary venture for all eternity. But that's the kind of thing, by the way, that's the kind of thing that so many people, in fact, I looked at the comments on that YouTube video, they were all just praising Willie and these guys, man, this stuff is so, so wonderful. Well, I share that story because here's a perfect example. of the wicked philosophy of so many people all around us. I mean, here they are enjoying God's creation. They're on a beautiful river. They're catching salmon, all things created by God, but they are refusing to acknowledge God or give thanks to him. In fact, what they're doing, right along with Willie, is mocking God. They're mocking him, they're defying him, and Willie has long since found out the truth. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows, that he shall also reap. Well, for that kind of a person, this series of messages about the new creation and the gospel, well, it really has no part other than the fact that unless they repent, they will perish in their sin. But for people that maybe they don't know Christ, Well, I hope that this might be a means that they might find Christ as they hear God's word. And for those that do know Christ, that it would be a great encouragement to us all. So here's the theme verses again. Let's look at these Romans 8, 19, particularly verses 19 to 21. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Now those verses right there definitely show us And quite a few things, but one thing is this. Christ's redemption includes setting free the entire creation that is in bondage, is under the curse because of man's sin. You see, there's a direct connection then. between man and man's spiritual condition and the condition of the entire creation, a direct connection. So that here Verla and I putting Sadie in her grave out back, and one of the things that came to my mind was she wasn't to blame. So how come this? How come this death and suffering? Animals don't sin. There's only one creature in all of the universe that sins. And that creature is man. And when man sinned, death spread across the entire creation. The entire creation, all the animals, all the creatures, everything, even the physical universe was cast into this darkness called death. When Christ comes, this is what Paul is saying there, when Christ comes again and he ushers in the new heavens and the new earth, When he raises his people from the grave, he will raise the wicked from the grave too, by the way, bring them to judgment. But when he raises his people from the grave, death will be no more. The curse will be fully gone. And not only will Christ's people experience the fullness of their redemption, but as Paul says, get this, the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain, that is, share in the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Now, I don't understand all of what that means. What does it mean that the creation, all created things, the whole, the universe, all of the animals, even the plants, everything, Everything is in a state of bondage to corruption, in bondage to decay, to death, to disease, to suffering. It didn't used to be that way. It wasn't like this. As Sadie got older, and this happened with all of our animals, you know they progressively deteriorate. So she had joint pain, and liver problems, and bladder problems, and deafness, and all kinds of those things. But again, we ask, well now wait a minute here. Why is that? Why are things messed up in the creation? She never sinned. Well, it's because God established a link, a connection between man and the creation. As man goes, so goes the creation. When man sinned, a great darkness spread over everything and death came on the scene. Christ's redemption not only redeems his people, but he redeems the whole creation, which was created for man, you see. So what Paul's doing here in this passage is he's personifying creation. The whole creation groans, you see. Well, only a person groans. Well, yeah, but he's using this as a picture. Things are not right. With the universe, you know, there's not supposed to be volcanoes and earthquakes and hurricanes and all of those things that kill man instead of blessing man. So we live in a groaning world. We live in a world where things have gone very, very wrong. We live in a world filled with death and decay. That's been reversed in Christ, but it's not been brought to its completion, to its culmination yet. That won't happen until Christ comes. Here's Paul speaking about it in regard to humans. He's talking specifically about Christians here, 2 Corinthians 4. So we don't lose heart. You know, I mentioned that several of our people are ill and not even able to be here with us, and so here's God's word. Don't lose heart. What was it, two weeks ago when Kevin read Ryle's sermon on sickness? Don't lose heart, he goes on. Our outer self is wasting away. Our inner self is being renewed day by day. So our outer self, see that's what man, the sinner, wants to focus on, okay? So his outer man, his outer self is wasting away. So he takes all kinds of effort, makes all kinds of effort to try to hide that, to try to reverse it, okay? Some of those steps are pretty bizarre, but But if you're in Christ, here's what's going to happen. Your body is corrupting, it is decaying, but the real you The real you, you're becoming, you're alive and you're becoming more and more alive every single day, being renewed day by day. So your hearing and your joints and your eyesights and your liver and so forth, they're decaying. But the real you, you're growing stronger and stronger and stronger and will be. completely glorified when Christ comes again. Well, you remember the old movie, Sound of Music, and starts off with the song, let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. Well, we need to do that here. Let's go back to the beginning then, back to Genesis, and let's think about what was it like in the beginning? Well, start at verse 20. And God said, Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens. So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves with which the water swarm according to