God of Creation: Weasels, Skunks, and Lions

A weasel can be ten inches long and still pick fights like it owns the woods. A lion can look regal and still be built for silent killing. That contrast drives today’s teaching as we keep studying the God of creation and what the natural world says about His power, purpose, and design. I walk through the weasel family and its members, pointing out the instincts, anatomy, and survival traits that make these animals effective predators, even when they seem too small to be dangerous. 

Then we take a hard turn from biology to the heart. When we call animals bloodthirsty or obnoxious, we should also ask why humans can be far worse, with robbery, violence, and war. Using James 4, I argue the root problem isn’t weapons or technology, but lust and coveting inside fallen people. From there we step into the cat tribe, from lions and tigers to leopards and cheetahs, looking at claws, teeth, camouflage, and stealth as evidence of specialized design in the created order. 

All of that leads to the question many listeners wrestle with: if the Creator is responsible, why would predatory animals exist at all? The answer I give is biblical, tying the curse of sin to the suffering of the whole creation and pointing to Isaiah 11 and the promised kingdom where peace replaces harm. Real peace on earth comes only when Jesus Christ rules and reigns, but the peace of the Prince of Peace can begin in your heart today through repentance and faith. Subscribe for more expository Bible teaching, share this message with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.

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Transcript

Welcome And Series Context

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Our prayer is an eighth hour Bible study program that brings a lot of studying knowledge of the working card. And enable the state to crawl in the greatest analogy of the data. Now use your host, pastortainw.com.

