We have been learning for some weeks about the plants, the flowers, fruits, and seeds, which spring out of the earth in obedience to the Word of God, “Let the earth bring forth grass.” This week we will learn about some other kinds of plants, some of which swim in the sea, some fly in the air, and some move about over the face of the earth.

“And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind.” “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so.”

“But,” you will perhaps say, “surely these are not plants!” Well, let us see what the Word of God says about this. In the fifteenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians we read, that “all flesh is not the same flesh; for there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.” But in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah we are told that “all flesh is grass.”

And then if you will think for a little while you will see that the animals all come from the ground, the same as the plants do that remain rooted in the soil. For just as God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass,” so He said also, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature, cattle, and creeping thing.” So the plants and the animals were all brought forth by the earth, and all came from exactly the same seed,—the Word of God,—and they all share one life, the life of God, for He is the Life, and there is no other.

And then again we have been learning how the plants which spring from the earth draw their food from it, and live by the nourishment that their roots suck up out of the ground. But we shall see that these moving plants also get all their food from the ground, for “God causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man; that he may bring forth food out of the earth.” All the living beings in this earth are dependent on the earth from which they come to supply them with food to sustain their lives.

We have seen that in all the beauty, fragrance and usefulness of the plants, and in all the glory of the sun, moon and stars, God is revealing Himself to us. But this is true of all the things that He has made. So learn all that you can about the animals, the birds, the fishes, and creeping things, for each one, even the tiniest, holds some wonderful secret of God’s love and power which He has put there for you, and if you ask Him; His Holy Spirit will teach you what it is.

In another part of this paper you will find some facts about the animals, the bees, the ants, and the birds, which will show you how wonderful are the wisdom and skill which are seen in their actions. It is God’s own life in them which gives them such wisdom. It is His life in the bird which teaches it how and where to build its nest; His life in the bee which teaches it where and how to gather honey and store it in the wonderful comb of wax which it makes; His life in the spider which teaches it how to weave its silken web and fasten it securely; His life in the ant which gives it such wisdom that the wisest man who lived tells us to “consider her ways, and be wise.” Solomon himself learned wisdom from studying these works of God, and “he spake of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.”

Try to find out what the Word of God tells you about the different animals with which you are familiar. Read the 39th and 40th chapters of Job, and see how many animals are mentioned there, and how much we are told about them. And all these works of His hands God gave men dominion; but how differently men often treat the animals from what God Himself does, for “the Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” We see cruel men, and sometimes thoughtless little children, ill-treating God’s creatures whom He has given them to love and protect.

But the time is soon coming when all the suffering and sorrow that has come upon the animals through man’s sin will be over; and “they shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain saith the Lord.” In the new earth which God will make, men will no longer hurt and destroy the animals, nor hunt them and use them for food; and the animals will not hurt nor destroy each other or man, but “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”

The Present Truth – November 3, 1898
E. J. Waggoner

Story in pdf  Animal Life