What Christadelphians believe about ...

The Future of the Earth

There is nothing plainer in the whole of Bible teaching than that the earth will "abide for ever." In fact, this expression is a Bible one. "One generation passeth away and another cometh, but the earth abideth for ever" (Ecclesiastes 1:4). Admittedly, this confirms the permanence of the earth in relation to its population; but it declares an absolute truth at the same time.

The whole Bible plan has to do with the earth. It begins with man placed on the earth in a good state, and shows us that good state marred by the coming of sin. It then records a history of humanity requiring a remedy. In the promise of a remedy, it is always the earth that figures; and in the unfolding of prophecy, it is always the earth that is spoken of, even down to the very last scene, when the tabernacle of God is with men, and "there shall be no more curse, and no more death" (Revelation 21:4; 22:3).

The Earth in God's Promises

Pictures of the Earth when God's Promises are Accomplished

The earth is the promised dwelling of those men and women who by faith and obedience please God, who made the earth for His own glory. When the work of Christ is complete, sin and death will be things of the past. The earth will be an abode of immortal life and joy. Why, then, should it be destroyed just as it has reached its perfect place in the plan of the universe?

The idea that the earth is to be destroyed is mostly founded on Peter's statement that "the earth is to be burnt up and the works that are therein" (2 Peter 3:10). This by itself seems to countenance the idea. But a study of the context will show that Peter is speaking of the earth of people and not the planet. Peter is comparing the catastrophe of the flood in Noah's day with the destruction of the ungodly in the day of judgment. He says "the world that then was (in Noah's day) perished by water." Now, the world that perished was the people, not the globe. He also speaks of "the heavens and earth that are now" (to be destroyed by fire). Literally, the heavens and earth that are now are the same that were then: but as meaning the people and their governments, they are different.

Sir Isaac Newton said, as the result of his study of the Scriptures, that in Scripture there was a figurative language taken from the analogy between the natural world and the political world. Thus the whole natural world, consisting of heavens and earth, signifies the whole political world, consisting of thrones and people. Great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven and earth stand for the shaking of kingdoms; creating a new heaven and earth, and the passing away of an old one, for the rise and wane of the political. But never do these figures interfere with the truth that the earth is the everlasting inheritance of the people of God.