Creation Against The Big Bang

The Weasel Family Explained

Skunks Badgers Otters And Traits

What Animals Reveal About Humans

The Lion And The Cat Tribe

Why Predators Exist In A Fallen World

Real Peace Comes From Christ

SPEAKER_01 0:49

And thank you. A very pleasant good day to each and every one of you. Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. I'm Brother James, and I am very happy that you've decided to take time out from your busy schedule and join us for the preaching of the cross radio broadcast. Or perhaps you're not taking any time out at all from your busy schedule. Maybe you're driving along in an automobile, or perhaps you're on the job, wherever you might be. We're not sure what time this program is aired in different places and uh around the world, but wherever you are, whatever you're doing, we certainly are glad that you have uh seen fit to be with us for another in our series of studies on the the God of creation. Now we don't believe in a uh big bang uh explosion until the future. We believe that someday there is going to be a big bang and the uh heavens shall melt with a fervent heat, the elements and all the things that are therein shall be dissolved, but uh we don't believe that an explosion in a print shop resulted in the dictionary. We don't believe that an explosion in a parts factory resulted in a Mac truck, and we don't believe that an explosion in the universe resulted in the birds, the fishes, the creeping things, and human beings. We believe there is a creator, and we believe that nature is nothing more than the evident testimony of a glorious, marvelous, wonderful creator, and we've been talking about his creation for quite some time now. I want to talk to you today about oh, some obnoxious animals, and then the king of beasts for a few moments. Uh when I talk about obnoxious animals, our study will concern the family of weasels, a rather large and important one represented almost everywhere across the globe. Many members of this family are quite snake-like in appearance, and because of their slender, elongated figures are called uh the vermin form or worm-like animals. Most of them are burrowers as well as agile climbers, and the leaping power of many is out of all proportion to their short legs. Although the teeth are not so exclusively flesh-eating as are those of the cats, the canines are long, sharp, and slightly curved backwards. The molars are studded with points and edges. In size, these animals do not appear formidable, but no creatures will more quickly pick a fight and are more fierce or possess more bloodthirsty habits. They are mainly land animals, preying on small mammals, birds, etc., very often doing nothing more than to suck the blood of their victims. The otters are the aquatic section of the family, and are equally destructive to fish. All these members of the weasel family bite with unerring instinct into a large artery or vein. It is this deadly form of attack added to their highly developed muscular system that enables them to overcome creatures many times their size and actual strength. Most of them are rather obnoxious, especially as to odor, but some of them are clothed with magnificent fur. The family consists of three sections the weasels proper, the skunks, and the badgers, and the otters. Together they include the pine martin, the sable, the pole cat, the weasel proper, the stoat or ermine, the ferret, mink, wolverine, glutton, the skunk, the badger, the otter, and will not indulge in any minute examination of each of these forms, but I want to draw your attention to a few of them. The pine marten is an inhabitant of the northern regions of both hemispheres, but is becoming scarce in many parts. It is a tree loving animal, only twenty inches long with a long bushy tail. The fur is of varying shades of brown and a really fine skin which is only slightly inferior to the celebrated sable. The sable is now almost restricted to eastern Siberia. So persistent has been its slaughter that they might not even be any left in existence. It has one of the finest furs of deeper, richer brown than that of the marten, and at its peak of perfection during the depth of the northern winter, it's a beautiful creature. The pole cat is slightly smaller than the marten, with a much shorter tail. It is the most noxious pest to the farmyard, and no animal is more deadly to rabbits, game, and poultry. The inner fur coat is pale yellow in color, with an outer covering of dark brown hair, the head being marked with black and white. It has a lust for killing, easily putting to death twenty times more victims than it can eat, and in many cases sucking only the blood and eating the brain. When wounded or irritated, the pole cat emits a emits a foul odor from a pouch near the root of the tail, and this constitutes the distinguishing feature to most people. The weasel is one of the smallest of the family, measuring only about ten inches in length, including the tail. The fur is bright reddish on the upper parts, while underneath it is pure white. It is rather pretty, but for its size there is no more bloodthirsty creature in the entire animal world. It is exceedingly worm-like in build and can burrow its way into the runs of rats and mice upon which it wages unceasing war. It hunts by scent and will even cross water to leap on the back of its victim, burying the teeth in the back of the neck or in the brain. The weasel is the most prolific of the whole family. Most of them have a litter of four or five young in the spring, but the weasel proper will have three or four families every year. The ermine, known also as the stoat, is a vicious little beast, an invertebrate slayer of or invertebrate slayer of any creature which it can overpower. It is only fourteen inches long, the tail accounting for one third of this length, but there is considerable variation in size. In an ermine's larder have been found as many as fifty pheasant eggs removed in the hiding with such care that not one shell was cracked. In another case, five hares and four rabbits were in storage. The bodies were unmangled except for the single death wound in the throat or back of the neck. In the higher and colder latitudes, the winter coat of the animal is long and quite white, a beautiful and valuable fur. The ferret is a whitish or pale yellow animal with pink eyes, and is really only a variety of the pole cat. It is a native of Africa and was introduced into Europe by way of Spain. It is kept in a state of semi-domestication for use in rat catching and rabbit hunting. One of the earliest recollections, and one of the most exciting, is of seeing a half-tamed ferret released from the hands of its keeper, attack