The Abiding Earth
All things belonging to the earth will never change--the leaf, the blade, the flower, the wind that cries and sleeps and wakes again, the trees whose stiff arms clash and tremble in the dark, and the dust of lovers long since buried in the earth--all things proceeding from the earth to seasons, all things that lapse and change and come again upon the earth--these things will always be the same, for they come up from the earth that never changes, they go back into the earth that lasts forever. Only the earth endures, but it endures forever.
— You Can’t Go Home Again (1940)
Whether it is the unavoidable presence of entropy or the apocalyptic vision of a fiery death, many Christians assume that earth is not long for this world. The Bible is clear about this. The earth will be destroyed by fire and we will join God in the heavenly dimension and he will build a new earth for us . . . one without sin or decay. Somewhere in outer space, God has prepared a place . . . right?
The Scriptures make it plain that there is a way in which we ought to love the world (John 3:16) and a way in which we ought to hate the world (1st John 2:15). So much confusion takes place because of a disorientation regarding these two categories. Some people hate everything in the world, including pizza and people, assuming they are obeying 1st John; while others love everything in the world including sin and rebellion against the Lord because . . . well . . . God is love.
If the earth does not abide in some way, then what will the meek inherit? We will take a few minutes to look at the concept of earthly habitations that abide and ones that are not promised to endure.
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. - Hebrews 11:8-10
Abraham was yearning for a city that was eternal in its design and, for that reason, implicitly lasting. This city is contrasted with the temporary nature of nomadic living. In fact, the word for sojourn (παροικέω) actually means to live alongside rather than fully in. Strangers aren’t home. Hence, the Biblically-derived concept of Christians being pilgrims on this earth who are just passing through. Some passages push this concept further:
Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. for here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. - Hebrews 13:12-14
And so we see the idea that our permanent home is not here. There is a city, at least, which cannot be of this earth. There is not a city on earth which abides, but the one which is eternal is one that is “to come”. That means it’s not here yet, at least not fully.
In fact, this points to the common belief that a new habitation will be necessary, not only because it will be heavenly-derived but because the earthly habitation will no longer exist. There are passages, such as the one in 2nd Peter 3 which seem to state this plainly.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. - 2 Peter 3:10
We know that the Day of the Lord is a day of judgment. There will be a final judgment in which works are judged and sheep and goats are separated. But is that the only manner in which Scripture references the Day of the Lord? Of course not. In Isaiah and other Old Testament passages, the Day of the Lord is the day that the judgment of God visits the people forewarned about it. On a number of occasions, this included his visitation amongst them in the form of Assyrians or Babylonians, or Romans, etc. The de-creation language is used to accompany these days of the Lord as well as the one being referenced in 2nd Peter.
A good and solid preterist reading will locate this Day of the Lord in the destruction of the Temple or thereabouts. My inclinations are to agree with this reading, but for the sake of the argument, let’s consider that the ultimate and final judgment is in Peter’s mind. It seems to me that Peter cannot mean that this earth is going to be burned to death in a literal sense if for no other reason than that the Bible seems to offer enough information that would push against this.
Firstly, consider language which Peter’s passage shares with Christ’s in the Olivet Discourse. The Day of the Lord, it’s coming being compared with the stealth of a thief, and the de-creation language all suggest that what Jesus is referencing should be understood as that which Peter is referencing. If we accept that the entire New Testament was written prior to 70 AD, which internal evidence argues most strongly for, we would be forced to reckon with the preterist reading as being most weighty. Nevertheless, notice the second half of the passage. What is being burned up? It is not simply the earth, but the works that are done on the earth. This should force an honest reading to hear judgment of works more than nuclear war.
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. - Revelation 5:9
In the above passage we see a couple of things which last from this earth into the eternal realm. What are those artifacts? They are not merely cultural, but they are cultures themselves. Tribes, languages, peoples, and even nations are described as having representation in the New Jerusalem. Did you know that there will be Americans in Heaven? What kind of profound implications are often glossed over in light of this passage? Let’s look at the words of Solomon concerning earth’s staying power:
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth forever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after. - Ecclesiastes 1:3-11
Even if someone wanted to suggest that the persistent recurrence of ecosystem-patterns are all Solomon has in mind when he talks about the “forever abiding” of the earth, they would still have to reckon with the language of the earth’s abiding in the Noahic covenant in Genesis 9. It’s not that the earth will never change or experience judgment nor be cleansed. Of course it will. The thing that the Bible seems push hardest against is this idea that when we talk about the earth being destroyed, many people appear to suggest that this means, by necessity, only literally and only for good. This reading inspires much of the anti-cultural mandate thinking that dominates evangelicalism and other circles. If the Bible plainly teaches something different, then perhaps an optimism about this story would be more appropriate than a pessimism.
Back to the Olivet Discourse. Notice the culminating language of this Noahic-like judgment. Firstly, who is taken and who is left? The righteous are left on the earth. That is an essential component to the salvation. If the earth was destroyed and the righteous were forced to find a new home, it would be a bit like Solomon killing the baby but promising the true mother a new one in nine months.
But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. - Matthew 24:37-39
The second thing this teaches us is something concerning the nature of the earth’s destruction by way of the Noahic analogy. The Bible clearly describes Noah’s flood as having been an earth-destroying event:
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. - Genesis 6:13
Now, the destruction brought about by the flood is undeniable and world-wide. It destroyed the earth. But what does Scripture mean by that? And if Jesus employs it not only as an analogy for the fiery destruction of the earth but also as a comparable event, then we ought to expect two things to be present in earth’s future: saved people surviving its destruction, safe and sound . . . and . . . earth itself surviving its destruction, safe and sound. For the fun of it, I’ll close with the Dostoevsky bit from the second appendix to Crime and Punishment that I cited in the article entitled Connection as Context. It seems relevant to this conversation as well.
He was in the hospital from the middle of Lent till after Easter. When he was better, he remembered the dreams he had had while he was feverish and delirious. He dreamt that the whole world was condemned to a terrible new strange plague that had come to Europe from the depths of Asia. All were to be destroyed except a very few chosen. Some new sorts of microbes were attacking the bodies of men, but these microbes were endowed with intelligence and will. Men attacked by them became at once mad and furious. But never had men considered themselves so intellectual and so completely in possession of the truth as these sufferers, never had they considered their decisions, their scientific conclusions, their moral convictions so infallible. Whole villages, whole towns and peoples went mad from the infection. All were excited and did not understand one another. Each thought that he alone had the truth and was wretched looking at the others, beat himself on the breast, wept, and wrung his hands. They did not know how to judge and could not agree what to consider evil and what good; they did not know whom to blame, whom to justify. Men killed each other in a sort of senseless spite. They gathered together in armies against one another, but even on the march the armies would begin attacking each other, the ranks would be broken and the soldiers would fall on each other, stabbing and cutting, biting and devouring each other. The alarm bell was ringing all day long in the towns; men rushed together, but why they were summoned and who was summoning them no one knew. The most ordinary trades were abandoned, because everyone proposed his own ideas, his own improvements, and they could not agree. The land too was abandoned. Men met in groups, agreed on something, swore to keep together, but at once began on something quite different from what they had proposed. They accused one another, fought and killed each other. There were conflagrations and famine. All men and all things were involved in destruction. The plague spread and moved further and further. Only a few men could be saved in the whole world. They were a pure chosen people, destined to found a new race and a new life, to renew and purify the earth, but no one had seen these men, no one had heard their words and their voices.