their kinds and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply, fill the waters in the seas, let the birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning the fifth day. And God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. God blessed them. God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, behold, I've given you every plant yielding seed that's on the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. To every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens, to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I've given every green plant for food. And it was so. And God saw everything that he'd made, and behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Well, it's no longer very good, is it? There's all kinds of things that are very, very wrong, very, very bad in the creation. Let's take note of a few, just a few things that are in that passage. First of all, notice that life characterize the entire creation, the first creation before sin came into the world. There's this emphasis upon life. There's phrases here that things swarmed with swarms of living creatures and the command of God, be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. We're told that God filled the air, the seas, and the land with life. There was no death. There was no corruption, no decay. Every higher creature was a vegetarian. Meat as food wouldn't come until after the flood and therefore after sin came into the world. You see it here in Genesis 9, God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. It's like, okay. reset here reboot let's try this again the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth see it was different wasn't it that wasn't there in the first creation but now all of a sudden after the flood The fear of you, the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything." So initially the animals had no fear of man. Man ruled over the creation. He had dominion over them. No animal ever attacked man. Now, what does that mean that man had dominion originally over all creatures, the birds, the sea creatures, the animals on the land? It certainly means that they were there for man's benefit. that there was no great white shark attack that had to be feared, no grizzly bear to fear. Man's rule extended into the sky even. And now, now it's a corrupt place. It's a fearful place, you see. In the Lord Jesus Christ, We see examples, in his earthly ministry even, of a reversal of this curse and of these elements of the curse. And it's as if Jesus is giving us a glimpse of the new creation that he is effecting in his redemption of the creation. Consider, for example, consider this for example. He tells part of the original curse is from now on, it's going to be by the sweat of your brow that you till the earth. And, uh, there's going to be weeds and briars and you're, you're going to have to, it's not like the ground is just teeming with life and producing. Now it's, it's going to be kind of fighting against you, weeds and thorns. and so on. Well, here, think about Jesus telling the disciples. They hadn't caught anything in a curse creation. And he tells the disciples, put your nets down on the other side, both. And they did. And the nets were so full, they began to break. That's a picture, that's at least a hint of the redemption of the creation and a lifting of the curse. You can think further then about that. Or even as the Israelites are out in the wilderness, And God feeds them, he brings the quail to them and he feeds them. Or think of in the Old Testament, Daniel in the lion's den. Lions in a cursed creation would have ripped him apart normally. But God is giving us a glimpse there again of what it will be like then in the new creation. We'll learn more about those things as we go on. So there was no famine. before sin came into the world. There's no hunger. The Lord gave man and the animals a great harvest of plants. There was no plant even that would do harm. There was no poison oak, no poison mushrooms. So what was the purpose of it all? Specifically, why did God create what he created and why did he create the animals? Well, first of all, he created the animals for the glory of God. And he also created the animals as a great kindness to man and to humble man. And here then is the lesson that I want us to conclude with for this morning. And that is, we need to open our eyes to creation, even as we see it now in a fallen world. And because the creation now, even the fallen creation, still we can say the heavens declare the glory of God. That man, Romans chapter one, man is held accountable to be able to look at creation, look around him and see there is a creator and to give thanks to him. and to acknowledge him. Paul says his divine attributes, his existence, his Godhead have been clearly seen in the creation so that man is without excuse. One of the ways that man is humbled, or should be anyway, is to properly look at the glory of God as it's revealed in creation. And let's focus, let's move in on as the glory of God is revealed in his creation of the animals. Listen to Job 40, beginning at verse 15. Behold, behemoth, and I'm gonna read to you John Calvin's commentary on this in a moment, and he takes behemoth as being an elephant, okay? So behold, behemoth, which I made as I made you. He eats grass like an ox. Behold, his strength is in his loins and his power in the muscles of his belly. He makes his tail stiff like a cedar and the sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron. He is the first of the works of God. Let him who made him bring near his sword. For the mountains yield food for him where all the wild beasts play. Under the lotus plants, he lies in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh. For his shade, the lotus trees cover him. The willows of the brook surround him. Behold, if the river is turbulent, he's not frightened. He's confident, though Jordan rushes against his mouth. Can one take him by his eyes or pierce his nose with a snare? Now, Calvin looks at that passage, and this is from his set of sermons on Job. He preached clear through Job, and