Free From the Natural: How God Designed the World and Man's Place Above It

God made this world, and when He made it, He designed it to be self-sustaining. Every system, from the reproduction of trees and birds, to the ecosystems that regenerate continually, to the red blood cells that fight infection and the DNA that checks and repairs itself, was built to function without constant intervention. In every facet, the natural world takes care of itself. It is a self-replicating, self-healing, self-generating creation.

This reality is so striking that the Deists looked at the world and concluded that God must have created everything and simply walked away. And while their conclusion was wrong, they were observing something true: God created the natural world to operate according to natural laws, gravity, thermodynamics, biology, and those laws sustain creation without requiring moment-by-moment divine intervention.

But here is where things become extraordinary.

Man Was Created Above the Natural World

A careful look at the Genesis account reveals something remarkable: it appears that God created man twice. First, He created man in spirit form. Then He fashioned a natural body for him. The natural body was, in many ways, subject to the same laws that governed the rest of creation, it required food, water, air, and rest. But because God created man’s spirit first, mankind was not ultimately subject to those natural laws. He was above them.

The natural world was beneath man. The animals were entirely subject to it. The trees and plants could do nothing outside its parameters. Every single thing in the created order was bound by the laws of nature, except man.

Adam could speak and things responded. He had complete dominion over the created order. This is actually what Christ meant when He said:

“If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”, Matthew 17:20 (KJV)

This was not hyperbole. It was a description of the authority mankind was designed to exercise, an authority rooted in the spirit, not in the flesh.

The Fall: Man Became Subject to the Natural World

When Adam sinned, something catastrophic happened. Man, who had been positioned above the natural order, fell beneath it. The spirit that had governed his existence was now subject to the flesh. The flesh that had been a vessel for spiritual authority became his prison.

The Apostle Paul describes this condition vividly:

“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.”, Romans 8:20 (KJV)

All of creation groans under the weight of the fall. And man, once the ruler of the natural world, now finds himself ruled by it, subject to disease, decay, death, and the unrelenting pull of physical appetites.

The Promise of Restoration

But the fall is not the end of the story. God’s plan has always been to restore man to his original position, not merely to forgive his sins, but to reinstate him as a spiritual being with authority over the natural order. This is the full scope of redemption.

“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”, Romans 8:19 (KJV)

Creation itself is waiting, longing, for the day when the sons of God are revealed in their full, restored authority. The gospel is not merely about going to heaven when one dies. It is about the restoration of everything that was lost in the fall: man’s spiritual authority, his dominion over creation, and his unbroken fellowship with God.

Living in the Spirit Now

Even now, in this present age, believers are called to walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Paul writes:

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”, Romans 8:5-6 (KJV)

This is not abstract theology. It is the practical daily reality of the Christian life. When we yield to the Spirit, we begin to operate according to a higher law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2). We are no longer enslaved to the natural patterns that govern a fallen world.

The Christian who walks in the Spirit is not a victim of circumstance. He is not controlled by his appetites, his emotions, or his environment. He is, by God’s design, above them, not in arrogance, but in authority granted by Christ Himself.

The Full Restoration Is Coming

One day, this restoration will be complete. Paul declares:

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”, Romans 8:22-23 (KJV)

We await the redemption of our bodies, the moment when the physical and the spiritual are fully reunited under God’s authority, and the sons of God take their rightful place in a restored creation.

Until that day, let us walk in the Spirit. Let us exercise the authority that Christ has restored to us. And let us never forget that we were made for more than what the natural world offers. We were created to be above it, and through Christ, we will be again.