A butterfly lays eggs, but no beautiful winged insect hatches. Instead a creepy crawly caterpillar! Then, when a grown caterpillar turns into a pupa inside a chrysalis, nothing remains unchanged: jaws, claws, legs, digestive system, even its shape all disappear. The ugly crawling grub vanishes and in its place is a gorgeous butterfly!

Is the miracle of metamorphosis mainly a lesson for humans? God has ordained a witness in creation that illustrates the transformation needed for humans to become spirit. It is the firstfruits who will first transform into a different state of being at Christ's return.

Transformation

Transformation has been a constant theme ever since creation. It's essential within God's Church in the lives of the saints. Transformation is to change, modify, alter or, in New Testament terminology, to convert. It means to restructure and reorganize from within. Much of nature reflects the miracle of transformation.

Few things are as beautiful as butterflies. Before a butterfly becomes an adult, it must go through a complete four-stage metamorphosis: egg, larva (worm or caterpillar), pupa (or chrysalis) and then the adult butterfly. We can assume God designed these life cycles to teach us a lesson. The metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly is an obvious one. If the repulsive, greedy, earthbound caterpillar portrays humanity in their lowly sin-filled state, then transformation into the butterfly is a lesson in our need for a spiritual birth (John 3:3, 5, 7).

The Black Swallowtail Butterfly

The black swallowtail is one of the most common species in North America. Extensions on its rear wings look like the swallow's tail. Its four life stages take only a few weeks. The female flies about searching for members of the parsley family and on them deposits its eggs. The eggs hatch in 10 days. The caterpillars then feed on the leaves of the host plant and grow rapidly.

When fully grown, the skin splits at its head and gets cast aside. The new covering hardens and then for about 10 days the chrysalis rests. If the chrysalis formed in late summer, it will actually remain dormant over winter. (What signals it to do this?)

Next, the butterfly forces the top of the chrysalis open. During this struggle, fluid is pumped into the wing veins. They expand for an hour or more until they are so large it's difficult to imagine they were previously folded inside the pupa case. Without the struggle, the beautiful wings wouldn't form. At last the magnificent butterfly is ready for flight, only to survive a few weeks, then lay eggs for the next generation.

What starts as a caterpillar undergoes a radical change in body shape. After growing through a number of molts, it becomes a pupa. Inside the pupa shell the caterpillar's tissues are reorganized. The adult that emerges is quite different from the larva and will lead a distinctly different lifestyle. The butterfly emerges fully grown and does not have to grow up like a baby chick. We could say it comes forth resurrected. It's almost immediately capable of winging its way across an ocean. In our resurrection and new state of being, will we too instantly be able to "wing across the oceans"?

Reflections on the Process

It's easy to connect the Holy Spirit as the invisible power at work within us. It's changing us from what birth bestowed into another state. We are in-between, part spirit yet still very earthly and very much tied to our environment. Paul described this conversion process as putting "off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:22-24, NIV throughout).

Paul further illustrated our change this way: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed" (Romans 8:18-19). And that change will be instantaneous: "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

The witness of metamorphosis is also evident in the analogy God uses of a potter and clay.

"Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand" (Isaiah 64:8). Jeremiah was also told by God: "Go down to the potter's house…. So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him" (Jeremiah 18:2-4).

Properties of Clay

Good clay is soft, pliable, plastic—capable of being molded or shaped. The clay is beaten and pummeled to get rid of air pockets or hard lumps. At this stage it can be pounded, flattened, rolled, pinched, coiled, pressed, thrown on the wheel, cast into a mold, shredded, pierced, stamped, extruded, cut or spun. This could describe our Christian trials! Our confidence is that the Master Potter is in control of the process.

The potter places the clay into the dead center of the wheel to maintain the correct shape. As he works, water has to be constantly added to keep the clay pliable. This would be similar to the Holy Spirit's influence to keep us teachable. Without that influence, we harden and ultimately dry up spiritually.