with apparent joy a large rat much bigger than itself. Anyone who's ever seen the courageous skill that it fights with against these rats can't help but admire the little creature. The wolverine, or glutton, though only two or three feet long in addition to its thick bushy tail of seven or eight inches, is so stoutly built as to resemble a small bear. It is covered with long hair, mainly brownish in color, the sides being lighter tint. The muzzle is black, as are the paws, whose ivory white claws stand out curiously. The wolverine is in the invertebrated enemy of the beaver. Uh the subject of our talk last time. The beaver is an open battle with one of these wolverings, couldn't match it in any way, shape, or form, but it's safe when it reaches the seclusion of the lodge, its dwelling place of security. The mink, largely aquatic in habit, may best be described as a water pole cat, living chiefly on fish, frogs, and crayfish, and any small mammals that frequent water. Its body is from fifteen to eighteen inches in length and is more stoutly built than the majority of weasels. The fur of the mink is almost dark chocolate in color and is highly valued. At the present time, a first-class mink pelt could bring as much as well several hundred dollars. They have one family a year, usually a litter of four or five. The mother mink is very particular about exposing any of her newborn children to the gaze of humans while the younger at the suckling age. If a person forces his way in and takes a look, the indignant parent proceeds to eat all her little ones in a rage of resentment. The skunk is an American animal, found in the northern regions of the continent, while the white-backed skunk ranges over all South and Central America as far north as Texas. This animal is about a foot and a half in length, exclusive of the long bushy tail. Its legs are short, furnished with sharp claws for burrowing. Like many of their relatives, skunks have a long bill of fare, grasshoppers, rats, wasps, frogs, fish, ground nesting birds, and they levy a toll on game birds too. The mother skunk takes great care of her young ones, half a dozen or so, in the comfortable nest that is made in the recess of the burrow or den. The mother provides not only food but education. When she is teaching them the ways of the woods, they often follow her in long Indian file. The skunk owes most of its safety to the intolerable smell of the secretion squirted out from two glands near the end of the food canal. The animals are conspicuous by day for their jet black fur with two white stripes, and yet they move about with deliberation and confidence. They know the potency of their weapon of defense. Long experience has taught them that they are always given the right of way by their animal associates. If any creature disputes it, a double jet of this nauseous secretion carried for two or three feet soon brings disastrous awakening to the rash challenger. These scent sacks may be removed by a simple surgical operation, and as skunks are rather gentle creatures, they make agreeable household pets. After the operation, of course. The badger is another member of the weasel tribe, and it's a marvelous digger. Very powerful muscles work its forelimbs, which are furnished with long curved claws. Its average length is two feet six inches, and its height at the shoulder is above one foot. The body is reddish-gray in color, changing to whitish-gray on ribs and tail. The head is white except for a definitely marked black line on each side. The throat, chest, abdomen, legs, and feet are of deepest brown. The badger eats roots, fruits, snails, worms, wild honey, sometimes young rabbits, and owing to the looseness of its skin and the thickness of its hair, it can rob the nests of bees and wasps with safety. The stings of the angry insects take little or no effect. Naturally a harmless animal, the badger is a terrible antagonist when provoked. Its sharp teeth can inflict a serious wound, and the jaws locked together by a peculiar contrivance at their junction with the skull, enabling it to retain its death grip without any special effort. The common otter is also a rather fierce, shy animal, largely nocturnal, living in burrows in a riverbank or under the roots of an old tree. It is less than three feet and a half long, including a 14-inch tail, weighs about twenty-four pounds, and uh its lithe and serpentine shape and webbed toes and long, broad, flat tail make it a tremendous swimmer. Now, when you look at this group of animals, whose habits for the most part don't appeal to us, I'm sure, they combine good and bad features, but all of them show the same instinctive powers suited to their special manner of life. When God created these various forms, it must have been very interesting even to him whose creative power is infinite. All things have been created for God's glory. The same purpose of God is revealed when we look at ourselves. You know, uh some of these robber characteristics and these killer characteristics and some of these uh uh well unseemly characteristics that uh cause these creatures to be so obnoxious, uh you know, they're found in a lot of human beings. And yet even fallen man, even sinful fallen man uh has his place in God's order and God's creation. We're con uh confronted also with the exercise of uh man's will against his creator. The result today is humanity on the verge of destruction, torn apart by the ravages of war. You know, you can say what you want about the skunks and the uh otters and the badgers and the minks and these creatures, but you know, you don't see any of them taking up arms and going to war and killing and robbing and uh stealing in in such a way as man does. It's a strange thing, isn't it, how that man, and really only man, in his rebellion against his creator, has made such an awful terrible mess of things by wanting to occupy a place other than that which God gave him. Now it's quite a step, you'd have to agree, from the pole cat to the cat of cats, the king of the beasts, if you will, the great and mighty lion, large and widely distributed order composed of many species, in a few cases not exclusively feeding upon flesh, but for the most part, they are beasts of prey. They have special qualifications because of their uh great size, the structure of their teeth and claws, their uh weight. Cats are at the head of the carnivorous class of animals, and in their bodily form they are most exquisitely adopted to carry out the implanted instincts. They are powerful in frame, without an atom of superfluous flesh. Bone, muscle, and sinu are all adapted for general agility, along with free and graceful motion. The slender limbs are well knit together. Under