you can buy a three-volume set of all of his sermons through Banner of Truth Trust. But here's what he says, and what he's emphasizing here is, Look at creation and be humbled before your creator. Here is Behemoth, which eats hay like an ox. God then is making a significant distinction between the types of animals of which he is speaking and oxen. So without spending too much time on it, let's note that in this passage, God chose a kind of animal we are to be especially delighted by. And by the way, we should add here, what is the prevailing conclusion by the mass of humanity in the, especially the higher academic realms? What do they conclude when they look at Behemoth? Do they glorify God as the creator? Oh, it's really just beyond me how that thing evolved. It just came from the slime and now all of a sudden, here it is. Well, that's man and his sin. So we're talking about an elephant which has such a robust body that the text says that his bones are like brass and his little bones are like bars of iron. For it's an incredible object to us, lesson, who are not accustomed to such, but those who see those animals are obliged to be frightened by just the look of them. They seem to be made by special design and not by nature. It didn't just happen, given their size. Now, if we were really wise, we would not have to go beyond ourselves to contemplate God's majesty. But men have to be referred to animals because of their man's ingratitude. We must have such examples as are given to us in elephants and similar animals. Do we really examine the fact that God created those animals with such size and shape. Even though we have had no other indications of his power, we still do have an opportunity to lower our heads and worship that exalted majesty, which is made known in those wild animals. See, here were those guys out there on the river fishing. Were they lowering their heads in humility and praising God for and thanking him? No, no, no, no. And it's worth noting that we're told that these elephants are created with us to show us how God, in accordance with his will, differentiated and constituted a wonderful order for the world by which men must indeed be delightfully astonished when they think about it as they will if they have the personal discretion to consider what is quite apparent, consider a man who has a small body and he is nonetheless established as lord and master in this world. Why were all these things created if not for our use? We see an elephant which is much more powerful and that it can overthrow a company of men with nothing but a kick. So when we see these things and that such an order exists in the world, it shows us clearly that God, when creating us as small as we are, granted us a great blessing and revealed himself to us at the same time in brute beasts also. If we're content to know what he's placed within us, if we think about the brute beasts, we will find in them something that astonishes us. And let us also note that if domination by size were the emphasis, Elephants would be superior to us. Elephants would run the world. But what happens? We see that they allow men to dominate them like small colts in a stable. So we see on the other hand that God has deprived them of many things. When we see that, do we not have something to glorify God's goodness for? For how is it that elephants don't devour us all? They eat hay as oxen. So since these animals could be fierce enough to abolish humankind from the earth, but feed on grass throughout the mountains and yet do not exert such fury as they could by their great size, how does that happen? except that God intended to tame these animals in order to give us room to live here below. And then, since we're surrounded by so many other species of wild animals, could we continue a day in this world without being devoured? If God had not imposed a secret bridle to restrain the fury of these savage animals. And so, And really, here's the point he's driving to. And so, let us learn to study the works of God in such a way that we magnify his power, his goodness, his wisdom, and his justice as is fitting by humbling ourselves and even nullifying ourselves in as much as we are what? Really nothing. What is it? Which psalm is it? What is man? What is man that you've made him to rule over the creation? Well, what do we see though in this fallen world in regard to man and the other creatures? Well, Sometimes elephants do kill their master and sometimes even people's pets kill them. Something is wrong, something has gone very wrong and all of that wrong is dealt with in the great redemption that we have in Christ. And we begin to see then a broader picture of what Christ meant when he said that he's going to prepare a place for us. And he's talking about the new heavens and the new earth. And he promises, if I'm preparing a place for you, Figure it out. I'm coming again so that I can take you where I am and you can be there too. Father, we thank you for these great truths. Thank you for this redemption in Christ. Thank you for the creation that we live in. Even though it's fallen, we can look around and clearly see, if we've a mind to, your glory. and how you've provided us with so many blessings. How you hold every single cell in the forest around us that is functioning and operating and all of the green plants that have photosynthesis happening in each one of their cells. You are the one that's making it all happen. As we consider these things, our minds are overwhelmed. What kind of a being must you be? in order that you can hang as many stars and planets as there are in the heavens and have a name for every single one of them. Father, we pray that you would forgive us for our pridefulness, for our tendency of our sinful flesh to behave and think as if we are God. We pray that you would mightily and quickly convict us any time those kind of thoughts start coming our way and we'd repent of them. And we pray, Father, that Christ would come soon and we would see the culmination of his redemption in the home that you've prepared for us. And we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.