Scripture & Creation
Revelation 11:18
Those Who Destroy the Earth, God Will Destroy
The Apostle John informs us that at the time of the Judgement the only test will be how one has treated the earth. To paraphrase this verse, the saints go marching in, the prophets are welcomed with open arms, and even the little people who fear the Lord. These all enter into the kingdom of God. But those that destroy the earth, God will destroy.
Could the Bible use stronger language to say that a right relationship to the earth is fundamental to salvation? This passage is important because it shows, not only that right relationship to God requires an obedient relationship to the Lord’s good earth, but it also teaches that how one relates to the earth is central for how one will be judged.
This passage points to the fact that we must set a rule for ourselves, based on the Godinspired command to “Hurt not the earth, neither the seas nor the trees” (Rev. 7:3), and insist that we will not participate in anything which violates this mandate to live in harmony with the earth. This declaration must become “a line in the sand” beyond which we will not pass for the sake of our own spiritual integrity and the health of the earth.
For decades, at least since the 1960's, environmentalists have sought an ethic of the environment. Yet during these years, a healing ethic of the environment lay largely unrecognized in this biblical verse. If one were to follow the simple admonition given by the good angel to “Hurt not the earth, neither the seas nor the trees,” we would automatically live in a manner that would revitalize and heal the earth.
Effectiveness in the application of this biblical ethic of the environment requires patient reflection on the consequences of our actions. Every single thing that we do counts in its cumulative effect upon the whole. Once we gain this perspective, it becomes easy to see that it is not the big things which destroy the earth. It is the accumulation of little actions, done by millions and even billions of people, who, in their aggregate, cause the destruction of the planet. This means that individual behavior is vitally important in seeking the good of the earth.
Reflection on this criterion for the Judgement reveals that there is a deep mercy in this statement. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus provides the basic criteria for determining what is required to obtain salvation. He says, “As you do it unto these, the least of my brethren, you do it unto me” (cf. Matt. 25:31-46). In this statement from the Book of Revelation, there is mercy because if one fails to achieve a right relationship with brother or sister, there is still a chance to be right with the earth.
The verse quoted above from the Book of Revelation is entirely consistent with the principle in Matthew, except that the text in Matthew focuses upon our responsibility to see Christ in our neighbor. What is suggested here is that one must discern Christ in creation, and so live rightly with the earth and creatures.
The command in Matthew is both an explicit teaching and a vision. As a teaching it cultivates love of neighbor. As a vision, it encourages awareness of the presence of Christ in each person. Jesus’ focus on people was necessary, given the often dim level of awareness among the people. Christ’s declaration in Matthew has the effect of relating all people back to himself. It makes clear that Christ is the vitalizing core of every person. With this principle of Christ in every person, the Apostles went forth and taught that the Lord is everywhere (Acts 17:28). Others used this principle to declare that Jesus Christ is “...everywhere present and fills all things.” From this and similar teachings we have the understanding, not always well taught, of the “cosmic Christ,” of Jesus Christ filling and redeeming all creation. Because Christ is the underlying essence of all people and also all things, this explains why Jesus says that as you do unto the least of these my brethren, you do unto me. All action then is done, as it were, within a great sea filled with the Lord, and no thing happens outside of the Lord.
There is further occasion for mercy in this statement. A person may be virtuous, but fail to discern Christ in his or her neighbor. Because caring for the earth implies qualities of love, generosity, responsibility for one’s actions, awareness of the consequences of actions, and all the virtues, there is still a goodness in those individuals who respect the earth. Conversely, the attitudes which destroy the earth are precisely those without godliness, without respect for life, and without the admonitions of Christ. These attitudes which destroy the earth include greed, avarice, gluttony, lying, cheating, stealing, killing, and other forms of disregard for people or the earth, as well as all those actions which more directly defile either the earth or one’s own being.
At heart, the criteria in these two passages are similar. A right relationship to God leads to a right relationship to people and to creation. The fact that the Apostle John’s revelation seems to lower the standard for judgement shows the love, the grace and the mercy which fills Christian belief. It also demonstrates the internal consistency which unites the Bible. A summary of the larger meaning of this passage is that if one did not do right in serving Christ in people, then God provides a second chance and will lower the standard and judge one by how well he or she did in caring for the earth.
This lesson of this passage is that what we do to the world is just as consequential to our salvation as what we have done to our neighbor in following Jesus Christ (or however one might characterize their adherence to the Christian faith).
It is entirely consistent with this statement that His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has said that to hurt the earth is a sin. He declares,
For humans to cause species to become extinct and to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation... [to cause] changes in its climate..., [or] injure others humans with disease... for humans to contaminate the Earth’s waters, land, air and life with poisonous substances, these things are sins.
Our relationship to creation – to the air, rivers, trees, animals, plants and how we treat all these features of the land – is central to a right relationship to God – and to our salvation. Care of the earth is therefore fundamental to Christian faith. If we want an eternal relationship with our Lord and Creator, then we better have a right and consistent relationship with what He has created, starting now. This passage tells us that to fail in this fundamental dimension of Christian responsibility is to fail utterly.
This is not a new teaching. Saints throughout the centuries have said similar things, though perhaps not quite as bluntly. A consequence to this insight is that those who call us to obey God, but disregard this requirement to be right with the land, are like the heretical Manichaeans returned. They said we could focus only on God and holy experience, and that was enough. In their twisted view of life, one could disregard the world as worldliness. This passage declares that this view is not only incorrect, it can be fatally wrong.
A corollary to this passage addresses the theology of some Christian denominations which claim that “faith alone” is sufficient for salvation. This can be a true statement when it is coupled with a whole reading of the Bible and with a kind of faith that is intertwined with grace and fruitfulness, i.e., a faith that bears fruit. This is because fruitfulness is the biblical signature of effectiveness in faith (cf. Matt. 7:15-27). For this reason Jesus pointedly declares, “By their fruits shall you know them” (Matt 7:20).
When we join these considerations together, we can discern in this passage a summation of much of Scripture in such a way that it provides guidance into an integrated relationship to God, to neighbor and to the Lord’s good earth. These are the components that lead to cosmic wholeness.
When we read this descriptive verse, we should hear the cosmic call to integrate all of our Christian striving so that it includes a right relationship to the land. We will do this if we would avoid the perils of the destruction which this verse promises.
