The Hope of the Believer . . .

The hope of the Believer...No. 4  

INHERITING THE EARTH  

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Mt. 5:7)

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Pet. 2:13)

The hope of the believer is not only in a future heaven but a future earth as Well. We not only have the promise of "going to heaven," even if the Bible never quite puts it that way, but of "going to earth" as well, a new earth that is. But it is also a new heaven that we hope for. There is a heaven and earth with which we have some acquaintance, but we are assured in Rev. 21:1: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea."

Something is going to happen to the first (old) earth. It will "pass away" (Rev. 21:1) and be "burned up" (2 Pet. 3:10). But the prophet who saw the old earth pass away saw a new earth in the offing, and the prophet who saw the old earth burned up went on to add that great word that is pregnant with hope, Nevertheless. "Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Pet. 3:14). Even if the earth that we know is to be burned up there will nevertheless be a new earth.

Both Peter and Paul indicate that the flaming destruction of the old heavens and the old earth is for the destruction of the wicked, both angels and men. 2 Pet. 3:10 tells us that "the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it shall be burned up." Back in verse 7 he relates this to the destruction of ungodly men: "the heavens and the earth that now exist are kept in store for the same word, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

Paul in 2 Thess. 1:8-9 presents a similar description: when Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire he will take vengeance on those who refuse to know God and reject the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus also referred to this "everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Mt. 25:41). Rev. 21:14 reveals that "Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire." This indicates that the burning of the old earth and the conflagration of the heavens is the lake of fire that destroys wicked people and angels alike. If Eph. 2:2 tells us that the evil spirits in some way occupy the air about us, Satan being "the prince of the power of the air," then we may see in Peter's words, "the heavens are reserved for fire," a description of the demonic world being destroyed in the firestorm that melts heaven and earth with fervent heat (2 Pet. 3:10). The heavens being on fire would thus refer to the atmosphere of air about us, where the evil spirits are kept in prison until time for them to "suffer the vengeance of eternal fire," according to Jude 6-7.

This makes the burning old earth hell or the lake of fire, which will bum as long as God purposes, but it apparently ends once the wicked are sufficiently punished and eventually destroyed. Out of this eventually emerges the new earth which becomes the dwelling place of the righteous, which will have no end. The first earth is marked for the fiery destruction of the wicked; the new earth will be the dwelling place of the righteous. The first eventually ends (in the ultimate destruction of the wicked); the second never ends in that it becomes the dwelling place of the New Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from God, which we shall deal with presently.

We should note in passing who it is that the Bible identifies as lost. It is not the vast hosts of humanity who may have had no opportunity to know the God of heaven or the gospel of Christ. The Bible says it is the wicked who will be destroyed in the lake of fire, those who reject God and who refuse to believe and who do things they know to be wrong, along with the devil and his angels. We would do well to let the Bible tell us who is destined to go to a devil's hell rather than to make that judgment ourselves.

At this point our hope is enhanced all the more in that we have assurance that the righteous will be taken from the earth to be with Christ "in the air" so as to escape the hell that will be on earth. The promise is in 1 Thess. 4:15-17. In those verses Paul assures us that the believers living on the earth at the time Christ comes again will be joined by those believers "who are asleep" ("The dead in Christ shall rise first," verse 16), and then he says in verse 17: "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."

While the Scriptures teach that the wicked will also be raised, there is no indication that they will ever leave the old earth. They appear to be destined to perish in the grand conflagration, while the righteous are with Jesus "in the air" or in that part of heaven where Jesus is.

But there is more to the breathtaking drama since the earth that passes away and is burned up, along with the wicked, yet has a destiny. There will be a new, renovated earth. According to the promise, which was first given in Is. 65:17 ("Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind"), the old earth becomes a new earth. We have the promise of a new earth as well as new heavens. In our view of the future we have been slow to see that the earth has a destiny and that that destiny is for the righteous. All these facts indicate that the new earth will be heaven, the eternal home of God's elect.

Since heaven hovers low in the book of Hebrews, it is well to look there for references to the coming city of God. Therein Abraham, who moved across the nomadic wastelands of the world, is described as one "who looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11:10). Referring to the heroes of the faith, Heb. 11:16 says, "God has prepared for them a city." In Heb. 12:22-23 the city of the living God is called the heavenly Jerusalem and it is inhabited by innumerable angels and the spirits of just people made perfect. Heb 13:14 assures us that the city is permanent, unlike this transient world. Here we have a real city, God's city, the New Jerusalem in heaven, where the righteous dead are now with Christ.

