God's Work with Planet Earth

Have you ever heard people ask these questions, or had them yourself?

• If God is love, why all the hate and violence in this world?
• If God is just, why is there so much injustice in a world He created?
• How can God allow wicked people to profit and take advantage of good people?
• If God is good AND all powerful, why does He allow evil to continue?

The reasons why our world is full of pain and evil are covered in my first few posts on this blog, but this is about how God will bring things back to His original plan.

Waiting patiently on God

Before we move on to Stage 3 of God’s Work with Planet Earth, I want to loop back to Psalms 37. We think of David as a shepherd, a warrior, a fugitive, and finally a king. But he was also a prophet, and there are prophecies in the Psalms that point to Jesus, the end of the world, and the New Earth. God showed things to David that he may or may not have understood, that would happen hundreds or thousands of years later.

“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret–it only causes harm.” Psalms 37:7-8

Almost 400 years later, the prophet Zephaniah wrote:

“Therefore wait for Me,” says the LORD, “Until the day I rise up for plunder; My determination is to gather the nations to My assembly of kingdoms, to pour on them My indignation, all My fierce anger; All the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy.” Zephaniah 3:8

In the next few verses God promises to make all the wrong in this world right again:

• “I will restore to the peoples a pure language…” (vs. 9) God will undo the diversification of languages He caused at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) so that everyone can understand each other.
• God says He will remove the proud and arrogant people from the world (vs. 11)
• But He will leave the meek and humble people who trust Him (vs. 12) In other words, these people will be given eternal life.
• These people who continue to exist in the world will not be deceiving liars. Everyone will live peacefully, and no one will need to be afraid. (vs. 13)

Do you see governments, corporations, humans profiting by taking advantage of others right now? Do you see the strong victimizing the weak, and those who can’t defend themselves? The message of Psalms 37 and Zephaniah 3 is to wait on God because He has promised to bring justice.

After describing the signs of the end of the world to His disciples, Jesus then said, “When these things begin to happen…”. Did He then continue to say: go become a Christian Nationalist and take back your nation through rule of law and human power? No! This is what He actually said:

“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:28

God will take care of business and clean house. All we need to do is share our faith and hope in what He is doing with others.

The Fate of the Wicked

The Bible is vague and cryptic on some things, but what will happen in the end to the scheming, deceiving, victimizing, violent people is crystal clear:

“The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming.” Psalms 37:13

“For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more.” Psalms 37:9-10

What David is describing here are glimpses of Stage 5, but God is showing him the future while he lives in Stage 2.

• “Cut off” is the Old Testament term for the “second death” of Revelation 20 & 21. “The wicked shall be no more”
• Even if you look carefully, you won’t find a place where the wicked live or exist. Even hell “shall be no more”.
• Those who “wait on the Lord” will “inherit the earth”.

A God Who is both merciful and just will not torture and burn the wicked forever, but the consequence or result of choosing evil certainly is eternal.

“But the wicked shall perish; And the enemies of the LORD, like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away.” Psalms 37:20

This does not describe eternal hellfire, but rather eternal destruction. Non-existence that lasts forever. The prophet Malachi described the same thing:

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the LORD of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch.” Malachi 4:1

“Burn them up” and “leave neither root nor branch”. The fire does not burn forever, but the result is final and eternal.

What about God’s People?

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand.” Psalms 37:23-24

What an encouraging statement! Romans 3:23 says “all have sinned” and fallen short of the glory God intended for humans. Is it hopeless then? Should we give up seeking truth and goodness? No! “The righteous man may fall seven times and rise again” (Proverbs 24:16) We’ll make mistakes but God doesn’t give up on us, and He wants to keep guiding us.

“Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.” Psalm 37:3-6

These ideas are spiritual, but I have experienced God’s blessings in my life when I “commit my way to the Lord”. I have experienced Him “ordering my steps” in a way I did not expect. But picture God bringing out a righteousness and justice in you like a shining light. No longer the fallen, flawed, weak human with a sinful nature. What a powerful change! This will happen when Jesus returns, and until then we can be confident and (“trust in Him”) that:

“…He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” Philippians 1:6

And the last two verses of Psalms 37 are very encouraging:

“But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the LORD shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him.” Psalms 37:39-40

Again, David brings us back to waiting on God and trusting Him to deliver us from the wicked and save us. This is God’s Work, not ours.

How Soon is “Soon”?

“Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” Psalms 37:1-2

It’s been around 3,000 years since those words were written, and the evil schemes just continue and get more devious. 2,000 years ago Jesus said He was coming “soon”. What’s taking so long?

“But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 2 Peter 3:8

Because God has always existed, and He’s not bound by time and space, 1,000 Earth years is like one day to Him. So it’s only been like two days since Jesus was here in the flesh. And yet God cares about us and about keeping His promises, because the very next verse says:

“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” 2 Peter 3:9, NLT

I used the New Living Translation because it personalizes this passage. God is “being patient for your sake” and He wants to save as many people as possible. That’s at least one reason for what we humans think is a delay on God’s part.

Timing is Critical to Understand

If you’re an atheist who doesn’t believe in God or the Bible, then you think at the end of this life, that’s it. That’s all there is to human existence. But the Bible teaches a coming resurrection for both the righteous and the wicked, accompanied by judgement.

“…it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,” Hebrews 9:27

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth–those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” John 5:28-29

Here’s the key thing to understand: All through the history of the world, God gave humans life, provided the truth and evidence, then allowed them to make their choices. It doesn’t matter what culture or time period you lived in, we’re all given the same chance to live, to observe, and to choose, before we “sleep in the dust of the earth”. What are we choosing to believe?

• That what the fallen world tells us is true. That we came about by chance and we have no purpose. That whether we kill, steal, and deceive in order to take what we can while we live, it doesn’t matter. OR…
• That a good God created a good world and perfect humans. That He wanted them to know and do only good. But in spite of the fact that humans distrusted and disobeyed Him, God wants to reconcile humans back to pure goodness where grief, guilt, pain, suffering, illness, are all gone. And only peace, joy, and the promise of an eternal future of discovery remains. Freedom from pain and destruction, and freedom to explore the mysteries of God’s Universe in ways we can’t right now.

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

When scripture instructs us to “fear God”, it means that we respect an all-powerful God who created the Universe and this world, and we appreciate both His love and justice. We know there’s a judgement coming, but if we’ve been forgiven the judgement is good news! It means the restoration of this world to perfect goodness and peace. If we’re humble and respect God for who He really is, the judgement sets us free.