If the shape is not working out right, the potter just pummels it down again and remolds it. When the clay is soft and pliable, it takes only light pressure from the potter to bring about the desired shape. Consider God's molding and shaping of you down through your conversion years.

Once shaped the vessel is far from finished. The outward form is there, but several important steps are yet to take place. Air drying must be at the right temperature. As the pots dry, they get lighter in color. Consider this expression: "A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain." What would you rather be-a clay pot or a piece of Lladro fine porcelain?

Now the clay pot is ready for the fiery furnace. Again the temperature must be just right. Too low and the pottery will be soft, too high and it will warp. After this firing the shape is permanently set.

Firstfruit Parallels

Our fiery trials are not to destroy, but to test, harden and shape us in right character. Once our character is set we will have an unchangeable righteousness, as God is now. The pots then have a glaze for decoration. What was once just a lump of clay is now transformed into exquisite pottery.

The highlight of all creation is mankind, thinking beings made in God's own image (Genesis 1:26-27). David said, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14), and our human body is truly the supreme miracle. Scientists say it is the most incredible piece of "machinery." Our physical bodies are programmed by God to go through life-stages of transformation.

One of the most exciting events that occur is the birth of children. Their brand-new facial expressions reflect total innocence. They are bundles of joy eager to learn, to walk, to talk. Youngsters are still childlike, trusting and teachable, but now emerges a distinctive personality with its own unique character traits.

The teen years might be likened to the final cocoon stage-dramatic physical and emotional changes, with a growing desire for independence (to break out of the cocoon). Now comes an asserting of one's own independence and a sense of identity.

During the adult years, learning still goes on, especially in the truth, with a new way to act and think. As the years pass the facial expressions show age lines from accumulated stress and worry that is part of adulthood. As the years pass, wisdom is built upon life's experiences and white hair becomes a badge of maturity. The facial expression can be one of serenity, at peace with oneself.

Death is inevitable. Before this the final questions have to be pondered: What is life? What happens after death? Will I ever see my loved ones again? We will emerge from death a totally different being.

The Universe Too Is a Witness

Most people who live in cities find that the street lights, neon signs and freeway lighting virtually obscure the heavens. A shepherd, like David, would have found no such distortion to the clarity of the heavens.

David, in searching the sky, pondered: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:3-4).

Earth is miniscule compared to other large planets. It is a dwarf physically, but gargantuan in what God is doing here.

Earth is just the right distance from the sun, the right size for the plan, the right atmosphere—everything just right for life. We are born on a very small part of a gigantic, uninhabited, lifeless star system that before telescopes and satellites couldn't be fully appreciated.

A good question is this: If the stars were only created for a covering at night to be seen with our eyes, why did God bother with the vastness of a universe?

What is it all for? As the Hubble telescope probes further into space, it brings greater humility when we consider its massive size. The universe gives a comparison with the glorified, resurrected state. Speaking of that, Paul compared our transformed state with the heavenly bodies: "The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor" (1 Corinthians 15:41).

As transformed saints, will we have a starry quality unique to ourselves?

Beauty From Desolation

An example of transformation is the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia. These gardens were originally the limestone-exhausted quarry of Robert Butchart of Portland Cement.

The quarry's desolate bleakness offended the sensitive feelings of his wife, and she began a hobby garden there in 1904. In time that hobby garden developed into the gorgeous 130-acre, world-famous tourist attraction of today. It shows that beauty can be developed from desolation. God started the process in re-creating the earth from tohu and bohu (the Hebrew words translated "without form and void" in Genesis 1:2).

Desolation within human hearts is already being changed through the invisible presence of the Holy Spirit. It's changing the internal structures of firstfruit minds and hearts. A beauty of attitude, thought and action should result. When complete, we will break out of this constricting, earthly shell into the star-like magnificence of a glorified state. And perhaps, if intended by God, expand into a mega-beautifying project throughout our gigantic universe.

Are you busy with your job of transformation?