[11/08/19]
This may seem an odd topic to include in the discussion, yet Scripture does have somewhat to say on the subject of inanimate matter, and its place in creation. Arguably, man himself was composed of inanimate matter right up until that point where God breathed life into him and he became a living being (Ge 2:7). This situation is reversed in bodily death. “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Ge 3:19). Yet, Jesus offers at least a hint of an awareness of glory even in the stones that we account inanimate. “I tell you, if these [people] become silent, the stones will cry out!” (Lk 19:40).
Likewise, Isaiah describes the bursting joy of creation when the sons of God are restored, and with them all creation. “For you will go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands” (Isa 55:12). It’s easy for me, in my rational coolness, to think this is entirely figurative. I suspect we have all been around to hear those moments when a breeze stirs the leaves just right, and it wouldn’t take much of an imagination to hear it as the trees clapping. But, this is something above and beyond the natural occurrences. This is nature restored to its original fullness. Look where Isaiah takes it from there, which is to say, the Lord takes it there, for it is He who speaks through Isaiah. “Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up; and instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up; and it will be a memorial to the LORD, for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off” (Isa 55:13). Thorn and nettle make it plain that what we are seeing in this is the full reversal of the curse of the Fall.
“For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now” (Ro 8:20-22). We see these hints of what even the inanimate matter was and shall one day be again. If the LORD looked to a day when hills would shout for joy, it at least suggests that this was the norm back in Eden. If the trees clap their hands at that future restoration, it is because their hands are finally unbound by the bonds of our sin, and they can finally go back to how things used to be in Eden.
You know, I am happily inclined to marvel at creation as it stands in our day, and that includes the marvel of particularly lovely rocks, as we see them, and of clouds passing, and of stars in the night sky. None of these things are alive as we account things. And they are indeed a most wonderful evidence of the magnificence of the God who made them all and keeps them going. Yet all of this, according to the message of the Bible, is in a fallen state. It is less than it was. It is less than it should be and will be. Perhaps David recognized this, not as his own experience, but as something still to be noticed in the shadows cast upon the present order of things. “The heavens are telling of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are their words. Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world” (Ps 19:1-4a). You know, you take that image in its totality, and it’s rather sad, isn’t it? They are telling, pouring forth speech, but there are no words and we don’t hear it. Echoes of past glory. The tongues of the inanimate are bound up by the effects of sinful man. They, one suspects, can still hear themselves, although perhaps not. Perhaps the whole of creation knows this anguish of having so much to say, so much knowledge to impart, and being unable because sin has bound up the whole works.
All of this points to something rather glorious, if only in hints and suggestions. I write advisedly, noting that what I conclude must be accounted speculative, and speculative religion is not much of a religion at all. But, what if? What if nature as we know it is silent not due to incapacity, but due to imposed restrictions? What if, in that future new earth, all of nature is finally freed to be itself in full? What if rocks do cry out with joy? What if mountains do shout forth praises to God? Don’t suppose it’s going to be a cacophony, for such would not be pleasing to a God who loves all things in order. But, imagine the power of the harmonies to arise!
This couldn’t help but put me in mind of the ancient idea of their being a music of the spheres. It’s not something I can claim to have any particular knowledge of, other than to see that it recognized the incredible ‘harmony’ of motion in the universe. That is to say, all these stars and planets and such as they move through the universe are pursuing their mathematically describable courses in harmony one with another. There is something in that image that stirs the artist to desire that he might capture even the hints of what goes on. Is there, in the movements of these inanimate objects, a song that is simply played out in tones beyond our range of perception? Is that, perhaps what happens when sin corrupts the language of the universe? Yeah, I know. Sounds a bit too new-agy, doesn’t it? And certainly, you will find new age proponents enamored of the whole thing. I see, for example, that there is a business out there selling wind chimes presumably tuned to play the music of the spheres, following the legend of Pythagoras having heard it, a music composed of ‘whole-number ratios of pure musical intervals’, just to glance at the search engine blurb. I see that Mike Oldfield, an old favorite of mine, made his attempt on the subject in the form of a classical work of music, and I recall Argent, a lesser known crew from the seventies, producing a song on the topic.
But, is there something behind these ideas? The Greek philosophers and mathematicians weren’t wrong about everything, after all. They got rather a great deal right, but they fell short of the whole truth, even as we do. Again, as I often have, I point out that the similarities between the thoughts of Plato and those of Jesus are stunning. But so too are the differences stark. So, a reminder: All truth is God’s Truth. If it is True, it is from God. That is not something that requires us to say that unless the speaker attributes his message to God and Scripture, there can be no truth in it. Neither is it to say that just because the speaker does attribute his message to God and trot out chapter and verse to back himself up his message is in fact Truth. The devil, you may recall, was rather adept at quoting Scripture to back his points. His points were no less wrong for all that.
Suffice, then, to say that it is at least possible that what the philosophers and mathematicians and artists suspect or imagine is in fact an echo at least of the truth. Day to day does pour forth speech, but in words that as yet we cannot hear. The mountains will break forth before us with shouts of joy, for they are free at last to praise God as they ought. The trees of the field will in fact clap for joy, not just rustle in the wind, for they, too, are free at least. The world in its pristine form, I suspect is going to be a far more magical place, in that sense of wonder and marvel, than we have yet to imagine.