Rev. 21 tells us how this heavenly city is related to the new earth or how the new earth becomes the New Jerusalem. "I saw a new heaven and a new earth," the prophet discloses, and he tells us that the first heaven and first earth had by now passed away. In verse 2 John describes how "the holy city, the New Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven from God." In the rich symbolism the prophet sees the heavenly city making a move - from heaven to earth! The heavenly city and the new earth are now one. The description that follows is of heaven itself: God and Christ are there; no more pain, no more sorrow, no more death, all tears are wiped away; no temple is needed for the entire city is God's temple and filled with His glory. The saints of God are now at home, forever, in the holy city on the new earth.

There is a millennium in this framework somewhere, as Rev. 20 indicates, but it does not appear to be on earth. When John sees the city of God come down out of heaven to the new earth, he is not describing the millennium. It has already ended in Rev. 20, and it seems to be describing the martyrs in a heavenly reign with Christ — "they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years," that is "the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus" (verse 4). There is no indication that this is on earth, but in heaven, nor for the saints in general but for the martyred souls. The thousand years is almost certainly figurative, and may refer to the period from the return of Christ to heaven following his resurrection to the final overthrow of all the powers of evil and the final judgment (Rev. 12-20). During this time martyred saints not only reign with Christ but actually rule from thrones, as if playing some part in the overthrow of all the Satanic powers.

The Scriptures give us no assurance that we will have glory, triumph, or a millennium of peace and victory in this old earth. A glorious kingdom on this earth in which the righteous will rule over others is an old Jewish misconception, one that caused the Jewish leaders to reject what Jesus meant by a coming kingdom of heaven. We may well have to live under the Cross as long as we are in this world. "In the world you will have tribulation" our Lord says in Jn. 16:33, and in Mt. 24 he gives a grim picture of the future of this world, which he sees as destined to pass away (verse 35). But there is the promise of the new earth, and therein lies our hope. The word for "new" in the Greek indicates that the new earth is not created out of nothing, but is fashioned anew out of the old earth. It is the redeemed old earth, purified by fire as it were, that becomes the new earth. The new earth is indeed earth, a real place in God's tomorrow. It is the place that Jesus has gone to prepare for us in heaven, the heavenly city with its many dwelling places, which eventually comes down out of heaven to the new earth.

The nature of the new earth is glorious to anticipate. Paul indulges somewhat in this in Rom. 8, which leads him to say, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us" (verse 18). He goes on to tell how "the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God" and that "the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." He sees this earth and all creation suffering birth pangs, waiting to be delivered from their corruption. The apostle sees the earth under the penalty of sin, like man, waiting for its redemption. It is clear that Paul sees the old earth, "subjected to futility," becoming a redeemed earth. All this sounds appropriate coming from one who had himself visited Paradise and heard unutterable words! What little he utters about the coming new earth is sufficient to lift our minds beyond the cares of this present world. Little wonder that he would go on to say, "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!" (Rom. 11:33).

One promise that our Lord makes, that the meek shall inherit the earth, refers to this world as well as the next. There is a sense in which this world is ours for the taking, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 3:22, "All things are yours; whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world, or life or death, or things present or things to come — all are yours." Here is another important dimension of inheriting the earth, even this earth. Jesus means and Paul means that the first earth is also to be a blessing to the believer. All things are yours, including this world! It is for the meek, those who humbly live in this world to the glory of God.

Meekness is Christlikeness. It includes a true view of oneself. The meek person never pities himself nor feels sorry for himself, and he never thinks of retaliation. He may sometimes be angry, but always at the right time and never at the wrong time. Such ones shall inherit the earth because they have the right perspective of things and are thus satisfied with their lot in life, "as having nothing, and yet possessing all things" as Paul puts it in 2 Cor. 6:10. Such ones inherit this earth as well as the new earth to come.

But it is the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city, in a new heaven and a new earth that is the ultimate destiny of the redeemed community, for we have here no abiding city. We hear God's voice from heaven, "Behold, I make all things new," and we believe. With such hope we need have no fear of death, for life really begins at death. When we leave this world we do not leave home but go home, to the heavenly city whose builder and maker is God, and to the new earth where the righteous will dwell together forever, with no separate suburbs.

The saintly Newman speaks for all who really believe:  

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on!  
The night is dark, and I am far from home;    
Lead thou me on!

                                            —the Editor