Ten verses that tell us the Earth has a beautiful future
There is a lot of worry today about climate change and the effects this is having and will continue to have on the viability of life on earth. Droughts, sea-level rising, heat-waves, increased disease, and a loss of biodiversity are all causes for concern. Scientists believe that the changes observed in the last fifty years are primarily caused by human activity such as burning fossil fuels, and clearing forests for agriculture. To slow this down requires changes that many industries and individuals are not able or willing to make.
So one begins to wonder, what is the future of the earth? What will our children have to deal with? Will it eventually become uninhabitable? It may also contribute to an obsessive compulsion to live a “green” lifestyle as we worry about what we can do to help. Ultimately, however, the situation emphasizes humanity’s powerlessness and lack of foresight.
I believe that humans are responsible for caring for the earth. The Creator gave the responsibility of stewards to the first man and woman. We should do what we can to be wise about how we use earth’s resources and care for the life around us. However, I also believe that the Earth is in God’s hands and this is what He says about it:
All the land Abram could see would be given to him and his descendants forever:
“The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.” (Genesis 3:14,15)
There will be a time when evil is removed from the earth:
“Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.” (Psalm 37:8-11)
God’s purpose with the earth is for it to be inhabited, not left empty:
“For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the LORD, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:18)
At a point in the future, the kingdom of God will cover the whole earth:
“Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth… And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.” (Daniel 2:35,44)
At a point in the future, all nations will be ruled by the God of Jacob:
“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Micah 4:1,2)
God’s purpose with the earth is to fill it with His knowledge and glory:
“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14)
God will be king over the whole earth:
“On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward… And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.” (Zechariah 14:4,9)
The new earth will be one cleansed of ungodliness where righteousness dwells:
“They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:5-7,13)
People of all nations and languages will be united in one kingdom under God:
“And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.'” (Revelation 5:9,10)
Then, God will dwell with with people and be with them:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them.'” (Revelation 21:1-3)
JS