the surfaces of the feet are padded with elastic cushions that render their footfall noiseless when they're stealing upon their prey. They have very strong, sharply pointed and curved claws which can be drawn in when it rests, or when the animal walks, so that the weight of the body rests only on these pads. When the creature becomes excited and thrusts out its paw to strike a blow or clutch its prey, the lower tendons tighten, the upper tendons relax, and the claw is thrown boldly forward, sharp and instantly ready for use. Cats walk on their toes, you know, this being an aid to swiftness, but the sharp retractile claws never come into contact with the ground, and so they're never dulled or blunted. Their heel bones project behind, giving leverage to the limbs for leaping and bounding, and thus enabling them to make tremendous and sudden speed to overtake animals that need time to get into full flight. Their teeth are very distinctive. The incisors have sharp cutting edges, the molars are more or less pointed, and the canines are long, strong, and curved. The jaws are not able to grind, but they are very terrible shears, wriggling prey is literally skewered, its flesh torn up and bolted in great snatches. The tongue is rough, has horny projections directed backwards, serving as a rasp to remove the last particles of flesh from the bones. You may have noticed the cleanness of the bones in the cages at the circus or zoo after the meal has been finished. This is because of this specially designed tongue. The lion's eyes are adapted for vision by day or night. Their sight in either case is keen, their sense of hearing very acute, the power of smell remarkable, and while the long whiskers they possess are also for feeling, give them an excellent sense of this. The skin of the cat tribe is loosely attached, rendering it difficult for even sharp teeth to get a grip. These features are common to all the cats. They are elegant in form and often possess a beautiful coloring, but are filled with a crafty suspicion and bloodthirstiness which marks their daily life. The best known variety of lion is the South and East African, tawny, yellow in color, lighter on the underparts of the body and darker above. The ears are blackish, and the tip of the tail is decorated with a tuft of black hair. No other member of the cat tribe has a tufted tail. When fully grown, the male lion will measure nearly four feet high at the shoulder, eleven feet in length, and may attain a weight of five hundred pounds. It has terrific strength, and no animal except perhaps the rhinoceros and the elephant can resist its power. The thick, shaggy mane of long hair which falls from the neck, shoulders, and part of the throat and chin, gives the full grown lion that regal appearance which endows him with the name King of the Beasts. The lioness is smaller than her mate and lacks the mane, which is the distinctive feature of the male. However, it is true that very many of the males have only the semblance of a mane. Like all the members of the cat tribe, the lion is more or less indolent by nature until aroused by the call of hunger. Even then it will not take more trouble than is necessary to supply itself with a satisfying meal. The lion launches itself at its prey in a terribly swift bound, endeavoring to accomplish one of two things, either to tear the jugular vein open at the throat, or inflict a deep bite at the back of the neck behind the ears. Quite often, as it alights on the shoulders of its victims, it breaks the latter's neck by a sudden powerful wrenching of the head with one of its forepaws. Next, with one stroke of its paw and extended claws, the entrils are torn out, and such delicacies as the heart and liver are devoured first, then huge lumps of flesh are gulped down. The roar of the lion inspires every other animal with terror, and this aids in securing food for the lion. If it has been unsuccessful in its night wanderings, this big cat places its mouth close to the earth and gives vent to terrific roars. The effect is to cause all kinds of creatures to leave their lairs in bewilderment and terror, frantically attempting to escape the threatened danger. This is exactly what the lion wants, and soon its hunger is appeased by the death of whatever victims it desires to kill as they happen to flee across its path. The tiger equals the lion in size, competes with it in strength, and excels it in activity. For elegance of form, grace of movement, the beauty of its coat, it is much more notable. A full grown male tiger may be nine and a half feet long, weighing four hundred and fifty pounds. Some have attained a length of between thirteen and fourteen feet. The coat of the tiger, as you know, is beautifully marked with contrasting tints. Transverse dark stripes are placed upon the bright, tawny yellow groundwork of the body and limbs. Some of these stripes are double, but the majority are single dark streaks. The underparts of the body, chest and throat, and the tufts on each side of the face are almost white, and there the stripes become fainter, fading gradually into the light tint of the fur. The skin is loose, almost to bagginess, and the fur is very thick and close. The brilliant coat of a captive tiger is very conspicuous, but in its native haunts it harmonizes completely with the dry, dusky jungle grass, and when crouching along low and scanty vegetation, the big animal may almost be trodden on without being seen. One of the many instances of God's design of camouflage. Its stealthy step is almost inaudible. As in all members of the cat family, fierce passions rage in its breast, and its joy is in killing and eating its victim. The cruel yellow fangs, the baleful eyes, the ferocious snarl all indicate its hatred and fearlessness. In captivity, even after years of training, the tiger cannot be trusted. The leopard or panther is found in Africa, from the Mediterranean to Cape Town, and everywhere in southern Asia. With its crafty brain, agile body, sharp teeth and claws, it bears the worst of reputations. Although the leopard is smaller than the lion and tiger, it is to be feared, perhaps even more so. When it is wounded, it does not slink off, but will come straight at its foe, a whirlwind of claws, fierce anger, and deadly power. Among the smaller cats are two which seem to warrant a brief mention in this particular study, the Oselot and the Cheetah. The Oselot is plentiful in the tropical regions of South America. It's about four feet long, with an average height of eighteen inches. The light grayish fawn fur is richly marked with broken bands of deeper fawn, edged with black. The ears are black, except for a conspicuous white spot behind