Metamorphosis

It is difficult to imagine in all of creation a phenomenon more dramatic than the process of complete metamorphosis as demonstrated in the life cycles of several orders of insects, but most famously and remarkably in Lepidoptera-- the butterflies and moths. The immensity of the transformation that takes place from caterpillar to butterfly stretches the limits of human comprehension. The physcial changes themselves-- consider the eyes, the mouth, the feet, the antennae for starters, not to mention the whole new dimension of wings -- are mind-boggling. But then take into account the complete reprogramming of the instincts required to make sense of the new body and the process of metamorphosis is orders of magnitude more complex than first imagined.

I have witnessed a monarch's first flight and it was graceful and sure. This was its first experience with wings, yet it soared above the earth as if it had been flying all its life rather than spending its entire existence clasping and crawling. Likewise, from a creature that had devoted all its waking hours to devouring milkweed leaves it had been transformed into a periodic sipper of nectar; from a life spent on its food source to a life of free flight, identifying refueling stops as needed by sight and smell from afar. Flight and feeding are just two of the more obvious abrupt behavioral changes between larva and adult-- there must be countless others as well involved in making sense of such a huge difference in body and lifestyle.

Such transformation as seen in complete metamorphosis is radical and extravagant-- certainly not, at least to my mind, something that would be easily predicted or explained by a theory of existence based on random chance occurrence and competition for survival. Certainly Lepidoptera fill their niche wonderfully, efficiently and quite successfully, being the second largest order of insects in number of species, but how on earth would such a biologically extravagant life cycle come about solely by random chance and incremental change? I'm sure explanations have been advanced and I'll be interested in reading them when the opportunity presents itself.

My contention, of course, is that this extravagant life cycle did not come about by accident but was designed for a purpose. In addition to the elegant manner in which the life cycle of butterflies and moths fits their ecological niches, I firmly believe that metamorphosis was expressly designed as a natural illustration of a powerful spiritual truth. This radical transformation in lifestyle is the perfect illustration of the spiritual transformation that takes place when anyone puts his or her faith in Christ and receives the gift of new life that God offers. As the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (II Corinthians 5:17)

The spiritual transformation described here is taught throughout the New Testament and is every bit as real and radical as the metamorphosis that takes place in Lepidoptera -- in fact the same Greek word is used to describe it in two passages (II Corinthians 3:18, Romans 12:2).