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Introduction
There are some truths in the
scriptures which are really hard to
comprehend. As I look at this
world, the magnificent Rocky
Mountains, the Alps, the Himalayans,
the vastness of the
Steppes
or the Sahara, I wonder can the
words of
scripture
be literally true? When I read how
the heavens shall be on fire or all
the elements be dissolved, naturally
it is beyond comprehension. Then I
consider the fidelity and might of
the God who is not threatening but
these are His promises and
I believe it. No matter
how this creation, which seems so
stable and unchangeable, it
is going to melt,
disintegrate. I say, the problem is
that I have a far too small
understanding of the
uncircumscribable power of God, the
fidelity
of His word. Every time there is a
volcano eruption the rock becomes
liquid. God is reminding
humanity
that this earth will not last
forever and the rocks of earth will
ultimately melt.
Why will God destroy the earth and
heavens?
Such is the holiness of God that
anything marred by sin must never in
the slightest degree
contaminate
the New Heavens and earth. While
the earth and heavens being material
are amoral, their
contamination and
debasing of use makes them obnoxious
before God’s holiness. God did this
before when the children of Israel
polluted Jerusalem with the
population’s wickedness.
Relevant Scriptures
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I am aware of eight passages
which
inform us
of
the removal of
the present earth and
heavens. They are: |
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a) |
Isa. 24:19; 34:4; 51:6; Hag.
2:6; Matt. 24:35; Heb.
1:10-12; 2 Pet: 3:7, 10-12;
1 Jn. 2:17; Rev. 20:11. By
reading these verses it is
evident the new heavens and
earth will not be a make
over of this present earth
and Heavens. This present
sphere will be forever
gone. Its purpose and
usefulness will be past,
never more to exist as we
know them. |
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b) |
This is not a horror story
or the writings of a
mystic’s imagination. Hard
as it is to believe, this
world is going to come to a
fiery end. People speak
today of the end of the
earth in 12 years etc., but
they are godless people who
know not the ways of the
Lord. It will end but not
at the hand of man or a
nuclear or atomic bomb.
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c) |
In these verses: |
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i) |
Some emphasis the Person
whose power removes them
such as: “THOU shall fold
them up” (Heb. 1:12). |
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ii) |
Some
inform us
the extent of the removal (Isa.
24:19; 51:6; Jer. 10:11). |
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iii) |
Some
inform us
the time of their removal,
“They are kept in store. .
.against the day of judgment
and
perdition
of ungodly men” (2 Pet.
3:7). During the Day of the
Lord note, “In the which the
heavens shall pass away” (2
Pet. 3:10). |
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iv) |
Some
inform us
the method used for their
removal. “The heavens shall
pass away with a great
noise, the elements shall
melt with fervent heat, the
earth also and the works
that are therein shall be
burnt up” (2 Pet. 3:10). |
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v) |
Some inform us of the fact
of their removal, “the earth
and heaven fled away” (Rev.
20:11); “were passed away”
(Rev. 21:1); “They
shall
perish, wax old, as a
vesture they will be folded
up and changed” (Heb. 1:12);
“wax old” (Heb. 1:11). |
The words used for the removal of
the earth and Heavens:
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English word/s |
Reference |
Greek / Hebrew word |
Definition |
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Perish |
Heb. 1:11 |
ἀπόλλυμι / apollumi |
To utterly destroy |
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Fold up |
Heb. 1:12 |
ἑλίσσω /helissō |
To roll up as a garment |
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Changed |
Heb. 1:12 |
ἀλλάσσω /allassō |
To transform to make other
than what it is |
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Wax old |
Heb. 1:11; Isa. 51:6 |
παλαιόω / palaioō |
To develop (in this context
in deterioration) |
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Burned up |
2 Pet. 3:10 |
κατακαίω /katakaiō |
To burn utterly as chaff
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Disolved |
2 Pet. 3:10, 11 |
λύω / luō |
To loose, melt down |
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Pass away |
Rev. 21:1 |
παρέρχομαι / parerchomai |
To pass away |
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Flee away |
Rev. 20:11 |
φεύγω / pheugō |
Flee, escape |
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Broken down |
Isa. 24:19 |
רָעַע
/râ‛a‛ |
To spoil by breaking in
pieces |
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Moved exceedingly |
Isa. 24:19 |
מוֹט
/môṭ |
To shake and fall into decay |
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Vanish |
Isa. 51:6 |
מָלַח
/mâlach |
To pulverize, disappear as
dust |
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Wax old |
Isa. 51:6 |
בָּלָה
/bâlâ |
To wear out |
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Shake the heavens, and the
earth, and the sea, and the
dry land |
Hag. 2:6 |
רָעַשׁ
/râ‛ash |
To quake, to make to tremble |
In the consideration of this
description
of the removal of the heavens and
earth, no wonder Peter writes,
“Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of
persons ought ye to be in all holy
conversation and godliness” (2 Pet.
3:11). John writes, “Love not the
world, neither the things that are
in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not
in him. For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, and
the lust of the eyes, and the pride
of life, is not of the Father, but
is of the world. And the world
passeth away, and the lust thereof:
but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever (1 Jn. 2:15-17).
When will the world come to it's
end?
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1) |
Not according to man’s
predications or his ways. |
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a) |
Those who accept the
foolishness of evolution or
the beginning of the
universe without God now
tell the people of the
world that the earth will
end in 12 years. Of course
this is all foolishness and
man made imaginations. This
foolish talk has gone on for
hundreds of years. For
instance: |
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i) |
William Miller,
in the 1840’s he began to
preach about the world's
end, that earth would be
engulfed in fire sometime
between March 21, 1843, and
March 21, 1844. That did
not happen! |
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ii) |
Harold Camping
predicted that the world
would end Saturday May 21,
2011. That did not happen!
Again in 1992 he wrote a
booklet to warn that the
earth would end sometime in
September 1994. That did
not happen! |
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iii) |
This is not his first such
prediction. In 1992, the
evangelist published a book
called 1994, which
proclaimed that sometime in
mid-September 1994, Christ
would return and the world
would end. |
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iv) |
Hal Lindsey predicted that
the world would end sometime
before December 31, 1988.
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v) |
Apparently Edgar Whisenant
published a book in 1988
called 88 Reasons Why the
Rapture Will Be in 1988.
That did not happen! |
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2) |
According to the truth of
God the world will cease to
exist in God’s time and way
(Heb. 1:12). |
Practical Exhortations
Noah lived in a world that was
going to be no more. All the
carnal entertainment around Him,
the festivities of various
occasions, each birthday was a
reminder the judgment was coming
closer. One can be sure he was
not casually taking his time to
build the Ark for he did not
know when the earth would be
destroyed. He preached warning
the people, the judgment of the
Lord is coming on this earth
because of your sins (2 Pet.
2:5) but as long as I am in this
world building the ark, the Lord
will restrain his judgment (1
Pet. 3:20). Lot warned his two
married daughters and their
husbands that due to the evil of
the two cities, Sodom and
Gommorah, God was going to wipe
them off the face of the earth,
but they mocked (Gen. 19:14).
One can be very sure
that seconds after the first
rumblings of thunder and the
rain began, mockery began to
quieten and terror began to take
its place. When the first
flashes of lightening came from
a darkened sky the people of
Sodom and Gommorah were not so
sure of themselves. In both
cases it was too late.
God informs us of what shall
happen when the earth is no more
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A “new” heaven and
earth |
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a) |
The word new is “Kainos”,
indicating, recently made
and superior to that which
was before. |
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b) |
This will be looked at in
the next paper. |
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