God's Work with Planet Earth

Before we start Stage 5 of God’s Work with Planet Earth, it would be good to review what God has done in the previous four stages.

Stage 1 – Creation

• God created our solar system, the Earth and humans
• God warned the first couple about the “knowledge of evil”
• But they chose to listen to and obey a deceiver instead of God, causing a spiritual separation between God and humans
• Even at this early stage, God began to show His plan of salvation to His people through types and symbols which we see all through the Old Testament

Stage 2 – The Flood (2348 BC)

• God having foreknowledge, saw “the end of all flesh” (Gen. 6:13) coming, and that humans through evil would cause self-extinction. He must intervene or humans would wipe themselves out.
• God gave Noah instructions to build a great ship and warn those living at that time
• After the Flood nearly destroyed the world, humans (Noah’s descendants) again rejected God and built a great city, where God diversified one language into many, effectually scattering language groups around the world (Genesis 11)
• God choose Abraham and his family to preserve His law and His ways for future generations. The Messiah would also be one of Abraham’s descendants. Through Abraham would come great double blessing to “all the families of the earth” (Genesis 12:3)
• God used powerful plagues, each one specifically targeting the gods of Egypt, to bring Abraham’s descendants out of slavery to the Egyptians
• God brought the Israelites (descendants of Jacob, Abraham’s grandson) into the land He had promised to Abraham hundreds of years earlier
• The Israelites first disobeyed God by adopting the practices of the pagan nations who were their neighbors, and worshiping false gods
• After being punished, captured, and serving 70 years in Babylon, they determined to isolate themselves from foreign culture (Gentiles) and did not share the knowledge of God with the rest of the world as He intended

Stage 3 – First Coming of Christ (6 BC)

• Christ the Son of God was born as Jesus the “Son of Man”
• Jesus accomplished many things in His life and death
  • Jesus lived as an example and taught about the Kingdom of Heaven
  • Jesus won back the right to the “dominion” of Earth that Satan had tricked/manipulated Adam into giving up through Eve
  • Jesus exposed the character and nature of Satan and his minions of angels for what it was, so that heavenly angels and unfallen worlds had no doubt (Colossians 2:15)
  • Jesus’ death on a Roman cross provided a way for humans to be forgiven and reconciled back to God
  • Jesus founded Christianity (followers of Christ) so that during the period between His first and second comings, as many people as possible would choose God and His ways over Satan’s ways (the goal being to reconcile humans back to God)
• During the 300s AD, Satan changed tactics in his spiritual war on God’s ways and His people from external persecution to internal corruption.
• Over the next millennium and a half, the church Jesus had started adopted many pagan beliefs and practices, and focused more on authority, political power, and control. This was the opposite of what Jesus demonstrated during His ministry
• Even though the Protestant Reformation (1300s to 1600s AD) exposed many false and unscriptural teachings of the church, the Protestant churches today still follow many corrupt doctrines established by the Roman Catholic Church
• Through all of this God had inspired, preserved, and provided for the distribution of His Word, the 66 books contained in the Bible, so that believers in the end times could know Him better and see His will and intent

“Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” 1 Corinthians 10:11

• Jesus called out many signs which would indicate that His second coming is near, and as I write this, almost all of them have already happened or they are flashing in neon around the world

Stage 4 – The Second Coming of Christ, and the Millennium

• Jesus stated clearly many times that we cannot know exactly when He will come, but He gave many signs which would show when His arrival was near
• From the Bible we learn that Jesus is currently preparing a place for His people in Heaven (His Father’s House) and that He will take His people there when He returns
• Though the Bible does not give much information on the 1,000 years of Revelation 20, we do have clues that God’s people will:
  • Be given judgement of some kind, Paul says over the world and over angels
  • Live and reign with Him as priests for 1,000 years
• God set up the system of death and resurrection to give each person who lives over the 6,000 year time period of Stages 1, 2, & 3 the same chance to live, observe, and choose
• Both the righteous and wicked are resurrected and judged, but at different times
  • The righteous are judged first, before Jesus comes (1 Peter 4:17), then resurrected at His coming
  • The fate of the wicked is also determined, but an additional phase of judgement occurs when they are resurrected at the end of the 1,000 years
• The last event to happen in Stage 4 is the permanent and eternal destruction of sin and sinners, which is predicted/prophesied all through the Bible as God inspired different writers

How Stage 5 begins

“Now 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. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” Revelation 21:1-5

That’s a long passage, so let’s list the takeaways we see here:

• Technically, the New Jerusalem will come down to the earth before the end of Stage 4, when it is surrounded by the resurrected wicked and they are destroyed by fire and brimstone from Heaven
• All those promises God made over thousands of years will then come true, as He creates a “new heaven” (solar system, atmosphere) and a “new earth”
• As a side note, John says “no more sea” (oceans caused by the Flood of Noah’s time)
• As in other places in the Bible, God’s people/the church are compared to a woman/bride (in a covenant relationship)
• God’s intention and desire to live closely with His people and take away tears, crying, sorrow, pain, and death is expressed very plainly here

This is the second to last chapter of the Bible, but as we’ll see, these ideas are not new or unique to the book of Revelation.

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.” Isaiah 65:17

God was speaking through the prophet Isaiah nearly 800 years before He showed the same things to the Apostle John.

“Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:13

Peter had just finished describing the destruction of the old Earth (the one we currently live in) in previous verses, saying even the “elements will melt with fervent heat”. But in spite of that (“nevertheless”), believers with faith in Jesus can have the hope of a New Earth.

In Revelation 21:5 quoted above, God says:

“Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” Revelation 21:5

Jesus showed John these things nearly 2,000 years ago, but He added that “these words are true and faithful”. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew words “aman” and “emun” (faithful) mean something you can depend on and trust in. The Greek word “pistos” (faithful) in this verse means something trustworthy that you can believe in.

Summary Stage 5 Beginning

• Sin (and everyone who clings to it) have been destroyed
• Satan and his rebel angels have been destroyed, so they can no longer push self-destructive behaviors on people, or try to convince them of lies and false ideas.
• Now God can be with His people in a literal, in-person way, which was prevented by the separation caused by sin infecting humanity
• When the disease is cured, the symptoms disappear. With sin gone, there’s no more deception, pain, decay/degradation, sorrow/regret, destruction/death.
• What replaces the danger and ugliness is peace, joy, beauty, glory, honor… all wonderful things.

We’ll get more into the clues the Bible gives us about God’s future plans for us in the New Earth in future posts.