Agriculture and the Curse of Sin

"How long will the land mourn
     and the grass of every field wither?
For the evil of those who dwell in it
     the beasts and the birds are swept away,
because they said, 'He will not see our latter end.'
     They have made it a desolation;
desolate, it mourns to Me.
     The whole land is made desolate,
but no man lays it to heart.
     Upon all the bare heights in the desert
destroyers have come,
     for the sword of the Lord devours
from one end of the land to the other;
     no flesh has peace.
They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
     they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their harvests 
     because of the fierce anger of the Lord."
- Jeremiah 12:4, 11-13 

These verses describe the curse on the land of Israel for the apostasy of the people that lived in it (see also Isaiah 26:5-6 and Hosea 4:3). But notice the parallels to other portions of Scripture. For example, the original curse resulting from the sin of Adam: "Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field" (Genesis 3:17-18, compare 5:29). Part of the curse applies to the agricultural efforts of the people. Instead of productive crops, the land would produce thorns. 

Jeremiah also contains a theme that is picked up by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament: "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. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now" (Romans 8:19-22). The Apostle personifies the physical creation as longing for the full conversion of the sons of God, be then, and not until then, the creation will be released from that curse of futility that was brought upon it by the sin of its head, Adam. 

We have Christians who seek to help less-developed countries improve their agriculture, as populations grow and need increasing amounts of quality food. And I am grateful that God has called people to that ministry. However, improved agriculture is not the ultimate answer to the problem. Rather, spreading the Gospel and teaching the nations to obey everything God commands rolls back the effect of sin, and the creation is progressively freed to be the rich and productive thing it was created to be.