and near the base of the ear. Its skin is used in making various articles of dress. The cheetah is an elegantly formed and beautifully marked creature, inhabiting southwestern Asia and many parts of India and East and South Africa. It much resembles a long and slender limbed leopard, with a head small in proportion to its height. It is three feet high at the shoulder with a length of five feet, exclusive of the long tail. In the east, particularly in India, the cheetah is regularly trained for the hunting of deer and antelope. The hunters bandage the cheetah's eyes until the moment arrives when it must call all its natural powers into play. When released, the creature sets out in hot pursuit of the game and with one powerful leap strikes down the selected animal. In order to distract its attention from its captured and legitimate prey, the keepers give it a bowl of hot blood, or the head and neck of a fowl, of which it is extremely fond. Then it is hooded again until more game is in sight. As we study all these varied forms of animal life, many of them ferocious, wild, and yet possessing a certain beauty of form, combined with strange equipment of various weapons for defense and offense, the question arises as to the reason for it all. If the creator is responsible, what purpose is there in bringing into being predatory animals who live but to be? Destroy? This question is often asked, but the complete answer is found only in the Word of God. We know one thing, all forms of life originally were tame and created for the companionship and pleasure of man. When sin entered, the lower animal creation suffered along with everything else, as the curse of God was pronounced. It is clear from the Bible that one day the fierce animal nature will be taken away, and that peace and harmony will reign on earth once again when the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, comes to establish the glorious kingdom that is promised so many times throughout the Word of God. For example, we read in Isaiah chapter eleven and verse number six The wolf also shall dwell with a lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with a kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them, and the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den, they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Now, in our world today, you have a lot of men, and women, I should say, and organizations of men and women who are trying so well, let's say desperately, because it is a desperate struggle, to bring peace on earth. I say, Oh, if we could just unite the nations, if we could just get some weapons treaties, if we should just get some uh summit talks and conferences together, maybe we could get the men to stop fighting and warring and shooting and killing and so forth, and I'm not going to argue as to whether or not that's a noble goal. It would certainly be a wonderful world if there weren't any killing or fighting or slaying. But you know, the problem is not the weapons, the problem is not the guns, the problem is not the ammunition. The Bible says in the book of James and chapter number four that the wars that you have well, in fact, let me just read it to you. James chapter four verse one. Whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? You see, the problem is not bombs and tanks and machine guns, the problem is lust. Man coveting and desiring what other men have. But let's suppose, let's suppose just by some wild chance that you could get all the people together and they wouldn't study war anymore, and they would uh lay down all the weapons and all the arms and all the battlements, you still would not have brought peace on earth. Uh what are you going to do? Are you going to get the lion, the wolf, the bear, the ox, the serpent, the kid, and the calf? Are you going to get all them together and form a united nation of animals and get the tiger to agree not to eat the uh fawn anymore? Are you going to get the uh alligator and the crocodile to agree not to eat the fish and the turtle anymore? Are you going to get the uh wolf to agree not to eat the uh rats and mice anymore? How are you gonna do that? You see, the truth of the matter is it's going to take the creator of all these great and wonderful creatures, man included, to ever bring true, genuine, real, lasting peace on earth. Because when you read Isaiah chapter number eleven, you have to admit there is no man or group of men living or dead that ever dared suggest that they by their power could compel and convince the serpent not to sting and bite, the wolf, the lion, the bear not to attack and devour. Uh who would who would think such a thing? Who would dare to make such a statement? But God Almighty, the Creator. You know one time God brought all the animals by on peaceful parade for Adam to name them. You say you don't really believe that, do you? Well, I certainly do. You know one time God brought two of all the unclean animals and seven pairs of all the clean animals and brought them all up into that ark, shut them in there, preserve them through the flood. You say you don't really believe that, do you? Of course I believe that. Why, there's more scientific proof for that than there is that Charlie Darwin's great-grandmother was a orangutan. Now you know something? The only real peace on earth will be when Jesus Christ rules and reigns. The lion, the bear, the ox, the wolf, the serpent all will be at rest and peace, and then men also will be at rest and be at peace. Now you know something we don't know just when Jesus is coming back to set up that kingdom. But the peace that the Prince of Peace gives can be yours today. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ can bring peace to your heart long before he ever comes and brings peace to planet Earth. You know, if you just humble yourself, receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, not fight against him, not war against him, not strive against your Maker, but humble yourself, repent of your sin, and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting him for your soul's salvation. You know, he'd give you such a peace of heart and mind that you'd just be amazed. You'd just be amazed. Why don't you do that today? Why don't you trust the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ? Make him your Lord and Savior.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

Thanks for tuning in today. Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast. For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, JamesW. Our sermon audio page, Bible Baptistoland, or our website, BibleBaptistTeland.com. Until next time, and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.