God is calling man who was created in His glory, but has fallen, to come back. Though man shares similarities with animals in physical features and emotional longings, he is in fact different from them. Man who was created in the image and glory of God is the crown of His creation and is blessed to be the ruler of all that He created. He made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor and made him ruler over the works of his hands (Psalm 8: 5,6). After he created man , he made it clear the duties that he is expected to carry out. But instead of fulfilling his duties he lived in violence and corruption (Genesis 6: 11, 12). It is then that God decided to destroy the earth and before sending the flood asked Noah to build an ark (Genesis 6,7,8,9). The important sin is forfeiting God’s will for man. The way out for people who have forsaken the will of God is through the grace that Christ gives. The fall of man which led to God’s curse is seen in Genesis chapter 3. It was so much that it is said ‘all have sinned’ and that ‘there is no one righteous, not even one’. ‘Man does not become a sinner because he sins, rather he is a sinner and so he sins’ said St. Augustine once. Man has a natural tendency to sin is what he means by this. But the Bible teaches us that God’s eternal forgiveness is revealed through Christ and God saved man from sin. That is the greatest hope of creation.

1.The Wait for the Return of Creation (Isaiah 5: 1-13)
“Then he looked for a crop of good grapes” (Isaiah 5: 2). God’s wait for the return of creation is evident in the parable depicted in Isaiah 5: 1-13- a good example of the fall of man. God waited for good crops but he received crops of evil and corruption. Isaiah envisions this generation thus, “Woe to those who rise early in the morning, to run after their drinks…” (Isaiah 5: 11). Yield good crops, is an important teaching (Luke 13: 6-9, Matthew 7: 16- 23, John 15: 16, Mark 11: 12-14).

2.Christ’s Teaching for Return (Luke 10: 13- 16)
The Bible instructs mankind to repent from the corruption of creation and to return to God. Jesus advices Korazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, in which many miracles were performed, to repent. Because they did not repent Jesus denounced them ( Matthew 11: 20- 24). John started preaching to “produce fruits in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3: 8). Later Jesus and the apostles taught the same thing. Salvation is the return of the fallen creation after repentance. It is a transformation that should happen in life.The old testament prophets and the new testament apostles preached repentance.

3.The Return of Creation to the Jesus of the Gospels (Galatians 1: 5- 10)
It is to the God of the gospels that the creation should return to. Paul often uses the term ‘other’ in many places- other Christ, other gospel, other spirit (2 Corinthians 11: 4, Galatians 1: 5- 10). This is seen in today’s Christianity also. Instead following the Christ of the gospels, the nations are following another Christ and another gospel. Only if the creation which is steeped in corruption returns to the Christ of the gospels and his teaching will there be a redemption for it. Thus God’s intention of his creation is grasped through Jesus Christ.

Translation : Neena Kishor, Ph.D Scholar, Department of English, University of Kerala